Saturday, November 3, 2012

The "Touchdown Jesus" That Was

I am posting this for Pam, who commented that she was intrigued by the "Touchdown Jesus" I mentioned in my prior post.

Before June 14, 2010 if you were driving near Monroe, Ohio on I-75 you would see this statue in front of a church. It portrays the top half of Jesus, rising out of a pool, making a "touchdown" gesture with his outstretched arms. Thus, the nickname "Touchdown Jesus".  Some people called it "Big Butter Jesus" because of its resemblance to a butter sculpture.


On June 14, 2010, during a thunderstorm, the statue was struck by lightning and burned (photo below). There was much speculation in the area about why lightning happened to strike here.


Leaving a skeleton that stood for two years:


The church promised to replace the statue.  The new one was completed in September.  Here it is:


They say this one is fireproof and fitted with lightning rods.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I do love a good story Judy and have enjoyed all the twists and turns in this one - great pics here- thanks for posting them!

judy in ky said...

I'm happy to share it, Pam. The "Touchdown Jesus" has been quite a conversation piece around here for years, as it's a heavily traveled route for folks headed north/ south on I-75. The day that it burned was big news on local television.