Exterior Signage

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Permalink Reply by Rev. David Waggoner, PhD on November 17, 2009 at 1:16pm

Hi, Ken--

I'm attaching a photo of Northwood Christian Church's sign in Springfield, Oregon, where I am a member.

I'm a Disciples minister serving as a full-time chaplain at Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend in Springfield. I have an Intersection page you can check out if you wish. Also, I'm the moderator for the Intersection group, DISCI, the Disciples Institute for Scientific and Cosmological Inquiry. If you are interested in isses regarding faith and science, you're welcome to join. DISCI also has an external blog site: http://www.disciform.wordpress.com.

Springfield, by the way, is just adjacent to Eugene. The two cities are separated by I-5. We're about 100 miles south of Portland. We have 6 Disciples churches in our immediate area. The population of the greater Eugene/Springfield area is about 300,000. Eugene is the home of the University of Oregon and Northwest Christian University (a Disciples related school).

Northwood was chartered in 1964. The pastor is Barry Lind. The congregation has about 400 active members. The church's website is: http://www.northwoodchristianchurch.org.

Blessings in your ministry,

David

Attachments:

• Northwood Outdoor Sign.jpg, 4 KB

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Permalink Reply by Ken Lawson on November 19, 2009 at 12:06am

Thanks. I wish each church would upload their signage. It would make for interesting viewing.

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Permalink Reply by Buddy Ray on November 21, 2009 at 11:56pm

Ken,

If you visit http://www.peachtreecornerscc.org/ and scroll down you will see a video that starts with a view of our sign. You can also go to the http://www.peachtreecornerscc.org/find_us.htm and see another picture - but the Preschool part of the sign is gone now.
Also, if you visit this page: http://www.gadisciples.org/Main/Cong_list.asp on the Georgia Regional site you will see exterior photos of most of the churches in Georgia. SOME of those photos have their signs in view and you can click on the picture - some of them enlarge.

Revealing story about signs. Our church used to be called "The Kirk of the Corners". We are located in Peachtree Corners community and "kirk" is scottish for Church and as well all know - the Campbells came from Scottland. SO, we thought that was a great name. Problem was - we did an informal survey of the community and too many people thought a "Kirk" was some kind of cult - or a church that worshiped StarTrek :-).
At that time, the sign said "KIRK OF THE CORNERS" in big letters, and under it "Christian Church" in little letters.
SO - we were getting, on average, 1 to 2 families visit per month.
We changed the sign to read "CHRISTIAN CHURCH" in big letters and "Kirk of the Corners" in little letters.
Visits went up, on average over the year to 3 to 4 families per month.
A few years later, and a new pastor, and money is raised to order a lighted sign. The new pastor doesn't know the history. He orders a sign that says "KIRK OF THE CORNERS" in big letters, "Christian Church" in little letters.
Visitors went back down to 1 to 2 familes per month.
At this point - the church gave up and Formally changed its name (and it's sign) to "Peachtree Corners Christian Church" - not nearly as creative but much clearer for the visitor.

So how you design your sign DOES MATTER!!!

Oh, and one last suggestion - watch your zoning laws - It took us 3 hearing and a bunch of calls to county commissioners just to get approval for the sign we wanted. The code called for the sign to be so far back from the road that nobody would have ever seen it.

Hope this helps.

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