Bittersweet. That’s how Jan Williams describes the service last Sunday – the very last one – in the red brick sanctuary of Brookhaven’s Mt. Zion Baptist Church. “Many of our members have worshipped in this building all of their lives, so there is certainly some sadness, but at the same time, we’re excited about the future,” she says, and her assessment should be accurate. Williams not only serves as the church’s secretary, but as its organist, too, on a bench she’s occupied for the more than 35 years.

Katrina left its mark on the sanctuary in 2005, and those structural issues, combined with water problems that had lingered for an even longer period of time, forced the congregation to make a tough decision: start over. Plans are to rebuild on the same spot just a mile away from I-55, a high plateau where Copiah and Lincoln counties shake hands and the church’s towering white steeple (which must also be left behind) is privy to what may be the most expansive miles-wide view in the area.

Hoyt Case has been a deacon at Mt. Zion since 1951. He’s led the singing, taught Sunday School for decades, and can point to a snowy service 64 years ago in which he was one of only five in attendance. At 97, Case is also one of the few who can remember when the building was being framed by volunteer labor in 1946.

You’d think someone who raised his children in the facility, watched a son and grandchildren marry there and his first wife’s funeral there, would wax sentimentally about a last Sunday there. But for Case and wife, Eunice, there are no regrets.

“We look forward to a new church building. It’s not sad. We’re progressing,” says Eunice. “We’ve been thinking about it for years, ever since they came out with blueprints.”

The Cases were present for last Sunday’s service, one that paid particular homage to the church’s rich heritage. The special plans were possible because a suitcase full of Mt. Zion records and memorabilia was found in the building’s basement two years ago, including church bulletins from worship services conducted during the sanctuary’s construction. Current Pastor Chris DeGeorge decided to pattern Sunday’s order of worship after one dated Feb. 24, 1946.

“I thought it would be a novel thing to do,” says DeGeorge, who preached from the same text that Bro. James Allgood did 68 years ago. “We sang the same songs – ‘Revive Us Again’, ‘Sunshine in my Soul’, ‘Jesus Paid it All’ – because the words are still true today, the theology is still correct.”

Now comes the hard work of transitioning, and Pastor DeGeorge puts Mt. Zion’s changing landscape in proper perspective after helping unload some 300 new chairs into the temporary sanctuary.

“Whether we’re in a new building or the old one, we still have the same mission. I’ve told our members that if anything about leaving the old sanctuary changes the way you worship, then you don’t get it. The Lord is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow – wherever we meet.”

Wesson resident Kim Henderson is a freelance writer who writes for The Daily Leader. Contact her at kimhenderson319@gmail.com.