Cheaha Ministries reaches parkgoers

The congregation at the Al Alexander Building changes vastly from Sunday to Sunday. That’s because the chapel houses Cheaha Ministries, an outreach to visitors at Cheaha State Park in Delta.

The ministry holds a nondenominational service at 9 a.m. every Sunday from the first week in April through the last Sunday in October, with rotating pastors each week.

“It’s a ‘come-dressed-as-you-are’ service,” said Donna Frames, a member of Mount Moriah Baptist Church, Delta, in Carey Baptist Association who has served as pianist and soloist for the ministry for 21 years.

“People just wear whatever they have on. We’ve had dogs attend the service. We offer opportunity for people to participate in the service, too, by singing or playing instruments.”

Since 1980, the ministry has reached out to people from as far away as New Zealand and Germany, but it has a few consistent “members,” too.

“We’ve been going up there for years,” said Jo Craven, of Lineville. She and her husband, Thirl, have been regular attendees since the ministry began in an open-air pavilion. “We love going up there.”

The inspiration for the ministry came from Al Alexander’s desire to have a worship service atop the highest point in Alabama. Alexander, who is now deceased and was a member of Macedonia Baptist Church, Delta, in Carey Association, visited the park manager’s house and pitched his idea of providing a place of worship for visitors to Mount Cheaha as well as others who may not have a church home.

Though the ministry has become somewhat of a staple in the park, invitations to the service can no longer be handed out so it has to rely on word-of-mouth, ads in local papers and signs in the park store, motel and restaurant to attract people to the service.

“I don’t want to build a mansion of a church,” said Tony Knight, who took over as coordinator of the ministry after his father, Roy, passed away in September. “My one goal for Cheaha [Ministries] is that people know there’s a service. Whether they come or not, I want them to know it’s there.”  (TAB)