These Scrappy Little Churches in Colorado's High Country are Tough as Nails

[@seanfrancis2]

I would love Matt to make a show with priests, pastors and theologians...maybe we could see the reunification of Christendom. I am a Catholic who attends the Tridentine Mass (Traditional Latin Mass), and I love seeing Christians get together, despite our differences we are all on the same team. You are always welcome to attend Mass with us any day you wish. God Bless, Matt. Ave Christus Rex.

[@Jacks-tj9mb]

Spent a lot of time in Durango and Silverton. Great area. Million dollar highway is unforgettable

[@robertcourtemanche9185]

Matt, whenever you visit a Catholic shrine or church, etc. Just be you and be reverent toward our common Lord. That's it. We welcome all our protestant brothers and sisters to worship or visit with us and even those who do not share our faith in the hopes that all can come together and we can be united with God. I love it when you explore all these varied traditions of Christianity. Here in Houston the Boy Scouts used to have a 10 commandments hike with - 10 churches of various traditions. It was interesting to see how each worshipped and some of their traditions.

[@saintejeannedarc9460]

That boy scouts hike is a wonderful way to bring the body of Christ together in unity.

[@joshuatrott193]

It's amazing to have that many Churches in such a small town.

[@andrewthomastaylor]

I grew up an a twin of 1000s and we had 4 or more churches in town at all times. Small towns generally speaking or far more religious

[@wendyleeconnelly2939]

kinda common in small towns really

[@matthewweston643]

Matt my brother. Really appreciate your kindness. Catholic guy here. But we are all one in Him.

[@whisperwire]

Love the content you're putting out. JN 17:21 - "ohhh lemme look that up" - really sums up your content. Thanks Matt.

[@MattWhitmanTMBH]

I appreciate that!

[@ShalaJC]

Matt, keep doing what your doing, you have shown so many of us Christians the different denominations. God Bless You Matt, you're doing the Lord's work

[@PhoenixPhire22]

I visited Silverton last year on a motorcycle trip. I took pictures of all the churches as well as made the hike up the hill to the giant Jesus statue. Cool little town. We rode up from Durango on the train, it was really cool.

[@GrammyGottaGo]

Wow it’s really beautiful up there. Hope you and your wife enjoyed your vacation!

[@AM-ek5rm]

I love watching your videos. You are so open to wanting to know about different people and religions and beliefs and are not critical but you try to see the good in people. 😊

[@MattWhitmanTMBH]

Thank you.

[@ralphchamberlain1272]

Thanks for sharing

[@lapipesmoker3751]

Thanks for another great video, Matt! They are such a blessing to me. Keep up the great work.---Todd

[@wryenkiwaha5486]

Thank you, Matt! I'm so happy to see the UCC represented. As soon as you said Colorado, I thought, "Oh, God, weʻre gonna finally have a UCC church."

[@TnOrchidguy]

Thank you, brother, thank you.

[@dylandolbymusic7172]

Nice! My band played there at Columbine Roadhouse over the summer. Love Silverton!

[@beitrix]

Wow. God is good. So many saved thanks to the timing of that collapse

[@bluehose95]

You're just out here living my dream of visiting historic churches. Not cool, Matt. Actually, it's very cool and I'm so appreciative of getting to live vicariously through you. This might be my favorite yet...although I'm fairly certain I say that about each one. Thanks for all you do!

[@batescave]

thanks! Headed to Colorado in two days!! You've inspired me to look for the churches!

[@themasterofcontent4155]

Loving the Rick Steves tourism vibe in this vid. Keep it coming!

[@toddvoss52]

Great memories of Silverton and Durango from my teenage family vacation years . Thanks for being it all back through the lens of these rugged churches

[@felipetejeda7545]

I love this style of video, anytime I visit a new place I love diving into the historic sites and museums. Something special about the outreach of the first historic churches that brought people together and established Gods country in new lands. Beautiful

[@gabecornett6716]

Welcome to beautiful Colorado! I live in a different town then Silverton but I love seeing the history of what God has done in our home state being appreciated and honored! Bless you brother!

[@jonbold]

Fabulous, Matt!

[@barbaramai7610]

Thank you, Matt for this wonderful video of the mountain churches! I grew up near the beautiful Rocky Mountains outside of Denver but am now in the eastern plains. I miss these mountains tremendously and hope to be able to relocate once again! Thank you for taking me back again, I hope to see more !!!

[@spinninginspace]

really interesting to learn about that mining miracle. The holy Mother Church is a treasure

[@blueskyfanclub]

You made my day, Matt…Silverton is so beautiful…I love it there💕

[@CJChesspnp]

Silverton is quaint mountain town, love it!

[@MyAuthenticLifewithKellyWoods]

Thanks for sharing these with us, Matt! 🙏💓

[@johncochrane2707]

Another fantastic video, many blessings to you and your family.

[@beechjetpilot1]

Are you coming over the hill to Telluride? We have a couple of cool church communities here as well.

[@caydendimmick4194]

You make a lot of great videos, but I do really enjoy the ones focusing on the history of the Church in the American West. I think there is only other where you visit some ruins, but still. Have you ever thought about visiting the Cataldo Mission in North Idaho? It’s on the cusp of the Silver Valley and it was built entirely by people from the Nez Perce and Flathead tribes. It’s the oldest building in Idaho and it also might be the most beautiful. Plus, you could go down into the Silver Valley where there are a lot of old mining towns with wonderful old churches. Wallace is my favorite, the whole downtown is also a historic district. Anyways, I think you’d really enjoy a visit up here sometime! Would love to see the videos and if you need a hand in planning, I could be of service. I know the area pretty well. Thanks for making videos Matt! God bless

[@AdmiralThumbs]

Silverton is gorgeous! This video made my wife and I revisit our memories and photos from our trip there many years ago. Turns out we took photos of nearly everything you covered. 😁

[@christinemcguiness9356]

Beautiful little town with churches of great character! Thank you Matt, God bless🙏

[@famamalove]

Of you ever make a stop between Chicago/Missouri and Colorado Ive got 2 strong recommendations... 1) Western Nebraska, you should check out the Little Church at Keystone-- its a Catholic/Protestant church building built in the classic pioneer one room schoolhouse style. Its coolest feature is the pew/seats literally flipped their backs and each congregation had altar on each end of the shared building. 2) Also, for an interesting and one of a kind church that holds to the Apostle's Creed--you might be interested in the one of the smallest historical denominations in the US...The Inspirationists/Community of the True Inspiration. Aka the Amana colonies in Iowa.

[@ttaibe]

thx for showing us.

[@troymarvel6386]

Western Slope native, and I had no idea about Pink's relation. Thanks!

[@MattWhitmanTMBH]

Right?! I didn't see that one coming either.

[@philippbrogli779]

I was hoping you would talk to a pastor of such a small church. I come from Switzerland so I love mountains. This view showed me that Swiss mountains are steeper than the Colorado mountains. But they are beautiful nonetheless. Glory to God for his creation.

[@zudduz]

The satellite dish next to the cross is epic at 5:03 Two different ways of getting messages from the heavens 😂

[@MattWhitmanTMBH]

Not gonna lie, that's some lowkey excellent exegesis of a cultural text. Well done.

[@jeffkardosjr.3825]

6:25 There was the Knox Mine Disaster similar to that in the Pittston Pennsylvania area. A coal mine where the roof of the mine broke into the Susquehanna river. There's a memorial to it at an old church that's now a funeral home.

[@morninglory576]

Love seeing these old churches!

[@papermoon7577]

Love this video

[@imahick5723]

I love how your various interviews at different churches reminds Americans that we are a nation built on faith. Many people who came to America were fleeing religious persecution whether it was the pilgrims going to Massachusetts, Catholics going to Maryland etc. The goodness of the people because of their faith was noted by many foreign visitors like de Tocqueville (?). People came to America with great faith and they wanted to worship in the way that they chose .Their faith was the foundation of democracy and informed their lives. Too many people have change the right to worship to the right from worship.

[@stanbrown32]

Well, what you say is true for many early arrivals, but there were also a great many people who came for the chance to get land, establish a farm, find gold, etc, and who had no attachment to any church--the unchurched are not a modern invention. The first and second Great Awakenings brought many people into churches, but at many points in the 18th and 19th centuries there were large parts of both rural and urban America not connected to any church.

[@andrewjmschroeder]

Seeing you here make me think of you as a Christian, bearded Peter Santenello!

[@DrewTheCatholic]

Hey you’re in my neck of the woods! The parish in Silverton has a ton of cool history. If you want a series of great stories in the area, check out “In the San Juan’s” by reverend James J Gibbons. He was the Catholic Priest for a dozen mission parishes in the area, and traveled through blizzards to say Mass in these mining towns.

[@joyt.8779]

just loved this video!

[@mkshffr4936]

Love the Pink connection.

[@useupwearout5029]

*I love the high country of Colorado. I also love all that you have done over the years; exploring Christianity's rivulets.. Now, if you just so happened to find a church in the high country of Colorado, that you decided was to be your place..... Well, I'm moving!! That would be an opened minded and truth searching Pastor in one of God's most beautiful creations!!*

[@useupwearout5029]

that would be a huge move....I'm in the mountains of the Northeast.

[@time2see192]

Awww, I considered moving there, cuz I love small mountain towns...with all those churches, I wish I would have! I opted for Baily, CO instead, and I didn't care for it... the trek to Denver was 45 minutes away on the weekends, but for workdays it was 2 hours to get to work and 3.5 hours to get home in the evening due to traffic!! I left for Smoky Mountains instead. Lol Thanks for sharing, great video!

[@seankollar8002]

You’d love Virginia City, NV.

[@linaso9739]

Very interesting overview of those small churches.

[@ro6ti]

The European mind cannot comprehend this.

[@adamsheets6872]

Another great video. I'm still hoping you'll do something on Quakers at some point.

[@annagaiser5186]

What a fun and inspiring video! Thank you! Lovely to see a Gospel presence in such a remote and difficult place. I'm trying to come up with some joke about "the gates of Hades being frozen-over there", but it's not working, so I'll leave it alone.🤔

[@williamrice3052]

It must awesome to do church in one of those scrappy historical buildings.

[@ourladyofguadalupebotanica6732]

I've always found it amazing how our ancestors (regardless of race) found it appealing to try and live in what would be the more inhospitable places one might choose to live. Just astounding considering they had no modern conveniences at all. Either very brave or very foolish - but daring for sure.

[@isaiahoconnor8236]

Been there, nice little town :)

[@angelamcclune5265]

Beautiful!

[@Speedzoz_The_Most_Wanted]

Amazing video.

[@mch241]

Really interesting, thanks!

[@nickh4911]

As others have already said I love these little videos just showing the beauty of creation and mans desire to worship the creator. Also cool to see my "sect" or whatever you want to call it make an appearance. If you ever want to learn more about the Church of Christ come visit Searcy Ar. Its home to my alma matter Harding University (a Church of Christ university) and a bunch of congregations. I think it would make a very interesting video to sit down with some of the elders/ministers from several different area congregations and maybe a bible professor or 2 from the university to get a range of views for one of your church visit videos since the Church of Christ tradition is very much a congregational tradition. If you need an extra reason to visit the solar eclipse next year is passing right through here!😉 Not to mention Arkansas is already a beautiful place!

[@jonathanbohl]

I hope you went to Handlebars.

[@MattWhitmanTMBH]

Sure did.

[@user-humboldt]

Similar to the Victorian town of Ferndale, CA with its many small churches with unique histories.

[@myrrhavm]

Amazed the Mormons didn’t build some hideous monolith of a building there like they do in other small towns. I’ve been to little towns of almost a thousand maybe more people, there be three or four small churches as this little town of Silverton, but then there’s the standard all brick Mormon church built bigger than a Walmart with its 100’ tall spire. They seem to lack all sense of size and fitting into the landscape of where they build.

[@Anon.5216]

Both crosses on the first church are upside down?????

[@crystalrock18]

What you should have done was a take a ride on the Durango & Silverton RR, and also asked if they’re hiring. They need men like you. JK Matt, but for real I hope you took the train ride on the D&RGWRR right of way.

[@toranshaw4029]

Were you able to attend any services, while you were there?

[@MattWhitmanTMBH]

I was not. We were there for one day during the week.

[@Kefa...]

8th day saved em' ❤

[@kelperdude]

It's a shame how the state is so liberal.

[@MattWhitmanTMBH]

I'm originally from Colorado and my family still lives there. I don't see it the same way. I think Colorado has a pretty diverse and evenly-distributed set of political views.

[@jeanetteshawredden5643]

Kelperdude: it sure is a shame.

[@kelperdude]

@@jeanetteshawredden5643 - Yep. In regard to their protecting the unborn, or in their case not, they are one of seven states that has no term restrictions on when a life can be ended.

[@mreaper2468]

Go to Cripple Creek and Victor Colorado to see the same

[@MeisterHeidelberger]

Maybe I missed it. What happened at the cross? Did the priest mention why Jesus died on the cross and what that accomplished?

[@scottpelletier1370]

Those churches take your breath away... seriously isn't Silverton like 9000 ft above sea level?? I was there in the early 2000s, hope you got to ride the train to Durango

[@BillB23]

I love how you stress, without saying so, that the Church is made up of believers, not bureaucracies. I'd love to see your take on a Messianic Jewish congregation, though I suspect Judaism is a bit outside your wheelhouse. I, Lutheran from the womb, believe that God's promises to Abraham in Genesis did not end with the ministry of the Christ, and that He was not the only seed of Abraham through which the nations (goyim) would be blessed. When I began to study Biblical Hebrew 50 years ago I started to see that God is not finished with his chosen nation.

[@LlywellynOBrien]

I agree that it's be really interesting to see Matt engage with some of these groups and movements!

[@cindyschabel7657]

Hi Matt! Thanks for the peek into that beautiful little town. I noticed when you signed the guest book that you put John 17:21. Is that your go to verse when signing guest books or are there others you use also? Just curious 😊

[@MattWhitmanTMBH]

I do like that one.

[@toobin4life]

Church of Christ has bad connotations from what I've always understood, perhaps these are not The Church of Christ I think it is?

[@stanbrown32]

What bad connotation?