Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Nothing like advocating sex to get a few more worshipers.


JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Sexually themed billboards have shocked some drivers traveling on Blanding Boulevard and in Clay County, but more surprising than the billboards themselves is what they're advertising -- a church.

"At first, I thought it was a porn site thing," said one passerby.

However, that's certainly not what the billboards are promoting. They're promoting a series of sermons called Pure Sex God's Way at New Life Fellowship in Orange Park, according to WJXT-TV.


"You sure a church put that there? I think they need to change the sign," said another passerby.

The billboard has raised eyebrows among drivers, but that's the idea of the church hoping to draw people into their Sunday-morning service.

"It's a little provocative, but it doesn't bother me any," one driver said.

The pastor of New Life Fellowship, Bob Morro, said the billboards promote a series of sermons at the church concerning the role of sex in Christian life.

"We're giving people the way God created sex for us, and what his intentions for sex are. It seems like the world has lost its value of sex nowadays. STDs are up, divorce is up and we just want to show them God has designed sex. He wants us to have great sex, but he wants us to have it in his parameters," Morro said.

The pastor told WJXT that the billboard campaign has been working for the new church, which started just months ago next to a pizza parlor.

With the recent boost in numbers, he said the church has begun looking to buy land for a new site.

"We've had a great turnout at church just from billboards alone -- a few negative comments, but it seems like you do anything outside the box where church is related you're going to have the pros and cons with it," Morro said.

3 comments:

Dennis said...

Wow - probably not what I would have come up with if I were charged with designing a billboard for my church. On the one hand, the Bible's not exactly G rated, but I'm not sure this approach does much more than draw attention. If they can manage to turn that attention into believers, then good for them. Christ was willing to speak with everyone in ways they could understand - maybe they're just reaching out to a new group of people.

I say this in an attempt not to squabble about the correct methods to reach out to non-believers. Please do not mistake my comments as support for such number gathering.

General Ursus said...

I'm strongly against this because it lacks taste. If I didn't believe in God, I'd find this reason not to take God seriously and it would confirm all my doubts about the validity of Christianity.

Jesus spoke so everyone could understand? His own disciples didn't even know what he was saying, so I'm not sure Jesus is necessarily a good marketing model for today's American consumer.

Dennis said...

I agree, totally distasteful and probably more of a turn off than turn on.
But yes, Jesus did teach in a way that was understandable, why else would they (and we) follow him? Certainly there were components of his message that his disciples didn't understand - how could they comprehend his death and resurrection before it occurred - but that doesn't mean they didn't understand his teachings.
However, the direction I meant to go was more in reference to that fact the he was not afraid to minister to those outside the synagogue - the prostitutes, the lepers ... the sex addicts.
As far as Jesus being a good marketing model, I think he's as applicable today as he ever was.