Church Hopping

God spoke to Orlando, Florida in 2004. Not to their hearts or symbolically, but He actually left a message for the city that gave us Disneyworld. In the middle of August of 2004, Hurricane Charley worked it way through Florida with a swift 106 mph wind. The hurricane destroyed Orlando homes, trees and pretty much everything else to the tune of nearly $15 billion. There was however one billboard that survived and God spoke to Orlando through it. Charley ripped off the most recent advertisement to reveal the ironic message from the previous advertisement. God said to Orlando, “We need to talk.”

God actually has left these messages all over the United States, apparently tossing aside all previous forms of revelation to relate to our fast-paced society. As it turns out, God is a pretty clever guy. Some of His one-liners include:

• “You think its hot here?”
• “Keep using my name in vain, I’ll make rush hour longer.”
• And my favorite, “Have you read my #1 best seller? (There will be a test.)

There is a little bit of mystery surrounding the “God Billboards.” In June of 1998, an anonymous person contacted the now-defunct advertising firm, The Smith Agency in Florida with a great idea for a public service campaign. Most billboard agencies occasionally run public service advertisements to support certain campaigns like the “Say NO to Drugs” or the “Take a Bit Out of Crime” campaigns. The idea that this anonymous person had was to get people to think about spirituality by leaving one line sayings that were to be attributed to God. The Smith Agency loved the concept and came up with 18 sayings to try out in a three month campaign with a budget of $150,000. The response by local Florida citizens and media was very positive, so the Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA) decided to take the idea and make it their national public service campaign. Across the US, the “God Speaks” campaign had about 10,000 displays costing an estimated $15 million.

The billboards became famous quickly and were talked about on all the major new networks. However, despite pleas from people like Oprah and the late Peter Jennings, the original creator will still not come forward. Supposedly, the mystery man originally was going to donate the money for the campaign, but they became so popular that he (or she) has never had to give any of his (or her) own money.

The billboards ran from 1999 to 2001, when they were gradually replaced by patriotic messages after September 11th. In 2000, God Speaks attempted to reach children with messages like “Chill…Don’t Kill” and “I’m Everybody’s Homey” which looked like it was spray-painted on the billboard. The campaign has been making a come back lately and you can visit their website at Godspeaks.com or WuzupGod.com to tell how these billboards have affected your life, but allegedly they do not allow negative feedback. One bloggers suggested quote, “Stop putting words in my mouth” was frowned upon.

Regardless of its popularity, many people question the success of the God Speaks of campaign. Barna Research claims that church attendance held fairly steady from 1998 to 2002. There are definitely other factors that play into this, but apparently the $15 million spent did not contribute to church growth. My favorite result from the campaign is, of course, the satire. In Orlando, the home of Mickey and Minnie, the restaurant chain Moe’s put up the billboard seen in the picture. As expected, there were huge complaints and the billboards were taken down. Clever, but that still doesn’t beat my favorite billboard. But would Jesus really drink Budweiser? He seems more of a wine connoisseur.

References:

• A Case Study of a Public Service Campaign

• GodSpeaks.com

• Snopes.com

• Hurricane Charley