'Strip For Me -- Jesus' Billboard Arouses Attention For Alabama Church

The Rock Church in Birmingham, Ala., has posted a billboard above a strip club

hoping to get customers to think twice before going inside.

A billboard in Birmingham, Ala., is arousing controversy for both its message and its placement.

It reads "Strip For Me -- Jesus" and it is located right above the Palace Gentleman’s Club, where strippers doff their drawers on a daily basis.

But the billboard isn't advertising the club, nor is he message asking people to pole dance for the King of Kings. The stripping message is a paraphrased quote from Hebrews 12:1 that is part of an ad for a local church called The Rock, according to church Pastor Mike McClure Jr., 29.

“With ‘Strip for Me,’ really we’re talking about Jesus,” church Pastor Mike McClure Jr., 29, told ABCNews.com.

“Strip off every weight of sin that slows you down. How many times have we said, ‘My life is moving so slow?’ Maybe there are some things that you need to strip off.”

The decision to put the billboard above the club was intended, he said, to give the potential customers a choice between putting their dollars down a stripper's cleavage or onto a church collection plate.

The pastor wants men to think twice about going into the strip club and spend that time with their families instead, Newser reported.

"We strategically picked the strip club because we want the brothers who are walking in...to know God has a greater cause for your life," McClure told WPRC-TV.

The Palace Gentleman's Club hasn't commented publicly on the billboard, but locals like Betty Williams thinks it's the answer to her prayers.

“I think it gets a lot of people’s attention,” she told KFOR-TV. “Whether they heed to it or not I don’t know but I think reading that sign says a whole lot.”

A whole lot of people will be getting the message. The church has signed a contract to keep the sign up for six to nine months and they plan to extend the time period, WVTM-TV reported.