Friday, March 7, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
"God said 'this isn't what I want you to do,"' said Knight, describing the message he got as he stood on an East Tennessee mountainside in 1991 to survey sites for the theater.
Instead, Knight proposed building a 1,200-acre Bible theme park near Columbia, S.C. It will be called "Walk Through The Bible."
At a news conference Thursday, Knight said he will use animatronics and other technology to bring the Bible to life.
The alcohol- and tobacco-free complex will also house homes for boys, girls, the elderly people with special needs. Those facilities will be funded by profits from the park's golf course, water park, hotel, convention center and gospel music theaters.
Knight said his objective now is to raise the $400 million needed to build the park. He said a group in Las Vegas has offered to fund the project, but wants the city to be involved.
It's an idea Knight doesn't like.
"We're going to God's people and we're going to ask them to give $100," he said.
Knight, along with God's Wonderful World, Inc. - a non-profit corporation that will run the park - is confident that $100 from at least 5 percent of the nearly 80 million churchgoers nationwide will be enough to pay for the project.
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