Heritage USA, Fort Mill, South Carolina

Heritage USA is located in Fort Mill, SC. (1978-1989) It's about 2 miles down the street from Paramount's Carowinds. This Christian Theme Park has beaen closed and abandoned for well over a decade, so we wanted to check out how the place looks now. 

http://www.tommyandjames.net/heritageusa.html 

Who went down the waterslide in a suit and tie? The late Jerry Falwell.

 

Holy Land USA, Waterbury, Connecticut

Not the TBN one currently in operation in Florida, but more of an abandoned one:

http://roadtripmemories.com/2011/09/29/holy-land-u-s-a-waterbury-connecticut/

"The creation of John Baptist Greco, situated on Pine Hill in Waterbury, Connecticut, Holy Land U.S.A. was a place for education of the Bible and the life of Christ. It was not a shrine or a place of worship. It was dedicated in 1958 as “Bethlehem Village” and later became Holy Land U.S.A. The vision of a local Waterbury lawyer named John Greco and built with the help of Waterbury Italian volunteers, Holy Land was a tourist destination for years, sometimes drawing 44,000 visitors per year."

Scriptorium, Holy Land Experience, Orlando, Florida

Within the TBN-owned theme park is a true item of interest:

http://www.holylandexperience.com/


This museum is a non-sectarian library / research center that houses the priceless Van Kampen Collection consisting of several thousand manuscripts, scrolls, and other religious artifacts. The collection is augmented by secondary resources, including the personal library of Eberhard Nestle, leading 19th century biblical scholar and co-translator of the Greek Nestle/Aland New Testament text.

The walk-through experience of The Scriptorium transports visitors to historical and geographical areas of the world where displayed biblical documents originated and gives guests a dramatic understanding of the history of the Bible, how it parallels the history of civilization, and the impact it has had upon the world.
Additionally, specially featured items are on display in our rotating exhibit space, located off The Scriptorium's Ex Libris bookstore.

Billy Sunday Grave, Chicago, Illinois

The Baseball Evangelist. He was born in Ames, Iowa, to a father who was a Union soldier and died a month after Billy's birth. Extreme poverty forced his mother to place him in an orphanage. While playing for a local baseball team, he was invited to play for the old Chicago Whitestockings later becoming the Cubs. A fast runner, he stole 95 bases in one season. His professional career found him also playing for teams in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia before converting to Christianity. Billy Sunday gave up his baseball career and began working for the Chicago YMCA while associated with an evangelist which led him to be ordained a Presbyterian minister. He began bringing a rural camp-meeting style to cities all over the country known as "walk the sawdust trail" for Jesus Christ. His mainstay subject was the evils of drink as well as condemning birth control, gambling, swearing and Sabbath-breaking. He was one of the first prominent preachers to make extensive use of the new medium radio. By the end of his career, Sunday had preached to over eighty million people. He participated in the prohibitionist movement and his influence was instrumental in getting the amendment passed. He wrote numerous books. He supported womens rights and attempted to reach out to American blacks. Sinclair Lewis' book, "Elmer Gantry" is based on his life, the book later made into a the movie. Billy Sunday was also immortalized in the song "Chicago," described as the town he could not shut down. Late in life having amassed a small fortune, he was able to move with his wife and four children to a lake front house at Winona Lake, Indiana which today is preserved and a favorite destination of tourist. Winona Lake was also home to The Lake Bible conference which staged many Chautaugua meetings featuring Billy Sunday. He continued to hold meetings until his death from a heart attack. His funeral was held at the auditorium of the Moody Memorial Church in Chicago, a facility where he appeared as a guest preacher many times. Thousands filed past his bier and 3,500 people attended the service officiated by Dr. Ironside, the pastor of the Church. Many remained outside unable to gain entrance. His marker in Forest Park bears a Bible verse inscription appropriate for a "squeaky clean" evangelist who practiced what he preached, "I have fought a good fight. I have kept the faith." (bio by: Donald Greyfield (inactive)) http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=1007

Oriental Institute, Chicago, Illinois

Largest collection of Biblical artifacts in the Western Hemisphere.

Download the audio guide - The Bible in the Ancient Mideast

http://oi.uchicago.edu/museum/

Pacific Garden Mission, Chicago, Illinois

Billy Sunday, a popular professional baseball player for the Chicago White Stockings, came to the mission in 1886. He first heard the gospel from the mission Gospel Wagon on the corner of State and Van Buren. He visited the mission that night and liked what he heard and one night Billy publicly accepted Christ as Lord and Savior. He became an eager Bible student and gave his testimony frequently at the mission. Billy learned his first lessons in giving the invitation and in talking man to man with a sinner, explaining the steps to salvation. Later, after turning down a lucrative offer to continue his baseball career, Billy Sunday became a world renowned evangelist. http://www.pgm.org/pages.aspx?PageName=Our_History_Part_2

Bowen Collection, BJU Museum & Gallery, Greenville, South Carolina

In 1927, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Bowen began compiling information and artifacts from Bible times for a museum that would “make the Bible come alive.” In addition to collecting antiquities from the Holy Land, the Bowen’s collection also contains items from cultures that have influenced life in the Holy Land, including Egyptian, Byzantine, Roman, Greek, Persian-Islamic, and Syrian.  From iridescent Roman glass vials and Roman jewelry found at Pompeii’s ruins to Egyptian ceremonial vessels and cosmetics, the collection invites visitors to relate to their counterparts from the past through the glimpses of life in ancient cultures.  Nearly 200 Egyptian objects in the collection were discovered and donated by Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie, the world-renown English archaeologist. http://www.bjumg.org/the-bowen-collection2/