Kyle Green | The Roanoke Times

Pastor Jerry Powell raises his hand in the air as he takes a tour of Holy Land USA. The park offers both motorized and walking tours. In the park's early years, tours were free; now they cost $10.

BEDFORD -- In the shadows of Golgotha, a group of Christians broke into song on a recent Saturday.

"Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. King and kingdom will all pass away. But there's something about that name."

Below the three rough-hewn crosses of Mount Calvary sat Jesus' tomb, a cave lit by a fluorescent light and explained by a sign: "The Tomb is Empty!"

Mickie Moss of South Carolina was one of the faithful at the foot of the cross, traveling on her second pilgrimage to Bedford County's Holy Land USA.

Opened in 1972, the park features a three-mile motorized tour of replicas of biblical sites in Israel. This time, Moss brought a handful of fellow parishioners from Fingerville Baptist Church in Spartanburg, S.C. The group of seven joined about 50 others from Piney Hill Baptist Church in Amherst for the tour.

For Moss, the second visit was as moving as the first she made a decade ago.

"This is a blessing. ... Whenever I've got a crisis in my life, God always gives me peace in my heart. This reminds me of everything God does for me, how he suffered and died," she said.

An unusual pilgrimage

Holy Land USA might be called a theme park by some, a quirky spiritual landmark by others. "Weird Virginia" authors classified it in their 2007 book as a roadside attraction and devoted four pages to it.

But its founder, Robert Johnson, considered Holy Land a pilgrimage site and a living memorial to his son, 24-year-old Campbell Johnson, who died suddenly in 1972 and was buried on the property.

Built on an old farm Johnson bought in '72, Holy Land operated continuously until 2005, when general manager Richard Dooley closed it and began the search for a buyer.

During his lifetime, Johnson visited Israel nearly a dozen times and wanted to re-create the experience for those unable take the real pilgrimage, Dooley said.

The Bedford County park is not unique. Various Holy Land theme parks exist across the country. Most notable among them is the Orlando, Fla.-based Holy Land Experience profiled in Bill Maher's "Religulous" documentary. But the spirit of Johnson's version is more reminiscent of an old country church than of a religious Disneyland. Despite its simplicity, Holy Land became a regular destination for church field trips and tour buses. Over more than three decades, it drew an estimated 500,000 visitors and took in about $5 million in donations, Dooley said.

In its earlier years, walkers could tour Holy Land for free. For a nominal fee, visitors could ride open-air vehicles staffed by trained guides. Herds of sheep and other animals mentioned in the Bible roamed the park.

Today, the animals, except one sheep, are gone. Tours cost $10. But pilgrims still ride along a woodland trail to replicas of more than a dozen sacred sites, many of them conceived by Johnson.

Volunteer tour guides such as Dave Ward give minisermons at each site illustrating key stories from Jesus' life and ministry.

The old farm is a quiet place for reflection, "where you can hear the still, small voice," Ward said. "God's voice doesn't always come in a clap of thunder."

The journey, as volunteers call it, begins and ends at Bethlehem Barn, a diorama of Jesus' birth and early life. The building also serves as the park's operations center and contains a chapel used by congregations such as the Cowboy Church and the Bluegrass Church.

The tour proceeds to Shepherd's Field, a grassy slope embedded with a huge stone star, representing the star that is said to have led three kings to the infant savior.

Pilgrims pass through Cana, where Jesus is said to have turned water into wine. They go on to the Sea of Galilee, where the rabbi calmed a storm and walked on water.

Along the way, visitors follow the "little Jordan River" to a baptismal pool marked by a concrete cross and a sign depicting the baptism of Jesus. The loft of an old farm building re-creates the Upper Room, where Christ is said to have eaten with the disciples before his crucifixion.

While it seems kitschy to some, the park's earnestness can be profoundly moving.

"I have known of people saved on the journey trail," officer manager Pat Maxfield said.

Family tragedy

"I'm sure it has a lot of meaning to a lot of people," Johnson's daughter, Jennie Sue Murdock, said of the park.

But for her, talk of Holy Land evokes sad memories of family divisions. The revelation upon his death in 1999 that Johnson had turned over the property to Bible Center Chapel and spent family resources to keep it going "hit like a ton of bricks," she said.

At one point in his career, Johnson owned a successful grocery store and substantial real estate holdings around Bedford, including the original 400-acre park. But the costs of keeping Holy Land afloat took a financial toll.

"He was just about bankrupt. He poured so much money into it," Murdock said.

Murdock said she suspects Holy Land "became ... a creative religious outlet" for Johnson that may have helped him cope with his son's untimely death.

"Dad took it very hard," Murdock said of Campbell Johnson's passing. "It was extremely hard on every one of us."

"It was his life," Dooley said of Robert Johnson's attachment to Holy Land. "He spent $1,000 a week, year after year out of his pocket."

Despite its prominence in his life, Holy Land is not mentioned in Johnson's obituary.

Dooley said that in transferring ownership of the property, Johnson hoped to protect the park from development.

Dooley managed Holy Land for nearly 30 years and was named a trustee in 1992. He pastored Bible Center Chapel, an entity Dooley said was formed by him and Johnson as a holding company for Holy Land USA. Johnson, and his wife donated the land to the chapel, a nondenominational church.

After years of keeping it going, in 2005, Dooley said he felt his Holy Land ministry had come to an end. He closed the park to the public and later searched for a buyer.

In 2008, he and the chapel congregation sold the park to a group of trustees headed by Mike Dodson, pastor of Tree of Life Ministries in Lynchburg. The new trustees bought the property for $750,000, Dodson said. It is assessed for tax purposes at $1.4 million.

From the sale, $400,000 went to pay off the park's debts, Dooley said. And $350,000 was financed by the chapel and goes to that congregation. Dooley declined to comment on what the chapel congregation, which still meets occasionally, plans to do with the money.

"It's entirely up to them," Dooley said.

Resurrection

"Distinctively different" is Tree of Life's motto, and the Pentecostal organization is known for unorthodox ministries such as its Biker Church. While Holy Land is a separate legal entity, Dodson said, it fits into that vision.

"We see it as a way to reach people that a church building wouldn't," he said.

Trustees and volunteers celebrated the reopening of Holy Land USA on Easter morning 2008 with a sunrise service. Since then, converts have been baptized in little Jordan and tour buses again ply the rough gravel roads.

Trustees have spent thousands of dollars on advertising and marketing to draw more visitors, Dodson said.

In addition to entry fees, the facility is supported by a small gift shop, rental income from an on-site retreat center and sales of burial plots in the Mount of Olives cemetery, which is also a stop on the tour.

Holy Land is considered an important part of the local economy by Bedford County tourism officials.

"It is its own draw," tourism director Sergei Troubetzkoy said. "We get quite a few calls from people, and that's the one thing they are asking about."

The park also benefits Bedford businesses, such as Olde Liberty Station Restaurant. Holy Land visitors often stop there to eat, Troubetzkoy said.

Still, it's been a struggle to restart the operation, Dodson said.

The park can afford only one paid staff member and relies on a group of about 50 volunteers who do everything from run the gift shop to lead tours to clean the grounds. Spring floods damaged some of the most important sites, requiring costly repairs.

Although traffic is picking up with better weather, Dodson said, some months have been slow.

For the park to break even, it must attract at least 300 visitors a week.

Dooley, now retired, said he knows how hard it is to keep the park going. Without an endowment, paying the bills at Holy Land has always required aggressive fundraising.

In lean months, Dodson said Holy Land sometimes runs special sales on burial plots.

"It's been hard," Dodson said. "But we have no intention of giving up."

The trustees are considering construction of a Holy Land USA visitor's center and thrift store along U.S. 460 in Bedford. It's hoped such a center would draw more walk-in visitors and raise the profile of the park.

"Right now, it's operated totally off of faith," Dodson said.

News researcher Belinda Harris contributed to this report.