{"id":9309,"date":"2024-02-20T11:37:34","date_gmt":"2024-02-20T16:37:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/?p=9309"},"modified":"2024-02-20T11:37:34","modified_gmt":"2024-02-20T16:37:34","slug":"ohio-megachurch-pastor-punts-bible-off-stage-during-super-bowl-sunday-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2024\/02\/ohio-megachurch-pastor-punts-bible-off-stage-during-super-bowl-sunday-service.html","title":{"rendered":"Ohio Megachurch Pastor Punts Bible Off Stage During Super Bowl Sunday Service"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_9321\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-9321\" style=\"width: 867px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-9321\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/409\/2024\/02\/ohio-megachurch-punts-bible-credit-smartchristians-youtube.png\" alt=\"ohio megachurch\" width=\"867\" height=\"501\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-9321\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Smart Christians Life\/YouTube<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>An Evangelical megachurch in Ohio kicked off Super Bowl weekend with a sermon that had social media buzzing. Pastors with Crossroads Church in Cincinnati, a multi-site interdenominational church that boasts a weekly congregation of almost 34,000, \u201cpunted\u201d a copy of the Bible as part of its \u201cSuper Bowl of Preaching\u201d series.<\/p>\n<p>The sermon was given on Feb. 11, hours before the Kansas City Chiefs topped the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII. With play-by-play announcers, color commentary, a referee, and a stage covered in AstroTurf, the Crossroads pulpit resembled Allegiant Stadium more than any church on Sunday morning as Senior Pastor Brian Tome and Pastor Alli Patterson sported football jerseys as they took the stage for the \u201cpregame\u201d coin flip.<\/p>\n<p>After Tome wins the flip, the referee asks, \u201cWould you like to kick or receive the Bible?\u201d Tome replied, \u201cI will receive.\u201d Patterson is then seen taking a few steps back as another pastor squares up the Bible \u2014 which had a football-style book cover on it \u2014 before kicking the Bible off the stage and into the crowd. Patterson then high-fives her colleague in celebration. \u201cPatterson back with the kick &#8230; Oh my goodness!\u201d the announcer is heard saying over the PA. \u201cFor the first time in 18 years, there\u2019s a touchback for the kickoff.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In another sequence, the Bible is kicked yet again \u2014 this time a shorter distance \u2014 as the rest of the \u201cplayers\u201d on stage jump on top of the book as they tackle one another. The announcer says, \u201cWe\u2019re gonna get some emails; here we go.\u201d In an introduction to the video, Andy Reider, community pastor for Crossroads Anywhere, the church\u2019s mobile app, offers a greeting \u2014 and a disclaimer \u2014 warning viewers the church service has \u201clittle to nothing to do with actual football or the Super Bowl.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/78j44wfwjmw?si=SrqfzjJi8P0SNpHX\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Reider said, \u201cToday, you are tuning in for a church service that is unlike any other. Disclaimer: it has little to nothing to do with actual football or the Super Bowl, but no matter what you believe, you\u2019re going to laugh.\u00a0No matter what you believe, you might be a little confused at some point, but I believe you will and can experience God and church in a fresh new way.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He also acknowledged the question many viewers of the service likely had, saying, \u201cYou might be wondering why on Earth would we do something like this. \u201dOne of the reasons, said Reider, was because \u00a0\u201cwe believe that church can and should be fun.\u201d He added, \u201cYou\u2019re going to experience hilarious commercials filled with middle school humor, really great music and some good old-fashioned smack talk. But secondly, we believe that there are spiritual truths and realities that can be drawn out from sports, and that\u2019s what each of our teachers are going to be doing today.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Headquartered in Oakley, Ohio, Crossroads, which was\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wcpo.com\/news\/insider\/crossroads-growth\">founded\u00a0<\/a>more than two decades ago by former employees of American multinational Proctor &amp; Gamble, faced backlash in 2021 after a guest speaker\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.christianpost.com\/news\/megachurch-apologizes-after-speaker-criticizes-hormone-blockers.html\">compared\u00a0<\/a>trans-identifying people to individuals with anorexia who are suicidal because they think they are overweight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An Evangelical megachurch in Ohio kicked off Super Bowl weekend with a sermon that had social media buzzing. Pastors with Crossroads Church in Cincinnati, a multi-site interdenominational church that boasts a weekly congregation of almost 34,000, \u201cpunted\u201d a copy of the Bible as part of its \u201cSuper Bowl of Preaching\u201d series. The sermon was given&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":657,"featured_media":9321,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,140],"tags":[1854,1851],"class_list":["post-9309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bible","category-church","tag-ohio-megachurch","tag-super-bowl"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Ohio Megachurch Pastor Punts Bible Off Stage During Super Bowl Sunday Service<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"An Evangelical megachurch in Ohio kicked off Super Bowl weekend with a sermon that had social media buzzing.\" \/>\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.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2024\/02\/ohio-megachurch-pastor-punts-bible-off-stage-during-super-bowl-sunday-service.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ohio Megachurch Pastor Punts Bible Off Stage During Super Bowl Sunday Service\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An Evangelical megachurch in Ohio kicked off Super Bowl weekend with a sermon that had social media buzzing.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2024\/02\/ohio-megachurch-pastor-punts-bible-off-stage-during-super-bowl-sunday-service.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Christ News Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-02-20T16:37:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" 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