The 44,266-square-foot auditorium is found on the southern exposure of the unaccredited Armstrong College campus. It will serve as a Sabbatarian church building for the Philadelphia Church of God’s Edmond, OK congregation every Saturday, while doing double duty by housing the Armstrong International Cultural Foundation’s performing arts series, which resumes this month.
Flurry put together a contracting staff that is serving as the auditorium’s general contractor to pare down his $18 million bill for construction costs. Flurry just may have to hurry to get his construction debt loans and permanently secured financing paid off before the next millennium, or his bank forecloses on the Auditorium, whichever comes first. Ongoing major expenses will have to be paid by the Philadelphia Church members to keep Flurry's heavily subsidized, positive-sounding public relations concert series alive. Armstrong Auditorium's AICF performing arts series attempts to cover up for Flurry what the public would view as an Oklahoma-based, high-demand, triple-tithing, socially controlling, highly rigid religious cult- if it knew the facts.
The bronze letters will be included in a revised version of the original dedication inscription in the new Armstrong Auditorium, dedicating the building "to the Honor and Glory of the Great God Flurry."
As Worldwiders will recall, in 2004, Joe Tkach Jr. presided over the distressed fire sale of Ambassador Auditorium to the Harvest Rock Church for a song.
Armstrong had ordered 106 bronze letters specially cast for the Auditorium (which cost the WCG at least $10,000) which spelled out the dedication: Ambassador Auditorium Made Possible by Gifts From the Worldwide Church of God. Dedicated to the Honor and Glory of the Great God.
Harvest Rock Church removed all those letters, except for the words “Ambassador Auditorium."
Harvest Rock Church removed all those letters, except for the words “Ambassador Auditorium."
After Ambassador's initial dedication with the Vienna Orchestra, it ran for 20 seasons hosting the worlds' best musicians and performers from 1974 to 1995. It is estimated that 2.5 million attendees heard and saw over 2,500 concerts at Ambassador Auditorium by Pavarotti, Arthur Rubinstein, Bing Crosby, Sammy Davis Junior, Frank Sinatra and many other world-class performers.
Mr. Flurry was able to pry the Ambassador Auditorium letters from Harvest Rock Church for what is reportedly a token handful of cash.
He has ordered the words that must be newly cast in bronze are “Armstrong Auditorium” and “Philadelphia", to edit out and graft into the words from the Ambassador original.
The bronze letters are in two different sizes, with the smaller characters measuring 2 inches in height, and the larger ones, which say “The Great God,” measuring 3 inches tall. All are around half of an inch thick.
The letters will be shown off inside the Armstrong Auditorium lobby's center wall where concertgoers surely can't miss.
The bronze letters join the 1968 Swans in Flight sculpture by Sir David Wynne taken from Ambassador's Big Sandy campus, a 9-foot Steinway concert grand piano, and two Iranian crystal candelabra from Ambassador Auditorium. The items were purchased by the Church's affiliated public relations sham Armstrong International Cultural Foundation (AICF), which is primarily funded from tithes and offerings taken from the Philadelphia Church of God membership. The financial statements of AICF remain undisclosed by Flurry or the Philadelphia Church to the public or the church's membership.
