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RENDEZVOUS

The Battle of the Rosebud

by Ray Calentine, Decker, Montana

Decker, Montana, can be easily found on a map of Montana. It is harder to find if you are looking for it for real. Well, there is a post office and two houses, but there is no road sign identifying it, (if there was, the entering and leaving signs would be on the same post) and you don't have to slow down when going through it. The uptown, downtown, in town and out of town speed limit is 65 m.p.h. The truth is, Decker isn't there.

What was Decker has been swallowed up by a huge strip coal mine. A few buildings survive from Decker, having been moved before the mines were opened. Decker Berean Church is one of those buildings.

You may be asking yourself, "Why does the Rocky Mountain Bible Mission have a church in Decker if Decker isn’t there? Is it a place to dump wayward missionaries or something?" Well, maybe, but the 1990 census reports that the area around Decker has a population of about 100. These folks are ranchers or miners and are scattered over an enormous area. One resident family, the Porters, live ten miles from the county road.

RMBM exists in part to provide a ministry to areas like Decker.

The Decker area does have a certain historical significance. On June 17, 1876, eight days before George Armstrong Custer and the 7th Cavalry were killed in the Battle of the Little Big Horn, General George Crook and over 1000 men engaged Crazy Horse and 700-1500 Sioux and Cheyenne warriors in a six-hour fight that proved to be a prelude to the Custer battle. Taking place about five miles north of the Decker Berean Church, it is called the Battle of the Rosebud after the Rosebud Creek which runs through the battle site. With only 10 dead and 21 wounded troopers, and unknown loses on the Sioux and Cheyenne side, the Battle of the Rosebud is eclipsed by the Battle of the Little Big Horn.

With seating for perhaps 25 people and attendance at services much lower than that, Decker Berean Church is eclipsed by almost every other ministry you may know. Prior to the Mission taking on the challenge of ministry here, the church was without a pastor for three years. Folks have moved, sold out to the mines, died, or chosen to fellowship in Sheridan because of the distance to the church, or to fellowship sporadically or not at all.

There is a battle on the Rosebud today. It is the same battle every ministry is engaged in—to reach the lost with the gospel, to build and equip believers for the battle, and to persevere. The scale in Decker is small and the obstacles seem great.

Weather is often a great obstacle. Just a small rain makes the roads impassable. If you are home, you stay home. If you are away, you don't get home. The threat of rain is taken very seriously.

Distance is an obstacle. By my count, only 15 people live within five miles of the church on the only paved road in the entire area. Some people must travel for an hour just to get to the church for a service. Then they must travel home.

The independent rancher life-style may be the biggest obstacle. To survive as a rancher in this area you must be self-sufficient. Some ranchers don't go to town for weeks or even months at a time. There is no high school in the area. Most of the high school age kids live away from home during the school year, sometimes with friends or family in town, sometimes in a house bought just so they have a place to live while in school. Some kids are home schooled.

Decker is not that much different from other areas where RMBM ministers, though it may be a little smaller. The Yaak, Dearborn, and Westend (to name few I'm familiar with) face similar battles on a similar scale.

Decker is not unique. Big or small, rural or urban, nothing is going to happen without the work of God in the hearts of the people. God alone will overcome the obstacles faced in small, remote ministries.

While I appreciate and certainly encourage your financial support of RMBM, I covet your prayers for the work of God in the hearts and lives of the people in Decker, indeed, in all the ministry of the Mission. We all do. Truly, the battle is the Lord's.