Friday night, a local church will open its doors to show the ISU community what it has to offer — and what it’s offering this weekend is murder.

Collegiate Methodist Church and the Wesley Foundation, 2622 W. Lincoln Way, is hosting “Murder Mystery III,” an evening of mystery, mayhem and maybe even a murder (or two). The event is open to the public.

Although the event is being held in a church, Jim Shirbroun, campus minister and associate director of the Wesley Foundation, says the evening will be sans scripture.

“This is a way for students who may not feel comfortable coming into a church setting to become involved in a fun activity without any pressure,” Shirbroun says. “It is a unique standalone event that is fun, social and maybe a potential on-ramp for those who do choose to see what else we have to offer here.”

Shirbroun says he heard about murder mystery stories available for purchase and had even played one back in his days as a youth minister.

“It was called ‘Who Murdered Martha Moose Lips,’ or something like that,” Shirbroun says. “It was a lot simpler; I think each kid got a slip of paper with a clue on it. The ones we are doing now are much more advanced.”

Because the event is being sponsored by a religious organization and held in a church, Shirbroun says finding an appropriate story was difficult. He says it is often hard to find a game that doesn’t promote things such as racial stereotypes and drug use.

“Even though the idea behind the murder mystery is to bring new people in, we are a still a church and that means that we should promote positive values,” Shirbroun says. “It took me a lot of time on the Internet to find the perfect first game. It was a lot of work, but we finally found a game that we thought was appropriate.”

Once the perfect game was found, the first murder mystery was held in January 2003. Shirbroun says the game was very popular.

“It was such a big success that regulars within our worship community talked about it so much that we decided to do another one at the beginning of the fall semester,” he says.

When it came time to plan the second game, Shirbroun says he turned to his brand-new associate in campus ministry for help.

“We couldn’t do the same game again,” says Katherine Parker, associate in University Student Ministries. “Again, there wasn’t a lot of stuff out there that we felt comfortable doing here, so Jim got the idea that we could write our own.”

Shirbroun says for the second mystery, he and Parker let their imaginations run wild with a penchant for the paranormal. There were plot elements in their homegrown murder mystery not found in more traditional storylines, including vampires and aliens.

“What we came up with after many, many hours of writing was a truly unique experience for all involved. It was a labor of love for both Jim and I,” Parker says. “It was fun, but I don’t think I’d want to do that again.”

When it came time to plan “Murder Mystery III,” Shirbroun says he headed back online. After some searching, he and Parker found an appropriate game and scheduled the third event.

“Murder Mystery III” takes place in 1914 on a luxury liner. The world is on the brink of war and tensions are high, which means there could be spies for both sides on board the ship to spice up the action. However, Shirbroun and Parker say they won’t tell any details about the murders.

People interested in taking part in the mystery can visit the event’s Web site at www.sites.theplunge.com/wesleymurder for more details and registration information. Parker says that after signing up, each player will be e-mailed a dossier containing information about his or her character. It will give basic information, with more to be revealed about that character during the course of the game.

“We can’t reveal everything. Then it wouldn’t be a game,” Parker says. “You don’t need to dress up to play, but if you want to, the dossier will give information on how your character dresses, also.”

Shirbroun says that for the two previous games, players really got into their characters. He says he hopes that continues this time.

“Many students dressed in clothing they bought at the Goodwill and Salvation Army, and used fake accents,” Shirbroun says. “It was a really good time.”

One thing that Parker and Shirbroun say would be very helpful is for players to sign up early.

Parker says a $5 freewill offering is encouraged, with proceeds going toward a planned philanthropic trip to a ranch during spring break by members of the Wesley Foundation.

Shirbroun says he is hoping for about 45 participants Friday night. The previous two murder mysteries have attracted 25 and 35 participants, respectively. Although Shirbroun and Parker encourage anyone interested to register as soon as possible, no one will be turned away from the event.

“We want people to know that we are an inclusive bunch here and want everyone to feel welcome,” Shirbroun says.