In fact, the message and the marquee remain while the church itself has moved to its new location on the Danville bypass.
The Rev. Tim Mathis, pastor of First Baptist, said the message was there when he arrived 18 years ago.
"My understanding is that my predecessor (the Rev. Albert Gisler) put that message up there on the marquee," said Mathis. "The 'hope copes' message is one he used to use a lot. Al was doing a lot of funerals at the time and the theology of hope - of coping with grief and other crises through the hope that Christ offers use - was on his mind and heart."
Dealing with ordinances
In the King James version of the Bible, Romans 8:28 reads as follows: "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."
Mathis said that several of his church's older members "still like the message and like seeing it there" and that's one reason it remains on the marquee.
And another reason is that changing the message or the marquee would force the church to have to deal with sign ordinances.
Several area pastors were contacted to see if their churches had marquees and, if so, what goes on them. About a half dozen of the two dozen pastors said their churches had marquees but most use them for informational purposes, posting such things as service times.
Some use them for Bible verses or Bible-based messages.
