A brand new Legacy

ALBANY — You could see the light peaking its way through the pecan trees, hundreds of them, a canopy of huge trunks and ageless branches stretching out for as far as the eye could see.

But Jay Flynt saw more than the light that day.

Or maybe that’s exactly what he saw.

Flynt was brand new to Albany and to the Sherwood Baptist Church, and he found himself in a pecan orchard, walking along with the church’s executive pastor, Jim McBride.

“That was six years ago,” Flynt said Monday. “We came out here during my internship and there was nothing but pecan trees. And (McBride) asked me: ‘Can you see a sports park here?’

“And I could,” Flynt said. “I could see kids playing. I could see it.”

Open your eyes, Sherwood, your vision is here. That sports park that was little more than an idea six years ago, opened its gates last week, and now there is nothing left to complete the vision but the sight of hundreds of kids playing everything from soccer and tennis to football, baseball, and even do some fishing and horseback riding.

The gates are open, and Sherwood is hoping they are flood gates.

It’s called Legacy Park, a gorgeous 82-acres of sprawling sports fields that hug the back of Sherwood Christian Academy, just beyond the school’s football stadium. Who would have believed in it back in 1994 when the church bought the old Riverview school and turned it into SCA?

Believers, that’s who.

Sherwood purchased the school and 18 acres that bumped up against the massive pecan orchard, and then a few years later, they added 22 acres to extend out to the pecan trees. They called the addition Sherwood Sports Park, but six years ago, there was talk of doing even more — of reaching out beyond the pecan orchard in hopes of reaching out to the hearts of a multitude.

That’s where Legacy Park was born — just this side of the New Testament.

“The vision is based on whoever wants the next generation the most will get it,” said Flynt, who is Sherwood’s sports recreation minister.

That quote may not be right out of Matthew, but it’s the same idea. It may be a new twist to an outreach program, but what would you expect from the church that writes, produces and stars in its own movies?

“The idea wasn’t to build a sports park for our church members,” Flynt said. “If we did that, we wouldn’t need 82 acres. This park is for everyone. It’s free to the public.”

Sherwood’s total acreage is now at 100, with the school sitting on the original 18, and the additions over the years that now include Legacy Park, an 82-acre public park in every sense of the word.

Sure, there are advantages for Sherwood, such as the two blue-grass baseball fields that can be used by the high school team and will almost surely be used for high school tournaments, or the two pristine softball fields that will also be used by the high school.

But those very outfields will also be used for flag football leagues, and the place was built for everyone. There’s a huge pavilion that can hold 1,000, with adjacent grills and picnic tables.

Come Friday nights, this fall, those will no doubt be used before football games as Sherwood provides its own brand of tailgating. Of course, there will also be worship services held there and an occasional concert, and they can even hold camp meetings there.

The park has a little something for just about any athlete — or wanna-be athlete.

You drive past the gated park’s entry through a corridor of trees on each side before the park itself opens up. The bigger-than-life pavilion sits to the left just beyond a pair of beach volleyball courts that could be used for recreation or competitive tournaments. To the right, a winding road will take you to the lodge, where offices are housed and facilities are provided for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes in a what looks to be a upper-class brick home.

Just beyond the lodge, you will see an area for horses to your right, and corrals and a horse back riding arena. There are no horses at the park yet, but no one thinks small at Sherwood.

“We will eventually get to the point where we have horseback riding,” Flynt said. “The stables are already here.”

If you wind your way back to the center of the park, pathways lead to USTA-approved tennis courts and rows of youth soccer fields on the left and the baseball and softball complex on the right. They are building a 50×50 foot concession stand in the heart of the four fields. Home runs on the high school field won’t come easy. There’s a 10-foot high fence in the outfields.

Beyond the baseball complex is more land, and three regulation size soccer fields that can be converted into eight smaller fields for youth soccer. Just past the soccer fields you can see the winding 1.5-mile dirt walking track that can be used for cross-country meets or 5K runs, but if you want to walk, there are plenty of benches along the way.

There’s even a large fishpond, the home of catfish, brim, bass and crappie.

There’s not a pecan tree in sight, but they kept rows of old sturdy oak trees that add as much character as shade to the place as the shining new ball park fences mingle with the gray-brown bark of the ageless trees.

Flynt and Jonathan Bailey, the assistant recreation pastor who was just hired six weeks ago, will run leagues in the park in the fall, winter and spring, including everything from a 3-4 year old soccer league to flag football to football, basketball and cheerleading, to T-ball, baseball and softball leagues. Flynt said there were 987 kids involved last year, but wouldn’t dare predict what the park might be able to accommodate.

He added that other leagues could use the park, as long as they understood the meaning of the park and “adhere to our policies, which are based on three words: salvation, character and self-esteem.”

The meaning of the park cannot be missed, because at the heart of the park is the heart of Sherwood’s message. Right there, in the center of everything, stands a 150-foot tall white cross that is reinforced with 550 pounds of steel to protect it from the highest of winds. The cross lights up at dusk in what Sherwood hopes illuminates more than the evening.

“We want everyone to come here,” Bailey said. “a lot of people won’t come to church, but they’ll come out here and fish and play football or watch their kids play soccer. If we only had church people come out here, we would be wasting our money.”

Flynt said the cost of the entire project has yet to be determined, but it was Sherwood’s faithful that provided everything.

“Five years ago we had generation pledges at church for this,” Flynt said, referring to the donations and promises of donations for the project from Sherwood’s congregation. “We have had a steady stream of of volunteers giving their time and money.”

That’s why the vision for Legacy Park — the official name of the park is “Legacy Park — A ministry leading people to the cross.” –was always clear to Sherwood, whether it came in donations on Sunday mornings or from the time and labor from its church members who dug holes, put up fences and always seemed to be there for whatever was needed.

“I knew from the beginning from that day (with McBride) that God had big plans for this,” Flynt said. “And from year to year I could see it happening, seeing it being built. It’s been neat to see it year-by-year.”

And now that the park is open?

“I was overwhelmed,” he said. “Just overwhelmed. To see this sports park be built and to see God fulfill the vision of the church.”