Inn provides Christian atmosphere for guests

Guests staying at Capps Cove Bed & Breakfast in Oneonta usually hear Christian music softly playing the moment they enter their rooms.
   
It is no coincidence the music is Christian, intended as a witnessing tool used by the bed and breakfast’s proprietors, Cason and Sybil Capps. The couple, members of First Baptist Church, Oneonta, said they came up with the idea for an evangelistic bed and breakfast in 1993.
   
“So many things have come together that you would never have expected to happen,” said Mrs. Capps.  “I truly believe this was a gift from God.”
   
When the Cappses were living in St. Louis seven years ago, Cason Capps started looking toward retirement after a lengthy career in television. It was then they decided to return to their native Alabama and operate a bed and breakfast.
   
“We had the idea that we wanted sort of a country village look,” Cason said. “We built the barn for storage to begin with; Sybil and I had been collecting antiques for years.”
   
Capps said an antique shop followed with the first cabin soon after.
   
“Once that much had taken shape, we thought, ‘How do you have a village without a church?’ So the chapel came next, and then our house and the second cabin,” he said.
   
Guests can choose one of the two guest rooms inside the main house or sleep in one of the rustic cabins on the property. Either way, a stay at Capps Cove includes a full breakfast in the dining room of the main house.
   
“I try to wait and see if the guests offer a blessing. If they don’t, then I lead in giving thanks,” Capps said. “We don’t preach, but we do use every opportunity to witness.
   
“In this day and time it’s wonderful just to have an opportunity to get away in a Christian atmosphere,” he said. “We’ve done that here. There are no televisions — just the clock radios, the creek and the woods.”
   
Capps said several weddings have been held at the chapel, with the barn used for receptions, along with other functions.
   
“God has blessed us and this place in so many unexpected ways,” Capps said.
   
He shares stories of how the bed and breakfast has also been used for witnessing to children. Capps said a guest from Talladega who worked with deaf children invited him to return with the children for a Sunday afternoon service.
   
“Everyone dressed in outfits like biblical times, including the children,” Capps said.  “As the children sat around the creekside among these beautiful trees, an adult dressed as Jesus appeared from the woods and began to tell the stories of the Bible to the children. It was wonderful.”
   
He said several children made professions of faith during a service held later in the chapel.
   
“The one thing we want to do,” Capps said, “is have people leave here knowing they’ve been in the company of Christians.”