A Starkville couple is making their way across Mississippi one county seat at a time with a single goal: to pray over each community and encourage others to see the state in a more positive light.
Charlotte Jean Todd Leonard and her husband, Terry Leonard, began visiting county seats in April 2025 as part of what they call the Mississippi Jesus Banner Project. Since then, they have stopped in 58 of Mississippi’s 92 county seats and hope to complete their journey this summer in honor of America’s 250th anniversary.
“People (talk poorly about) Mississippi, and we’re trying to flip the script,” Charlotte said. “I got to the place where I was like, ‘Terry, I’m sick of this. We’re going to have to do something about it.’”
At each stop, the couple raises one of Charlotte’s hand-painted banners outside the county courthouse, prays and then moves on to the next location.
“All we do is literally lift the banner up at the courthouse, we pray and we leave,” she said.
For Charlotte, the project is personal.
“This (came from) the pressure of my voice being restricted, being told to be quiet and sit down and shut up,” she said. “I said, ‘Well, I guess if I can’t speak, I will lift a banner and let it speak for me.’”
Charlotte’s experience with banners began nearly two decades ago. She hand-painted her first one and took it to a conference in Jackson in 2006. After another attendee asked to purchase one, Charlotte realized there was interest in her work.
“I said, ‘Oh no, ma’am, you can’t buy one. I don’t have a business,’” Charlotte said. “She ended up sending me $350 in the mail and said, ‘Here’s the start of your business.’”
That encounter led Charlotte to launch Raised Praise Bannerflags in 2007, where she continues to hand-paint each silk banner she creates.
“It’s an awesome thing that Charlotte makes these banners in her little studio, which is right here behind where we’re sitting now,” Terry said. “They go all over the world.”
According to the couple, their banners have been shipped to Singapore, Mexico, Germany, Pakistan, Canada, China, Iraq and several countries in Africa.
“It’s amazing,” Terry said. “You can touch the world from right here, starting from Mississippi.”
Long before the statewide journey began, Charlotte regularly walked through Starkville after church with a banner.
Then, in April 2025, while driving between Starkville and Pearl, she stopped to raise her banner. After seeing the response, the couple decided to take the idea across Mississippi by visiting every county seat. The idea became the Mississippi Jesus Banner Project.
“What we’re doing comes out of Isaiah 44,” Charlotte said. “When we go to the steps of the courthouses, we declare Isaiah 44.”
Charlotte said the passage speaks about God pouring water on thirsty land and pouring out his Spirit and blessings on future generations.
As the project has grown, the couple says the response has been largely supportive and has inspired others outside Mississippi.
“We actually have people from other states who want to do what we’re doing,” Charlotte said.
According to the couple, Carlene Hernandez began traveling across California in late 2025 with one of Charlotte’s banners, stopping in counties to pray. Another woman in Texas is preparing to begin a similar journey.
The couple hopes to complete the remaining county seats by the end of the summer before making Jackson their final stop.
“And declare Jesus not only over Hinds County or the city of Jackson, but over the state of Mississippi,” Terry said.
Once they complete all 92 county seats in Mississippi, Charlotte and Terry plan to help launch the initiative in Alabama.
