Old McKendree Chapel celebrates bicentennial

Hundreds of congregants from Methodist churches throughout southeast Missouri and further gather Sunday, Sept. 22, 2019, at Old McKendree Chapel in Jackson to celebrate the church's bicentennial with food trucks, games, and a camp style worship service. The celebration commemorated the 200th anniversary of the chapel's construction, built under the leadership of Rev. John Scripps on land donated by William Williams, and the 200th anniversary of Missouri's first annual conference, held Sept. 14, 1819, in the newly constructed McKendree Chapel. Choir members from nine area churches combined voices to form the Southeast District Choir under the direction of Misty Rivers, and Bishop Robert Farr delivered the sermon for the bicentennial worship service.