Before I go further, let me clarify. Church banners differ from the equally annoying church sign. While church signs have some pithy, inane, and often offensive saying meant to "witness" to the passing masses, church banners serve merely to advertise and get more butts through the door. And they generally only show up on megachurches because, let's face it, they are the only ones with the budget to print up those things. The problem (beyond the whole churches advertising like this in general thing)  is that what makes sense to the church in-crowd, is confusing and meaningless to the outside world.

A few examples -

The church I grew up at here recently advertised some sort of concert they were having in their brand new stadium with a banner on the side of their building. They are situated on prime real estate overlooking the intersection of two major highways. But from even the closest spot on those highways all I could see was the date and the faces of what I assume are two CCM artists. No clue who they were, what sort of event it was, or how to find out more. Serious advertising FAIL.

Another of Austin's megachurches hangs banners for their sermon series or ministry programs. A few months ago I saw that they were advertising for a series called "(in)justice." I was intrigued so I went to their website (Google search) to find out more and hit a wall. There was nothing on the website except for a reprint of the banner itself. In fact I could find very little that actually told me anything about the church at all on the website – but it was a slick website. The same church also recently advertised their men's ministry, so for a number of weeks they had a huge banner in front of their church that read "Men's Fraternity." I thought it was rather fitting for a conservative Texas church, but they were obviously clueless as to what message they were sending about their church.

Then there is the kinda sorta emerging megachurch in town. Not that they really are emerging, but they have the veneer. Well they put up weekly banners for their sermons. This week the sign reads "Close Your Bible. Open Your Mind." At first I thought that it was actually an interesting topic, then I went to their website. It apparently is a cute objection to faith that the church is addressing in their "Why Austin Doesn't Believe" series. I won't be there this Sunday, but I get the feeling that the sermon will be on why you shouldn't close your Bible and believe it anyway and not on opening your mind to different perspectives.

Okay, some might say that these banners are serving their purpose since I am noticing them. But honestly, how effective are banners at drawing outsiders in? If they don't explain much, or make any sense if you don't go to the church, why waste resources on them? I mean, I get some entertainment getting annoyed by them each time I drive by, but really, what's the point?

Wendy sent me this one from The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks. I'd really love to know what that sermon series was about. I'm picturing an anti-emergent tirade about all of us Kingdom theology people…

and then Karen sent this. Who doesn't want the Sarah Palin action figure?