G
gilliam
Guest
Dr. Lon Shoopman started preaching at First Baptist Church of Madisonville more than thirty years ago. In 2004, he saw something he’d never seen before, when he saw his congregation react to the Passion of the Christ.
“I think people left stunned,” Shoopman says. “There was not a word said. People sat through the credits, quietly stood, and walked from the theater and left in silence. No one said anything. They left in silence.”
Before the nationwide release of the Passion of the Christ, Shoopman’s congregation rented out a Regal Cinema theater for two nights. His small town church got a big sneak preview. But it cost them. It was more than $9 a ticket, higher than the cost of any other Regal movie ticket. The church picked up half the cost, parishioners the rest.
“We took more than 600 people on those two nights,” Shoopman says.
The creator of the movie, Mel Gibson, sued Regal, saying the theater chain didn’t give his production company all the profits they’d been promised. The settlement money is in, and now Gibson is giving it away. He says Regal overcharged First Baptist of Madisonville and other churches that rented out a theater to see his movie, so he wrote each a $500 check.
“It’s one of those things you don’t expect to happen, then you stop to think about it and you know it should happen, because Christian people are supposed to try to do the right thing, and I think it speaks volumes about Mel Gibson and what he’s trying to do and the kind of person he is,” Shoopman says.
A spokesman with Gibson’s production company says hundreds of churches across the country are getting the refund checks. It’s only for churches that rented out Regal Cinema theaters for special screenings. Shoopman put his check in the church’s special events fund.
wbir.com/news/news.aspx?provider=KNS&storyid=24386
“I think people left stunned,” Shoopman says. “There was not a word said. People sat through the credits, quietly stood, and walked from the theater and left in silence. No one said anything. They left in silence.”
Before the nationwide release of the Passion of the Christ, Shoopman’s congregation rented out a Regal Cinema theater for two nights. His small town church got a big sneak preview. But it cost them. It was more than $9 a ticket, higher than the cost of any other Regal movie ticket. The church picked up half the cost, parishioners the rest.
“We took more than 600 people on those two nights,” Shoopman says.
The creator of the movie, Mel Gibson, sued Regal, saying the theater chain didn’t give his production company all the profits they’d been promised. The settlement money is in, and now Gibson is giving it away. He says Regal overcharged First Baptist of Madisonville and other churches that rented out a theater to see his movie, so he wrote each a $500 check.
“It’s one of those things you don’t expect to happen, then you stop to think about it and you know it should happen, because Christian people are supposed to try to do the right thing, and I think it speaks volumes about Mel Gibson and what he’s trying to do and the kind of person he is,” Shoopman says.
A spokesman with Gibson’s production company says hundreds of churches across the country are getting the refund checks. It’s only for churches that rented out Regal Cinema theaters for special screenings. Shoopman put his check in the church’s special events fund.
wbir.com/news/news.aspx?provider=KNS&storyid=24386
