Sevierville’s First Baptist Church Judgement House is back again this October to minister to the Smoky Mountain community. It’s a ministry that has changed hundreds of lives since Sevierville Baptist began the annual event in 2002.
This walk-through drama provides people with a yearly opportunity to view performers making serious life choices and see the consequences that take place because of those choices. It’s an eye-opening experience whether you’ve been before or this is your first time. Each year the performances change, so if you came last year, this year will be a totally different experience.
In years past, Judgement House has centered around the heaven vs. hell theme. People come at Halloween to experience more of the hell portion, though they might be surprised that the focus is just as great on the heavenly portion that Judgement House is about.
Many churches on the area put on Judgement houses, and most start up around Halloween. And for the most part it is part-haunted house, part-sermon, part-choice, part-consequences. What they’re all getting at is the choice of saving one self before it is too late and choosing the path toward righteousness. Judgement house-goers sometimes face questions about their own faith and people are there to help them find answers while encouraging them to accept the Christian way of life.
Judgement houses first came about at New Creation Evangelism in Clearwater, Fla., and were used as an evangelical tool for the church’s congregation. This was almost 30 years ago. Many ideas and practices that went into that first Judgement House have since changed.
Still, it hasn’t kept people from forming opinions on the practice, or from just being downright too scared to attend. Some contend that Judgement houses get a bad reputation as a hellish interpretation of life. Others think they go hand in hand with hell houses that tackle such issues as abortion and murder, often times in a very graphic nature. Not so with Sevierville First Baptist’s Judgement House. Though many fears become realized through each adaptation, it’s the ending of mercy and redemption being offered that sets the Sevierville First Baptist Church version apart.
Come see for yourself and make your own decision this year. Visit Sevierville First Baptist’s Judgement House and come away with a clearer picture of heaven and hell than you had before.
Seveirville First Baptist Church
317 Parkway
Sevierville, TN 37862
Phone: (865) 453-9001