Local pastor brings church to where the people are — the bar

The crowd sang along to a bluesy rendition of “Amazing Grace” performed to the tune of “House of the Rising Sun” as they filled their plates from the bar’s buffet.

“Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me,” they crooned. It seemed fitting that the classic spiritual was sung to the melody of a song about drinking, gambling, and other sins. This was a church service, unlike others.

The pastors and worship music leaders made rounds talking to the about two dozen people at round banquet tables around the bar’s back room. Icicle lights and white streamers for another event stretched across the ceiling, while a portable air conditioner whirred through the room. A Bud Light pitcher was available for donations. Most were dressed in t-shirts, jeans, or shorts. They washed down their burgers with soda, tea, and pints of beer.

Blake Waufle prays Thursday evening with the rest of the Bar Church congregation at the Black Gold Grille. Bar Church is a ministry started by the Casper First Church of the Nazarene.

The music ended, and Senior Pastor Jim Cedar took the microphone to speak about Christianity, authenticity, and the power of good acts.

It was a typical night at Bar Church at the Black Gold Grille. Leaders at Casper First Church of the Nazarene started the monthly outreach a year ago to bring their faith to more people in the community, especially those who might not feel comfortable in a traditional brick-and-mortar church. Anyone is welcome to the services every fourth Thursday of the month, and a meal is available for purchase.

“What I would want people to know is this truly is an opportunity for people to explore and express their faith in a non-judgmental, casual, come-as-you-are atmosphere,” Cedar said.

The crowd included families, people recovering from addiction, church regulars and some of family members and friends they’d brought along.

Something different

Except for the location, much of the gathering seemed relatively similar to more traditional services.

The crowd bowed heads in intermittent prayers of thanks for the food, the gathering, and the opportunity to worship in the Black Gold Bar and Grille. For 15 minutes, Cedar spoke to a central question: How can we know if someone is a real Christian?

It’s about living like one in daily actions, he said, backing up his points with Bible scriptures. He also quoted a Franciscan monk, Brennan Manning:

“The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today are Christians who acknowledge Jesus Christ with their lips, then walk out the door and deny him with their lifestyle,” Cedar read. “That is what an unbelieving world finds unbelievable.”

Or in simpler words: “Their walk should match their talk,” he said.

It’s not about perfection, but making progress, he told the attendees.

He closed the sermon with a call to investigate Christianity and make an informed, intelligent decision, “whatever side of the fence you’re on tonight.”

The church and its outreach is open to people of all backgrounds, beliefs, and experiences — without exception, First Nazarene youth leader Mike Konings said. The idea is to meet people where they’re at in life.

The organizers bring a variety of life and religious experiences. The drummer of the praise band, Anthony Kodesh, has been part of motorcycle ministry services, so church in a bar isn’t new to him, he said.

“It helps us relate to others here, honestly,” Konings said. “Us having these experiences, we can look somebody else in the eye and say, ‘I don’t judge you. I know where you’ve been and where you are.’”

Cedar, the pastor, didn’t grow up in a church. He never attended until he and his wife happened upon a church service at a county fair in upstate New York. Although they decided that particular establishment wasn’t for them, the experience helped them to start learning about Christianity.

It’s that exploration he’s trying to spark in others through Bar Church. He moved to Casper about a year and a half ago, where church leaders were eager to step outside the church building and into the community, he said.

“I’ve always had a passion to just go where people are,” Cedar said. “There’s a lot of people who have been hurt by churches and therefore do not want anything to do with a church building or traditional church. And this is one of our attempts — there will be more to come — to give people an alternative to traditional church.”

Jim Cedar, senior pastor of Casper First Church of the Nazarene, preaches Thursday during Bar Church at the Black Gold Grille.

Church in a bar

Two first-timers, Jimmie Ahrens and Blake Waulfe, attended the service last week after a customer at Waufle’s work recommended it. The two friends had been attending the regular services as well, but decided to branch out.

“I’ve been to a few churches in Casper, but I hadn’t really found the spiritual nourishment I need,” Waulfe said.

Ahrens had grown up going to church, but felt that many churches were cliquey when he went in search of one in Casper, he said. He felt welcome at First Nazarene and Bar Church, though, and enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere, he said.

Allison Russell grew up in the Nazarene church and attended in Casper last Easter after moving from Kansas. She dragged along her fiancé, Jason Kiser. Cedar’s sermon about honoring your mother and father sold him, he said.

“At that moment, I decided that I was going to follow Jesus,” Kiser said.

The two tell all their friends to join them for Bar Church, often to their confusion about what that is.

“It’s more relaxed, and there’s food,” Russell said, comparing the Bar Church with regular Sunday services. It’s also a place where their 3-year-old son, Silas, can run around a little more, “dance and be crazy,” she added.

Kiser enjoys Cedar’s sermons, which are similar to those given on Sundays.

“He keeps them short and straight to the point,” Kiser said. “He gives great sermons. They’re for everybody.”

Growth, despite criticism

The idea of Bar Church has caught on in the past year, if not as quickly as Cedar would like. Many of those who show up are regular attendees at the traditional church services while others are new faces. But he’d like to see more of members embrace and tell others about the outreach, he said.

Still, Bar Church has outgrown its beginnings as a small group surrounding a few tables in the bar area. Now, it has to be held in the event space to accommodate larger crowds. Sometimes 25 people show up, and sometimes it’s 60. They’ve connected some attendees with the church food pantry and some have brought their kids to the vacation bible school.

The leaders don’t measure success in numbers but in those seeds they plant, whether they see the outcome or not, they said. They’re even scouting more places for more outreach efforts — perhaps a coffee house, he added.

Despite the success, some churchgoers feel nervous about holding services outside the physical church building, Cedar said. Bar church skeptics worry that people might ask questions that are hard to answer or even heckle from the crowd. There’s been no heckling and Cedar welcomes questions, but the leaders have faced criticism from within their own community. A comment on the Facebook page last week said church in a place that sells alcohol might be a sin, Cedar said.

But Wyoming’s open-minded culture helps mitigate some of the potential conflicts, Cedar said.

“People here are more willing to embrace people having different ideas,” Cedar said. “I think it’s probably just part of that independent spirit. You believe what you want to believe, and it doesn’t bother me. In New York, it’s more: you need to fall in line with everybody else kind of thing. Here, your neighbors don’t really care what you do. In New York, all your neighbors care what you do.”

He tells critics the same thing he tells everyone else: Come see what it’s all about.

“When people leave here, we want them to leave here with the same challenge that Christ has given us, and that is to investigate,” Cedar said. “He made us thinking, rational — well, I guess mostly rational — intelligent people for a reason, and he wants us to investigate this faith, he wants us to investigate his life. He’s not looking for blind followers, and that’s really the seed that we want to plant.”