A church in Dallas, Texas not only provided a place for worship for Christians on Sunday but also gave them a chance to watch and cheer for their football home team after service.
The Friendship-West Baptist Church used the big screen in the lobby of its main sanctuary to show the match between the Dallas Cowboys and the Baltimore Ravens, ABC 13 reported.
Some worshippers even shared videos on social media on how the church was instantly converted into a place for viewing a sports event.
Leaders of the church were quick to clarify that the Dallas Cowboys' game was shown in the lobby after the second service on Sunday. In the church's official Twitter account, it said it only wanted to make the game "easy to watch" for its congregants after they attended the service.
In an official statement also posted on its Twitter account, the Baptist church also belied some media reports that the football game was shown during worship.
The church further stated that it showed the Dallas Cowboys' match as part of its efforts to "have an out-of-the-box ministry that meets people where they are."
It also said that it strives to be "a game-changing Christian movement connecting people to Jesus and fighting for justice while creating a beloved community."
"Friendship-West is aware that a great deal of our membership and the community are Dallas Cowboys' fans and were working to make it easy to support the 38 businesses hosted, while at the same time being able to watch the game," the church said.
Dr. Frederick Haynes, senior pastor of the Friendship-West Church, meanwhile said while a lot of the congregants are fans of the Cowboys, the centre of the Church remains to be Jesus Christ.
"I decided that it would be a good and fun idea to show the Dallas Cowboys game after our second worship service so that attendees could enjoy the game, cheer for the Cowboys, and support our business. I am admittedly a Dallas Cowboys fan, but first and foremost, a follower of Jesus Christ," Haynes said.
