A Report on the Ark Encounter (Part 1)
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The Ark Encounter at sunset on Monday, July 4. (Photo by Paul DeCesare; courtesy Ken Ham, Answers in Genesis and ArkEncounter.com)
From Dispensational Publishing House; used by permission.
July 5, 2016
Greetings from the Ark Encounter—Answers in Genesis’ life-size reconstruction of Noah’s ark.
In this first report following a very big day at the Ark, I want to emphasize a few simple points.
Just getting to the Ark proved to be quite a challenge this morning. My wife Lynnette and I thought that we were leaving early, but we ended up trying to take an alternate route when we saw traffic headed to the Ark on Interstate 75 at a near standstill. We entered the parking lot before 10 a.m., then stood in line until finally getting on a bus that was bound for the Ark and the ribbon cutting ceremony around 11:35. (The ceremony began at 11.) All this to say—the crowd was immense.
There were people everywhere—going in every direction—but especially going to see the Ark and desiring to be part of this historic event. According to a report from Answers in Genesis, the crowd numbered more than 7,000 people.
That number made me think of a familiar passage of Scripture, in which we read this Word from God to Elijah:
Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him (1 Kings 19:18).
In these strange days into which we are moving, could it be that many people—certainly not a majority, but a significant number—are hungry for truth and flocking to the Ark, specifically because it has much to teach us about these turbulent times?
As Jesus stated:
As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all (Luke 17:26-27).
Dispensational Publishing House will be exploring similar themes all this month, so for now I will leave this as a rhetorical question. Certainly we can say that 7,000 people showed up today who are not ready to bow to the false gods of evolution and uniformitarianism.
Following the ceremonies, I left the Ark Encounter for several hours, then returned and spent about two hours touring the inside of the Ark. When I went back at 4 p.m., the crowd had thinned out to such an extent that I was the only one taking the bus bound for the Ark at that particular time. There were, of course, still many people inside taking the tour.
What did I see inside the Ark? I will give a detailed overview of my impressions in a later post. But first, I will describe some more personal highlights of my trip—particularly the opportunity to watch this historic event and spend time with one of several men who were honored today, Dr. John Whitcomb.
July 6, 2016
It was a great privilege to be invited to participate in the ribbon cutting ceremony for the Ark Encounter and to be able to tour the Ark twice before it opens to the public tomorrow.
I must admit that the opening events on Tuesday morning unfolded much differently than I expected. Since attendance at the ribbon cutting was by invitation only, I was envisioning a service that had some of the marks of the installation of a new president in a Bible college. What actually occurred was something more like—on a smaller scale—trying to get into a professional sports stadium for the game of the century. I wrote a little about this yesterday, and I truly hope that the crowds that turned out yesterday—and again today when we went back for the opportunity to tour the Ark at our leisure—are a sign of the kind of response that the Ark Encounter will continue to see on an ongoing basis.
The other very special privilege that I had during these days was to spend time with Dr. John and Mrs. Norma Whitcomb. I have assisted Dr. Whitcomb in his ministry for the past 13 years and contributed his bio in Coming to Grips with Genesis (Master Books, 2008). I have previously written about Dr. Whitcomb’s significant contribution to the beginning of the modern Biblical creationism movement, which, of course, is the backdrop to his inclusion in these events at the Ark.
It has been my desire for some time to be present when Dr. Whitcomb participated in the historic opening of the Ark. Ironically, I was still standing in a long line in the parking lot when it was time for his major place in the ceremony. But at least I was there on the grounds! And the Lord graciously gave me the ability to have this photo taken with the Whitcombs, and gave my wife and I the opportunity to spend a nice time at lunch with them and many of their family members who were on hand for the occasion.
At age 92, Dr. Whitcomb’s concerns during the time between ordering lunch and receiving it still focus upon the books he is writing and other ministry opportunities ahead. The Whitcombs were actually doing double duty this week, as the church fellowship that they are part of—the Conservative Grace Brethren Churches International—had planned their annual conference to coincide with the opening of the Ark Encounter.
DPH editor in chief Paul Scharf (left) with Dr. and Mrs. John C. Whitcomb following the Ark Encounter ribbon cutting ceremony on Tuesday, July 5.
Dr. Whitcomb did not have any public speaking engagements during these days, but he interacted with countless people—some who have known him for years and some meeting him for the very first time. He began today at the Ark, where he met with some Conservative Grace Brethren pastors. The afternoon found him at the Creation Museum, where he signed books for an hour outside the bookstore and then did a recorded interview.
At an age when most people would not even consider making a trip to see these kinds of attractions, Dr. Whitcomb is an inspiration to all who come in contact with him.
This morning I met another member of the Greatest Generation—who is also a contributor to Dispensational Publishing House and a familiar name to many if not all of our readers. As my wife and I were on the ramp going up from the second to the third deck of the Ark, we saw Mark Looy, co-founder and chief communications officer of Answers in Genesis, speaking to none other than Dr. Tim LaHaye. Although I have interviewed Dr. LaHaye for Answers Magazine, and have worked with him on behalf of DPH, I had never met him in person.
Dr. LaHaye holds a special place in my heart—both because of his long and storied stand for Biblical truth and—in particular—Bible prophecy, and also because another beloved former seminary professor of mine, the late Dr. Ralph Turk, was once Dr. LaHaye’s right-hand man, and always spoke very highly of him.
As Dr. LaHaye shook my hand, he remarked on “what a testimony” the Ark offers to the world.
I am grateful to God for the opportunity to interact with Christian servants of the caliber of Drs. Whitcomb and LaHaye. The verse that comes to my mind is Phil. 2:29: “Hold such men in esteem.”
In tomorrow’s conclusion to this series of reports on the Ark, I will share my reaction to what I saw at this amazing apologetic endeavor.
Paul Scharf 2015 Bio
Paul J. Scharf, M.Div., is the editor in chief of Dispensational Publishing House. He has experience as a writer, pastor and Bible teacher and lives near Columbus, WI. Contact him at paul@dispensationalpublishing.com.
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Or it might just be secular curiosity seekers?
Certainly we can say that 7,000 people showed up today who are not ready to bow to the false gods of evolution and uniformitarianism.
I am also not sure we can call uniformitarianism a false god as a blanket statment.
Dr. LaHaye shook my hand, he remarked on “what a testimony” the Ark offers to the world.
Agreed … along with the Left Behind books, movies, and video game!
For reference, the estimated visitors of 1.4 milllion to 2 million per year are equivalent to about 4000-6000 visitors per day; note that the article states clearly that highways were backed up with 7000 visitors, and buses are needed to get to the actual attraction. Unless visitors distribute their visits through the day—and I’m guessing most will come in the AM and leave near closing—they are going to have a serious infrastructure problem here. Kinda like trying to get to downtown when the Twins are playing—easier said than done.
Again, I hope that time and experience proves me wrong. I’d love to see this be a huge encouragement to God’s people and a good evangelism tool to boot, and I want to see it succeed. I just don’t see the business plan coming together with these numbers.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
in the department of “tooting our own horn”, you can hear two recent addresses by Dr. Whitcomb at our annual FBFI fellowship meeting here … they will appear relatively near the top, or you can filter by speaker on Dr. Whitcomb’s name
Edit: Here are the individual messages
Maranatha!
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3
“Or it might just be secular curiosity seekers?”
dgszweda, from Paul’s report it sounds like the opening day event was by invitation only, so not sure how many secular curiosity seekers were invited for the opening day event.
Bert, they have two shifts, a day and a night shift when you can visit, to spread out the crowds.
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Greg Long, Ed.D. (SBTS)
Pastor of Adult Ministries
Grace Church, Des Moines, IA
Adjunct Instructor
School of Divinity
Liberty University
[Greg Long]Bert, they have two shifts, a day and a night shift when you can visit, to spread out the crowds.
Not quite true; here are the hours. Two shifts ends August 15, and then it goes to one shift where most visitors will be arriving in the first four hours of being open—say one car every 6-8 seconds if they get anywhere near their goal of 6000 visitors per day. With the parking booths/toll booths that will be needed to get the parking fees, you’re talking serious backup. This is especially the case when you consider it will be fed by a two lane road. Plus, even with two shifts, people are ordinarily going to favor daytime hours. Also worth noting is that 1500-2000 vehicles appears to be about the “holding capacity” of their parking lot—you get lots of delays when parking is over 75% filled, too.
Moreover, three levels of 510x85’ gets you about 130k square feet. If we assume a visitor spends at least four hours on average there, that’s about 40 square feet per visitor—when you carve out space “not amenable for people” and the ordinary space people give for reading and viewing an exhibit, you’re getting into the realm of “fire marshal is going to have something to say”, not to mention “people getting into other peoples’ personal space”.
My guess is that attendance will be at nowhere near the 1.4 million to 2 million visitors per year, so this will probably not come to pass—I’d guess half a million the first year and 300k in following years are closer to reality. But if I’m wrong, and it pokes up above a million a year, there are going to be some major infrastructure concerns, and perhaps also fire safety. To draw a picture, the ~ 40sf/ person they’d have at the upper bound is about what the fire marshal allows in the auditorium part of 4th Baptist—and that’s a concrete and steel building, and most people are sitting close together, not wandering through a museum.
Love to be wrong on this, but this is more evidence that somebody at AIG didn’t do their reckoning.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
Yes, I’m sure Bert that no one at AiG has given any thought to those issues that you hammered out in 30 minutes. ;)
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Greg Long, Ed.D. (SBTS)
Pastor of Adult Ministries
Grace Church, Des Moines, IA
Adjunct Instructor
School of Divinity
Liberty University
..how many times people that should know better miss the obvious in their business plans. Two of my favorite examples involve my grandfather’s company—he worked for Commonwealth Edison in Chicago, and before the 1933 World’s Fair opened, he figured out that power to the Fair was grossly inadequate. They brushed him aside, and then fuses and transformers popped like firecrackers on the 4th of July. He ended up spending the week before his wedding (he honeymooned at the Fair) pulling cables and installing more power distribution.
Another example of not doing the math was when ConEd changed the lighting in their HQ from incandescent to flourescent—but the original design was for lighting to provide the heat. So the pipes froze during a cold snap. “Oops.”
And as I’ve noted before, companies that get subsidies or tax breaks seem to be especially vulnerable here—like Obamacare exchanges, solar power companies, and the like. This is, for better or worse, the category of Ark Encounter, and there are a LOT of things where the numbers they’re using aren’t consistent with comparable facilities. Look ‘em up for yourself; it’s scary.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
To me it looks more like a work in progress, where they will hammer out some of the details as needed. Paul Scharf was there and gave us a report on day one, which involved the special ribbon cutting, and so that was a unique event. But I don’t see any need to rush to judgment. Notice in Part 2 Paul mentioned things were still being completed. He said you park, wait for shuttle, and then get dropped off. Notice he didn’t say there was a delay in this process in the last two days he was there.
[Greg Long]Yes, I’m sure Bert that no one at AiG has given any thought to those issues that you hammered out in 30 minutes.
The attendance at the Creation Museum is dropping rapidly right now, and has forced AiG into the red. One of the reasons they started increasing ticket prices. This museum is only attracting a little over 250K in attendance. With that said, the Hudden report which was commissioned by the Kentucky Tourism board as part of the application process, indicated that the numbers from AiG were wildly inflated. The report projected the attendance would probably be under 400K a year.
AiG’s attendance numbers are based on the belief that 4 out of 5 people in America believe in the Ark, which is probably a big stretch. If there first 6 days is extrapolated (i.e. the same number of people continue coming for the next year at the same levels as the first 6 days), they would not hit their target.
I was talking more about the logistical issues to which Bert was referring.
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Greg Long, Ed.D. (SBTS)
Pastor of Adult Ministries
Grace Church, Des Moines, IA
Adjunct Instructor
School of Divinity
Liberty University
[Darrell Post]To me it looks more like a work in progress, where they will hammer out some of the details as needed. Paul Scharf was there and gave us a report on day one, which involved the special ribbon cutting, and so that was a unique event. But I don’t see any need to rush to judgment. Notice in Part 2 Paul mentioned things were still being completed. He said you park, wait for shuttle, and then get dropped off. Notice he didn’t say there was a delay in this process in the last two days he was there.
OK, first of all, I’ve seen the claims of what David is noting, and I’m sure we both hope we’re wrong—but I’ve got to trust him on this. And since the CM was paid for in cash, if they’re running in the red, they have some serious cash flow and visitation issues. That noted, 250k/year is about what you would predict when you map out visitors/square foot in comparison with a lot of other museums like the Field and Science & Industry in Chicago.
Regarding the logistical issues, there are some they can fix, and some they can’t. The one they can fix is road access—you simply ask the county to make it four lanes and widen the access to their parking lots, and you’re good. The flip side is—here is that visitors per square foot thing again—you can only put so many people through the 100k-130k square feet of the “Ark” before people start feeling seriously crowded or the fire marshal says “no more.” I’d like to think that if you did a little bit to motivate people to spread out their visits throughout the day, you’d be able to bend this a little bit towards the upside, but all in all, if they get more than 500k this year, I’ll be surprised.
And I acknowledge I can be coming across as something of a “negative Nellie” or something here—as I noted above, it’s something I may get from my grandfather—but at a certain point, we’ve got to get it through our heads that the ministries we support need to have a coherent business plan that takes into account comparable events. Would you work with a realtor that ignored comps, or a financial adviser who ignored market history? Same basic principle. Again, I hope I’m wrong, but this could be really, really bad.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
Bert,
Any Christian org out there could end up in a really, really bad situation. Most Bible colleges operate year to year hoping to stay afloat. Same for Christian camps. Without endowments, many of these organizations could fold. My comments above were restricted to the Ark Encounter. I haven’t commented on the Creation Museum in this thread, though I have visited it and found it to be a great experience. But the cut ribbon at the Ark Encounter hasn’t even made it to the dumpster yet, and they are still building the place, but already all sorts of worry and hand-wringing over logistical issues that may or may not exist? Why? Don’t take this wrong, but your comments sort of suggest that you wish the Creation Museum and Ark Encounter were never built…is that true?
[Darrell Post]Don’t take this wrong, but your comments sort of suggest that you wish the Creation Museum and Ark Encounter were never built…is that true?
Not every “Christian” endeavor is worthy of support.
Studying Church history bears this truth out. An example: The Children’s Crusade[s]
Nicholas, a shepherd from the Rhineland in Germany who possessed an extraordinary eloquence, tried to lead a group across the Alps and into Italy in the early spring of 1212. Nicholas promised that the sea would dry up before them and allow his followers to cross into the Holy Land
[another] was led by a twelve-year-old French shepherd boy named Stephan of Cloyes, who claimed in June that he bore a letter for the king of France from Jesus. Large gangs of youth around his age were drawn to him, most of whom claimed to possess special gifts of God and thought themselves miracle workers
Where “things” go “off the rails”:
- Start with a truth
- Elevate that truth above other truths
- Have a proposal
- Exaggerate the benefits
- Excite the crowds (strong personalties with oratorical skills help)
- Et cetera
I have a real story from being on a local Christian non-profit board:
- There’s a very great need
- If we build it - will meet that need
- The build proposal was very large (I know I am not being specific here … too “close to home”
- Capacity now in place
- Expected “demand” for services has not materialized
- The “leader” has some mystic-like tendencies (“God told him/her”, et cetera)
With regard to the ark … here’s a question: if it’s such a great idea why didn’t Paul (or another apostle) envision it?
Discussion