Cowboying up for Jesus
MOUNT VERNON, ILL. — Wearing a white cowboy hat and preaching atop his horse Coby, Pastor Steve Hamson gives a modern-day meaning to "sermon on the mount." With a Bible in one hand and reins in the other, Hamson strikes the fear of God in his parishioners -- more than a dozen of them listening on horseback in a humid riding arena.
The cowboys put their hats over their hearts when Hamson prays for those who are missing because they "had to do hay."
Men chew tobacco and the horses kick at the ground. And no one minds. This, after all, is cowboy church.
Across rural America, thousands of evangelical Protestant worshipers gather in barns, buildings and beneath the stars to worship western-style. As the beach is to born-again surfers, and the road is to Holy Ghost bikers, the range is the mission field to Christian cowboys and ranchers.
At least 600 cowboy churches are scattered across the U.S., according to leaders involved in the movement and published accounts. In central and southern Illinois, an estimated two dozen congregations meet in barns and arenas, on the dusty trails and in churches -- some decorated with western memorabilia.
Some evangelical Christians have questioned whether the churches offer gimmicks at the expense of a meaningful spiritual experience.
But pastors and churchgoers say their services are divinely inspired. Like the suburban mega-churches that beckon teenagers with gospel rap and rock music, cowboy sanctuaries promote country-western worship while seeking to attract those who find traditional rural church settings unattractive.
In a cowboy church, the music has a twang, the lyrics beckon men to mosey on home to Jesus, and 10-gallon hats are passed around for offerings.
Preachers tell corny jokes. Worshipers whoop, holler and clap. The bands jam with banjos, mandolins, guitars, drums and sometimes a worn washboard. It's not unusual to be baptized in a horse trough. And the sermons usually last just a few minutes so as not to make the audience restless.
"You don't want to scare 'em off," said Pastor Susie Deeters, who along with her husband, John, runs the Ranch House Cowboy Church in a converted Baptist church building in De Land, Ill., near Champaign. "You want to give 'em just enough to hook 'em."
