Cross is raised in Calhoun County after a year of planning and praying

Supporters believe the 120 foot crosses provide hope during trying times

PITTSBORO, MISS. (WCBI) – It was a celebration in one Calhoun County town, as a one hundred and twenty foot cross was raised along Highway 9.

As workers carefully set the 47 thousand pound cross onto its base, Mike Rozier looked on at his ninth cross project in Mississippi.

“Once the community raises the money, we order the steel, to construct the cross, my company constructs it, and my company makes not one nickel off of this, we do it at whatever our cost is, and that’s it,” Rozier said.

Rozier is a Christian businessman and says he sees each cross project as an opportunity for ministry.

” At the end of February, I was in Georgia, and the last day we were there, one of the men on the construction crew there in Georgia, I had the privilege to lead him to Christ at the foot of the cross,” Rozier said.

Also looking on as the cross went up, Carol Ann Lightsey, who spearheaded fundraising for the cross project in Batesville in 2017, and Evelyn Thompson, who is helping raise money for a cross in Monroe County.

“Some people have seen ours, passing on the interstate, that’s where Rayville, Louisiana, that one came from and Booneville saw a picture of our cross and wanted one and that’s where that one came from, it’s just spreading, I call it planting cross seeds, God plants cross seeds, we don’t know where they’re landing but they’re landing everywhere and it’s amazing and wonderful,” Lightsey said.

“We are trying to create more awareness in the entire county because we want every person to feel like they’re a part of this cross and we can’t wait until it’s our day to have this kind of function, where people can see the cross actually come off the ground and stand up,” Thompson said.

Pittsboro First Baptist Church donated the land for the cross, and led fundraising efforts.  Pastor Vincent Anderson says he is praying the cross will impact many people.

“We’re living in such a trying time and everything seems dark around us, I’m hoping they’ll pass by and look at the cross and be reminded of the love Christ has for them and that He is the hope that we need,” Pastor Anderson said.

The cross wasn’t supposed to go up until May, but Pastor Anderson says the timing of the raising of the cross, right after Easter, has special meaning.

“It’s been a God thing this whole time,” Pastor Anderson said.

There will also be landscaping, benches, a parking area, lights and a prayer box at the foot of the cross.

Pastor Anderson says one donor provided most of the money for Calhoun County’s Cross.