Community to light Cross of North Alabama Aug. 5

By Jacob Hatcher  

For the Enquirer  

High atop Priceville Mountain stands a 120 by 90-foot cross that can be seen from interstate 65. Resting on a 150-yard concrete slab, the cross serves as a beacon for Morgan County residents and is the first phase of a three-pronged ministry plan. “The cross itself was a God inspired vision that He gave over twenty years ago. It came to fruition when he put me and a group of men together and we just prayed for God’s will and He just started opening doors for us to acquire the property and start getting funds,” Cross board member Johnny Maxwell said.  

The next step in the completion of the project is a lighting ceremony set for Aug. 5. The ceremony will be at twilight at Nature Trail Church. While there have been many donations along the way, one that has made the lighting possible is that of Apache Electric in Scottsboro.  

“The owners contacted us and wanted to come and take a look at the cross,” Maxwell said. “Our construction management people were walking them around showing them where we were going to put this and put that. One of our guys says, ‘Now we need you to submit us a quote’ and the owner said we didn’t need a quote because they were going to do it all for free.” 

After phase one is complete, the board plans to complete landscaping and construction of prayer stations with touch screen interfaces for visitors to be able to reach out for help at any hour of the day.  

“It’s really a 24-hour mission,” Maxwell said. “The vision that God gave me was that people traveling down the interstate would see it and come to it, and when they got there would be a ministry waiting for them in the form of either people or those touchscreens. The cross lighting itself is a celebration, so that we can all pray for all the people after we’re all gone that come will find it.”