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Dennis Baskin and Rich O'Hara aren't your typical ministers

By Ross Farrow
News-Sentinel Staff Writer
Thursday, September 17, 2009 6:07 AM PDT

Dennis Baskin and Rich O'Hara are a little out of the ordinary. They dress like ranchers. Baskin talks with a Texas drawl and he loves the large slices of bacon that go with his blueberry pancakes just before church begins at the Clements Stampede grounds.

They have their own church in San Andreas, conducting services at 4 p.m. each Sunday. They dress a mite more formally there, at least the one who's giving the sermon that week. That's because the one giving the sermon changes into a white shirt.

Baskin, who will turn 62 in October, said he was a nonbeliever until he was 34.

Baskin, a cattle rancher during the week, told cowboys on Sunday about how he got into a train wreck in Montana when he was 18. He turned out all right, but his dog was killed.

"I was cussing God," he said. "I learned that wasn't a good idea."

As he got older Baskin discovered something about God.

"I figured out He wasn't just God — He was Lord."

O'Hara has a little different background. Although he looks the part at cowboy church, he's no cowboy.

"I work for the city of Oakdale — street and sewer department," he said.

Contact reporter Ross Farrow at rossf@lodinews.com.

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