{"id":16654,"date":"2025-08-22T16:15:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-22T21:15:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/?p=16654"},"modified":"2025-08-22T16:15:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-22T21:15:10","slug":"united-methodist-church-buys-billboard-space-that-hosted-proud-boys-sign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/16654-united-methodist-church-buys-billboard-space-that-hosted-proud-boys-sign\/","title":{"rendered":"United Methodist Church Buys Billboard Space That Hosted Proud Boys Sign"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"pdfprnt-buttons pdfprnt-buttons-post pdfprnt-top-right\"><a href=\"javascript: window.print()\" class=\"pdfprnt-button pdfprnt-button-print\" target=\"_self\" ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/plugins\/pdf-print\/images\/print.png\" alt=\"image_print\" title=\"Print Content\" \/><span class=\"pdfprnt-button-title pdfprnt-button-print-title\">Print<\/span><\/a><\/div><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In response to the uproar over a Proud Boys message displayed on a billboard near Central Community High School, the United Methodist Church has a simple message: \u201cHate Divides, Love Unites.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The church purchased billboard space in the same location as the Proud Boys sign, which was removed this week. It paid $2,100 for the next four months.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt\u2019s part of our ministry,\u201d said Paul Black, director of communication ministries for the Springfield-based Illinois Great Rivers Conference, which represents 650 United Methodist congregations and about 100,000 members across central and southern Illinois. \u201cOne of the focuses for the denomination is eradicating racism, and when you read about this group, there\u2019s no doubt there\u2019s cause for concern.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Proud Boys sign, which went up late last week and came down Tuesday, stood along Old U.S. Route 50 and St. Rose Road, about 1,000 feet from the school\u2019s entrance. It appeared to be a recruiting tool for the group, listing a local phone number that went to a full voicemail and featuring its logo alongside the slogan: \u201cFaith, Family, Freedom, Brotherhood.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Proud Boys have been designated a hate or extremist group by organizations including the Southern Poverty Law Center and were tied to the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lamar Advertising, which manages the billboard\u2019s ad space, declined to say who purchased the Proud Boys message. The company removed it after a Clinton County Board meeting Monday night where dozens of residents spoke against the sign, and the board unanimously passed a non-binding resolution denouncing hate.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bucky Miller, of Aviston, who helped organize community turnout for the board meeting, said he was relieved to hear about the Methodist sign. He and his wife, Laura Thoman, are raising two children, ages 6 and 4, and they were particularly disturbed by the sign\u2019s placement near a school.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The new message, he said, \u201cembodies what our community and Clinton County as a whole is all about.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Black said the design for the new billboard comes from a campaign first launched by the Missouri Conference of the United Methodist Church. The campaign began after a private citizen erected a similar sign near a Confederate flag flying along a busy road at the Lake of the Ozarks. The church eventually took over funding for that billboard and has since expanded the effort, putting up signs in several locations throughout the state.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kim Jenne, director of connectional ministries for the Missouri Conference, said other Methodist conferences across the country, including in Ohio and North Carolina, have also adopted the \u201cHate Divides, Love Unites\u201d message in places where local communities have reported extremist activity, though she was not aware of any other Proud Boys billboards.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/capitolnewsillinois.com\/\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Capitol News Illinois<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation. <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In response to the uproar over a Proud Boys message displayed on a billboard near Central Community High School, the United Methodist Church has a simple message: \u201cHate Divides, Love [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":16655,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>United Methodist Church Buys Billboard Space That Hosted Proud Boys Sign - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/16654-united-methodist-church-buys-billboard-space-that-hosted-proud-boys-sign\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"United Methodist Church Buys Billboard Space That Hosted Proud Boys Sign - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/16654-united-methodist-church-buys-billboard-space-that-hosted-proud-boys-sign\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-08-22T21:15:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/methodist-billboard.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1140\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"735\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Greg Sapp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Greg Sapp\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/16654-united-methodist-church-buys-billboard-space-that-hosted-proud-boys-sign\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/16654-united-methodist-church-buys-billboard-space-that-hosted-proud-boys-sign\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Greg Sapp\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ea4a7a4f3418a551e6319888ef00a8f1\"},\"headline\":\"United Methodist Church Buys Billboard Space That Hosted Proud Boys Sign\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-22T21:15:10+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/16654-united-methodist-church-buys-billboard-space-that-hosted-proud-boys-sign\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":495,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/16654-united-methodist-church-buys-billboard-space-that-hosted-proud-boys-sign\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/methodist-billboard.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Local News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/16654-united-methodist-church-buys-billboard-space-that-hosted-proud-boys-sign\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/16654-united-methodist-church-buys-billboard-space-that-hosted-proud-boys-sign\\\/\",\"name\":\"United Methodist Church Buys Billboard Space That Hosted Proud Boys Sign - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/16654-united-methodist-church-buys-billboard-space-that-hosted-proud-boys-sign\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/16654-united-methodist-church-buys-billboard-space-that-hosted-proud-boys-sign\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/methodist-billboard.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-22T21:15:10+00:00\",\"description\":\"Effingham's News and Sports Leader\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/16654-united-methodist-church-buys-billboard-space-that-hosted-proud-boys-sign\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/16654-united-methodist-church-buys-billboard-space-that-hosted-proud-boys-sign\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/16654-united-methodist-church-buys-billboard-space-that-hosted-proud-boys-sign\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/methodist-billboard.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/methodist-billboard.webp\",\"width\":1140,\"height\":735},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/16654-united-methodist-church-buys-billboard-space-that-hosted-proud-boys-sign\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"United Methodist Church Buys Billboard Space That Hosted Proud Boys Sign\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/premier-logo-v1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/premier-logo-v1.png\",\"width\":272,\"height\":69,\"caption\":\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ea4a7a4f3418a551e6319888ef00a8f1\",\"name\":\"Greg Sapp\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/author\\\/greg_sapp\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"United Methodist Church Buys Billboard Space That Hosted Proud Boys Sign - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","description":"Effingham's News and Sports Leader","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/16654-united-methodist-church-buys-billboard-space-that-hosted-proud-boys-sign\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"United Methodist Church Buys Billboard Space That Hosted Proud Boys Sign - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","og_description":"Effingham's News and Sports Leader","og_url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/16654-united-methodist-church-buys-billboard-space-that-hosted-proud-boys-sign\/","og_site_name":"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","article_published_time":"2025-08-22T21:15:10+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1140,"height":735,"url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/methodist-billboard.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"author":"Greg Sapp","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Greg Sapp","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/16654-united-methodist-church-buys-billboard-space-that-hosted-proud-boys-sign\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/16654-united-methodist-church-buys-billboard-space-that-hosted-proud-boys-sign\/"},"author":{"name":"Greg Sapp","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/ea4a7a4f3418a551e6319888ef00a8f1"},"headline":"United Methodist Church Buys Billboard Space That Hosted Proud Boys Sign","datePublished":"2025-08-22T21:15:10+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/16654-united-methodist-church-buys-billboard-space-that-hosted-proud-boys-sign\/"},"wordCount":495,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/16654-united-methodist-church-buys-billboard-space-that-hosted-proud-boys-sign\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/methodist-billboard.webp","articleSection":["Local News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/16654-united-methodist-church-buys-billboard-space-that-hosted-proud-boys-sign\/","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/16654-united-methodist-church-buys-billboard-space-that-hosted-proud-boys-sign\/","name":"United Methodist Church Buys Billboard Space That Hosted Proud Boys Sign - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/16654-united-methodist-church-buys-billboard-space-that-hosted-proud-boys-sign\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/16654-united-methodist-church-buys-billboard-space-that-hosted-proud-boys-sign\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/methodist-billboard.webp","datePublished":"2025-08-22T21:15:10+00:00","description":"Effingham's News and Sports Leader","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/16654-united-methodist-church-buys-billboard-space-that-hosted-proud-boys-sign\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/16654-united-methodist-church-buys-billboard-space-that-hosted-proud-boys-sign\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/16654-united-methodist-church-buys-billboard-space-that-hosted-proud-boys-sign\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/methodist-billboard.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/methodist-billboard.webp","width":1140,"height":735},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/16654-united-methodist-church-buys-billboard-space-that-hosted-proud-boys-sign\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"United Methodist Church Buys Billboard Space That Hosted Proud Boys Sign"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/","name":"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#organization","name":"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/premier-logo-v1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/premier-logo-v1.png","width":272,"height":69,"caption":"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/ea4a7a4f3418a551e6319888ef00a8f1","name":"Greg Sapp","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/author\/greg_sapp\/"}]}},"modified_by":"Greg Sapp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16654"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16654\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16656,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16654\/revisions\/16656"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}