Home on the Range

Cowboy boots and flip-flops shift among plastic chairs as the rhythmic fanning of programs barely alleviates 90 degrees of late summer heat. The freedom of open air is only 15 paces to the right of the pulpit through a set of doublewide doors, but the devoted congregation has gathered for relief beyond corporal comfort.

The Open Range Church of Henry County is in session and its Tuesday night crowd has gathered for food, fellowship, and renewed faith.

This isn't your typical Georgia Baptist church. In a day of creative worship, congregations meeting in theatres, backyards, and living rooms have become the norm. But few, if any, meet in a horse barn, complete with straw in stables and tack hanging on the outside of stalls.

In early March a 9,000-square-foot barn equipped with 5 stalls and cement floor was transformed into a sanctuary for folks who didn't fit the mold of traditional church goers. Folks who didn't want to dress up on Sunday morning, who didn't want to worship in an institutional setting, who didn't want to venture too far from their comfort zone or Zip Code. That's why pastor Jason Lyle decided to bring the church to them.

"We have people attending who would never walk through the doors of a traditional church," said Lyle. "For instance, in keeping with longstanding cultural standards, most churchgoers wear their nicest clothes to church. Our members don't have those kinds of

clothes, not because they cannot afford them but they just don't dress up for many social occasions.

"The dress code of most churches just didn't appeal to these folks, and that was one of many barriers that kept them from visiting a church."

The Open Range Church could not have a more appropriate setting. True to its name, the church's barn shares an expansive pasture with the 14 horses that graze in its 18-acre backyard.

It also could not have a more appropriate pastor, cut from the same cloth as those whom the church strives to reach.

 

A whirlwind year

An active layman and former plumber, Lyle has never been lazy in his faith. The past 12 months has been a whirlwind as he surrendered to the ministry, completed his General Equivalency Diploma, enrolled in the North Georgia seminary extension center of New Orleans Seminary and maintained a 4.0 grade point average, and launched Shiloh Christian Ministry to underprivileged youth. That ministry, started with Matt Monross, has already seen 96 professions of faith.

Then, in January, feeling a call to start a church, he attended a church planting conference at Norman Park Conference Center through the urging of Clarence Steiner, director of missions for Henry Baptist Association.

The amazing thing, he said, is that he found his mission field in his own backyard. Literally.

Lyle had recently purchased a property with a house and horse barn so he could expand his plumbing business. He ended up selling his business and looking at the barn more as a sanctuary than just as a place to house his and his wife's three horses.

He returned from the conference a changed man, convinced that God was calling him to the ministry. The idea was just as unsettling to his wife, Beverly, as it initially was to him.

"When I told her I was being called to the pastorate she just didn't know what to say. It's not that she opposed it, it's just that she couldn't see me buttoned up in a suit and tie, standing behind a pulpit on a Sunday morning. That just wasn't who I was," he said.

And that's how the Open Range Church was born, in a stable.

"I believe strongly in the message of I Cor. 9:22 and that's the foundational verse for our church; we should be all things to all things to all people in order to reach them, and we do that by bringing the church to them."

He first learned about the concept through reading an article in the January issue of Church Planting & Evangelism Today, a quarterly publication for pastors and church leaders published by the North American Mission Board. That's where he read a story about how a pastor in North Carolina began a cowboy church to reach those in the county's country-western scene.

 

An idea whose time had come

After prayer and much soul-searching, he felt that's what God wanted him to do in Henry County. He soon established a telephone relationship with the pastor and then launched the Georgia version of the cowboy church with the assistance of Jodeco Baptist Church in Stockbridge, which is serving as the mother church.

It was obviously an idea whose time had come, because word quickly began spreading through word of mouth. Since it was launched on March 2 with 44 in attendance, membership has steadilygrown with 14 joining on one night - with 5 of those being professions of faith. Membership is now pushing 50, but attendance is closer to 100. More than 35 have been baptized in the church's first six months.

Most of the members come from agricultural backgrounds, blue-collar occupations or similar socio-economic groups. Open Range Church has eliminated the unspoken dress code of the traditional church, thereby encouraging comfortable attire such as blue jeans, sneakers and cowboy hats.

Hymns and praise songs are conducted in country and gospel style, replacing traditional piano and organ with acoustic guitar. True to its theme, baptisms are conducted in a 30-inch-deep horse trough filled with well water.

Virginia Duke, a homemaker from Griffin, has been a member since June. She describes the Open Range as "just a simple country church where everybody is just so friendly and God seems to be there with open arms."

"We started going and really enjoyed the style of the church - you go dressed as you like," said Duke. "We even have a horse in there every once in awhile, joining in on service from his stall."

Lyle said that the church has tailored itself to the needs of its congregation, "systematically taking away any excuses" that might impede a visitor from attending.

In addition to its relaxed dress code, Open Range conducts weekly worship services on Tuesdays at 7 p.m. after members enjoy the fellowship of a free meal. The schedule was designed to eliminate potential complaints about early weekend services or interruption of family meal times.

"I love [worship services] being on a different day of the week because my husband has to work a lot on the weekends," said Duke. "It fits into our schedule perfectly."

David Lahrman, the church's first member, admitted that he had only minimal experience studying the Bible after the age of 13. He was never able to find a church family before coming to the Open Range at the age of 44.

After surrendering his life and becoming a member on the first night of service, Lahrman was baptized one week later.

"Everyone is outdoorsy - all of them come here to worship and they feel free to worship the way they want," he said of the close-knit congregation. He shared a moment of pride when he recently helped to baptize his 13-year-old son.

"I've found a home there," said Lahrman. "I'm at my happiest when I'm there. I always say, there's nothing like hanging out with a bunch of Christian rednecks."

Some members travel more than 50 miles from as far away as Senoia to attend services. The congregation has strengthened steadily, choosing to brave the oppressive Georgia heat in order to meet inside the un-air-conditioned barn, although plans are already under consideration for construction of a new facility.

The past year has been full of growing pangs for Lyle, his wife, and their two children, Kayla age 9, and Jake age 5. But the soft-spoken plumber-turned-pastor wouldn't think of going back to his former vocation, as lucrative as it was.

 

"A big step of faith"

"It took a big step of faith for me to sell my business and go to a quarter of my original salary, but that's what the Lord required of me. He got my attention by just making me uncomfortable in my plumbing business. That's when I began to see the direction He was heading this little part-time church and preparing it for the big time.

"He dismantled everything I had built with my hands and put it back the way He wanted it. There was no real option in this decision; there was no way I could say 'no' and be obedient.

"Following the will of God is easy to preach but hard to live, but it's the most rewarding thing to be where you know He wants you to be. I wouldn't have it any other way."

At his sermon's close during a recent worship service, Lyle concluded with a significant point of perspective - a reminder that the barn of Jesus' birth was not much different than the sanctuary of the Open Range Church of Henry County.

With that, he struck a chord with those who had found their spiritual home.

 

Making church user friendly

Jason Lyle, pastor of the Open Range Church, attributes much of the new congregation's success with attempts to defeat excuses which many use to avoid church. Some of those include:

• "We can't come because I have to fix dinner."
  Response: We will provide dinner for you.
• "I don't have church clothes."
  Response: Come as you are.
• "I want to sleep in on Sunday."
  Response: We will meet on Tuesday night. And remember, we even provide the meal.
• "It's too hot to meet in an un-air-conditioned barn."
  Response: "Well, to be honest, that's a tough one but we're working on it." Lyle says with a chuckle.

"Our church is like a great big family that comes together to meet over a fellowship dinner and then join together for worship. We don't dress up - and if you came in a suit and tie you would really stand out from the crowd. That's just not who we are," said Lyle, who usually delivers his sermons while perched on a bar stool.

There is no pulpit, no choir, no raised podium at the Open Range Church.

"I think part of the attraction is that the barn is such a neutral place for people to come to hear the gospel. It works in ways I never imagined.

"I just get goose bumps thinking about it."

Jason Lyle is breaking the mold in Kingdom building and in what it means to start a church in Georgia. In March the plumber-turned-pastor launched a church in the horse barn behind his house in Henry County. More than 35 new believers have been baptized since the barn opened its doors six months ago.