Oval shap,(like a basket ball) dull grey color, that made no sounds.

The summer of 1979, I had pick up my girlfriend, at her mother's house in Sanderville, Mississippi. This incident happened on a Saturday about 2:30 pm in the day time. We were traveling on a two lane county road into Laurel, Mississippi. 
When I looked at a church on my left and saw an Oval shape object(like a basketball) but much bigger, with a dull grey color, hovering about 25 feet above the church. I stop my car in the middle of the road and I asked my friend,"what is that"?  And she replied,"I don't know"? 
I then drove my car off the road and on to the church ground, to get a closer look at this object. That is when, it took off,traveling over the trees,in a way that it knew we could not follow.
Witness indicates that the date of the sighting is approximate.  PD