While many Miss-Lou residents will celebrate the arrival of 2001 with wild parties, others are planning to &uot;pray in&uot; the New Year at their local churches. A number of Miss-Lou churches will hold special New Year’s Eve services or what is know as &uot;watch meeting services&uot; on Sunday evening.

&uot;It gives an opportunity for fellowship,&uot; said Ferrel Marr, music director at the First Baptist Church of Vidalia. &uot;It’s just really for the congregation to celebrate and enjoy the time together.&uot;

The event also serves as an alternative New Year’s Eve activity for teenagers, said Marr, whose service will include refreshments, games, skits along with worship and prayer. &uot;I think it’s a neat thing to do,&uot; Marr said. &uot;It’s a neat time for your congregation to enter the New Year saying ‘hey Lord, I’m going to put you first’ this year.&uot;

And in light of ongoing conflict across the country and the world, that really is necessary, Marr said.

&uot;We need the Lord more than ever,&uot; he said. &uot;It’s not only a celebrating time. It’s also a sobering time.&uot;

The Rev. Clifton Marvel Sr. said he will spend New Year’s Eve conducting a traditional watch meeting service at Bright Star Baptist Church in Natchez.

During the program &uot;we’ll be in service watching (for the start of the New Year) and reminiscing on what God has done for us in the past year,&uot; Marvel said.

In addition to traditional worship, the service gives lay people in the church a chance to express themselves through testimony, Marvel said.

It also is a long-standing tradition in African-American churches to hold watch services.

The tradition dates back to prior to the Civil War &uot;because even if the churches were on the plantations (African-Americans) had the freedom to have these types of services,&uot; Marvel said.

In addition to reflecting on their blessings, the congregation will also &uot;be praying for the nation and the whole world while we’re there,&uot; Marvel said.

The Rev. Melvin White of Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church said one reason for his church’s watch service is fellowship.

&uot;You are coming together (in) unity,&uot; he said. &uot;(You) unify each other as brothers and sisters in Christ.

And White admits New Year’s Eve celebrations in the church have meant more to him personally than celebrations he used to attend outside the church.

&uot;(There’s) better enjoyment in bringing in (the New Year) in the church rather than it was in the world,&uot; he said.

The Rev. Chip Davis of Trinity Episcopal Church said his congregation will celebrate New Year’s Eve with the &uot;First Eucharist of the New Millennium&uot; on Sunday evening.

&uot;It’s our way of marking the passage of 2000 years in Christian history,&uot; he said.

It is also a way of focusing on the holiday spirit of reconciliation and restoration among mankind, Davis said.

&uot;It’s a time of our family getting together and celebrating and what better place to do it on New Year’s Eve than in the church,&uot; Davis said.