InSPIREd Sunday - Cowboy Church

( Since this is Derby weekend in Kentucky and all about horses, decided to share this post from 2008 for today's InSPIREd Sunday meme.  The prompt for this particular '08 Fun Monday meme was to look for a sign that caught your attention and post a photo of it.  I saw this one from the road just outside of Paris, Kentucky.)



I spotted this sign for the Blue Grass Cowboy Church as I was traveling on the Paris Pike between Lexington and Paris. This is a very scenic highway lined with old dry stone fences and miles of brown and white wooden fencing for the many thoroughbred horse farms on either side of Paris Pike. Wherever you look there are scenes worthy of a Kentucky tourism catalog--beautiful horses in the pastures, barns that would rival most of our homes. Scenes like this:

~Photo credit:  not mine sadly!  It may be James Archambeault's, a well-known Kentucky photographer ~

Central Kentucky, or the Blue Grass Region, produces the foals that grow up to run and win the great races like the Kentucky Derby here in Louisville. The equine industry is the backbone of our state's agriculture and tourism. Many people are employed on these horse farms and related agriculture operations. A significant number of workers are Hispanic because of the skills they have in caring for, handling, and training the high strung thoroughbreds.

For a horse-centered town like Paris, KY to have a Blue Grass Cowboy Church isn't surprising, if you think about it. When immigrants settled in an area, many community organizations made--and still do-- the effort to serve their need for belonging. Churches would be interested in that role certainly. Many Hispanics work on the horse farms for years, living apart from their families and in need of this support.

So, the cowboy church invitation is to "Come as you are, boots and hats are welcome, and share in a night of down home country worship centered on the New Testament with live Bluegrass Gospel music and fellowship with folks who like the cowboy culture." Something for everyone--even church services at a stockyard!


 Linking to InSPIREd Sunday , a new meme celebrating places of worship and their unique architecture and history.  Thanks to Sally and Beth for hosting.