October 27, 1999
Some Baptists using fright
to stir faith at Halloween
___By George Henson
___Staff Writer
___If anything can make a good Baptist spew fire and brimstone, perhaps it's the witches and ghouls that ooze from retail stores in hordes each October.
___Some Texas Baptists are realizing, however, that many people around them enjoy being scared. So these churches and ministries have decided to capitalize on the fancy for fright to minister to people during the Halloween season.
___First Baptist Church of Edna is in its second year of producing "Judgement House," a name and spelling marketed nationwide by a non-profit corporation based in Florida. Last year more than 1,500 people attended the production in Edna, and 88 of those made professions of faith in Christ. Still more rededicated their lives to Christ.
___The production has been highly anticipated in Edna, a small South Texas town.
AT HORROR THEATER, illusions with a spiritual message are performed by (clockwise from center) Jonathan Curtis, Yvonne Brown, Frank Brown, Kevin Partridge, Bruce Chadwick, Casey Sumrall and Laura Lindsey. Their website is at www.hauntedtheater.com._(Photo by Bryan Murley/SWBTS)
___"Judgement House has been the talk of Edna since last year," said Youth Minister Gary Covin. A Methodist pastor in the community even has one of the dramatic roles.
___This year, the church plans to put on the production four nights, just as was planned last year. Last year, the plan didn't work, however. So many people couldn't get in the final night, the church had to add a fifth night.
___Covin said there never was any discussion about whether or not the church would do it again this year. "It's just been a phenomenal blessing of the Lord," he said.
___While the staff was concerned the project might be too big for a church of about 200 in Sunday School attendance, the congregation has been very supportive and involved, he reported.
___"It's exciting because it's something everyone in our church is involved in," Covin said. "It brought many of our church members together who never would have had a reason to ever come in contact with each other."
___More than 100 of the church's members are involved in the setup, registration of attendees, drama, security and prayer.
___"The prayer team is really one of the most important parts of Judgement House. They begin praying weeks before the production and are in a room praying each night while the performances are going on," Covin said.
___Edna's Judgement House is a Christianized version of a haunted house. It is an hour-long, dramatized journey through several rooms where participants follow the encounters of a trio of siblings whose parents are out of town. The story depicts issues such as drunkenness, arson, death and the moral decisions all humans are called upon to make.
___Though it's a frightful topic, the church has experienced no negatives connected to the project, Covin said.
___"The only problem we had last year was people sometimes had to wait in line too long, but after going through 'Judgement House,' they all said it was worth the wait," he reported.
___Judgement House was begun in 1983 by Alabama youth minister Tom Hudgins, who was looking for an alternative to traditional haunted houses for his teenagers.
___He took the concept with him when he moved to a Clearwater, Fla., church, and a non-profit corporation has been formed to spread the concept to other churches across the country. This year almost 100 churches will present Judgement House, including eight in Texas.
___Judgement House is not the only creative approach to Halloween, however.
___In Fort Worth, illusionist Bruce Chadwick is working with a professor and several students at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary to produce Horror Theater at Town Center Mall.
___Horror Theater uses a series of illusions to illustrate Scripture, from creation through the resurrection of Christ.
___"What we're doing is using stage illusion to give Scripture a visual representation,"Chadwick said. "The whole thing is geared toward evangelism." Every illusion in the production is preceded with a reading from the Bible. As a matter of fact, Scripture is the only thing uttered through the entirety of the show.
KEVIN PARTRIDGE demonstrates a piercing illusion during the Horor Theater production.
___While he can understand why some might find the approach controversial, Chadwick said he is trying to use the talents he has to reach people for Christ in the place where they are.
___"What reaches one person may not reach another. We're just trying a different approach," he said. "Our goal is to provide a Halloween alternative that will boggle the mind and shock the soul."
___Robert DeVargas, an assistant professor of education and communications at Southwestern, was the illusionist for the weekend prior to Halloween. He agrees this might not be the approach every church should take, but he's sure it is a good tool to reach people who have a greater interest in illusion than they do in church.
___"I don't like Halloween personally, either," DeVargas said. "However, our aim is to get South Tarrant County to go to something they are probably going to go to anyway and be exposed to the gospel."
___That exposure of the gospel led three people to profess faith in Christ in the first few weeks of the show, he said.
___While this is the first year of the production, it has been a dream of Chadwick's for more than 15 years. He has been developing the illusions for the last two years. And some of those illusions are fairly graphic: a buzz saw slicing through a human torso, a head cut off by a guillotine and a darning needle pushed through human flesh.
___The website for the production states: "This program is graphic in nature. Pregnant women and persons with emotional, mental or other difficulties should not attend. This program is not intended for young children. Parental guidance is suggested."
___Fright is not the show's ultimate purpose, though, Chadwick said. "It is not meant to scare people, but to boggle the mind. It also is meant to have people come face-to-face with their mortality."
___Down I-35 in Waco, a student group at Baylor University has another frightful evening planned as a ministry tool. The Players, a drama group from Baylor's Baptist Student Ministries, are producing a show called Hell House.
___The dramatic production is designed to show that things are not always what they appear, said Erin Sanderson, one of the participants.
___"The show is designed to show real things that happen each day, but people don't see the demonic activity involved," she said. For example, part of the drama depicts a man drinking in a bar and the results of that drinking when he returns home to his family. In this case, many people would attribute all the bad things that happen to the alcohol and never consider a demonic influence is at work, she said.
___The group of about 30 students' greatest prayer is that the production will lead someone to consider salvation in Christ once they realize the spiritual battle that is going on, Sanderson said. "God has put it on many of our hearts that this is a ministry opportunity, where we can use drama to show people the reality of demonic activity and how they can be saved."
___For more information:
___Horror Theater will be presented at Town Center Mall in Fort Worth, at Interstate 35 and Seminary Drive, nightly through Halloween. Tickets are $6. Call (817) 927-0581 for information.
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