photo: The Marion Star

Giant Jesus grabs attention


MONROE (AP) -- Travelers on Interstate 75 often are startled to come upon a six-story-tall statue of Jesus by the roadside.

"I thought I had seen everything there was to see in America from the road, but I never saw anything like that," said Brad Leach, 60, an over-the-road trucker for 37 years. "I'm not a holy roller, but I think America needs more things like that."

The 62-foot-tall Messiah about 15 miles north of Cincinnati was completed in August. The torso-up sculpture has a 42-foot span between upraised hands, and a 40-foot cross at the base. It's made of plastic foam and fiberglass over a steel frame, and plans are for it to be lit by spotlights at night.

"I didn't know it would get this much national attention," said Lawrence Bishop, co-founder of Solid Rock Church. "We weren't trying to impress people, we were just trying to help people."

The 4,000-member, nondenominational evangelical church was founded by the former horse trader and his wife, Darlene, who also has a ministry.

Bishop said his wife first proposed the Jesus figure as a beacon of hope and salvation. Together, they formed the plan for their "King of Kings" statue and spent about $250,000 to finance it.

"We're living in a day when a lot of people feel hopeless, but we believe that when people see him, they will understand he is the hope for the world," Darlene Bishop said.

The church has received hundreds of e-mails from motorists, some of whom say the statue rekindled their religious spirit. So many people have stopped at the Solid Rock campus that church officials had to scramble to build a walkway to accommodate visitors.

"Some people like it and some don't, but it does get people's attention," said Paul Stone, a Solid Rock member from Wilmington. "It makes you direct your thoughts to God whether you think the statue is neat or not."

The I-75 exit near the statue is marked by a Hustler of Hollywood sign for one of Larry Flynt's largest adult stores and a billboard for Bristol's Show Club & Revue adult club that features a lingerie-clad woman.

The statue "is a pleasant change of atmosphere from what was being projected," Bishop said.

Monroe resident Michele Philpot said she isn't a big fan of the statue but is pleased to see the ambiance of the interchange tip a bit more toward spirituality.

"It kind of evens things out against the Hustler store and Bristol's," she said.

Judy Grant, manager of Sara Jane's restaurant just off the Monroe interchange, worries that too many motorists will slow down to look.

"You see people hit their brakes along that part of I-75 every day. I think the church should have sized it down," Grant said.

Jimmy Flynt, brother of Larry and president of Hustler Enterprises, said there is plenty of room in the small city of Monroe for his adult-oriented store and Solid Rock Church's giant statue.

"Lawrence Bishop has his business going on here, and I have my business going on here, and that's the beauty of America," Flynt said.