The Sign
Dave Burton, facilities manager for Prairie Village Asbury UMC, gets recognized thanks to the media coverage of the sign in front of the church. (Photo courtesy Jeff Prothro)
Great Plains Conference | Feb. 5, 2024
For nearly 10 years, drivers in the Kansas City suburb of Prairie Village have been seeking a sign.
And they get it thanks to Asbury United Methodist Church.
The church’s outdoor sign has produced a fair share of buzz for commuters along the busy 75th Street, mostly because of the fun it has with KC sports teams, particularly the NFL’s Chiefs and the MLB’s Royals. Through the church’s own social media and the city TV stations, the word spreads.
“If we’re known as ‘the church with the sign,’ at least church will be the first thing they think of,” said Rev. Jeff Prothro, Asbury senior pastor since 2022 and its associate from 2012 to 2014.
It started when the Royals advanced to the World Series in 2014, partially thanks to Billy Butler’s memorable steal of second base that ignited the hashtag #Thatswhatspeeddo.
Asbury’s response was a sign that read “Thou shalt not steal, unless you are Billy Butler.”
“That kind of launched community engagement with the sports teams,” Prothro said. “Then Patrick Mahomes comes along, and the floodgates opened.”
Indeed, the Chiefs’ star quarterback’s name has made its way onto the Asbury sign several times, most memorably during the 2019 season when he suffered a sprain, and the sign declared the church was having “Mahomes’ ankle healing service.”
“We got phone calls saying we shouldn’t put things like that on the sign,” Prothro said.
Language on the sign is a group effort, taking place at the end of the Monday weekly staff meeting.
Facilities manager Dave Burton “will fine-tune ideas” and physically place the letters on the sign.
“Some weeks are easier than others,” Prothro said.
Before KC’s NFC division championship against Baltimore, the sign read “Cravin’ for Ravens.”
“We’ll get a little esoteric with some of the stuff,” Prothro said. “With Baltimore, we tried to shoehorn ‘Edgar Allan Poe’ and ‘Nevermore’ and other things and just couldn’t quite get it to fit.”
Prior to the previous playoff win against the Buffalo Bills, the office coordinator suggested “Sunday Dinner – Buffalo Wings.”
KC Draft
This sign showed up last summer, when Kansas City was hosting the NFL Draft. (Courtesy photo)
Before Kansas City hosted the NFL Draft last summer, the sign read “Jesus said, ’11 out of 12 draft picks ain’t bad’” in reference to Judas,” Prothro said.
“We did get a couple of phone calls about that, asking ‘Is that appropriate?’” he said. “It never occurred to me that would create any type of problem.”
And Asbury has had fun with the media-oversaturated romance between Chiefs star tight end Travis Kelce and pop music icon Taylor Swift.
“They’re more than welcome to do their wedding here,” Prothro said, with the offer extended on the sign.
There are limitations to how much can be put on the sign — four lines of about 15 characters and spaces — “way less than any tweet you could ever do,” Prothro said.
“That helps us creatively, too,” Prothro said. “That’s the first thing we ask Dave, ‘Do we have the space for this?’”
Prairie Village city ordinances also come into play since signs must be a certain size and cannot be electronic.
“That kind of helps us, because people are driving by so quickly you have to be quick,” he said. “If it’s something that doesn’t grab you immediately, then it didn’t quite work the way it could have.”
The speed limit past the church is 35 mph.
Burton said he knows immediately if the sign is a hit by the honks and thumbs-up he gets as he’s putting up the lettering for that week.
Prothro and Burton estimate there have been 40 to 50 sports-themed signs at Asbury in nearly a decade. The rest are reserved for more tame announcements, and even some of those get phone calls — such as an offer of “free bread and juice every first Sunday of the month.”
“If there’s something major happening in the world, we’ll comment on that. We’ll be serious when it’s necessary and it’s on peoples’ minds,” Prothro said. “Some weeks we literally can’t think of anything, and we’ll put that on the sign.”
Prothro said the cleverness of the signs can’t be connected to any major spike in discipleship or attendance, but that it displays the attitude of the staff and congregation.
“It’s just a way to be engaged with the community in a way that’s fun and light-hearted. You deal with a lot of serious stuff with the church, and necessarily so,” he said. “We’ll hear, ‘Wow, you guys really are reflective of that attitude that you put out there — a nice, fun, welcoming, loose place to be where anybody can show up and be themselves and enjoy themselves in community.’
“We don’t want to denigrate anybody, and we’re not going to individually put any one person down,” Prothro added. “We keep it light-hearted and fun.”
For Burton, being in charge of the sign has brought him celebrity he never expected when he began his job 25 years ago in January.
The U.S. Air Force veteran, who has also worked as a mobile DJ and in sound and lighting for music concerts, says he’ll frequently get recognized at the grocery store thanks to his TV appearances.
“Growing up, I always wanted to be famous, whether it be sports, whether it be music, playing guitar,” Burton said. “But I never thought the sign here at Asbury would give me some TV coverage. I’m thankful for it.”
The Super Bowl week sign includes a prediction, Prothro and Burton said. They won’t try to predict what the sign might read if KC wins or loses Super Bowl LVIII.
“We’ll wait and see,” Prothro said. “Will we have a service of celebration or a service of lament? It’ll all depend on what happens on the 11th.”
The game, he pointed out, comes three days before Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent.
“There’s a lot to think about in how we use that sign,” he said.
David Burke
David Burke serves as a content specialist for Great Plains Conference communications. This article is republished with permission from the conference website.