Touchdown Jesus Aftermath

Near Monroe, Ohio, is the Solid Rock Church, which in 2004 completed work on a 60 foot tall Jesus statue made (according to press reports) of styrofoam and fiberglass.  The statue, officially named "King of Kings", was more commonly known as "Touchdown Jesus", and was located in the middle of a pond facing the I-75 between Dayton and Cincinnati:

(Photo from wikipedia)

As you may have heard, the statue was struck by lightning on Monday and burned.  Tiffany West-May was on her way home from Cincinatti and captured the fire on video and in photos:

Yesterday, I happened to be passing by on my way from Cincinatti to Asheville, I searched out the church, found it open, and went on in and snapped some photos of the aftermath:

Interestingly, the theatre building behind the statue has lightning rods (and I'm sure the statue structure was grounded, but the heat from the lightning would have ignited the materials anyway):

I'm pretty sure this is a partially burnt piece of styrofoam, located quite some distance behind the statue:

The church is located right next to the Traders World flea market, which also features tall statues which were spared by the lightning:

More photos here.

Comments

[Jim Hutchison]

I remember Touchdown Jesus! I used to live in Columbus, and he was a right of passage for Ohio tourists!
I actually like the statue better with the big representative pipes and metal now...

[Zeus]

For reasons that should be obvious to anyone who has attended a mid-western state fair, many referred to the statue as "Big Butter Jesus." The church has announced it will rebuild, but with a different design and materials. Rumors of the insurance company denying the claim due to "Act of God" are unfounded and incorrect.