An unusual text disrupted Richard Bradley’s workout one morning at the family life center at Gardendale First Baptist Church.
“I was with Phil Jones, and he got a text from a friend who said his neighbor had a huge cross on a trailer behind his house,” said Bradley, a member of GFBC.
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The 16-foot cross had come from the side of the Women’s and Children’s Center at St. Vincent’s Hospital, where it had been hanging 10 stories up until UAB Hospital purchased St. Vincent’s and removed the formerly Catholic hospital’s religious artefacts.
Bradley said he and Jones — who serves on the GFBC staff in pastoral care, prayer and restoration ministries — drove out to see the cross, “and it was huge.”
Potential difficulties
The two immediately thought of a congregation that GFBC had been helping in Cornfields, Arizona. The small Navajo church — Cornfields Community Baptist — had been having trouble fixing up its 100-year-old building, which was adobe.
A team from GFBC originally went to help them with repairs, but the problems they found made them decide to build a new facility for the church instead.
The rebuild had given the church a new face for ministry in the community. And as Bradley and Jones looked at the cross, they thought the church might be the perfect place for it.
But then they decided that it might cost too much to finish it — it was three-sided and needed a back. And how would they get it to Arizona?
“Two weeks later we took a team to Arizona, and in the back of our mind we’re trying to figure out if we can use that cross somehow,” Bradley said. “We walked to the corner of the building and said, ‘If we made it freestanding, it would be perfect right here on the corner facing about 40 homes.’”
Answered prayers
So he came back and mentioned it to a men’s Bible study group he meets with on Monday mornings at Full Moon BBQ in Fultondale, a group that includes men from a variety of churches.
“There are about 30 of us, and we share prayer requests,” Bradley said. “I said, ‘I don’t know if this is a prayer request, but I’ve got a 16-foot cross I’d like to get out to Arizona.’”
Another group member, Tony Camardella, came up and told him that he and his wife, Veronica, have an RV ministry and had been wanting to travel out to Arizona.
“I said that would be great, but we don’t have a trailer,” Bradley said. “Then another man in the group said, ‘I have a 16-foot trailer you can use.’”
Tony Camardella said others stepped in too to help along the way, including refurbishing the cross at a discount and creating a base for it to stand in.
Sparking conversations
He said he and his wife saw the trip as a ministry opportunity, and not only in the Cornfields community. For the 1,500-mile drive, they tilted the cross up on its side so that passersby could see what it was.
The couple, who live in Cullman, have seen God work for several years through a ministry they call People Must Know. They’ve driven around the country with their RV emblazoned with decals about God’s love and an invitation for people to request prayer if they need it.
The cross added a new element — even before they left Alabama, the sight sparked spiritual conversations.
“A lady chased us down and said, ‘I’ve been trying to talk to my mother about Jesus, and as we were talking the cross went by, and I said, ‘Mom, if you need a sign, it’s right in front of you,’” Veronica Camardella said, noting that that type of opportunity continued as they traveled.
When they arrived in Cornfields on July 8, she said the people there “were so gracious.”
“They sang hymns in English and also in Navajo,” she said.
‘From salvage to salvations’
The following week, Bradley and a team from GFBC arrived to pour a concrete walkway and secure the base of the cross.
He said they had six guys lift it, and “with God’s grace it slid right into the base.”
“We were absolutely awestruck at how everything went so smoothly,” Bradley said. “We had thought it would cost too much money and be too hard to get out there, but God worked out all the details.”
He said he’s so thankful for every detail, starting with Jones’ friend — Ted Cook — who called about the cross in his neighbor’s yard.
“Without Ted’s neighbor’s desire to save the cross from being scrapped, this beautiful story would never have happened,” Bradley said. “We owe Quinn Sutherland a heartfelt thank you.”
Veronica Camardella said the cross “went from salvage to salvations.”
“Now it has a new life, it’s standing and it has a permanent home,” she said.
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