Joey + Rory’s Barn Concert Hall Re-purposed for Sunday Church Service
Joey + Rory's barn concert hall, formerly their go-to show location, has found new life as a place of worship. In a new entry in his blog, This Life I Live, Rory Feek shares that the Cross Country Cowboy Church is now using the big red barn for their Sunday services -- with music provided by none other than Craig Campbell, along with his wife, Mindy.
In his blog post, Feek writes that ever since his wife's memorial service, "the barn [had] remained mostly silent. No music and no life." However, a few months ago, on the recommendation of his daughter Hopie, Feek attended a church service at the Cross Country Cowboy Church, in an elementary school in Bethesda, Tenn.
"The music they played wasn't just gospel and hymns, it was 'country' gospel and hymns ... with guitars and fiddles and mandolins," Feek explains. "I kept thinking, 'Joey would absolutely love this' ... And so we came again the next week and the week after."
Feek learned that, although the Cross Country Cowboy Church has been around for about three years, they've never had a permanent place of worship. So, upon introducing himself to the CCCC's pastor, Feek offered up the barn concert hall for that purpose.
"The church needed a place to call home, and we needed a church to be part of. And so, for a month of Sundays now, our empty building has been filled with a hundred and fifty people or so. And, Indiana and I just walk across the driveway to church ...," Feek writes. "I have to admit, I don't know a whole lot of folks there yet, and they're still working the kinks out and settling in, but it's pretty darn special if you ask me. And it isn't just cowboys and cowgirls that come, it's lots of folks who love Jesus and live in the country. And families that live in the city but feel a strong call to take a step back in time and worship without as many frills as some of today's churches have."
Feek notes that, perhaps, down the line, the Cross Country Cowboy Church will move into a bigger building, "but for now, I feel blessed to have them here and thankful to be able to bless them with a place to gather and share the good news, without having to load in and break down before and after every service."
Readers can press play above to watch a video, which Feek assembled, showing scenes from a recent Sunday service. It's set, appropriately, to Campbell's current single, "Outskirts of Heaven."
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