Cross Road church opens on Jayhawk Road

The Old Catt School building is being occupied once again after a group of Christians decided to start a church called 'Cross Road Church of Fort Scott.' The building was used by the Church of God, which was from Cleveland, from 1975 to the 1990s. Renovations to the church took about a month to complete. It included moving many heavy objects like old cabinets and an oven along with cleaning and installing pews and creating an altar. The next step in renovating the church is to side and paint the exterior. In the end, the inside is a functional church available to anyone who wants to worship God. Tribune photos/Michael Glover

Ruth Wells wants no credit for starting up the newly formed Cross Road Church of Fort Scott. Rather, Jesus is responsible.

Cross Road Church is located a couple of miles outside town at 2397 E. Jayhawk Road.

Thursday marked the fourth time the church hosted a service. Turnout has been in the 20s each time. The dedication occurred June 26.

Wells says naming the church "Cross Road" came from what Jesus preached during his brief ministry: Take up the cross and follow me. Wells and a few others decided do just that by serving Jesus via starting a new church.

"I don't want this report to be about me," Wells says. "This church would not be possible without the graces of Jesus. Praise the Lord."

In one month, Wells and a handful of fellow Christians transformed the building from a rundown facility used for storage to a functional house of worship. It has components a typical church possesses like pews, an altar, a piano, and a wooden cross hanging on the front wall.

The church doesn't have a permanent pastor yet. The Rev. Charles Manyo, a former pastor from Independence, drives in for the worship services.

Before installing those elements, a local contractor had to repair the roof, which was in poor shape, Wells said. They also had to install air conditioning and heating and repair the windows as well as all new electric wiring and plumbing. The original concrete floor was in good shape and didn't have to be modified.

"The Lord really helped us while we were getting it ready," Wells says.

The building has a storied history dating back to July 1885, when it was used as a one-room schoolhouse. The Catt School closed in the 1950s. Twenty-five years later, the Church of God headquartered in Cleveland, Tenn., used the facility until the 1990s. From that time until this May, the building's owner, Joan Crane, used the empty space for storage.

Then came Wells, who decided to use it for a church.

But why?

Wells recalled the biblical story from the Gospel of Matthew when Jesus fed 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish. When they finished eating, Jesus instructed the masses to gather up the "fragments so nothing is lost."

"That story has a lot of meaning to it," she says. "Why would Jesus say that?"

Wells says the church wants to reach out to the lost, those who don't go to church and have not yet been "saved," which she says is accepting Jesus Christ as you personal savior.

However, the church is open to all, regardless of denominations.

The chapel's goal, as written in a church flyer, is "to present the only true gospel available to mankind based on the inspired word of God: The King James Version of 1611 and to baptize and nurture those who believe in Jesus Christ and His resurrection."

"This church opens the door for people to get to know Jesus Christ and accept Him," says Faith Varner, Wells' daughter. "A lot of people don't know who Jesus is."