Messiah’s Mansion exhibit comes to Farmington

Exhibit at Pinon Hills Seventh-day Adventist Church runs Oct. 19-27
Clayton Leinnweber and Angie LeGrande pose at the bronze laver, representing the baptism, used for handwashing in the courtyard. David Edward Albright/Tri-City Record

Pinon Hills Seventh-day Adventist Church of Farmington invites the public to attend Messiah’s Mansion exhibit. It begins Saturday, 1 to 6:30 p.m., with tours of five tents and a sanctuary that begin about every 15 minutes to a half hour.

Clayton Leinneweber, originator-builder of the display from Harrah, Oklahoima, said he was inspired to create it in 1995 after working with a pastor in California who was working at a youth camp in a desert area. The pastor had the sanctuary and the furniture the size it was supposed to be, but the space was only designated by caution tape.

“So there were about 1,500 of them (youths) there listening as the pastor talked, and he was dressed in the high priest garments. He was just showing them how the service was used … and the young people were just glued. And it got my attention,” Leinneweber said.

When the pastor was finished, he made an appeal, and that’s when the young people all flocked into the courtyard to answer the appeal, he said.

Clayton Leinnweber waves outside the first exhibit of Messiah's Mansion. David Edward Albright/Tri-City Record
Angie LeGrande, Pinon Hills Seventh-day Adventist Church outreach leader poses at the Messiah's Mansion welcome center. David Edward Albright/Tri-City Record

“I got chills when I seen that. I said, we got to build this life-size, take it out to the world and that’s what we’ve been doing for 29 years,” Leinneweber said.

Angie LeGrande, Pinon Hills Seventh-day Adventist Church outreach leader, said part of the group that helped set up the large five-tent display came from Albuquerque.

Setup for the display began on Tuesday afternoon with about 25 people, Leinneweber said.

LeGrande said 14 or 15 workers were from Messiahs Mansion, and the others were volunteers recruited from various churches.

Leinneweber, who has taken the exhibit to Alaska, Hawaii, the Bahamas and Africa, among many other places, said with a grin, “You starting to feel sorry for me yet.”

“I've been doing roughly about 12 a year. One year, I did 23, one year during COVID we did one,” he said.

Financial backing is partially provided by whoever invites him.

“Whoever invites us pays half my expenses, the other half comes from the Lord somewhere,” Leinnweber said. “When people come through and they want to help out, they throw a little bit in the pot as well.”

Messiah’s Mansion staff

Josue, 19, from California

Stephen, 23, Oklahoma

Gabriel, 22, New Mexico

Lexi, 20, New Mexico

San, 18, California.

Rebekah, 19, New Mexico

Rachel, 22, New Mexico

Olivia, 20, Oklahoma

Philip, Oklahoma

Alyssa, New Mexico

The tour

Each tent was secured for a forecast of wind and rain.

“We've got everything built and ready to go. Our Sabbath starts at sundown,” said LeGrande regarding the beliefs of the Seventh Day Adventist faith. “The Sabbath was the seventh day of the week.”

The tour begins at the welcome area, with a short presentation by one of one Messiah’s Mansion’s key leaders, which total 13, including the recent addition of one girl.

“If you think about it … Moses when he was in the wilderness it would be desert, right? It's a sandbox lesson,” Leinnweber said.

He said one temple was built by a retired pastor, who was going to put it in a mall, but it was too big.

“They cut it into four pieces to get it out of their garage and they gave it to me,” said Leinnweber.

He said every display is described in the Bible.

“Now one thing that you probably should make sure everybody understands is, this is the size the Bible describes. I built everything to scale,” said Leinnweber.

Messiah's Mansion exhibit includes the Ark of the Covenant. David Edward Albright/Tri-City Record

“This would have been the temple Jesus would have come through. Of course, this is not the real picture, you know, it's an artist's conception,” Leinnweber said. “And this is the temple that Solomon built.”

In the courtyard would be the altar of sacrifice and the bowl containing the blood. Typically a lamb was sacrificed, but also sheep, bullocks (steer) and turtle doves.

“Here's the thing, if you were wealthy, you could bring the lamb. If you couldn't afford the lamb, you could do the turtle doves, OK? And if you couldn't even afford the turtledoves, God would allow you to bring just a handful of flour,” Leinnweber said. “God was being very practical.”

Depending on the offering, if anyone consumed the meat it would have been the priest’s family because the priest had received it, Leinnweber said.

Clayton Leinnweber poses with a statue of Aaron the High Priest. David Edward Albright/Tri-City Record

Next tour stop was the holy place where all the gold was located, along with the table of shewbread, the candlesticks and the incense.

“Now, this is the Most Holy Place. This was where God would have resided,” LeGrande shared about the room of atonement.

“To make it very simple … everything the sanctuary taught was telling the story of Christ’s life,” Leinnweber said. “They would take the lamb every day at nine o'clock, and they would kill it and put it there in the altar sacrifice, bring the blood and place it upon the horns of the altar of incense. They would close the service at three o’clock. It was foretelling when Christ was going to die.”

The Bible, in the book of Mark, Chapter 15, it says that Jesus was nailed to the cross at nine o’clock and died at three o’clock, Leinnweber said, adding that the sanctuary was open for everybody to bring their offerings in that time frame.

“So how could that be possible for anybody to ever predict that's what's going to happen to Christ when he came,” said Leinnweber, adding that it was written in the book of Exodus in the Old Testament.

LeGrande said she attended a Messiah's Mansion in Waterflow, New Mexico, about 10 years ago and wanted to bring it to Farmington as part of her outreach efforts.

“We were looking to do something to outreach to our community, something that would let them know … that God needed to be glorified,” LeGrande said. “The Lord impressed me with this over a year ago. And my friend I started praying about it. … From there we went to the church and asked for permission to bring Messiah's Mansion here.”

The exhibit, which closes Sunday, Oct. 27, culminates the touring season for the exhibit.

“Then that'll be the Sunday, and then the cloud will lift. And then we have to follow the cloud,” said Leinnweber. “In the wilderness (the Lord’s) cloud showed them where to go … and the cloud stopped. They stopped. When the cloud moved, they moved.”

“I go to all the churches with this,” said Leinnweber, adding that includes businesses and other organizations, as well.