West County Assembly of God Church in Town and Country, Mo. wants to put up a 99-foot cross to “give a Christian message to the people in the 164,655 vehicles passing the church daily” on nearby Highway 40. And if a 99-foot tall cross seems like overkill, they trimmed it back from a proposed 132 feet.
Public sentiment? “It’s just an obnoxious endeavor,” says Andy Luczkowski, one of the 100 people to show up at a public hearing on the proposal. Not exactly the kind of public support a church should be going for.
It’s reminiscent of the 62-foot Jesus and quite frankly dwarfed by the 198-foot cross in Effingham, Ill. And you thought the British had trouble with crosses.
Todd Ramsey
March 17, 2006
It’s pretty amazing the ideas churches come up with to preach the gospel. I wonder what a first century christian would think about seeing a 99-foot cross as he was driving down the interstate? (Aside from the fact he/she would be overwhelmed by the experience of driving.)
I think that I will propose a 300-foot statue of nothing outside of our church building to represent the empty tomb. It’s economical and preaches the wonderful message of resurrection to all those passing by.
Vinny
March 17, 2006
Ya know, I liked the cross better last week when it was just an advertisement. I suppose I wouldn’t truly be bothered unless I owned a house nearby (and man, if I owned a house in that neighborhood, I’d be doing ALLRIGHT), which means that I realy should be bothered, from a property rights standpoint.
Why not go the next step and build a giant LED display into the cross? They could broadcast messages like one of the baptist churches used to do in Atlanta: “Happy Easter to our Jewish friends.”
I like Todd’s idea, BTW. I wonder if you “built” a 300-ft empty tomb monument, you could then hide a cell tower “inside” and generate some extra revenue while claiming property tax exemption on the parcel? :)
s. zeilenga
March 17, 2006
I have been a christian for 14 years now and personally don’t have a problem with crosses and don’t think of myself as “seeker-sensitive”, but this cross is just way too big. Do they think that seeing that beast of a thing someone is going to run to Christ?
I don’t know. I guess it is up to the church but to me I think it is quite obnoxious. There has got to be a better way to spread the gospel…
Betsy
March 17, 2006
What I want to know is how much money it will cost to build that cross, 99-ft or otherwise. I’m sure there are 1,000 other things they could do with the funds to actually help people find Jesus, rather than erecting the eyesore of a cross and making more people hate Christ followers.
Eliot
March 17, 2006
I’m glad they are getting some opposition. Hopefully they’ll take it as an honest critique instead of saying that Satan is battling against them (don’t laugh, I’m sure it’s come up in meetings like this). I hate driving around Dallas and seeing huge crosses on churches when I know our city is really hurting and in need of people building relationships instead of edifices.
RC of strangeculture
March 17, 2006
you know, gotta say…sounds kind of hideous to me.
–RC of strangeculture.blogspot.com
[rhymes with kerouac]
March 17, 2006
“give a Christian message to the people in the 164,655 vehicles passing the church daily”
What would that message be, exactly?
Years ago I had several Sri-Lankan dishwashers working for me. I asked them one night what their take on Christmas was. Their response? It’s a big festival where people give presents to each other and put lights on their house. I see much the same thing here. A 99-foot cross – I mean, it makes no sense on sooooo many levels.
glenn
March 17, 2006
That cross in Illinois is pretty awesome in real life . . . .
Taurus
March 17, 2006
Even in our “Super-size me”, marketing-crazed society, word-of-mouth is still so wonderfully effective.
No matter how many crosses are posted (no matter what size they are), we should never forget that wood doesn’t talk.
Lifeless symbols don’t spead the the Gospel message, people do.
ITNOJ
Michael
March 17, 2006
My 13 year old son made an interesting inquiry…
“If Christ had been shot down by a machine gun, would we wear a machine gun on a chain?”
It brought up an interesting conversation about the cross and its signifigance. Afterall, dieing on the cross wasn’t unique. An empty tomb? Now that was unique.
Nathan Colgate
March 17, 2006
I attend 3 Crosses Neighborhood Church of Castro Valley where we have three 100′ crosses in front of our building. The three crosses are clearly visible from three major highways (as well as from outer space). They serve as a landmark, not an eyesore, at least in our case. Almost everyone in the Bay Area knows what you’re talking about when you say “I go to the church with the three big crosses.” Many members of our congregation are there because they “just decided to drop in and see what church was like, after driving by every day on the way to and from work”.
I say: honor the community first, if they don’t want the crosses, then don’t put them up. otherwise I think it is a fine opportunity to establish the church’s presence and location.
RC of strangeculture
March 18, 2006
I really appreciate Nathan Colgate’s comment and Taurus’ comment…
there is a place for certain tactics, and respecting your community is essential!!
Also, being aware of what will be effective in your community doesn’t seem like it should take any stroke of genious, but some many churches need to be in touch w/ there community.
–RC of strangeculture.blogspot.com
Michael Box
March 18, 2006
I live about 15 minutes from the “touchdown Jesus” statue north of Cincinnati, and let me tell you, it does nothing for me. As a follower of Christ, I am somewhat embarassed that this congregation spent such a large amount of money, ($250,000) on this monolithic messiah. That money could have helped plant a church, build an orphanage, or support a ministry in some aspect or another. It is just a symbol of poor stewardship and arrogance.
Any congregation should strongly examine the motivation behind such an “evangelistic tool.” Maybe they need a huge reminder of their devotion to Jesus because their lives don’t reflect it.
honnalora
March 26, 2006
Our Church recently added a 50ft cross to the front lawn of our Church. It is a plain white cross, with one exception. Written in big bold letters, it says “JESUS SAVES”. It is a great addition to our Church. Since the Cross was added, there have been many people in every church service that have accepted Christ as Savior.
There are pictures of the Cross being built on the Church website. http://www.crosst.org
Nichole
June 29, 2006
My friend and I saw two different giant white crosses from the interstate on our way to TN from MD. Honestly the first thing that popped into my head was “I wonder how much those things cost that church” because when I give me share, I don’t expect it to be spent on architecture unless it’s a functional building.
Neither a giant cross or “touchdown Jesus” makes me want to go to that church. In fact, they make me want to turn away. $250,000 is way too much to spend on something that does nothing by draw gawkers and ridicule. It gets people talking, but so does donating the money to build a local music program, or fund a youth sport.
Kim
February 14, 2007
I live about 7 miles from the “touchdown Jesus” statue north of Cincinnati. Pass it each time I get on I-75. It saddens me that the Solid Rock Church of Monroe, Oh. takes pride in this very disturbing site. It’s sad to know they could have gave money to missions and/or helped the hungry in out country. I’m feel very safe to say God was not pleased with this ($250,000) monolithic messiah. Church should never turn people off it should make them feel welcome. Sad to say SRC has turned many people off.
Daniel
February 21, 2007
pssh thats nothing… My church is going to build a 199 foot cross which will cost $1,000,000 we will have four 30 foot drawings (some of Jesus some of angels) at the base of the cross. Again this is costing 1,000,000 dollars were doing this so ppl know how and where to find us… So we can say come visit my church just follow the giant cross. Although tonight when we were discussing it in our business meeting I thought if you say that the next thing out of there mouth would be how much did that thing cost?
Tammy
May 1, 2008
It’s not so much about the cross, that bothers you really. It’s the fact that you along with most of the world do not believe in God or what any religious symbol stands for. Would you or the majority be gripping if it was any other monument other than a religious symbol. If the gov. or city, put a memorial to a movie star, or someone who saved a life, would you or these people complain, No. I think not. But on 9/11 everyone was looking for a cross & any religious symbol they could find on that day & the days to follow. No one was complaining about crosses then. But there will come a day when Jesus will come back for the saved & unsaved & on this day, you will wish, & pray that you had not buck against the cross. Just like a sign on a resturant invites you in, that is the churches way of letting every walk of life no matter how rich or poor they are welcome to come & drink from the water of life freely. I pray you all don’t wait too late to be saved.