Athens church points topless dance club patrons to ‘true Happy Hour’ with billboard

If you want to find Lindsay Lane Baptist Church in Athens, head to Jimmy’s Lounge.
   
Jimmy’s is a topless dance club on state Highway 72 in Madison, and everyone who works at, frequents or merely drives by Jimmy’s knows exactly where Lindsay Lane is. If they ever forget, they need only look up. 
   
Located in neighboring Athens, Lindsay Lane Baptist has grown exponentially since first forming in 1988. If you follow the directions on the billboard over Jimmy’s Lounge, you’ll find a sprawling, modern church campus with plenty of parking and members who pride themselves on being “A Church With A Vision.” 
   
Recently that vision included advertising on a much larger scale — 10 feet by 30 feet, to be exact.
   
Finding an earlier experiment with billboards as effective as they had hoped, Lindsay Lane Senior Pastor Dusty McLemore and Minister of Education Sonny Schofield decided to try again. “Brother Dusty thought we needed one in Madison,” Schofield said. “We were praying for God to give us a billboard in Madison.”
   
And God answered that prayer.
   
He just happened to give them one over a topless dance club.  
   
The juxtaposition wasn’t deliberate (at least at first) and neither Schofield nor McLemore have a personal vendetta against adult entertainment beyond ordinary Christian indignation. 
   
“That just happened to be one that was available,” Schofield explained. The opportunity, however, for a savvy evangelical approach soon became apparent. 
   
When residents voted Athens wet late last year, restaurants along Highway 72 wasted no time reintroducing “Happy Hour” into the local vernacular. “We thought, ‘we could do something with that,’” Schofield said. 
   
The first billboard advertised Lindsay Lane Sunday services as a “Happy Hour” visitors would remember.
   
“We weren’t always saved,” Schofield said. “We used to have a ‘good time,’ and since it was something we could relate to in our past, we thought others might be able to as well.”
   
The billboard also featured a 10-foot tall graphic of Jesus carrying the cross. “We want them to see (that). Thousands of people pass there and see Jesus carrying that cross,” Schofield said.
   
It’s also the last thing Jimmy’s patrons see before entering, and McLemore and company like it that way. Lindsay Lane has had the sign space since November 2004; they have a one-year lease with an indefinite option to renew. 
   
They plan to switch the phrasing every six to eight months — the latest version is designed to reference 1 Corinthians 4:10 with “Fools For Christ! Who’s Fool Are You?”
   
“We’ve had several comments on the sign,” McLemore added. “Prayerfully, it’s sending a message that the church is where the true ‘Happy Hour’ occurs.”
   
Jimmy Robinson, owner of Jimmy’s Lounge, was unavailable for comment.