“Western heritage’ gets new twist at Cowboys & Aliens church

Many in this congregation have never set a booted foot inside a church before. Others are relatively new to our planet. That’s the way Ed Stearns likes it. He’s pastor of the new Cowboys & Aliens Church on the outskirts of DeLeon, Texas. “With the usual  ‘western heritage’ church, you’re serving people who have virtually no ‘church’ background,” he said. “It’s the same with these folks, but in spades. We’ve gotten some criticism as we try to reach out this newer demographic, and we’ve had to make some adjustments.”  Instead of a coffee-and-donut morning fellowship, the church has a “seniors scramble,” in which the older, slower members are lassoed and strung up from the rafters of the barn-like building. “We’ve actually had the most push-back about the horse trough baptistry filled with ectoplasmic slime,” Stearns admitted. Worship times are 10 a.m. and noon at 347 County Line Rd, DeLeon, TX.