Rickman’s Oak Hill Church will host a “Celebration 250” event Sunday, featuring the reading of the Declaration, one of the signers and a cannon fire.
Pastor Todd Sutton said the idea for the patriotic event originated following a conversation between the church song director and member Bill Heard.
“Mr. Herd has done, he can’t count the number of times he’s done Civil War reenactments,” Sutton said,” And he makes his own powder and the rounds and everything. Nothing’s going to be shot out except debris. But so anyway we’re looking forward to that. Something that uh I don’t think the Oak Hill community has ever seen.”
Sutton said the evening will feature Cookeville resident Jim Maddox, who will dress as Thomas Jefferson to recite the Declaration of Independence. Sutton said the church choir will perform patriotic medleys, including “God Bless America” and “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” leading up to the outdoor cannon demonstration.
Sutton said the demonstration will follow a performance of the “Star-Spangled Banner” by his wife, Christy Sutton.
“I don’t think they would have ever dreamed we would have grown as big as we are to be the the greatest and most powerful nation on the planet,” Sutton said. “But they had a dream and a vision and the Declaration set that dream and vision in motion.”
Sutton said his own message for the evening will explore the nation’s founding principles by interweaving scripture with historical documents from the National Archives. Sutton said the church is also preparing an “All-American” hamburger fellowship for the community to enjoy together after the service.
“We just wanted to do a simple meal for our community and we’ve got our cooking team ready,” Sutton said. “They’re going to grill up probably you know couple hundred, 250 burgers for us.”
Sutton said the church, which was established in 1881, is coordinating with the Overton County Sheriff’s Department to manage traffic for the expected crowd. Sutton said several local churches have canceled their own Sunday evening services to attend the event.
“Once you come over the hill and you see that little white country church nestled in a little valley and with God’s creation around it it just it’s just a special place to be and a special place to worship with family every week,” Sutton said.
The service is scheduled to begin at 6pm at 1073 Oak Hill Road.