Cross Bayou Community

 Cross Bayou Emmaus started as an idea by several people who had attended a Walk to Emmaus in Texas and desired to provide the same experience to the Christian community in Northwest Louisiana. Since 1996, Cross Bayou Emmaus has served the community by offering 116 Walks, with more than 2300 Christians attending a walk. In 2023, the Cross Bayou Emmaus Community changed its name to Cross Bayou Community and voted to move away from the Upper Room, the governing body for Walks and Flights. After much prayer and searching, we decided to affiliate our Community with Lampstand Ministries for our Great Banquets and Awakenings, whose 3-day event is very similar to the Walks.

Our Great Banquets take place at Bethany Camp and Conference Center located in Caddo Parish. We strive to be faithful disciples of Christ in sponsoring this 3-day, 72-hour event that we call the Great Banquet.

 Two ladies from my church went on a Walk to Emmaus in 1990 and when they came back, I saw the glow in their eyes and the excitement on their faces. They kept talking about this walk. I was intrigued as my life was falling apart along with my marriage. They asked if I would like to go and I accepted with 2 other men. This walk was in Abilene, TX  6 hours away (Cross Country Emmaus).  I was scared to death as I knew no one but the 2 men I traveled down there with.  But, that weekend, my heart burned and I saw Jesus. He touched my heart and changed my life. I recommitted my life to Him that weekend.

We were so excited coming back home as we shared our experience with each other and as the weeks passed I received a call to work on a walk. I accepted and drove the 6 hours to work.   It was an awesome weekend and then in the months to come began working and sponsoring other men and women.  We would leave at 10:00 am on Thursday and get back home around 2 or 3am on Monday morning.  We began talking about finding a closer place to work walks as this was so exhausting. 

One day, my wife, Karen, received a call about there being a group in East Texas that was going to start an Emmaus Walk very soon.  She gave her a contact number, we called and went to a gathering that weekend in Lindale, TX.  They informed us their 1st Men’s walk was the following Thursday at Lone Star Camp in Lone Star, TX  (1 hour away). We went with 2 other couples.  They had 12 Men that night and Candle Light was very small but so amazing as the tears in those Men’s eyes poured out.  That weekend I was asked if I would be interested in working on the next Men’s walk.  To keep this short, we began working and sponsoring men and women on walks by East Texas Emmaus. 

We began discussing how great it would be to start a community here in Shreveport.   We began to pray about it and Karen received a phone call from a couple who were moving from Abilene, TX and were involved with Big Country Emmaus.  She invited them to our next reunion group meeting and we met Janet and Gary Crain for the first time.  Excitement grew as we talked and discussed our visions of having an Emmaus Community here in Shreveport.  They said they had felt led here to do that very thing. Gary found out what needed to be done to get started.

We put together a Steering Committee and one of our first assignments was to come up with a name.   I still remember sitting in Nabisco’s office writing names and discussing them as Cory Ezell stayed quiet and drew on a piece of paper.  He then showed us a drawing of a bayou that was closed by the name Cross Bayou and everyone in the room agreed that this was the name to be used.

The next assignment was to have our first gathering. The place was Mangum Methodist Church and we had 17 people show up that night, give or take a few, and I, of all people, led the music.  I did it by pressing the button on a Cassette player and playing recorded music and we sang.  It was awesome. We finished up by doing what we do best.   Eating. We continued to sponsor and work walks at NET Emmaus and other cities in Texas such as Round Rock, Abilene and Iowa Park, just to name a few.  Our community began to grow.

Next on the to-do list was to find a place to have our Walks.   We brought up many places and decided to go and look at them to see which one would meet our needs.   We decided to look at Camp Bethany one Sunday after Church.  Me, my wife and the Crains drove out only to find the gate to the property closed.   Since we had driven all the way out there, we decided that the Christian thing to do was to jump the gate and trespass.   We walked the road up to the cafeteria and began looking in windows and doors.   All of a sudden, we heard this BIG VOICE behind us asking us what we were doing here?   We tried to explain that we were here looking for an event place to have our Walks and were not getting anywhere with Robert Cole, the Camp Director.  Then Joan, his wife, came up and looked at me and said, “Didn’t you go to Huntington? I went to school with you.”  This lightened the situation and started a conversation that kept us from being stoned to death. Robert opened up the facility and it was just perfect.

Next came crosses, kneeling rails, supplies, skit material, money, and all the things involved in a walk and where to store it all.  We couldn’t put our cars in the garage for several years because it was full, along with several others. We were getting close.  Then we met and came up with 4 walk dates for the year and then on February 29, 1996 Cross Bayou Emmaus Walk #1 happened.