Not too often will a church congregation buy a bankrupt honky-tonk nightclub and turn it into a house of worship. But that is what occurred when the Living Word Fellowship of Trinity, Texas, bought the Risin' Sun Club, a beer joint on the edge of Trinity, for $69,000 in 1991.
The cavernous facility, which has a 14,000 square foot dance hail, is now called the Risin' Sun Cowboy Church, and is managed by its minister, Ron Conatser, who is also a Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association (PRCA) judge, cowboy and farrier.
"When the Risin' Sun Club was in its heyday during the 1970s, it was a wild and bad place," Conatser said. "People would drive 100 miles to dance, drink beer and fight. The club went bankrupt after Mickey Gilley opened his dance hall in Galveston."
The Risin' Sun Club sat empty for 10 years, but with Conatser's leadership, there are church services on Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings. The church acquired 10 more acres where it built a rodeo arena. Besides hosting a PRCA rodeo every October, the church also uses the arena to sponsor ranch rodeos, barrel races, and conduct youth rodeo clinics where PRCA members serve as instructors.
"I've known these PRCA members for 35 years. They come here as my friends and share their Christian faith with young people," said Conatser, who was ordained a Gospel preacher in 1980. "Because of our cowboy heritage, we offer a different Christian approach to people, but it's based on the teachings of Jesus.
"You can't come in our church and be religious, but you can come in and worship God. This is a non-denominational church that is spirit-driven. We focus on the word of God rather than the words spoken by organized religions," he said.
He added, "Too many churches make up their own rules on how we should live rather than follow what Jesus teaches in the Bible."
Conatser, 65, was reared in west Texas near Lubbock. His early years were spent cowboying on the Matador Ranch, Waggoner Ranch and the 6666 Ranch. At age 29, he became a PRCA member and competed in every event, but he was best at saddle bronc riding and steer wrestling. In 1968, he became a PRCA rodeo judge - a job he still performs.
"My wife, Jo, was raised on the Matador Ranch, and we were married when she was 17," said Conatser, a solidly built man who typifies the quintessential bow-legged cowboy. "We had four kids real quick before I knew what caused it, "he said with a smile.
Conatser added, "I attribute Jo to my born-again lifestyle. Our marriage had flattened out as a result of 17 years on the rodeo circuit, and in 1977 Jo started praying for me, which I didn't discover until years later. A year after she started praying for me, I had a revelation that is still with me."
His revelation occurred at a rodeo in San Antonio, Texas, one Sunday morning at a cowboy church service held behind the bucking chutes.
"I had known for quite some time that my life was empty, and on that morning behind the chutes I suddenly felt the need to stand up and tell the cowboys gathered for church service that I wanted God in my life," he said.
"A week later at the Houston rodeo, I read the 11th chapter of Hebrews before attending cowboy church. The scheduled preacher didn't arrive, so I stood up and started preaching using the message I had read in Hebrews. I've been preaching ever since."
That was in 1978; two years later, Conatser was ordained. He retired from the rodeo circuit in 1980, and during the next 10 years, besides preaching, he worked at shoeing horses, judging rodeos and as a commercial fisherman supplying restaurants with catfish.
In the early `80s, the Conatsers moved to Trinity because they liked the Piney Woods region of east Texas.
"Trinity seemed like a good place for me to back up what I told those cowboys behind the bucking chutes, when I stood up and said I was going to serve Jesus," he said. "I had no idea how was going to do it, but I knew I would put my heart and soul into it. I've managed to do it for 24 years."
blacktop back in the pine trees of East Texas. If you didn't see the sign, you'd think it was a dance hall. Fifteen years ago, that's what it was. Ron Conatser was a rodeo rider then.
"I'm 69 years old, and I've spent my whole life as a cowboy and over 40 years in the rodeo. Back in ''78, I was workin' a rodeo in San Antonio, and I made a decision at a little old cowboy church one mornin' durin' the rodeo. It was in one of those little clown rooms back behind the buckin' chutes, the only place they'd let us have church. I made a decision that day t0 do what God wanted me to do, whatever it was. Next week I was in Houston judging a rodeo, and between performances I went over to the Astrohall to cowboy church, and there were three or four hundred people there, but the preacher hadn't shown up. I just opened my Bible and stood up and started preachin'. Evidently, God wanted me to spread the Word. Been preachin' ever since. Bought me this dance hall in '91 and got busy preachin' the Word of God to whoever walks through the door. We're a Word church. No denomination. Just a place where people can come just the way they are and worship God. Pretty simple." No religion. No red tape.
"You can't preach the Word and not live it. Too much of religion is taken' and not enough about given'. You take the Dead Sea. It's dead because there's something goin' into it but nothin' comin' out. We're supposed to give, and if we don't ever give, we just get dead. That's my faith talkin', and faith is more important than anything, I reckon."
