aCross Tennessee
“from the manger to the cross we celebrate the birth of our Savior-Jesus Christ”
How it started...
I think more than anything I felt like everything you see in a yard for Christmas decorations wasn’t the true meaning of Christmas. I’m not knocking by any means that we use santa, snowmen, etc. in our decor, but I thought wouldn’t it be neat for children and families to drive thru a community and be reminded of the true meaning of Christmas. I know so many people relate Christmas to the manger scene but at the same time without the victory on the cross HIS birth would have been insignificant-just another birth and an ordinary child.
So I shared the idea with my husband Clete and then with family over Sunday dinner table talk. Our family liked the idea and agreed to erect some of the first crosses along Sykes road. Clete came up with the theme “aCROSS Sykes”. So our slogan “from the manger to the cross we celebrate the birth of our Savior-Jesus Christ” was born.
I created fliers and distributed them through Sykes Rd and Brush Creek Rd along with sharing on social media. We ended up with over 40 lighted cross scenes last year and many others in Hickman and across Smith Co followed by erecting a lighted cross. It was such a blessing to ride thru our little community of Sykes and Hickman and be reminded of the cross and to just meditate on our Savior’s love for this world and all of mankind. I hoped that it would create questions from children and other that didn’t know Him.
In 2019 we grew to aCross Smith County with over 1,200 lighted crosses adorning our landscape of the Smith County community. Over 9 other states joined with lighted crosses along with several other Tennessee counties registering crosses on our website.
We are excited to continue expanding the cross ministry aCross Tennessee in 2023!
Light a cross, be creative, help a neighbor that may not be able to make a cross on their own and let your light shine for all to see the love of Christ this Christmas season.
Merry Christmas!
Robin & Clete Underwood and family