In the cowboy spirit

FRUITLAND -- Dressed in denim jeans and Western shirts, dusty cowboy boots and hats, the crowd sat around a circle of folding chairs singing favorite old hymns like "Amazing Grace" and "I'll Fly Away" as a guitar player strummed the chords.

If you didn't know any better, you'd think this crowd had just rolled in off the rodeo circuit. The parking lot at Fruitland Community Church had horse trailers and pickup trucks lined up in rows. Inside, folks swapped stories about horses and livestock like they've known each other forever.

But they haven't.

This group of 30 people -- children and adults alike -- have come together in the past month to talk about the two things they have in common: faith and a love of horses. They're putting those commonalties at the forefront of a new church that's about to form in the region.

The Cape County Cowboy Church is a month away from holding its first service at the Fruitland livestock auction barn, and organizers are hoping for a big crowd.

The group will worship at 6:30 p.m. beginning Jan. 8 at the barn.

This is the first cowboy church in the region -- and possibly the first in the state. But you don't have to know anything about horses or farm life to come.

The church bills itself as having a "come-as-you-are" atmosphere where the emphasis is on a relationship with Jesus, not on being religious. And people will be welcomed in jeans, boots and cowboy hats, and see others they know in the same attire.

Jim Goggin said he's been part of the cowboy culture all his life, and often the cowboy is a loner who doesn't come to town much to socialize. He won't have to "put on a suit and tie to worship," Goggin said. "He'll sit in neutral ground with his own kind and worship God."

People who ride the rodeo circuit or who show horses at weekend events often don't have a chance to get to church on Sunday. The Rev. Jim Matthews met many of them at horse shows this summer.

Connecting at horse shows

Jim Maintz of Oak Ridge was one of the people Matthews met. The pair spent the summer showing horses at arenas around the region and became fast friends.

It wasn't until Matthews began talking about the cowboy church that Maintz even learned he was a pastor. Matthews leads Red Star Baptist Church and has been a horseman since his childhood.

He sees the cowboy church as another vehicle to reach people who need to hear about God. "If this is the vehicle that it takes, then let it be the vehicle."

Matthews had always wanted to find some way to connect his spiritual life with his love of horses. "I had a burden to do something," he said, but couldn't quite figure out what.

About a year ago he began reading more about cowboy churches in the western United States. He started talking about the idea of such a church here and sought support from Fruitland Community Church since that was the area he thought would draw the most people.

The Cape County Cowboy Church is funded in part by the Cape Girardeau Area Baptist Association and Perkins Baptist Church. Much of the core leadership comes from Fruitland and Red Star, but almost every other Southern Baptist church in the association is represented.

Maintz believes that God put Matthews in his life so that he could be part of the new church. "Sometimes God puts people in our paths," he said. "I'm just here to serve."

Janice Ham doesn't know anything about riding horses, but she's more than willing to learn, especially if it means helping a new church get started. "When do you get that chance?" she asked. She wants to help the new church get up and going and then fade into the background -- sort of like a cowboy riding off into the sunset.

ljohnston@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126