The fire, which was sparked by a lightning strike June 14, caused an estimated $700,000 damage to the statue and adjacent amphitheater located on Union Road in Warren County.
No one was injured in the blaze.
The project calls for the damaged roof system to be torn down and replaced along with the interior ceiling inside the amphitheater, said Mark Mitten, the Bishops’ son-in law who is overseeing the project and will be performing the work.
“We finalized everything with the insurance company, so within a couple weeks we should be starting demolition and putting it back together. Some of the exterior has to be repaired as well,” he said.
The work is expected to take a couple months to complete, Mitten said.
Bishop said a meeting is planned next week to discuss what designer —from a field of five — the church is leaning towards to create a new King of Kings statue.
A decision is expected sometime in October, she said.
“I’m sure we’ll have it started by the end of the year, but it will probably be the spring before it’s back up,” Bishop said of the statue nicknamed by some as “Touchdown Jesus.”
The large monument will likely be rebuilt to resemble Christ’s full body, instead of just a bust. It also may be created out of Indiana limestone, she said.
Tentative design plans also call for the statue — originally made of wood and Styrofoam and covered with fiberglass — to have his hands “outstretched” rather than raised in the air like a referee signaling a touchdown, she said. It will be similar to a statue called “Christ the Redeemer” in Brazil, Bishop said.
Contact this reporter at (513) 483-5219 or dewilson@coxohio.com.
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