In light of our annual Signs coverage in this issue, I thought I would share with you one of the early responses to my request for interesting church signs and/or messages.

It came from Andy Fowler, Associate Pastor/Music and Senior Adults, Beallwood Baptist Church , Columbus , Georgia .

Andy wrote, "Please understand that it isn't the message on the sign I found interesting, but the name of the church itself! I've always wondered if there really was an ideal church, and I finally found it! It's located in the little town of Ideal, Georgia ."

I'm proud to have Verlyn Verbrugge as the author of our Signs article in this issue. He wrote the book "Your Church Sign", and he shares with us the importance of the church sign and its captions.

According to Verbrugge, "The problem with a permanent sign, of course, is that, for the vast majority of us, it becomes part of the landscape that, in our rush to get from one place to another, we no longer see, let alone pay special attention to. The challenge for a church, therefore, is to develop a means of drawing continual attention to its location by having a sign that changes its look."

Keep your submissions coming! If your church (or someone else's) has an innovative, inspiring or just plain interesting message on your church sign, take a picture and e-mail it to me. Please include the name and location of your church.

I'm always interested in hearing from you. You can reach me at jill@religiousproductnews.com .

God Bless,

Jill Pinheiro