MARIPOSA, CALIF. - This is a mountain town where a Bible verse is painted over a pizza parlor door and a local politician displays a cardboard cutout of John Wayne holding a Winchester rifle as proof of fealty to the NRA.

But a proposal to bring "Paintball for Jesus" to public land has some people riled.

"I'm sorry, maybe I'm missing something in my upbringing as a Methodist, but Paintball for Jesus?" said Mariposa County Supervisor Brad Aborn, 71. "God help us all. Seriously, this teaches bad habits of shooting each other."

Aborn is the aforementioned John Wayne fan and a former Vietnam War Navy helicopter pilot.

Church youth leader Jeff Tomerlin contends, however, that paintball is the perfect ministry.

His church, New Life Christian Fellowship, wants to play paintball on 15 acres of county land.

"I really wanted to do something for the youth where they could see godly adults acting as mentors," said Tomerlin, 45. "We thought about going the skateboard route, but none of us are skateboarders."

After church on the third Sunday of every month, teens and adults from New Life cook up a big meal of hot dogs, give testimony about Jesus in their life, suit up in camouflage and grab donated paint-shooting guns ("markers," in paintball terms).

They have affectionately nicknamed their paintball and Jesus games PBJ.

Tomerlin hopes the lessons of discipline and teamwork that families pick up while playing will have the sticking power of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

"They learn life lessons like depending on each other, and they learn that sometimes if you go out on your own you get hurt. It can sting when you get hit."

In need of space

Most of the time, the paintballers use Tomerlin's backyard. Sometimes they play on nearby ranch land, with permission, when the ranchers aren't running cattle.

The merits of paintball as a character-building church youth activity became a cause of public debate when the church went looking for a more permanent home for the games.

Tomerlin asked Supervisor Bob Pickard whether he knew of any available land.

Before he broke his ankle during a game and his kid went away to college, Pickard played paintball -- a shoot-and-duck sport involving spherical gelatin capsules containing dye propelled by bursts of compressed gas.

He thinks it's fun.

Pickard, owner of High Country Cafe and Health Food, immediately thought of a parcel often referred to by Mariposans as the Field of Dreams.

It's county-owned and the site of a future regional sports complex. About $40 million from now at an unspecified date, a swimming pool, baseball and soccer fields and other recreational opportunities are envisioned on the land.

But for now, it's a shrub-dotted hillside north of town.

"They needed a place to play," Pickard said. "We have this land sitting there. I thought it was a no-brainer.

"But the people who don't like the idea really don't like the idea."

'A little oddity'

The item was pulled from the supervisors' agenda at two meetings when vocal, grumbling crowds made it clear they weren't in favor of the proposal.

The church's youth group saw Paintball for Jesus as good, clean fun. But many in the community recoiled at linking the Prince of Peace with packing heat -- even if disciples are only inflicting paint splatters.

Les Marsden, founder of the Mariposa Symphony and the one everybody in town usually counts on to lead any liberal-leaning charges, was amused to find he seemed to be the only one not bothered by PBJ.

"Anything that connotes a commingling of religion and government is something I'm concerned about," he said.

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