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About 100 attend 1st church service at Pub Lounge in Sidney, hear sermon about 'what real life is all about'
> Photos from the service
Monday, April 21, 2008
SIDNEY — Imagine having church with two-stepping, line dancing, pizza and beer. Throw in some cowboy jokes, a country band and a bunch of group yee-haws. Then top it off with a sermon and prayer.
What've you got? The first meeting of the County Rock Church in Sidney, that's what.
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Whitney Fischer of Lima rides the artificial bull during a church service in the Pub Lounge in Sidney Sunday night, April 20. 
The Rev. Chris Heckman of Sidney First United Methodist Church delivers his message during a service at the Pub Lounge, a tavern in Sidney Sunday night, April 20.The brainchild of the Rev. Chris Heckaman drew more than 100 people Sunday night, April 20, to the Pub Lounge just off Interstate 75.
Heckaman, the 42-year-old head pastor of the First United Methodist Church in Sidney, looked just a tad keyed up as the Don Fischer band tuned their instruments just before the 7 p.m. start.
"New churches are kind of like the most perilous things to start," Heckaman said. "But we're just looking for creative ways to reach people in unconventional places."
It seemed to be working — creatively and unconventionally. Especially when the mechanical bull-riding contest started.
"I think we have to fill a need instead of expecting them to come to us," said David Porath, who was dressed up in full rodeo clown regalia. "It doesn't always have to be about walking into a church."
Behind the bar, Summer Williamson said she was selling mostly soda pop, but that was just fine. She didn't see many regulars, though.
"We're seeing a lot of new faces," she said. "That's what we wanted. We wanted people to see we're not so bad."
After the hourlong service, Heckaman said he thought everything went "great" and the Country Rock Church would continue meeting weekly.
"People really seemed to enjoy themselves," he said.
He called his first Country Rock sermon a "bull-riding lesson."
"There are just a lot of parallels in learning how to ride a bull and how to get along with life," Heckaman said. "Jesus said he came that we might have life and have it to the full. Sometimes our church culture conveys otherwise, and we want to teach people what real life is all about."
Church member Julie Broadus said the main idea is to reach out to those who maybe weren't comfortable in a church setting.
"Church isn't just some place where you sit with your hands in your lap and your back straight," she said. "We can have fun being Christians, too."
