Editor’s note: A dedication worship service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday for the restored Christ Church, located in the Church Hill Community north of Natchez in Jefferson  County. The public is invited.

Since I was a child, I’ve always loved old things.

About a dozen years ago, I was in southwest Mississippi especially to look at Wyolah, an 1830s house that was for sale.

On my way to Wyolah, I turned a curve on Mississippi Highway 553 and saw something that grabbed my heart.

It was Christ Episcopal Church — down on its heels, but still elegant and classic.

Soon after that, my partner, John Norris, and I bought, restored and moved into Wyolah. Every time I drove by the church, it called out to me for help.

John and I soon became active members of the historic and beautiful church. It has pure Gothic Revival architecture, the congregation dates back to 1820, making it the oldest Episcopal congregation in Mississippi, and we loved being part of that community of faith.

Everyone agreed with us that the church deserved to be saved. But who would take charge?

By then I had completed work on the films, “The Help,” “Get On Up” and “The Girl on the Train” and had some free time. I volunteered to help.

I knew I could refer to experiences and contacts I made after college, when I worked several years as a building contractor.

Christ Church leaders gave me the go-ahead.

Two things kicked off my work. My friend and neighbor, the late Jinny Patterson, said she wanted more than anything to see the original cross put back on top of the church. To do that, we had to replace the leaking roof.

All that happened in 2019, just in time for the church’s bicentennial celebration in 2020.

Another close friend, The Rev. Ken Ritter, Christ Church’s vicar, was miserable on hot summer Sundays when he had to wear heavy clerical vestments. Of course, there was no air-conditioning. We had to have a climate control system. It was soon installed.

Many of the original windows were badly damaged. We found the source of the original stained glass and etched glass in Germany. Experts at Pearl River Glass Studio in Jackson made the windows look like new.

Other successes followed, including masonry and plaster repairs on the interior walls and ceiling. That work was done by Curtis Anderson of Natchez and Jose Ramirez of Ridgeland and their talented crews. Once again, the walls look like they are made of marble blocks.

Jose scraped the ceiling one day and found the original color of paint from 1856.

Also exciting was seeing the date of 1856 hand-written under a pew. Tom Vigil of Natchez found that when all the pews were removed from the church so that he could repair and paint them.

In fact, Tom had to re-create several pews because they were totally unusable.

The last major project was the church floor, which had been painted decades ago. We found the original color of the floor and put it back.

Other newly completed work includes a specially designed handrail up the front steps, a handicapped ramp, a larger organ, upholstery on the kneelers and the placement of the font and its pedestal at its original location near the church entrance.

Thanks to the generosity of dozens and dozens of people, all the beautiful work at Christ Church has been totally donated or paid for.

To commemorate the restoration, a rededication Eucharistic worship service will take place at 11 a.m. Saturday.

It will be led by The Right Rev. Dr. Dorothy Sanders Wells, the Episcopal bishop of the Diocese of Mississippi.

We invite everyone to attend the service and the free reception afterward. 

The church is located 12 miles north of Natchez at the intersection of Mississippi Highway 553 and Church Hill Road.

Christ Church has worship services conducted by The Rev. Samuel B. Godfrey at 2 p.m. on second and fourth Sundays and is growing as a congregation. We welcome new members.

Bishop Wells perfectly captured the purpose of the restoration when she said, “May God grant this worshipping community many, many more years to shine the light of Christ from this hill.”

Tate Taylor, an award-winning movie actor, screenwriter, director and producer, was born in Jackson. After graduating from the University of Mississippi, he worked in Memphis where he was fascinated by the filming of “The Firm.” That led to a career in film making, first as a production assistant in 1996 on the set of “A Time to Kill.” Later he directed “The Help” in 2011, based on a novel by his childhood friend, Kathryn Stockett. The film, nominated for three Academy Awards, won the Best Supporting Actress Award for its star, Octavia Spencer. Other successful films are “Get on Up” in 2014, “The Girl on the Train” in 2016, “Ma” in 2019 and “Breaking News in Yuba County” in 2021. With a love for filming on location, Taylor is dedicated to bringing film making to Mississippi. His companies include Crooked Letter Picture Company and Sandbox Stages in Natchez, near his historic home in Church Hill.