'Judgement House' offers some scary lessons about life Posted On: Monday, Nov. 2 2009 04:53 AM By Victor O'Brien
Killeen Daily Herald

No zombies, demons and or ghosts were needed to create a haunted house at Skyline Baptist Church's alternative Halloween. For them, Satan alone is scary enough.

The church concluded its 10th annual "Judgement House" alternative Halloween Saturday with a performance of "Unexpected."

The church created a multi-room set that had the elaborate makings of a haunted house but instead carried a message of faith rather than fear.

The event goes through a scenario that highlights a belief that all who believe in Jesus Christ will go to heaven and others will go to hell.

The story follows a family killed in a freak car accident. A teenage girl texting on her cell phone crashes her vehicle into a restaurant where the family was eating dinner.

The mother, daughter, the daughter's friend and a waiter die. The next scene shows a father and his son mourning the loss of the mother and daughter. The emotional scene evoked tears from viewers Saturday, many of whom were affected by the sadness of the message.

The story follows the three deceased to their judgment, where they are assigned to either heaven or hell. The mother, despite being a kind and loving woman, is sent to hell because she did not believe in Jesus. The daughter, decided earlier that day to believe in Jesus, and she goes to heaven.

"It's all about the decisions you make in life like whether you accept Christ or not, whether you'll spend eternity either in heaven or hell," Dave McGinnis, production co-coordinator, said. "Instead of having goblins, ghosts and scary parts, it's just to give people something else to do with a Christian focus."

The performance wasn't meant to scare people but to share a message of faith and redemption, McGinnis said.

"It was an awesome, positive message," Timothy Togiai said." Togiai brought more than 30 followers from First Samoan Assembly of God to attend Saturday's performance.

"I was in Iraq and it never gets easier seeing coffins. Death is so unexpected," Togiai said of a teary-eyed response to the funeral scene.

More than 100 people including actors, stagehands and cooks donated six nights last week to make the production happen. The sets looked real all the way from a gymnasium transformed into a car crash to a room decorated to be a dark, hot hell.

More than 30 people attended the last night of "Judgement House," which had drawn 508 viewers through Friday. Youth groups and churchgoers from across Central Texas attend each year to take in a new story. At the end Saturday, Pastor Kenny Rawls shared a brief sermon with the groups, which summed up the message of "Judgement House."

"If you were to die tonight, where would you spend eternity?" Rawls asked.

Contact Victor O'Brien at vobrien@kdhnews.com or (254) 501-7468.