Possibly the best-known outreach ministry of our church is
the sign out by 585. Many years ago, Pastor Glenn Steiner had a vision for this
sign to reach and bless the masses who drive by every day. Over the years many
SMCers have helped with the sign and its witness continues even to this day.
But I’d like to expand it even more.
Here’s the challenge: come up with memorable, challenging and
encouraging, what I call “sign sermons”. Now here’s the twist-on the west
facing side I limit the sermon to two lines 20 spaces each. The reason is east
bound drivers have maybe 5 seconds to read the sign so it needs to be short
like: Trust Jesus. Sin splatters. The shorter the better.
The flip side facing east I allow for 3 lines again 20
spaces each. The west bound drives have a much longer time to read maybe 10 or
15 seconds, they are also slowing down (hopefully) as they come into town. This
allows us longer messages-but again the shorter the better. It’s all about
using the most potent words to impact those that pass by with a message from
God.
Over the years I’ve had people reach out to me. One that
blew me away was a pastor who called me up to say he just baptized a man in his
church. The reason he’s telling me is that this man said one of the main
influences in his decision for Jesus was our church sign he drove by everyday
to work. The pastor just thought I should know-and he was right! What an
encouragement when it’s snowing, 15 degrees and the glass is iced shut-but I know
someone needs the message I need to put up!
So, give me your best shot! Send me your suggestions. On the previous blog I have listed my current "warehouse" of sign sermons by month, topic and alphabetically
so you don’t need to send me repeats. Fresh quotes would be great-if they are
original by you, put your initials on it if you wish.
Of course, I’m always looking for those who would like to
put the saying up after I chose the ones to post. If you only want part
time-January thru March would be a great time if cold and wet is your thing ;).
I try to change the sign weekly but it often goes more than a week. So, help me
bless those who go by our sign with a fresh thought for their day and mine too.
Email your suggestions to todd@smc585.org
or if you want to put the sermons up on the sign, I’d be glad to talk about
that as well.
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