“Good morning,” The man said to us as he opened the door and lets us in.

It’s wasn’t your typical church building. There was no steeple or bell tower. If the signs weren’t there you wouldn’t give it a second thought as a church. The church we were at the previous Sunday had all of that, but it was just a bit to traditional for us.

“Are you newcomers?” One of the ladies asked that was doing the greeting.

“Yes we are,” We tell her.

She pulls out a special booklet for us and we proceed to the sanctuary and find ourselves a seat. Unlike the previous week we didn’t get a small loaf of banana bread for being newcomers.  We take a quick glimpse through the church and see that there’s a worship band which is good. We want that instead of a choir. Soon we are greeted by a couple of men that are elders or deacons of the church. They are older gentleman who have probably spent many a day out in the winds of Wyoming. A younger man in a suit starts walking towards us.

“I’m the pastor,” He tells us with a thick southern accent.

We introduce ourselves and tell him we’re searching for a church and that we just moved from Iowa.

“Well we’ve only been here about 11 months now. My wife and I moved up here from Birmingham Alabama”.

We spend a few more minutes talking and then he’s off because the service is about to start.

A man in a suit with a beard and slicked back hair leads the worship service.  We sing along and after 10 minutes my wife leans over me and says “When are they going to switch songs”.  I shrug my shoulders and we continue on singing the same song.  Finally we switch songs and the same process is repeated.  A bit unusual, but we go along with it.

As the singing stops the pastor gets up and does a brief prayer and then the “say it brother” and the “hallelujahs” start from the audience.  It was almost as if you were at a baseball game but instead of dirty names for the umpire or the opposing team, it was all about getting the preacher going.  I’m not making fun of the church or the people, but for a couple like us, who had never been to a church like this it was a bit odd.  A few odd glances were shared and a few moments of panic came about when the pastor started jumping up and down, but nobody tapped me on the shoulder and told me to pass the rattlesnake they were holding so we were no worse for wear.

As we exited the building the bells of the church we went to the previous week sounded.   Perhaps this church was a bit to un-orthodox in their approach.