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The Backroads and By-Ways of the Big Bend… A New Kind of Mobile Ministry

Diocesan Press Service. October 6, 1975 [75333]

ALBUQUERQUE, N. Mex. -- The Big Bend, that portion of Texas which is west of the Pecos River, covers a geographic area larger than the states of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island combined.

The Episcopal Diocese of the Rio Grande, of which the Big Bend is a part, has always sought diligently to serve its hundreds of communicants in the sprawling region, through established missions where at times no more than two or three gather in the name of the Lord.

Now, a solution to better serve the sparsely settled area appears to be at hand. A mobile church, in the form of a 30-foot goose neck trailer, to be pulled behind a pickup truck will soon be operating outside the established mission districts of the Big Bend.

The Rev. Bob Burton, just two years away from a large inter-city ministry in Cleveland, Ohio, will take to the road like Charles Kurault or the circuit riding preachers of the pioneer West. Burton's church on wheels was appropriately dedicated at a parking meter in front of St. Clement's Episcopal Church in El Paso recently.

The Rt. Rev. Richard M. Trelease, Episcopal Bishop of the Diocese of the Rio Grande, proclaimed the trailer a church in official ceremonies. Trelease ordered Burton onto the backroads and by-ways to preach, teach, counsel, confirm and observe the sacraments.

The new ministry is made possible by funding through women of the National Church (United Thank Offering) and the Women of St. Clements, El Paso. About $40,000 has been advanced by the two groups to equip and sustain the program for at least three years.

Burton admits that his efforts are experimental. He will be on the road only four days a week because on Sundays he preaches from his mission church in Van Horn, Texas. "I'll just pull into parks, roadside rest areas or camp beneath a shade of a tree at the outskirts of town, " Burton said. "We'll serve coffee and extend invitations to anyone and everyone to join us in the sacraments. "

Burton has no planned schedule for the first month or two. After he becomes acquainted with the territory, he will plan scheduled visits and publish notices. "We're simply taking the church to people," he said.

His church will be equipped with an altar, a cross and a portable organ. The nave will seat twelve. There will be no room for an altar rail. Funerals will be out of the question because there would be no room for a casket. Memorial services will be conducted on request and marriages, baptisms and confirmations will be conducted as in any other church. "We are a church," Burton stressed.

Two other priests serve the Big Bend in what is known as a group ministry. The Rev. Jim Eubanks holds Sunday services at missions in Alpine, Marfa, and Fort Stockton. The Rev. Ray Powell serves a mission congregation in the community of Pecos. Burton has been designated the principal road minister.

The team concept of ministry appeals to Burton. "A priest needs the support of other priests, particularly in the missionary field, " he said.

The church altar will convert to a coffee table after services. Burton plane an evening of worship followed by a day of counseling wherever he goes. He will be accompanied on his journey by his wife, Phylis. The trailer has cooking and lavatory facilities and will sleep two.

Hopefully, collection plate offerings will assist the Burtons in accommodating to the rising gasoline prices. While the ministry is financed exclusively by Episcopalians, the trailer church will be open to all who come. "We hope to meet a lot of tourists at camp sites in the vast Big Bend National Park," he said.

While some thought has been given to holding church services in homes or community centers, Burton holds with the belief that isolated farmers and ranchers in the Big Bend would much prefer a church they can call their own.

"Who knows," Burton said, "if the idea catches on, my goose neck trailer could be made to look like a church on the outside, complete with cupola and a bell I can ring while traveling the backroads and by-ways of the Big Bend. "