EUREKA SPRINGS — The Great Passion Play will be held on Magnetic Mountain this year just as it has every year since 1968, said Randall Christy, who spearheaded a frantic fundraising drive to save it.

Christy, president of The Gospel Station Network of Ada, Okla., raised $75,000 in 10 days to pay interest due on three loans at Cornerstone Bank in Eureka Springs. The bank was scheduled to take possession of the play property on Jan. 1 through a deed in lieu of foreclosure.

After the play’s Oct. 27 performance, operators locked the gates, sold the animals and turned off the floodlights for the seven-story Christ of the Ozarks statue that had been illuminated every night since 1967. Anonymous donors got the money together last month to pay the electric bill and turn the lights back on the statue.

On Thursday, Christy said the lights will remain on the statue “’til Jesus comes back.”

At a news conference and public announcement Thursday at the Passion Play’s amphitheater, Christy said he plans to raise $6 million in the next year for the play. Some of that money will come through operating the play more efficiently, he said. The play owes $2.53 million to Cornerstone Bank, Christy has said.

“I believe God wants us to make some money because he knows what we’re going to do with it - put it back in here,” Christy said.

Christy invited Rick Mann to stand next to him during the news conference. Mann is a maintenance worker at the Northwest Housing Authority in Harrison who has played Jesus in the Passion Play since 1997. He’s one of three actors who played Jesus in the play last year.

“We’ve crossed the first hurdle, but the mountain is before us,” Christy told about 100 people.

Christy will work this year with the Elna M. Smith Foundation, which has been operating the play since its beginning. If all goes well, Christy said, his organization intends to buy the play next year.

The nonprofit Elna M. Smith Foundation has lost $1.8 million over the past four years, according to tax records. The foundation had been trying to sell the property for $5.5 million but was unable to do so, said Keith Butler who is chairman of the foundation.

Attendance at the play peaked in 1992 at 289,212 and dropped to 46,578 last season, Butler has said.

There will be changes in the way the play is operated, Christy said. The season will begin the first weekend of May as usual, but there will be fewer performances. The play will be performed only Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.

Last year, the play was performed on 110 nights from May 4 to Oct. 27, with the weeknight performances changing from time to time. If the play ends around the same time in October this year, that would be 89 nights of performances.

The play depicts the last week of Christ’s life.

Also, Christy said, he plans a “save a seat campaign” in which a donor can get a season ticket for $250. He hopes that will raise $1 million this year.

There will be other changes, but most are still in the works, Christy said.

“You have to give us a little bit of leeway here to do whatever we have to save this,” he said. “We’re going to do the necessary things to save this so we’re not back in a hole again in two years.”

There will be an aggressive marketing campaign, a mending of relations with businesses in Branson and a welcoming of tour buses to the play, Christy said. Christy’s network of 25 radio stations will donate free advertising to the Passion Play, he said.

The gate to the grounds will reopen “in a few days,” Christy said. People access the Christ of the Ozarks statue through the Passion Play gate.

Christy has said he’ll be looking for volunteers to work this year instead of paid staff members.

Mann said he’s always been paid to play Jesus, although he has volunteered to do other work for the play in the off-season. Mann said he’d consider acting as a volunteer.

“I enjoy the ministry of it,” he said.

Joe Smith, who has been paid to play Jesus at the Passion Play since 1984, said he would continue in the role for free if necessary.

“If they’ll have us, we’ll be here,” said Smith, who watched the news conference from the crowd. “It’s a part of your life. It’s not just a job. It’s a calling. If we touch one life in the crowd, that’s what it’s all about.”

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 01/04/2013