Church signs question.

[Gary Swartzlander]

I'm not sure what made me think of this, but does your church sign have the name of the pastor on it? Is there a reason to have the name of the pastor on the sign? Doesn't really matter to me, just curious.

[Jon Twitchell]

We had one of those old '70s signs up until a couple of years ago when money was donated to purchase and install a new sign. They made the decision to put my name on it, but wanted to be sure they could put a new name on over it in the future :) .

I didn't care one way or the other--I'm not sure that it's a strong financial move--given the cost of putting up a new name whenever pastors change. (On the other hand, maybe putting a name on the sign would be a contributer to long pastoral tenures!)

On the other hand, I volunteer in our middle school, am on local access television, and am on the radio. All of those are opportunities for people to get to know me outside the context of the church, and having my name on the sign may help them connect the dots. I would say that the more visible a pastor is in the community, the more benefit to having his/her name on the sign.

[Virginia Stimer]

Gary,

This is interesting because as I was driving back home from my shopping trip this afternoon I was wondering about the number of churches that have the name of the pastor on their signs. We do not at Flint First Nazarene, but right now we have an interim pastor. I don't remember seeing a pastors name on any Nazarene Church sign, but then I really had not been looking for that.

Many of the churches in this area are predominately black and from my observation they have a different attitude toward the pastor and his importance than some of us white people do. Most of them do have the name of the pastor on their sign or even on the building. A couple of the churches have a reserved parking place for their pastor that looks like it is as close or closer than the handicapped parking spots.

I had to laugh when I saw what our interim pastor has on our sign right now. "Having trouble sleeping? Come hear a sermon."

Virginia

[Wilson L. Deaton]

I'm not sure what made me think of this, but does your church sign have the name of the pastor on it? Is there a reason to have the name of the pastor on the sign? Doesn't really matter to me, just curious.

When I was a teenager, my dad took his first pastorate. For too long after we arrived the church sign remained with the bottom saying the word, "Pastor: " followed by a thick black painted stripe!

Personally, I think the name on the sign subtley contributes to a "personality cult" mentalilty and seems to lack humility, etc., so I don't like them. However, it is not an issue I feel strongly about. If we were designing a new sign and they wanted my name on it, I'd tell them that I didn't like the idea and why. If they persisted, I wouldn't fight for it.

Even worse: I don't like churches named after people! I'm not just talking about denominations like Wesleyan or Lutheran (which I don't like either). I mean the proper name of local churches, like, "Rev. Henry Jones Baptist Church." The church that serves the Michigan District Campground area (as you know, Gary) is called, "Chapman Memorial Church of the Nazarene." I don't like that either.

Wilson

[Alisa Stoll]

We currently don't have a church sign so no ours does not have the pastor's name on it.

Alisa

[Sue Pyles]

We have a church sign. It does have the name of the pastor and youth pastor.It looks( and is) very outdated.
I prefer to read cute or thought provoking messages on church signs.
Some of them have given me "food for thought" as I would read them on my way to work of the morning.In fact many mornings the message would be something I really needed to read for that particular day.

[Barb Bouldrey]

No name on our sign...except the name of the church.

Barb

[Stan Hall]

Here's a sign I saw recently at a local Catholic church:
"God gave angels wings
and us chocolate"

[William Hunter]

After going to a church in Mich. to pastor and finding many reams of letterhead stationary with the former pastor's name on it, it is then I decided my name would not be on the letterhead of church stationary or on the church sign. The church is not about me as pastor anyway. And it is not me that unchurched people see as a draw to come to church. Rather, it is the ministry of my people between Sundays that draws people to Christ and the church. In spite of all the wonderful things GOD has done here in the last 8 1/2 yrs., the tendancy of people is to do that personality cult thing. When I leave I do not want my people talking about me and comparing the new pastor with me. I want them talking about Jesus and what He has done.



I'm not sure what made me think of this, but does your church sign have the name of the pastor on it? Is there a reason to have the name of the pastor on the sign? Doesn't really matter to me, just curious.

[Nelson Bradford]

I took this pic when we had two senior pastors, Dan Boone and Jeff Crosno.

Dan has since moved on - as President of Trevecca, so now it's just Jeff.

And yes, we still have the church sign, with one name only.

:basic02

[G R 'Scott' Cundiff]

I'm not sure what made me think of this, but does your church sign have the name of the pastor on it? Is there a reason to have the name of the pastor on the sign? Doesn't really matter to me, just curious.

Even though I don't especially like having my name on the church sign, I think that doing so is, with many exceptions, a good idea. All the research shows that the pastor is the number one influence on new people coming and staying in the church. In most communities, the pastor is seen as the primary representative of the local congregation.

In America today, Rick Warren, Joel Olsteen, Robert Schuler are all better known than the churches they pastor. While I don't really like that, I think it is just an example of the reality of how things work in this world.

Local Churches, I think, are wise to find a pastor worth marketing and then find ways to market him or her to the general public.

[Jon Twitchell]

Even though I don't especially like having my name on the church sign, I think that doing so is, with many exceptions, a good idea. All the research shows that the pastor is the number one influence on new people coming and staying in the church. In most communities, the pastor is seen as the primary representative of the local congregation.

In America today, Rick Warren, Joel Olsteen, Robert Schuler are all better known than the churches they pastor. While I don't really like that, I think it is just an example of the reality of how things work in this world.

Local Churches, I think, are wise to find a pastor worth marketing and then find ways to market him or her to the general public.

Somehow this discussion reminds me of the thread "Hiring vs. Supporting." Most of the time (not always), I feel as though my congregation is supporting me as a missionary to the community. It's not that they don't do evangelism and get involved in their community--but they're (generally) happy to have me plugged into the community in lots of ways that don't directly benefit our local church--I spend 2 hours a week in our public middle school. I put in a couple hours a week working on radio and television ministry that is run by our Christian radio station. I function as the unofficial chaplain to a campground/RV Park that's 20-30 minutes away. Even my "bivocation" working at the General Store is seen as ministry to the community.

None of those activities directly benefit the local congregation. In fact, there are times when I'm sure some of my congregants wish I would spend more time in their homes (or in my office!). But generally, they see those items as an extension of the church's ministry--when I'm on the radio, it's as though they have put me there, when I'm in the school, it's as though they are there, and so on.

Along those lines, I can see why it was important for them to put my name on the church sign--they want the community to view me as their pastor too--whether they come to our church or not.

Does that make any sense?