The Pastor and the Message Behind One of Detroit's Most Provocative Billboards

May 21, 2015, 10:48 PM by  Allan Lengel

As you head west on Grand River in the Rosedale Park neighborhood in Detroit, it's hard to ignore the catchy billboard anchored above Indian Village Cleaners.

There's a caricature of a pimp and the words: "No Pimpin'!" "Straight Preachin'!." And it bears the name of Spencer T. Ellis, the pastor of Citadel of Praise, a church at Evergreen and Lyndon with a flock of some 2,100 members.  

It's one of the more provocative billboards in the city.

Pastor Ellis realizes that.


Pastor Spencer T. Ellis: "We're having fun."
(Facebook photo by Ray Allen Thomas)

"It's pretty controversial," he tells Deadline Detroit. "And we did that on purpose. We're having fun."

The pastor said the reference to "pimpin'" came from the perception some people have of certain preachers on TV and reality shows getting rich off their congregation.

"You hear it all the time; Preachers are getting rich off people, buying houses and cars and that preachers are pimps," Pastor Ellis says. "I've heard that in the beauty shops and barber shops.  We had a little fun with it."

He said the message of his church is: 

"We're not about pimpin'. We're just about preaching the word of God." 

Prior to establishing the Citadel church in 2005,  Pastor Spencer served as assistant pastor of Greater Grace Temple on 7 Mile Road in northwest Detroit where his brother, Bishop Charles Ellis, is senior pastor. Citadel church's website says Ellis is working on his first book,  "Me, God, and My Destiny."

The controversial billboard has been up since early May and may stay for six months, the pastor says. Renting the space costs about $1,000 a month, he adds.

He says his congregation has been fine with it. Members get it.

And he said he's gotten a lot of good feedback from the public, but some negative as well.

"Some people think Christians shouldn't do that type of marketing or advertising," he said. "We should be more simple with our message. But the majority of people have been positive. They think it's creative."

"We love having fun and reaching out to the community. " 



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