Robert Beene said he vividly remembers the day he knew he had found the right place to worship.

It was early last year, Beene and his wife Vicki were attending the Three Rivers Cowboy Church for the first time.

“We had been to several other churches but just didn’t feel like it was the direction the Lord was leading us in,” Beene said. “Within 15 minutes at the Cowboy Church, we were looking at each other and thinking, ‘This is it.’”

Beene is a farrier; he shoes horses. His wife works for the Oklahoma Department of Human Services. After that Sunday at the Cowboy Church on South Country Club Road, they’ve been coming back ever since.

“The preaching is a big part of it,” he said, referring to the sermons. “When you hear the message spoken in a manner you’re used to, it makes it easier to understand.”

The church is a 40-by-60 foot red metal barn. There’s no Sheetrock on the walls, only the bare wooden frame. Crushed, gray gravel makes up the floor. Even the pulpit is unfinished wood.

Beene also shares his talents with the church.

“I play rhythm guitar in the band,” he said. “We’re not as structured as the music program in other churches. Someone can come and sit in if they want. I also do Christian cowboy poetry.”

Beene said he has a feeling of acceptance at the Cowboy Church.

“It’s OK to come in with spurs on, or mud on your boots from feeding cattle that morning.”

After the band has played a few songs, Pastor Tom Gragg enters the room and takes to the stage. He looks around the room. The cowboys who brought their hats inside the church have them on. But the hats come off instantly when Gragg says “Let’s pray.”

Gragg, who also is senior pastor at Oldham Memorial Baptist Church, said the cowboy church started on Jan. 1, 2010. People nearby heard about it.

“It was almost in the first half-dozen meetings and we were having 40 to 50 people attend,” he said. “It shot up quickly. It grew faster than we planned. Last Sunday we had 63. But, we’ve been having attendance from the high 70s to the low 80s.”

Gragg said the congregation is fairly diverse.

“There’s different kinds of cowboys,” he said. “One kind likes to wear his cowboy hat and boots. Then there’s a rodeo cowboy who may have an 8-to-5 job Monday through Friday, then he’s rodeoing Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. And there are some good solid ranch cowboys around here. But it’s not just cowboys. We also have a lot of country folk.”

Reach Keith Purtell at (918) 684-2925 or kpurtell@muskogeephoenix.com.