In Nixa, pride runs deep among religious conservatives

by Dante Chinni | The Christian Science Monitor

NIXA, MO. - This small city in the Ozarks, just five minutes from Springfield, is not a picture of Norman Rockwell America.

For one, it lacks the quintessential main street. And chats among neighbors are more likely to take place at the McDonald's on Highway 160 than at the local coffee shop.

Yet Nixa is not just a bedroom community of 17,000 residents. "Nixans," as the locals call themselves, greet outsiders with a heavy dose of hometown pride.

"No matter where people move from, a larger community or a small community, once they're here they feel they are in a small town," says Sharon Whitehill Gray, former mayor of the city and now president of the Nixa Chamber of Commerce. "If you want to find out what's going on, you don't go to the scheduled meeting, you go to the meeting after the meeting when people just talk or to the barbershop."

It's not as if the rest of southwestern Missouri is a metropolis. Springfield, the biggest city within 150 miles, is home to fewer than 160,000 people.

But Nixa has carved out its own identity, residents say. "A lot of people here consider themselves Nixans, not people of suburban Springfield. They consider themselves to be different," says Matt Roberts, editor of the weekly Nixa Xpress (the letter X is a type of brand here). "The biggest draw here is the schools."

And it's no wonder: Nixa's public schools rank among the best in Missouri.

However, Nixa does not show much interest in infrastructure (some complain that the roads need wider shoulders) or services. For example, the city doesn't even have a public library. Residents resist tax increases, except when it comes to improving or maintaining its public schools.

"We've never not passed a bond issue here in Nixa," says Stephen Kleinsmith, superintendent of the schools. "They expect and support good schools."

And they get them for a bargain - a per-pupil expenditure about $2,000 less than the state average.

Those low prices are important. Nixa is not especially wealthy, with a median income household around $40,000.

The low cost of living also brings many young families here. In Christian County, home of Nixa, more than a quarter of the population is under 18.

Abundance of churches
More than any other characteristic, religion defines this close-knit community. "You're in the buckle of the Bible belt," says Mr. Roberts.

Houses of worship are found along nearly every street. Some churches unfold like rambling ranch homes that have seen many additions, such as the North Nixa Baptist Church. Others are confined to smaller lots, converted from warehouses or placed into empty space in strip malls.

"There are no bars here really, well, I guess we have a juice bar," chuckles Kristi Bohannon, president of the Christian County Optimist Club, which raises money for children's causes. "There are a lot of churches, a lot of open arms ,and a lot of good people."

When the Rev. Gary Swearingen of the Nixa Church of the Nazarene arrived here 22 years ago, he helped form the city's ministerial alliance - a group of conservative evangelical churches that has now expanded to about a dozen.

The alliance occupies such a key role in the community that representatives from the public schools and the fire and police departments join local church leaders in attending meetings. In fact, when the school district was choosing a new superintendent, they conferred with the alliance.

Like other communities with a high population of Evangelicals, Christian County is solid Republican territory. In 2004, President Bush received more than 70 percent of the vote in the county. "You don't run on the Democratic ticket here. At least not if you expect to win," Ms. Whitehill Gray says with a snicker.

McCain's testing ground
But the GOP could face a hurdle this fall. Of the dozen or so people interviewed in Nixa, no one was enthusiastic about Sen. John McCain becoming the Republican presidential nominee, and some expressed outright hostility toward his candidacy.

Nixans describe themselves as fiscal and social conservatives, and many question Senator McCain's credentials as a social conservative. Some are unsettled by work he has undertaken on Capitol Hill with more liberal senators, including Russ Feingold of Wisconsin and Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts.

Prominent at the ballot box here are initiatives on social, or "values" issues, including abortion, gay marriage, and stem-cell research.

In 2006, a ballot proposal to give researchers access to more kinds of stem-cell research passed in Missouri, but in Christian County, 59 percent voted against it. Not only did no Democrats win on that ballot, no Republican received less than 59 percent of the vote.

These cultural conservatives have been a hard target for McCain. And the 2008 GOP primary showed the challenge McCain faces. Christian County went strongly for former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee - his 48 percent of the vote was double McCain's 24 percent.

"I still hold out hope that Huckabee will rise again," says Mr. Swearingen with a laugh. "I'm going to struggle with some of McCain's positions." Still, he says he is "pro-life" and won't vote for someone "who kills babies" - meaning he will not vote for a Democrat anytime soon, including in 2008.

Others say their "struggles with McCain go deeper."

Nixa Mayor Doug Marrs, for instance, says he plans to stay home this fall. "I will not vote for him. I'd love to have him as a neighbor, but I won't vote for him to represent the party," he says. "He won't represent me. It might mean living with the Democrats for four or eight years. Let them cycle through."

That doesn't mean that Nixa will go for the Democrats. This is still Republican country. But this year, the margin of victory could be smaller than usual. Nixa and Christian County will test McCain's ability to make inroads with the cultural right of the GOP.