PREACHER ADJUSTS TO WEST'S WAYS

BENTON, Mo. -- Steve Young has learned to adapt to his surroundings in Cody, Wyo., but it has taken some time to get used to the deer, grizzly bears and buffalo that roam the countryside.

Cody is situated along the road to Yellowstone National Park, so the community of 8,000 usually sees plenty of tourists. Yet, it is a close-knit town with hard-working, friendly and pioneering people.

Getting past that pioneering I-did-it-myself attitude can be tough, especially for a pastor of a church that's only 20 months old.

Young, pastor at Yellowstone Baptist Church, has visited churches in the Charleston Baptist Association this week and will speak tonight at Calvary Baptist Church in Chaffee, Mo.

Seventeen churches have sponsored an "On Mission Celebration" that began Sunday and will continue through Wednesday.

The missionaries from around the world and across the state serve under the Missouri Baptist Convention, North American Mission Board or International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Young's salary is paid by the Yellowstone church, but about half the money comes from the North American Mission Board. Unity Baptist Church in Benton sends a designated percentage of its yearly budget to the local association, which then sends the money to the state and national conventions to support work in Wyoming.

The church and association will send a mission team to Cody this summer to teach Vacation Bible School. Having Young visit the region allows congregations to get updates on the work.

Baptist mission

Missouri Baptist churches have a partnership with the Wyoming churches, helping pay pastor salaries and construct and develop churches.

Young's congregation has moved from its Mexican restaurant beginnings, where the pastor preached "with the smell of tacos in the air," to a storefront just off the downtown business district. The group has nearly tripled to a steady membership of 35 people.

Young, who does everything from preach to print the worship bulletin, likes that challenge.

"We're not bound by tradition," he said. With established churches, it can be hard to make changes.

People have to remember that church isn't a building but "when Christians come together, wherever that is."

Sometimes they come together in a relaxed setting. Sunday worship is traditional with hymnals and a piano not keyboards and Powerpoint presentations, but there are folding chairs instead of pews in the former pharmacy building.

Most of the ranchers wear bolo ties, boots and blue jeans, not three-piece suits. So Young doesn't either. He takes his jeans to the dry cleaners to get them starched and pressed so he can fit in with the ranchers and bankers and retired doctors who sit around the cafe mornings drinking coffee. He doesn't wear a suit when he preaches but still dons a tie.

"Around the coffee table everybody is equal," Young said.