Sign Made By Local Church Causes A Stir In Folsom

FOLSOM (CBS13) -- A sign made by a local church is sparking lots of controversy in Folsom, so much that the city actually took them down.  But, the pastor behind the sign says you have to dig a little deeper to get the true message.

Two words caused a lot of controversy in Folsom – "Church Sucks" – and it was the pastor behind it all who says there's a message about God in there.

Stu Streeter is the pastor ofDisciplesChurchin Folsom.  He's a man of God and he has a message.

"Church can really, really suck," says Pastor Streeter.

It's a controversial message Pastor Streeter spread a couple of weeks ago with thousands of fliers, an ad in the paper and 200 signs, many of which were ripped out of the ground by angry people.

Clearly, those two words put together offended a lot of people.

"It's disgusting," says Cassie Lorenzo, Folsom resident.

But Pastor Streeter says to take the time to understand the message.

"Most of the people who have gotten angry have been really good people who just didn't take the time to look into the whole story," he explains.

Because if you closely at the ads, you'll see it actually directs you to a website where "church sucks" is used as the first two words of a sentence.

"Church sucks when power is abused," says Pastor Streeter.

Pastor Streeter says he started the "Church Sucks" campaign because he wanted those who really believed in those words to log onto the church's website; to bait non-believers into maybe believing again.

"And the idea behind it is to reengage people who for a long time may have disconnected with the church," Pastor Streeter told CBS13.

And it seemed as though the pastor's prayers or shocking ad campaigns worked.  He has received hundreds of emails and calls.

"Church sucks but it doesn't have to come to find out," says Pastor Streeter.

The first "Church Sucks" sermon is this Sunday on Easter at 9 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.