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By Brian Orme

Contributing Writer

We're accustomed to hearing haunted houses brag about the scare potential of their ghosts, gruesome scenes and hellish monsters, but there's also a growing church trend that hopes to strike the fear of God into people.

Keenan Roberts, pastor of the New Destiny Center church in Thornton, Colo., hosts what he calls "Hell Houses" during the Halloween season for junior high and high school students. They depict scenes like a gay marriage performed by Satan that ends in an HIV death, a botched cheerleader abortion and a school shooting. When asked about the graphic elements in Hell House, Keenan says, "This isn't violent, it's portraying theatrically the reality of a lot of results in people's lives. If they can experience it theatrically, maybe in reality they're saved from it."

Keenan's Hell House is burning the boundaries of acceptable ministry, for sure, and while some view HH as the prototype for church events run-a-muck, others see it as the path to carry a bold but controversial message.

Keenan points out that the idea didn't originate with him. It started back in the 70s when someone in Jerry Falwell's ministry came up with an idea called "Scaremare." Keenan learned about the idea from a fellow minister and decided to write some of his own scripts and try it out.

Since then, Keenan's haunted house alternative has been featured on several media outlets like CNN and The Washington Post. There's even an off-Broadway production.

The oft-controversial nature of HH has caused many within evangelicalism — and those on the outside — to question scare-tactics ministry.

"The word "gospel" is Greek for good news, not bad news," says Tony Jones, the national coordinator for the Emergent Village, and the author of Postmodern Youth Ministry and Soul Shaper. "American democracy is based on our ability to reason with people who differ from us. Ironically, Hell House is contributing to the moral degradation of America."

Mark Oestreicher is the president of Youthspecialties, a national youth ministry organization, and the author of several youth ministry books. When asked about Hell House Mark says, "I sure don't see any example of this in the Bible. Sure, people were occasionally scared, but it was never the evangelistic method. Instead, what I see in the Bible over and over again is, 'Do not be afraid.'"

Keenan admits it's an edgy ministry but says, "Just because something is really radical and cutting edge and very aggressive doesn't mean that it's not biblical."

New Destiny Center isn't the only church doing a Hell House ministry of some sort. There are thousands of churches doing similar events, says Keenan.

Shawn Peebles is the youth minister at Urbancrest Baptist Church in Lebanon, where they're hosting a Halloween outreach event called Judgment House. The theme for Peeble's Judgment House is "Abducted," and it follows the lives of four females in an interactive journey of life and death. Peebles says the main reason they're doing Judgment House is to "get the gospel out in a new and fresh way here in the community."

Peebles doesn't believe that Judgment House uses scare tactics. "There are intense scenes but we don't intend to scare people into heaven ... we just want to give people truth and show them what happens after death."

Judgment House takes place at Urbancrest Baptist Church, 2634 Drake Ave., Lebanon, today from 6:30 to 11 p.m. and Sunday from 6:30 to 9 p.m. For more information call (513) 932-4405.