United Methodist ‘barn meeting’ welcomes bishop

Bishop Cynthia Harvey, leader of the Texas Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church since Jan. 1, was here, accompanied by her husband, Dean. She came to hear the professions of faith and membership vows of most of the 128 assembled men, women and children standing in front of their plastic folding chairs on the polished concrete floor under the tin roof of the well-appointed barn.

Rev. Clayton Hall, Associate Pastor, began the hour-long service with “housekeeping” notes.

He noted that for future meetings at Burnside Barn, church members were encouraged to park near the red combine or, when it was dry, on the putting green. Also, that coffee was available at the thatch-roofed Tiki Bar on the side of the huge building and that not far away, under a neon sign saying “Happy Place,” were the restrooms.

“Combine, putting green and Tiki Bar are words I never thought I’d say in church,” Hall said, drawing a wave of laughter.

Later, Bishop Harvey remarked on the unusual setting for a church service.

“You may not have a stained glass window in this place, but you have a disco ball,” she said. “And the mirror of this disco ball is really the mirror to the heart of God. And God into our hearts. 

“I hope you see yourself in the image of the disco ball and I hope the image is of God, because we are made in the image of God.”

Sunday’s service was at the big barn on the Burnside Turf Farm in north Baytown. It was built for a family wedding but is now used for everything from hosting R.D. Burnside’s classic car collection to fundraisers to Super Bowl parties and, for the last two weeks, church.

The Methodists, who formerly made up America’s second largest Protestant donation, are holding their meetings there after a church split long in the making was finalized in January.

Locally, 80 percent of the 500 members of Baytown’s earliest organized church which came into existence in 1844 voted to leave the United Methodist Church. But they kept most of the name and the recently built a new worship center, a 32,000 square-foot structure on a 40-acre lot on SH146 now called Cedar Bayou Grace Global Methodist Church.

Former members from Baytown’s St. Mark’s and St. John’s UMC churches and First United Methodist in Mont Belvieu were also among the new members.  

Burnside, a longtime member of Cedar Bayou Grace United Methodist, donated the use of his climate-controlled barn for the transition. 

“This is a really special place,” Bishop Harvey said. “And really, not to even have a stained glass window, yet the spirit of God is here. And the people are just so committed to reshaping a new faith community that is United Methodists in this area.”

Ramirez, who was pastor at Cedar Bayou Grace for two years, says his new church hasn’t settled on a name yet.

“We’re just the United Methodists of Baytown and Mont Belvieu,” Ramirez said. “Once we get ready to charter, the congregation will choose our name.”