SALVATION IN THE SADDLE: 'COWBOY PREACHER' MAKES ROUNDS IN NORTHERN CAPE GIRARDEAU COUNTY

The Rev. Mike Harrison is known around Pocahontas as the "Cowboy Preacher." A cowboy hat hangs in his office at the New Bethel Baptist Church and he carries copies of the Cowboy Bible in his saddlebags for visitation rounds on horseback.

The Rev. Mike Harrison rides about six to 10 miles daily around Cape Girardeau County.

POCAHONTAS -- When Mike Harrison finally submitted to a nearly life-long call to the ministry at age 23, he assumed it was time to put aside childish things and personal hobbies.

One of those hobbies was raising and riding horses.

"As far back as I can remember, I've liked horses," Harrison said. "Even as a teenager I had several horses. It's always been a desire of mine to ride them ... to be a cowboy.

"When I was called into the ministry, I thought I'd have to set all that aside."

As it turned out, horses have come to play in important role in Harrison's ministry.

"The Lord showed me the scripture where God spoke to Moses, 'What's that in your hand?' He really spoke to me to take the desire of your heart -- like horses -- and use it for the glory of God."

Today Harrison is known to an ever-growing circle of people as "The Cowboy Preacher." He has been pastor of New Bethel Baptist Church, near Pocahontas since April 1998. And Harrison does his church visitation on horseback.

The horseback ministry is no mere novelty. Harrison believes it opens doors that might otherwise remain closed.

"After two or three hours out in the dust, you don't look very preachy," he said. "Now the term 'Cowboy Preacher' has been tagged to me. Some people out here wouldn't know me as Rev. Harrison or Brother Mike; they'd know me as 'The Cowboy Preacher.'

Normally Harrison rides Red, his 10-year-old Walking mare. Whenever Red is out of commission, Harris rides Dobber, his wife's 5-year-old Tennessee Walking Horse, to make calls.

The horseback motif seems a perfect fit for the rural area in northern Cape Girardeau County where New Bethel sits between county roads 532 and 525. Indeed, here equestrian transportation seems more natural than automobiles.

Harrison, though, has been led to use his horseback ministry in inner-city areas. Before coming to New Bethel, the Annapolis, Mo., native was pastor in an Illinois metropolitan setting.

"I rode into neighborhoods where there were a lot of gang members," he said. "They'll accept you on a horse where they won't in a car."

Whether urban or rural, Harrison has found that "people want to talk when you're riding a horse." This has allowed him to share the gospel and invite people to church. He hands out paperback New Testament Bibles published by Fellowship of Christian Cowboys. The light-colored New International Version Bibles show a Bronco-buster on the cover and rodeo scenes on the back. He also had "God Loves Cowboys" stickers to hand out.

"God can use anything you enjoy doing, if you just give it to him and let him work through it," Harrison explained. "Anyone can serve the Lord with something they enjoy, if they'll just do it."

Harrison's ministry is beginning to spread beyond the boundaries of New Bethel. A recent article on his horseback approach appeared in "Word & Way," the publication of Missouri Baptists. The article and photo in the monthly publication have given Harrison wide attention.

"It humbled me a lot. They did a really good job on it," Harrison said. "It was a humbling experience, but it's a good feeling to know I was able to help some people. I got several letters from different states, saying my story really helped them serve the Lord in different ways."

Becoming somewhat of a household name within Baptist circles is a new experience for the one-time professional rodeo chaplain, who has never sought attention for himself.

"What I was wanting wasn't any glory," he said. "As a minister, though, it makes me feel good to have helped, not just where I pastor, but in other states as well."

Meanwhile, Harrison sees evidence of God's hand on the New Bethel congregation. The church, which has two annual outdoor Western-style services and a yearly trail ride, averages between 150 and 170 worshipers on Sunday mornings. The congregation is overflowing its current structure and is planning to build a new church across the road.

"God's just really opening a great door of availability today," Harrison said. "We're just trying to make ourselves available to do God's work."

While Red and Dobber worked just as effectively in the inner-city, Harrison hopes he has found a permanent home at New Bethel.

"I ask the Lord to let me die here or be raptured from here," he said, before adding "unless He wants to move me somewhere else.