New Church to Sit on 11-Acre Parcel

By Ryan Fulgham
The Leader

A groundbreaking will soon be held for a new 6,000-square-foot church to be located just east of Cleveland.

An 11-acre parcel of land near Old Ruleville Road and adjacent to a private golf course development will become the new site for Homestretch Baptist Church, a fledgling congregation led by the Rev. Edward Duvall.

Homestretch, which currently has just 24 members, has operated in a downtown building just off of North Street since May, 2005.

“We hope to begin groundbreaking for our new church in May,” Duvall said.

The new location will offer more room for the growing congregation, according to Duvall. Homestretch Baptist Church's new facility will be a huge step up from the meager, downtown, brick building it currently occupies.

“We will have three adequate sized classrooms at the start, a sanctuary to accommodate 250 people for worship, and a large-sized fellowship hall,” Reverend Duvall related.

Duvall and his flock have been working together for four years to make the mission church fully organized and recognized.

“A mission church is like a baby church supported by the Baptist Mission Association,” Duvall explained.

With the help of New Beginnings, the sponsor church in Olive Branch, and many other supporting Arkansas, Tennessee, and Mississippi Baptist churches; Homestretch Baptist intends to be fully organized this year.

The Baptist Mission Association also provides the financial footholds necessary to make study and worship at Homestretch Baptist possible. Project-specific donations were taken to pay for the land.

“The (Baptist) association has teams of retired carpenters and laymen volunteers that will build our church,” Reverend Duvall said. “We only need pay for the materials,” he added.

Homestretch has also proven itself worthy of a low mortgage rate loan from the Baptist Mission Department that will be affordable to the congregation and allow it to grow.

Reverend Duvall, who received his Masters of Divinity from Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary, founded Homestretch Baptist Church.

“I wanted to see a church with sound doctrinal and exegetical teachings to raise my family in,” the reverend related.

“Our vision is two-fold: One to impart and change the culture of African-American churches - trying to make it driven by principles in the Word over traditions. Two, to bridge the gap between the African-American church and the Anglo-Saxon church,” Duvall said.

Homestretch has been working with other white churches on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and Piney Hills to build strong relationships between the races, Duvall said.

“Unfortunately, the Delta churches are still segregated," he lamented.