LAURENS COUNTY, Ga. — There’s a sign in Dudley that sits in the parking lot of a gas station convenience store that says JESUS IS COMING SOON.
The property is about to change hands after decades, but the sign has a secure future.
Doug Bailey says he found the Lord at age 27, but he wasn’t quite ready to listen. He did some carousing and went through a couple of divorces.
About 15 years ago, he had what he called ‘quite an experience,’ and that is when the sign came into play.
“That cloud preceded us all the way and when we came back it done the same thing,” recalled Bailey.
He says he interpreted a cloud filled with lightning following him along as a sign, so he hit the pavement and walked around a couple hours to think… then it came to him.
“’The second thing He said to me, ‘You will witness my return,’” said Bailey.
But he didn’t have his three-story plan in place yet.
“I put it on hats one time, but He wanted more than that,” said Bailey.
Although he didn’t have a ton of money in his pocket, he went big with a sign. It’s about 35-feet tall and 24-feet wide.
“A lot of people recognize Dudley because a man recognized Jesus is coming soon,” said Jason Locke.
Locke serves as the city’s mayor. He says the sign is an icon in a town of about 500.
“People automatically started asking me if I had heard, you know, had it been sold? That was the main question -- is the cross going to stay,” said Locke.
On a chunk of real estate that’s a hub for the lunchtime crowd, people cared most about what stood in the parking lot.
Bailey says keeping his vision alive even though crews are working to get things ready for a Friendly Gus was a non-negotiable term in the deal.
“We would have stopped the conversation right there. Ain’t no way we would’ve sold it,” he said.
Dudley isn’t a tourist town, it’s more of a bedroom community to its larger neighbor Dublin, but people do pull over when they see the symbol of hope.
“I've seen people taking pictures, video, doing whatever. I've seen a lot of that over the years,” said Bailey.
“We’re blessed to have that in our community and we’re really happy it’s going to stay,” said Locke.
The new Friendly Gus convenience store should be open by the end of the year.