'The best vitamin for a Christian is B-1.' 'God answers knee-mail.' 'Free Trip to heaven ... details Inside!' 'Running low on faith? Stop in for a fill-up.' Motorists glance at them for just a moment, but ministers see church marquee messages as a great chance to attract people with a groaner of a pun or a thought-provoking phrase. Coming up with pithy messages has even sparked a cottage industry of sorts, inspiring a half-dozen books and e-mail traffic.
This seems to be the epitomy of reductionist thinking. "If we only have a pithy enough saying on our sign, then people will come to church."
This reminds me of a joke I heard in seminary. The homelitics professor assigns his students to come up with a sermon title that is so powerful it will cause people riding the bus by the church to come to church to hear that message.
One students sermon title: "There's a bomb on your bus."
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