$1 Million Gift Received for Creation Museum!

Although AiG's Creation Museum, under construction near Cincinnati, Ohio, has largely been built by thousands of gifts under $100, a $1 million gift received Friday afternoon brought the total donations for this “walk through biblical history” museum closer to the $25 million needed.

A family representing the Colorado-based foundation that issued the gift flew in on Friday to personally hand-deliver the check. They then joined 2,700 other museum supporters who, as charter members (along with their guests), took a “sneak preview” tour of the museum. (You can read about it on Ken's blog.)

“I was blown away by God's remarkable provision,” exclaimed Ken Ham, president of AiG-US, which is building the museum center on 49 scenic acres just two exits west of the major Cincinnati Airport. “That means we have about $3 million left to raise. We had promised our supporters that we would open the museum debt-free next spring, and that appears to be happening,” Ham added.

The Creation Museum is a 55,000-square-foot center that will take future visitors on a walk through the history of the Bible. They will be treated to animatronic dinosaurs, a planetarium (nearly finished), a special effects theater, 55 videos and high-tech, family-friendly exhibits that will show that the Bible, including its creation account, is the true history of the world. It will also present the gospel in many parts of the museum.

The museum is conveniently located. It is within a day's drive of almost two-thirds of the U.S. population and millions of Canadians. Well over 250,000 visitors are expected each year.

Ham observed that “even though we have been blessed with this very generous donation through the Christian Community Foundation, the museum is being built just as much by our rank-and-file supporters around the country as it is by large gifts. I'm amazed at this national response and very grateful. In fact, some of our most loyal supporters live near the West Coast-2,000 miles away. I'm astounded.”

Ham concluded: “Not only will the Creation Museum be a national center, we believe that because several international media have already been here, the museum will definitely become an international destination.” Last year, Ham noted, three BBC-TV crews produced segments on the Creation Museum, and long articles about the museum have appeared in major newspapers worldwide (e.g., Washington Post, Times of London, Sydney Morning Herald, Il Sole, NY Times, LA Times, Chicago Tribune, etc.). A major Associated Press story is scheduled to appear in papers across America this week.