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Close to Nowhere
By Linda Jones Methodist and Nondenominational I
visited an interesting church this past weekend. My daughter and
youngest granddaughter attend church with friends Marion and Sonny
Pryor in Olive Branch. The pastor, Douglas Bell,
is from Holly Springs and I think a good many of the members are also
Marshall Countains. (Hello Margaret Autry!) The church, CrossPointe, is nondenominational. I am a Methodist. I thought I’d be really uncomfortable. Saturday,
CrossPointe had a fall festival that was free to the community. Marion,
Sonny, Dana, Meredith, Grace and Robin, all worked at the “petting and
riding” arena. The animals were all from Sonny and Marion’s TWW Ranch
(Time Well Wasted). Remy and friend Morgan just ran around and had fun. I sat on the hay bales and worked on the binding of a quilt that I needed to have finished last week. I
did wander over to the rock climbing tower to watch Remy climb the
wall! We stood in line nearly 20 minutes and when we got to where they
buckled you up, the ladies greeted Remy happily, asking was she back to
do it again. She’d already climbed it once! I
videoed her climbing the wall and will be happy to show it to you. She
climbed up faster than anyone we’d been watching. And then, she
repelled down! Gracefully! The fall festival was
a good day. There were approximately 800 folks there, enjoying the free
food, free games, free bouncy stuff and the animals! I was amazed at
how many kids (and moms!) had never seen a baby chicken! Sunday,
in honor of Grace’s birthday, we all went to church at CrossPointe. As
a Methodist, I will admit to being somewhat leery. I had no clue what
to expect from a nondemoninational service. Could have been my church almost. Well, OK, not really. But the words were the same. The
pastor, Doug Bell, said several things that my pastor, Troy Barton,
says — “Doesn’t matter where you go to church — just go to church!” I
know that’s a favorite phrase of Troy’s and it sounded like a much
repeated one of Doug’s. The music was waaaaaaay
different. As a small, rural church, we’re not great singers. The
small, rural Free Springs CME down the road from our church does have
great singing. CrossPointe music, led by Doug’s wife Brandi, was phenomenal! The church has an incredibly talented band. I enjoyed the two days very much. And I was delighted at all the “sames” — most importantly — our God is the exact same!
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