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Country Church Homecoming

By; Dan Gibson

I have many fond memories from my childhood of the Homecomings at the Cross Roads Missionary Baptist Church which were usually held around Memorial Day. I grew up in the West Robbins Community of Scott County, Tennessee during the 1950’s and 60’s. Sometimes this event was also called “dinner on the ground” or “all day singing” with dinner on the ground. Many churches back then had a Homecoming and many still do today. This tradition of rural churches in the South having a Homecoming once a year goes back many, many years. I wanted to share with you some of my wonderful memories.
Our little church in West Robbins at that time did not have a church homecoming. The church in the Cross Roads Community a few miles down the road did. It was very common for families from different communities to attend a homecoming at another church. I know my family and many others in West Robbins looked very forward for the church in Cross Roads to hold their yearly homecoming. Some families would attend their own Sunday morning church services and others would go to Cross Roads for Sunday School. Most visitors would always be at the Cross Road’s church between eleven and twelve o’clock. I also re-member some families that moved up North to find work would come back home to visit during this time. It was a chance for them to see many family and friends at one time.
My family always attended Sunday School at Cross Roads on Homecoming Day. At exactly ten o’clock someone would ring the church bell. The rope to the church bell was located by the door. It was wrapped around a long nail to hold it in place. Children would always love to be one to ring the bell. They would take the rope in both hands and pull downward and then let the rope go back up. After ringing the bell several times there would always be an adult saying to the child, “That’s enough ringin’!”
To me it seemed the Sunday School part did not last as long as usual and the preaching would began early. There were always several visiting preachers. The pastor of the church would signal that Sunday School was over. The pastor of the Cross Roads Missionary Baptist Church during these years was Rev. Earl Ellis. A minister who was well known in Scott County. He was a very tall, slim man and knew the Bible well. He would open the service up with a few words welcoming everyone there. Members of the church choir would make their way up on stage behind the pulpit. Usually Rev. Bud Cross, Brother George York or Brother Junior Lewallen would pick a song out of the church song book and announce to the congregation the title and page number. You could hear the rustling of the pages being turned quickly to find the song. One person would start the song and by the time of the second word the whole church was singing. I have to say small, country churches were blessed with great voices! Favorites like “I’ll Fly Away” and “Victory In Jesus” and several others vibrated the walls of the little, wooden church. Everyone in the church would stand while singing and the singing was tremendously enjoyed by all. Being warm weather the windows would gradually be raised by someone sitting the closest to the window. Each window had a long stick laying in the window sill. The window would be held up by this stick. I’m sure our singing could be heard through the surrounding mountains and valleys.
Once the singing would end the pastor would read a few scriptures. With the Holy Spirit guiding him he would preach a sermon. Most of the preachers in the small, country churches were very animated. Rev. Earl Ellis was one of my favorite preachers. As the sermon would progress he would get louder and talk faster. He would move back and forth as he preached holding his Bible in his left hand and moving his right arm. I will never forget the intensity of his preaching. People would lean forward so as not to miss one single word he was saying. His face would light up in a wondrous smile as he would glance around the church. Every few minutes there would be several, loud “Amens” from the other ministers, deacons and from the congregation.
Most churches I attended while growing up started pretty much the same way. There were never any printed schedules for the way the service would be conducted. The churches strongly felt the services should be led by the Holy Spirit. Usually after the sermon Rev. Ellis would ask the congregation to come forward for prayer. He would ask if there were any prayer request. Different people would speak up and give their re-quest. The pastor would then ask everyone to join him in prayer. The people standing in the front of the church would get down on their knees and pray. Some would sit on the church benches and bow their heads or lean forward and place their heads and arms on the bench in front of them. Rev. Ellis would start the prayer and then everyone would pray. Most people prayed out loud with each praying their own special prayer. The voices would rise up together and flow out to the church yard. When the last voice praying was silent the pastor would say Amen.

County Homecoming
Continued In Next Weeks Issue of Scott County News.
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