As a video compilation of 911 calls, news broadcasts and photos of the 62-foot-tall Jesus statue along Interstate 75 burning to the ground June 14 played on two screens at the front of the church, people applauded, banged tambourines and cheered. Meanwhile, a Monroe police officer stood in the back to ensure no heckling from visitors after church security escorted two people out of Wednesday’s service for protesting the worship of “graven images.”
The message to the several hundred church members focused on staying positive despite claims that God struck down their statue, that money should be spent to give to the poor, or that they had built a “graven image.”
“It would take a brainless person to think we would worship something that was built out there,” she said, telling members to stay focused on God’s word.
She also told the congregation she personally gave more than $100,000 this month in donations to help others.
Phone calls from around the world have poured in with many offering sympathy, she said. But, her focus has been on victory, not tragedy.
“All I know, He knows how to get a lot of advertising and let the devil pay for it,” she said. “We must have joy. We didn’t lose nothing. Look what we gained. Some of you wouldn’t have been here this morning if we wouldn’t have burned down.”
“I’m not trying to make anything spiritual about a lightning strike,” she said.
But the good that came out of it, she said is that the church became the world’s focus for a day. And the statue will be rebuilt, she promised.
“We’re going to wait on God, because we know God is up to something.”
Before and after the service, several people walked by the remains of the Jesus statue.
“It was sad just to see it go down,” Ellington Bates, 15, of West Chester Twp. said as he observed the charred remains. “Usually, we come here and look around and think about (Jesus). It’s kind of a place to be able to come out here and think for a second.”
Contact this reporter at (513) 755-5067 or lhilty@coxohio.com.
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