Yee haw

At the Cross Country Church in Gordonville, services don't begin with a hearty "amen." At this church, it's a "yee haw!"

Worship leader Rick Irwin says Cross Country Church wants to reach people who haven't been to church in a while and those who are uncomfortable in a formal church setting.

Services are held Thursday nights and Sunday mornings in a former western supply store on Highway 25.

Flanking a cross in the front of the church are two large saguaro cactuses painted on pillars. Off to the side is a full-size fiberglass horse, and painted on the wall near the horse is a life-size picture of actor John Wayne in cowboy garb. Curtains on the windows are made of burlap and the valances are a bright red bandanna print. A steer skull hangs on the lectern.

"You won't find an organ or a choir in this place," Irwin said. Instead there's a five-piece country band.

Some of the members have played with notable country performers such as Crystal Gayle, Glen Campbell and Ray Price.

Irwin put together a band for the Cowboy Church in Cape Girardeau a few years ago, but the band eventually broke up. In November, Irwin got his band members back together and helped the Rev. Roger Sivert open the Cross Country Church, which moved to Gordonville from Sikeston when it lost the building.

Irwin stresses Cross Country is not another "cowboy" church. The Cowboy Church is Baptist and the Cross Country Church is nondenominational.

"We're not competitive with other churches," he said. "This is for everybody in all walks of life."

It's a place where people can come in, have a cup of coffee or a soda, greet your friends and feel at home, he said.

"We're not typical," Irwin said. "What you wear doesn't matter. You come as you are. We leave it to the Lord to clean you up."

Services are informal but respectful. The goal is to teach the Bible to people who are searching for knowledge.

There are no hymnals. The band sings Gospel songs most people are familiar with, and anyone is welcome to sing along if they want.

"We sing a verse and then pick a little," Irwin said. "It's fun and enjoyable, but at the same time we preach the word."

The church is there to serve the community, Sivert said.

"The people in the community who don't go to church at all, those are the folks I would like to see in church," he said.

And they do come -- from the Cape Girardeau and Jackson area as well as Bernie, Morehouse, Marble Hill and Perryville. On a slow night, about 80 people will be seated the 200 available chairs. However, most services are packed, Irwin said.

Recently, 11 people asked to be baptized. And as soon as the church can install a baptismal -- not a font but a trough -- they will be baptized. In keeping with the country setting, a horse trough will be installed in an area where a natural stream setting will be painted. The trough also accommodates the church's belief in immersion baptism.

The church believes in old-fashioned Bible-based preaching with an emphasis on teaching from the Old Testament.

"You would not believe how many people have been in church before and didn't learn anything," Irwin said.

Donald Blessing of Arab, Mo., was one such person. Blessing was raised Catholic, and he and his wife Marzella raised their son Dennis in the faith.

"I hadn't been to church in probably 20 years," Blessing said.

After meeting Sivert and his wife Brenda, the Blessings began coming to the Cross Country Church.

"That's where I got saved a year ago on Labor Day," Blessing said. "I was 68 when I got saved. It made a big change in my life."

Blessing said he had a near-fatal heart attack and then battled prostate cancer. He credits his full recovery to his newfound faith.

"He finally got me to see what I was doing wrong," he said. "He let me live until I got saved and my life has changed all around."

lredeffer@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 160