By DREW RICHARDSON
Staff Writer
The Delta Cross soon will be accompanied by a prayer garden that will be placed to the west of the monument.
North Greenwood Baptist Church Pastor Jim Phillips said that a communitywide fundraising effort to help build the garden has begun. The 12-story-high cross is near the U.S. 82-49 intersection west of Greenwood.
People may purchase bricks, in honor or in memory of loved ones, that will be used to construct the prayer garden. Each brick costs $150 by check or cash and $154.65 if paying with a credit card.
Order forms are available through the Delta Cross Facebook page, where there is a post that includes the link. The URL for the form is
brickmarkersusa.com/donors/delta.html.
Order forms also may be picked up from North Greenwood Baptist Church. Those wanting forms by mail are asked to call the church office at 453-2801.
Phillips said the garden is intended to provide visitors of the Delta Cross a “place for private meditation and contemplation while you’re listening to music or resting on one of the benches.”
“Maybe somebody is reading their Bible,” Phillips said. “It will be an isolated place right there beside the cross, within earshot of the music and a place for worship and prayer.”
People will be able to step off the platform on which the cross rests and directly into the garden.
George Beckwith, a professional landscaper from Grenada Lake Nursery and Landscapes, has been very involved in the design process of the garden.
“He really has a heart for God and a really great vision for this,” Phillips said.
Beckwith was previously involved with the landscaping and planting of trees on the site of the Christ Centered Cross in Grenada.
Phillips said that a name for the planned garden has not been chosen but that Beckwith has suggested that it be called the “Shadow of the Cross” prayer garden. Phillips said that when the sun rises, at various times of the year, a shadow of the cross will be cast.
The start date for the construction of the garden hasn’t been set.
Phillips said that the brick pavers have been purchased in lots of 100, with 50 having been purchased as of Wednesday. Phillips said the bricks will be “laser-engraved.”
Phillips said the size of the garden will depend on the amount of bricks sold. His goal is to sell at least 400 to 600.
A depiction of the garden will be released on social media within a week. Phillips said people will be able to go to the Facebook pages of Delta Cross, Jim Phillips, or North Greenwood Baptist Church.
Some preliminary work, including underground piping, must be completed before the construction of the garden can take place.
“There’s eventually going to be irrigation out there and the whole works,” Phillips said. “Once all of that is underground, we can come in with the prayer garden.”
There will eventually be six benches placed at the cross, with at least one on each corner of the platform.
Phillips said the Greenwood community has been very supportive of the garden project.
- Contact Drew Richardson at 581-7233 or drichardson@gwcommonwealth.com.
