DECATUR - Need directions? Look no further than your local church marquee.

"Do you have any idea where you're going? - God".

Sayings like this one, which was once used by Mount Zion Christian Church, are popping up on church marquees all over the Decatur area with the intent to attract and inspire.

"We feel like it's a way for us to communicate with our community," said the Rev. Dean Cripe of Mount Zion Christian Church, 1125 Florian Ave.

About a year ago, the church placed the large red and white sign on Baltimore Avenue, pointing to the church building located two blocks away on a dead end.

"We have grown probably 40 to 50 people since we put that sign up," he said. "We have just taken off."

While he does not attribute all the growth to the sign, he thinks it was still influential in attracting people to the church, some who have even become members after first visiting because they saw the sign.

"They said, 'We saw your sign, and we decided to give it a shot.' I think that's pretty awesome," he said.

The church invested in the sign because members wanted a way to communicate with the community, he said.

"I think it's a very nonthreatening way to get messages out to our community, to make them think," Cripe said. "It's a passive way to reach out."

And they're reaching out in a different way every week by putting up a different saying. Sometimes, the marquee coincides with a holiday or church event, and sometimes it's just what Debbie Bright, who has the job of changing the sign, sees fit to put up.

"We get a lot of feedback about our sign, which is really encouraging," Bright said.

Once a week, she walks to the sign from her nearby house and spends about 20 minutes changing the marquee, she said. Sometimes, passers-by honk and wave and tell her they enjoy reading the sign.

She keeps her eye out for other clever sayings to put on the marquee and also gets suggestions from friends and fellow churchgoers, Bright said. But most of the sayings come from a book they purchased when they bought the sign that includes attention-getting sayings for church signs.

"We put a lot of thought into it, and I think it paid off. Not only does the sign draw people to the church, but I think we are getting across a very good message," Bright said.

Mount Calvary Lutheran Church in South Shores also uses a marquee to encourage the community, as well as their own congregation.

In May, the church was severely damaged by a fire that started during a construction project.

Ironically, the marquee in place the morning of the fire read "God is like Allstate, you're in good hands with Him."

But as the church dealt with the tragedy, the marquee read "Count your blessings, recounts are OK."

"We just wanted to remind ourselves that even in the midst of what's been a lot of inconvenience in a way, God is still blessing us, in even more ways than we can count," said the Rev. Mike Damery of Mount Calvary.

The church made a conscious decision to reach out to the community with its sign when it was put up five years ago in a high-traffic area on Franklin Street.

"We want to get people to think about things bigger than themselves," Damery said. "We're trying to get them to think about God and how he might have a place in their lives."

That's also why the Rev. Dave Brown of Central Baptist Church of Decatur has been putting sayings on his church marquee for 23 years.

"It has the ability to get people thinking about their faith, whether they have it or don't have it," Brown said.

The church has gone through three sets of letters and has even lost a few to the wind, but Brown said they always have a message up because it's important to the church.

"It has a way of potentially taking your thoughts toward God and the spiritual. It has a silent witness 24-7," he said.

Brown said he's happy to have the voice of the church be heard on the sign in case there is someone in passing who needs to hear it.

Ashley Rueff can be reached at arueff@herald-review.com, or at 421-6977.