Ark Encounter, a life-size exhibit replica of Noah’s Ark, located in Williamstown, Kentucky, is seeing pre-pandemic-size crowds as it celebrates its 5th anniversary. That’s according to Ken Ham, the CEO of Answers in Genesis ministry, who oversees Ark Encounter and its sister exhibit, the Creation Museum.
Ham believes there’s a growing hunger for biblical truth and reality. Referring to exhibit visitors he meets, Ham shares, “They say when you see the culture deteriorating before our eyes, we want a spiritual legacy for our families.”
Related to the cultural concerns, Ham announces that a “Tower of Babel” attraction is being planned. “We will deal with all those issues, going back to Adam & Eve, the sons of Noah – how they gave rise to all the different people groups, that we’re all one (biological) race. We’ll deal with racism and prejudice. We’ll deal with the genetics of it all … We’re also going to be dealing with issues like skin color, helping everyone understand there’s no black people, no white people – we’re all shades of brown. We shouldn’t look on peoples’ outsides to judge them. We should be like God, who says it’s the inside that matters.”
Ham shares that the Ark Encounter and the Creation Museum are the two leading Christian-themed attractions in the world. 92% of visitors come from outside the state of Kentucky, many from other nations. Ham is especially proud of how the exhibits are blessing the economy of northern Kentucky. 700 people are employed full-time, with 600 seasonal workers.
In our podcast below, you can learn that a surprising number of visitors are non-Christians, which affords an excellent opportunity to point them to Jesus through the exhibits. Ham says visitors often tell him the quality of the attractions is higher than that of ‘Disney,’ and Ham does not disagree.
