The Eagles and the NFL might still be the overwhelming sports favorites at Calvary Baptist church just outside Philadelphia
Philadelphia Union soccer fan Abe Gitterman, center, with his children, pays Calvary Baptist Church member Lisa Lewis, left, a fee for parking at the church lot in Chester, Pa., on Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023, in front of a mural that pays homage to Martin Luther King Jr., who attended the church as seminarian.
These days, the church raises up to $3,000 per game — about half of what goes into the collection plate on Sundays, said its pastor, Keith Dickens. The welcome influx of extra money is being used to pay for utilities, ministries and a new speaker system that will allow Calvary to reach a broader audience by broadcasting its services online.
In the past, Scholes said clergy might have preferred the “old-fashioned way” of getting churchgoers to donate while shunning the sports-fan parking business as too “worldly." On a recent game day, fans decked in the Union's navy, signal blue and gold colors pulled into parking spots in front of Calvary's colorful mural that pays homage to King. The civil rights leader worshipped at the church from 1948-1951, when he attended Chester’s Crozer Theological Seminary.
She introduced the parking program at her congregation two decades ago. On a good season, they make up to $2,000 per game. “Dwindling attendance is a problem," Cranford said."So, this helps us maintain our ministries.”
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Church parking near stadiums scores big in a win-win for faith congregations and sports fansThe Eagles and the NFL might still be the overwhelming sports favorites at Calvary Baptist church just outside Philadelphia
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