Words, Words, Words

I work in the outdoor lighted sign industry. The signs that we sell are not only state of the art in quality, they are very innovative with a strong emphasis on graphics to help the motoring public see the nature of a business in pictures, not just words. On the left is a Before and After picture of a business we helped. (Stay with me, there is a spiritual lesson ahead.) Most of the signs you see today are just words, words, words. They are seldom noticed, much less read. The idea behind words on signs goes back to the horse and buggy days. When you went into business you “hung out your shingle”. Most of the people who saw your sign were either walking along window shopping, or they were moving slow in their buggy or that new fangled horseless carriage. You could put allot of words on the sign and there would still be time to read it. Ok, fast forward two hundred or so years to present day. Businesses are still using the same “type” of signage today. The world has moved into the twenty-first century, but much of the signage of today, especially for independent business, is still trying to communicate as they did in the horse and buggy days, words, words, words. This type of signage is totally useless today given the speed limits and the fact that people hardly walk and shop anymore. That is where my company comes in. Graphics and visuals is where it is at because it only takes to seconds to communicate what your business is about with our signs. My tribe’s roots are in the Restoration Movement. A movement to point people back to the basics of New Testament Christianity. But our journey got, as Ronnie Millsap sang, “stuck in the 50’s”. Much of what was tradition back then, is considered as sacred today. Gospel Meetings, Sunday Night Services, and the type of hymns we sing, just to mention a few. My tribe fears change. We are told that change is bad and sinful. In fact the new catch phrase for the old term “liberal” is now “change agent”. There is a subtle message behind a fear of change. We fear change because we believe in our heart of hearts that we have arrived at the final destination and our job now is to hold the line against change. It is an arrogant message! It points a bony finger at others and says, “We are the standard, we have arrived, conform to our standard or no admittance!” So as with most business signs today, people pass us by. They aren’t ignoring us; they just don’t know we are there. Businesses continue to use words, words, words, and my tribe continues to hold those “Gospel Meetings”. Business continue to go belly up at the rate of 90% in the first five years, much of it due to a lack of effective signage, and we continue to sing songs that were popular when the King James Bible was translated. And our numbers continue to shrink, and more and more churches are closing their doors each year. Cultural change is nothing more than “becoming all things to all men” as Paul said. Yes there are some things that should not change, and this post is not about them. The change I am talking about is the change that allows us to relate and speak to the world in which we live. I am talking about communication. I don’t care how loud and long you tell your message, or how correct it may be, if it is not understood by those who hear it, your efforts are useless. The reality is, change or die! Businesses continue to pour thousands of dollars into useless signs. Churches continue to use outdated methods the same way. The outcome for both will be the same, unless we are willing to adapt and change.