Jacksonville Chapel/Emergence

So, I'm driving along a major highway tonight in our area, and I pass a church sign. It reads "Protection from the Son may prevent burning." Soak it in. It'll click. Yeah. You groaned, too, huh?

Church signs are an interesting thing. They are a weird phenomena in that they seem to exist in some parallel dimension that is completely irrelevant to the rest of the world. The people who put words on these signs have the same disease--they are convinced that their sayings, however lame and cheesy they may be, are going to draw people to their church.

Let's examine this facts here. I have heard a lot of stories of how people come to a given church. I have heard tons of life-change stories that started when something caught the person's attention--usually a friend, sometimes an experience, rarely a church service. I have never heard a life change story or a story about someone coming to a church that had anything to do with a church sign. If anything, the signs have become such a point of negative attention that they have, at times, turned people away.

No one cares that U R what is missing from CH _ _ CH.
No one will respond to "Don't be depressed, get blessed."
People will run from "Need Home Improvement: Come to Church"

Look, I love you... but earth to churches: no one is coming to your church because of your witty sign! In fact, the very fact that you feel you need a witty sign to draw people is in direct opposition to the fact that what draws people is God.

So, next time you're tempted to write "Open Mouth, Insert Grace"... please... exercise some self-control. Open your sign, take out your silly saying, and replace with your service times or your website address.Your community will thank you.