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Seeking A Sign Of Faith, Football Fans? Look Up

Photo from Jack Kelley

The sponsors of the banner take donations to pay the $4,300 to get it airborne.

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By MICHELLE BEARDEN

mbearden@tampatrib.com

Published: January 29, 2009

TAMPA - Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane!

It's a plane towing "Super Bowl Champion is Jesus" banner!

Weather permitting, that's the message scheduled to fly over the Tampa Bay area from 1 to 4 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

"We advertise everything else in the skies, from Hooters to Budweiser. Why not the Lord?" says Jack Kelley, a retired pastor from Tampa. He coordinated the effort with Richard Norman, a retired airline pilot from Tallahassee.

This is the sixth time – three at the Miami Super Bowls, and two others in Tampa – that the banner has graced Florida's airspace in the days before the championship game.

The men solicited donations from fellow Christians to underwrite the $4,300 cost to rent the service from Van Wagner Aerial Media in Hollywood, Fla.

Kelley thinks it's worth every penny.

"God doesn't care who wins the Super Bowl. He's concerned about the players, the fans and everyone else," he says. "If the world ever needed some good news, it's right now, today."

The plane will loop over the beaches from Clearwater to St. Petersburg, and then circle around Tampa.

Kelley says the banner's message is a reminder that "God is all around. Whatever our situation, he's available."

A Navy veteran, he says that faith helped him cope in combat.

He knows that not everyone shares his enthusiasm for the Christian message. But he points to the near-disaster on the Hudson River earlier this month, when an airliner went down. All 155 passengers survived.

After the pilot told everyone to brace for impact, a passenger later told news reporters that many of the people put their heads in their laps and began to pray.

"That's what the banner is saying – that God is just a prayer away," he says. "We just want to spread a little joy, a little happiness, and a reason to smile."

Reporter Michelle Bearden can be contacted at (813) 259-7613.

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