Jesus statue in Ohio struck by lightning

Destroyed Jesus Statue

A 6-story statue of Jesus, known as “Touchdown Jesus,” was struck by lightning today, Tuesday June 15. The statue was engulfed in flames and later collapsed.

Touchdown Jesus was located outside Solid Rock Church on I-75 in Butler County, Ohio. The statue had become a local landmark since it was erected in 2004.

The “King of Kings” statue, one of southwest Ohio’s most familiar landmarks, had stood since 2004 at the evangelical Solid Rock Church along Interstate 75 in Monroe, just north of Cincinnati.

The lightning strike set the statue ablaze around 11:15 p.m., Monroe police dispatchers said.

The sculpture, 62 feet tall and 40 feet wide at the base, showed Jesus from the torso up and was nicknamed Touchdown Jesus because of the way the arms were raised, similar to a referee signaling a touchdown. It was made of plastic foam and fiberglass over a steel frame, which is all that remained early Tuesday.

The fire spread from the statue to an adjacent amphitheater but was confined to the attic area, and no one was injured, police Chief Mark Neu said. The fire department would release a monetary damage estimate Tuesday, he said.

Travelers on Interstate 75 often were startled to come upon the huge statue by the roadside, but many said America needs more symbols like it. So many people stopped at the church campus that church officials had to build a walkway to accommodate them.

The 4,000-member, nondenominational church was founded by former horse trader Lawrence Bishop and his wife. Bishop said in 2004 he was trying to help people, not impress them, with the statue. He said his wife proposed the Jesus figure as a beacon of hope and salvation, and they spent about $250,000 to finance it.

This morning all that remained of the 62-foot tall Touchdown Jesus statue, was the charred remains of the internal frame that supported the structure.

Watch Jesus Statue Burn.