Tucked between the rolling hills of Carriere sit several facilities on 48-acres of land owned and operated by the Pearl River Baptist Association. The association is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention and comprised of 38 churches and two mission churches.

Carl Myers, the association missions director, has helped run the facilities for the past 14 years. Within the 48-acres of land lies a three-acre lake, a small pond, an administrative office, an outdoor sanctuary, two lodges—with 12 rooms each— and a conference center for meetings and gatherings utilized by associated churches and outside church groups. The facilities are available to churches for weekend retreats, summer camps, picnics and associational meetings, Myers said.

“Very few Baptist associations have this kind of facility,” Myers said.

However, the association didn’t always have a place for church members to retreat to.

The idea for the facilities was realized during the 1980s and 1990s. During the 1970s, Myers said they only had an administrative office near Pearl River Central High School in Carriere. But when the PRC School District decided to purchase the office for school use during the 1980s, the church used the money to start building facilities on the 48 acres of land donated to them by a local family.

The association is funded via associated church contributions and was formerly known as the Hobolochitta Baptist Association— formed in 1857 inside the Bethel Baptist Church. The name was changed in 1921 to its current title, Myers said.

Associated churches include Juniper Grove Baptist Church, Picayune First Baptist Church and Poplarville First Baptist Church.

Myers said they also help others through their mission work. During his time in the association, Myers has participated in around 60 to 70 mission trips and has collected mementos along the way, including currency from Belize.

On an annual basis, members of the association work alongside churches worldwide to help bring relief to places that need help.

“We’ve gone to Honduras every January for the last 30 years. We’ve coordinated medical teams to the Ukraine for the past 15 years and we’ve sent construction teams to help rebuild churches. We’ve also gone to Thailand, tied in with the Mississippi Baptist post-tsunami relief a year after, to help paint buildings and rebuild for a community that lost everything,” Myers said.

When Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the Gulf Coast in 2005, the association’s facilities served as a hub for housing volunteer teams helping in the recovery of the community.

“Over the years, we’ve kept being a positive ongoing ministry,” Myers said.

The Pearl River Baptist Association is located at 1376 McNeill Steephollow Road in Carriere.