It’s not uncommon these days to find an assortment of homebuilder signs lining the roadside and intersections in the Falcon/Peyton area. At quick glance, one may overlook signs hidden amongst the rest, offering an invitation to another kind of home – a church home.More and more churches have started to place signs along roads such as Highway 24, Meridian or Woodmen, letting new homeowners know they are welcome to visit. Several churches are finding its attendees are so eager to have a church close to their home that it is not prepared physically to host such growing numbers.After only a small bit of research on how and where each church started, it doesn’t take much to see that many of them hold a common thread in that the churches were not small for long. Most churches soon found themselves looking for other meeting arrangements that could accommodate the needs of rapidly growing congregations.Several churches found a quick fix to their overcrowding problem through the community’s schools. It seemed the perfect arrangement to hold church services in an already established facility on a day when there’s a good chance it is not being used for school activities. This arrangement still seems to continue to work for churches such as Peak View Church, which meets Sunday mornings at the Falcon High School.Sharing a common groundOther churches have decided to get a bit more creative. The idea for two separate congregations sharing one “traditional” church building seems to work for at least two churches in the Falcon/Peyton area.Falcon Christian Church shares its building with the members of Abiding Word Lutheran Church, a congregation that began with a group of about 40 people who met for a Bible study at Falcon Elementary School. Deborah Huddleston, whose husband, Ron, is chairman of the congregation for Abiding Word, remembered that the idea of sharing a church building with another congregation came from one of her fellow congregants. “We were looking for a space at a reasonable price,” said Huddleston. “We looked at a number of places and for some of them, the cost was just prohibitive.” Abiding Word approached the members of Falcon Christian Church, who were willing to take the idea to their board of directors.Abiding Word has already purchased several acres of land on the corner of Highway 24 and Falcon Highway, with the hopes of building their own church within the next couple years. In the mean time, Huddleston said Abiding Word’s lease agreement to pay Falcon Christian Church $375 a month for the use of its facilities is “very reasonable.”Huddleston said that the agreement has worked out well between the two churches and they rarely have a scheduling conflict. Members of Falcon Christian Church hold their worship services on Sunday mornings, while the Abiding Word meets on Sunday afternoons.Huddleston said, “We are all working for the same purpose.”Sage Creek Church is also another congregation that currently shares its building with the members of Falcon Church of Christ.A church with its own styleWhile a number of churches in the area are still in the early stages of establishing congregations, others have been around for several years. One such church is the Peyton Cowboy Church that was first started in 1996 by Pastor David ShumpertShumpert is still the pastor of the Peyton Cowboy Church, and he said he was inspired to start the church after looking out over the rural area’s night lights. “I thought, well maybe a lot of people out there don’t go to church,” said Shumpert. “So I decided to start a church that might fit many of them, and I just named it “the cowboy church.”As its name reveals, many of it members are area cowboys or ranchers. But do you have to be a cowboy to attend the church? Are boots and a hat required?No, Shumpert said. “We’re very casual,” he said. “It is not a dress up suit type church.”Visitors, Shumpert said, are more likely to find his members in “western wear,” during the churches’ Saturday evening services, when there is Blue Grass gospel music, complete with old gospel hymns played on guitars and a mandolin. On Sunday mornings, Shumpert said the church offers a more traditional worship service.It doesn’t seem to bother Shumpert that his church receives visitors who are more curious about the name. He wants to reassure people that his church is not just for cowboys, but for anyone interested in hearing the Gospel of Jesus Christ.Whether you truly are a cowboy or just someone interested in finding a new church home, the area has plentiful choices.Churches in the areaGrace Community7368 McLaughlin Road, Falcon494-1576www.anewchurch.orgService day and times: Sunday at 8:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.Falcon Baptist Church11095 Eggar Drive, Falcon495-3859Service day and times: Sunday at 10:30 a.m. and evening service and prayer at 6 p.m.Falcon Christian Church5450 Meridian Road, Falcon683-2704www.falconchristian.orgService day and time: Sunday at 10:30 a.m.Abiding Word Lutheran Church5450 Meridian Road, Falcon494-2099www.abidingwordlutheranchurch.orgService day and time: Sunday at 4:15 p.m.Peak ViewMeets at the Falcon High School495-8270Service day and time: Sunday at 10 a.m.Falcon Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses4355 Los Ranchitos Dr., Peyton683-7788Service day and time: Sunday at 10 a.m.Peyton Cowboy Church15504 Bradshaw Rd., Peyton347-3196Service days and times: Saturday nights at 7 p.m. and Sunday mornings at 10:30 a.m.Peyton Community13697 Manitou, Peyton749-2053Service day and time: Sunday at 10:30 a.m.Sage Creek Church6160 Murr Rd., Peyton683-3423Service day and times: Sunday at 9 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.Falcon Church Of Christ6160 Murr Rd., Peyton683-3423www.biblegate.org/falconchurchofchrist/main.cgi?homeService day and time: Sunday at 3 p.m.
