Standing 11 stories tall, the newest addition to the Crosses Across America will be raised at 10 a.m. March 14, in Florence, and the CBS Morning Show will be on-site to film the event, which is scheduled to air beginning at 8 a.m. April 5 — Easter morning.

“CBS Sunday Morning with host Charles Osgood is coming to Florence, Mississippi, to film the raising of a 110-foot tall, 64-foot wide, 18-ton lighted cross being installed next to the new location of Berry’s Seafood Restaurant at 2942 Highway 49 South,” Sara Abraham said.

Abraham is a local resident that serves as the executive director of Crosses Across America Inc., the nonprofit organization dedicated to erecting crosses around the country.

Abraham said she was contacted by CBS a few months ago because they were planning to do a follow up to a PBS documentary entitled, Point Man For God, a story on businessman turned evangelist, Bernard Coffindaffer, who started the Crosses Across America organization in 1984.

After leaning about the massive cross that was to be raised in Florence, Abraham said CBS decided to wait and feature the raising of the cross for its follow up edition.

Coffindaffer was a self-made millionaire from West Virginia that dedicated the later part of his life and his fortune to erecting clusters of crosses across the country, which symbolized the cross of Christ flanked by the crosses of the two thieves, Abraham said.

After Coffindaffer died, unfortunately so did the project until Abraham decided to take on the ministry.

Abraham said she saw a story in the Vicksburg Post about the Crosses Across America along with a picture of its founder.

“He reminded me of my father,” she said.

Abraham said she cut the story out of the paper and kept it tucked inside her bible.

“In the fall of 1998 the article fell out, and when I reached to pick it up the Lord spoke to me,” Abraham said.

After praying and talking with her husband, Abraham said she decided to carry on Coffindaffer’s ministry, and in 1999 she formed a new nonprofit, Crosses Across America Inc., which now includes more than 1,400 volunteers.

To date, Abraham said crosses have been placed on more than 2,000 sites in the U.S., Nova Scotia, Zambia and the Philippines.

The cross being erected in Rankin county is a “new adventure,” Abraham said.

“We have always done three crosses and the logistics of putting up a cross this size is huge. This is the largest cross we have erected,” she said.

“The public is invited to witness the raising of the cross by a 275-ton crane beginning around 10 a.m.” Abraham said, “and because of any unforeseen construction site issues and weather conditions on that morning, the public is asked to bring a lawn chair and enjoy fellowship as they witness an amazing process taking place in Rankin County.”

Lewis Miller of Riverside Construction Company in Vicksburg is constructing the cross and Carroll Berry, the owner of Berry’s Seafood is financing the project.

Abraham said most of the materials and labor for the massive project have been donated or offered at discounted rates.

“Any time you get a chance to serve the Lord you should take the chance,” said Miller, who is donating his time for free.

MDOT estimates 28 million cars travel pass this site in a year’s time, Abraham said.

“The whole purpose of this project is not only to reach the unsaved, but to remind those that are saved to remember what Christ did for them,” Abraham said.

“It would be fabulous to have a huge crowd on site during the filming of the CBS segment, so we can show the rest of America how proud Mississippians are of their faith in God and the symbols that accompany that faith,” she said.

The official dedication of the cross is scheduled at 11 a.m. April 3 and

Dignitaries and church leaders will be present for this ceremony. The event is free and open to the public, Abraham said.