Our Members Are Good For Nothing

Wait, wait, wait… before you pick up the phone to call or start to fire off a nasty email, hear me out.

I was in church… that’s right, I said church… when my pastor, Mike, shared this nugget of wisdom with me. Mike was talking about how he, as the pastor, gets paid to be good (figuratively) and we as the congregation have to be good for free, with no compensation. Hence, our members are good for nothing!

Now I realize, and I hope you do too, that Mike was just joking. He does not think that just because he gets paid to be the pastor that it means he is any better than anyone else or that he is any less a sinner than any of the rest of us. (Sorry Mike). But this story is not about Mike. This story is about you, our Chamber members.

The reason why his statement resonated with me so much is because the same could be said of you our members and of our community. I guess you could say that I as the Chamber Director get paid to be good and am paid to be the cheerleader of the community. But you, however, don’t necessarily have to be good. But you are. And you are in such a way that the effects of your good behavior, your generosity, your hospitality and your love of this place called Jones County is seen and witnessed all throughout the state and throughout the southeast.

I can’t tell you what a joy it is for me as I travel to different parts of our state or to our region of the Southeastern part of the country and hear people exclaim, “Oh, you’re from Laurel? I love Laurel. You have a great museum!” Or to hear them talk about our quaint downtowns, Landrum’s Country, Boga Homa Lake, watching their kids play baseball at the Sportsplex, swim at the Natatorium, play a round of golf on “one of the toughest courses” they have ever played, or they have enjoyed some of our beautiful parks during family gatherings or other events.

In addition to having been to Laurel, many either are from Jones County, lived in Jones County, know someone in Jones County or have known someone from here. There used to be a popular theory called six degrees of separation in which it was stated “that everyone and everything is six or fewer steps away, by way of introduction, from any other person in the world, so that a chain of ‘a friend of a friend’ statements can be made to connect any two people in a maximum of six steps.” Of course in the South, and more specifically in the case of Mississippi, I think we can change that theory to “two steps away from ya’ mamma and them”.

But my initial statement stands true; it’s because of you and your love for this place we call home, that people know about Jones County. We don’t say it enough to each other, but THANK YOU. Thank you for promoting our community. People are hearing about all the good things taking place in Jones County. People are interested and people want to come see what we have to offer. It’s because of you.

So I would like to leave you with this final charge. Keep doing what you are doing. Keep telling people about our local restaurants. Keep telling them about our new and unique shopping opportunities. Keep telling them about our cultural attractions and the historical significance Jones County has played in the development of our state. Tell them about our robust and thriving economy. Tell them about our schools. Tell them about our events.

But, don’t just tell them… invite them to join in the fun! Together, if we continue to share our message, others will come to experience our hospitality and how great Jones County is. They will come and they will love it too. Then they will help us share our story with others and our community will be even better because of it! We have a lot of great things happening in Jones County, but I know the best is yet to come!

PS – Now if you want to call me out on my title, go ahead.  – I deserve it.