STARKVILLE — On Maundy Thursday, which honors Jesus’ Last Supper, The Cross of Christ for Starkville nonprofit erected a temporary wooden statue on the planned site of a much larger, 120-foot-tall steel cross.
The site, which lies next to Highway 25 just south of the Starkville city limits, has been years in the making.
Cross of Christ board member Lynn Durr spent several months riding Oktibbeha County roads, searching for a spot for the steel cross.
One day she and her husband pulled up to the intersection of Highway 25 and Longview Road, thinking that area would be the perfect place to site the structure. After praying for two weeks, she reached out to the owner of the property, Ronnie Massey, who, with no hesitation, handed over the deed to the land to The Cross of Christ for Starkville.
“It’s a God story,” Durr said. “There has been no hesitation. The entire Massey family — the opportunities they can use this land for — their faith is evident in all that they do because they are so willingly and graciously gifting this land to us.”
The Cross of Christ for Starkville officially has a place in Oktibbeha County. The nonprofit group leading the movement officially dedicated the site Thursday, which President Bob Daniels said felt appropriate being the week before Easter Sunday.
The cross will be a 120-foot tall, 65-foot wide steel cross that will sit on a 6 foot by 6 foot concrete pad. Daniels said after searching over 25 potential spots across the county, specifically along Highways 82 and 25, he knows God led them to this particular site, which he mentioned is almost the geographic center of Oktibbeha County.
“We’ve met lots of people, evaluated lots of property, investigated rights of way, access and all of that sort of thing,” Daniels said. “We trusted that God would provide a place, and he did.”
These crosses appear throughout Mississippi with several along I-55. The closest is in Eupora. The group originally looked into building the cross at a site within Starkville city limits, but city codes and height restrictions prevented it, prompting the search for a location in the county instead, where there are no building codes.
The cross will in total cost $250,000 with additional funds needed for the site base and yearly maintenance. Daniels said the group has already raised $70,000 and is planning on having several fundraising pushes in the coming months. Greenwood only had $19,000 when its cross group was in the beginning stages of erecting a cross, so he said he feels Oktibbeha County is already ahead of the game.
Daniels said anyone can donate to the cross’s development through the cross’s website or at Renaissance Bank or BankFirst.
“In future years, you’ll want to be able to say, ‘I helped build that,’” Daniels said.
The Cross group already has plans and outlines in place for the structure. Working with Burns Dirt Construction, the dirt level surrounding the cross will be raised by four feet. Once the group raises $185,000, it can buy the materials, Daniels said, and then dig the foundation for the cross, 164 cubic yards of concrete.
“We will put a vessel with the names of everyone who has contributed up to that point in the foundation of the cross,” Daniels said.
Daniels said he and his group have been working with Rozier Construction, who has built all of the crosses across the state, to ultimately construct the cross and put it into the ground. He said he hopes to see all of the funds for the cross by next spring and begin construction soon after.
Daniels said he predicts the future cross to be a favorite landmark for the area in the coming years and hopes it will act as a silent witness, drawing people to God.
“It will remind us daily that God is here with us at home,” Daniels said. “A lot of people need that reminder.”
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