{"id":2901,"date":"2007-08-02T23:27:59","date_gmt":"2007-08-03T06:27:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/?p=23"},"modified":"2015-11-14T11:27:31","modified_gmt":"2015-11-14T19:27:31","slug":"st-petes-church-bar-and-grill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/st-petes-church-bar-and-grill\/","title":{"rendered":"I visited a Church in a Bar"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ChurchMy friend Kyle wants to plant a church called \u201cSt. Pete\u2019s Church Bar and Grill.\u201d It would be rather convenient for communion since the wine is close by, and you wouldn\u2019t have guys getting antsy to go home for the football game. They can watch the game right from their padded bar-stools in church.<\/p>\n

Kyle isn\u2019t joking about this…<\/p>\n

Church in a Bar<\/h2>\n

\"BarThe cool thing is that I am already aware of some churches around the country doing something similar. I wrote a while back about the group in Montana called “Dirtbags<\/a>” that meets in a bar, and I have also read about I heard about Vince Antonucci and his church in a bar in Virginia Beach<\/a>. Then there is “Church in a Bar<\/a>” in Rome, GA, and a few others around the country (If you know of one, leave a link to it in the comments below).<\/p>\n

So I decided to see if there was one in the Dallas metroplex. I did a little searching, and found one with the Narrow Trail Church<\/a>, which meets outside in the beer garden of a local restaurant, and decided to go visit. It turns out that this was not just a church in a bar, but was also a cowboy church.<\/p>\n

Having previously pastored in Montana, I immediately felt at home when I walked in since most of the people were wearing cowboy hats, boots, wranglers, and big belt buckles. One bearded, heavily tattooed guy drove up on his Harley.<\/p>\n

Breakfast in a Bar Church<\/h2>\n

I showed up at 9 am for their free breakfast and sat by a young couple who hadn\u2019t been in church for three or four years but decided to check out the church that meets in a bar because \u201cIt\u2019s not churchy.\u201d Looking around, I knew what they meant. Where else can you attend church with one hundred neon beer signs and only one cross? However, as I was later reminded, “One cross is all you need.”<\/p>\n

\"barAs I ate, I had a dozen or so people come up and welcome me. I was back in an area of the beer garden that was hard to reach, so one guy got up and just walked across the top of the tables so he could come greet me. That\u2019s another thing you won\u2019t see in the average church\u2014people walking on the pews just to go greet a visitor. Since this church meets outside, I asked what they do in bad weather, and the guy proudly informed me that “rain or snow this is where they meet.” This is, after all, a cowboy church, and they are \u201ctough as nails.\u201d Part of the beer garden was covered, and so my guess is that when bad weather comes, they just gather under the covered area.<\/p>\n

The Church Service in a Bar<\/h2>\n

The beginning of the service did not begin with a \u201cWelcome\u201d but we did have a \u201cHowdy.\u201d They had a few announcements and then the musician sang. The music was country western, and the songs weren\u2019t really they type that people sang along to. It was more like you were in a bar listening to the house band. Considering the crowd that was there, I think this was a good idea since most of the people didn\u2019t appear to be the singing type. This isn\u2019t an insult; it\u2019s just that some people don\u2019t feel comfortable singing.<\/p>\n

\"ChurchI did notice that when the music leader got up to sing, he had a Starbucks coffee in one hand. If you read the post on my\u00a0Emergent Immersion,<\/a> you will know why this is funny to me. It seems like all singers, songwriters, and artists drink Starbucks. I half expected him to pull out an iPhone.<\/p>\n

Of course, he probably drank Starbucks becuase the free coffee was pretty bad. I met the guy who proudly told me he made the coffee, but then confessed he can’t stand to drink coffee. (Note to all churches: The person who volunteers to make the coffee should be somone who actually drinks coffee). So anyway, Starbucks and all, the\u00a0songs were good quality, and since I like country music, found myself tapping my foot along to the music. I guess the musician has some CDs out, but I can’t remember his name…<\/p>\n

The Sermon in a Bar<\/h2>\n

After the music, the pastor got up to preach. I had met him when I first walked into the beer garden, and he introduced himself at John Myers. I don\u2019t think there is any relation to me. But he did graduate from Dallas Theological Seminary, so I guess I\u2019m on the right track. Speaking of tracks, as soon as he got up to preach, we heard a train whistle off in the distance. He said, \u201cWell, I guess I\u2019ll wait for the train.\u201d<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t take me long to find out what he meant. About thirty seconds later, the train came rumbling by not twenty feet from where we were seated, blowing its whistle and drowning out anything the pastor could have been saying. Not many pastors have to deal with trains coming through their church before they preach, but everybody took it in stride.<\/p>\n

Once the train was gone, the pastor taught for about thirty minutes from John 15. His sermon was not full of Christian lingo and theological jargon, but was clear, simple, and down to earth. He peppered his sermon with cowboy terms like \u201cget \u2018er done,\u201d \u201chave at it,\u201d and \u201cain\u2019t.\u201d He even used a word in his sermon which would offend the gentler ears of most Christians, but which seemed right at home with this group.<\/p>\n

When he was done, they closed out the service with a few more songs and then a rousing rendition of \u201cHappy Trails to You.\u201d On my way out, one man stopped me and asked if I would like to start teaching Sunday School next week. He either didn\u2019t know I was a visitor, or wasn\u2019t serious. I hope it was the latter because it\u2019s probably not a good idea to ask visitors to teach Sunday School.<\/p>\n

All in all, I really enjoyed this church and felt more at home than I have in a\u00a0while. I felt welcome and I was instructed and challenged by the teaching of the Word.\u00a0May churches like this flourish across America where the theology is conservative and the preaching is strong, but the church is flexible enough to meet the people where they are at.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I visited a church in a bar, which was also a cowboy church. I think that most churches can learn from some of the changes this church used to reach people. What do you think of holding church in a bar? Would you attend such a church? Do you know of a church in the bar in your area?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7178,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2234],"tags":[1542,1234,19,1249],"class_list":{"0":"post-2901","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-redeeming-church","8":"tag-church-in-a-bar","9":"tag-church-planting","10":"tag-discipleship","11":"tag-evangelism","12":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\nSt. Pete\u2019s Church Bar and Grill<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I visited a church in a bar, which was also a cowboy church. 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I think that most churches can learn from some of the changes this church used to reach people.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/st-petes-church-bar-and-grill\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Redeeming God\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/290798794274804\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/290798794274804\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-08-03T06:27:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-11-14T19:27:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/08\/bar.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"180\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"180\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jeremy Myers\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@redeeminggod\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@redeeminggod\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jeremy Myers\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/st-petes-church-bar-and-grill\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/st-petes-church-bar-and-grill\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jeremy Myers\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0df0211c3f7ba3d4c6cfa1f8411f481c\"},\"headline\":\"I visited a Church in a Bar\",\"datePublished\":\"2007-08-03T06:27:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-11-14T19:27:31+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/st-petes-church-bar-and-grill\/\"},\"wordCount\":1112,\"commentCount\":16,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0df0211c3f7ba3d4c6cfa1f8411f481c\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/st-petes-church-bar-and-grill\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/08\/bar.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"church in a bar\",\"Church planting\",\"Discipleship\",\"evangelism\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Redeeming Church\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/st-petes-church-bar-and-grill\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/st-petes-church-bar-and-grill\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/st-petes-church-bar-and-grill\/\",\"name\":\"St. Pete\u2019s Church Bar and Grill\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/st-petes-church-bar-and-grill\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/st-petes-church-bar-and-grill\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/08\/bar.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2007-08-03T06:27:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-11-14T19:27:31+00:00\",\"description\":\"I visited a church in a bar, which was also a cowboy church. 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