by admin | Apr 10, 2018 | Behind the Bucking Chutes
By Scott Hilgendorff/Cowboys of the Cross
Almost every Christian in rodeo and bull riding knows the verse: Philippians 4:13– “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.” While the wording varies from Bible version to Bible version, it’s one of the most common verses quoted by athletes.
That’s because when it’s taken out of context, it can be encouraging to someone trying to succeed. We mistakenly take this verse to mean that God will give us the strength to accomplish all our goals.
Even though it’s a common way of looking at the verse, that’s not what it is actually saying. When we go back and read some of the verses before this one and consider who wrote it and why, under what conditions, we get some better insight into what it really means…and it means a whole lot more than we think.
What do we know about the author? It was Paul who we know was once a rich, hated man who persecuted Christians before he was saved by an encounter with the resurrected Jesus. We know that in following Christ, he helped the early church grow and through that, suffered a great deal of persecution including imprisonment and threat of execution. We know from reading all of Philippians, that Paul wrote the letter to the church at Philippi while imprisoned.
Now look at the other verses and see how much more Paul is telling us and see why we can learn from the other verses that Paul isn’t telling us God will help us achieve our goals.
Now think about your own life and struggles you’ve faced. A time when there was no money to pay fees and you had to sit one out. A time when an injury took you out of the sport for six weeks to recover and ended a dream of reaching the finals. A time when an injury lead to surgery that lead to never competing again.
Paul is showing us, from his own life, that God will get us through whatever we are going through, good or bad. When the hard times come, and they always do, this verse can suddenly mean so much more than what we think when it comes to facing a struggle, not just the pursuit of success. AND, by reading other books of the Bible, we learn that our lives aren’t about pursuing our success and that the strength God gives, comes to us when we are in His will, following His plan for our lives. When we stop trying to make scripture fit our own dreams and plans and start seeking God’s direction for our lives, “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength” begins to mean something so much more.
by admin | Apr 10, 2018 | Testimonies
Michael Damien Moore is a bareback rider from Athens, TN and the nephew of rodeo producer Mike Moore. Originally from Alaska, Michael has started leading cowboy church, largely at rodeos in the ‘south’. The hat he is wearing in the photo was his father’s. You’ll see why that’s important in a minute. This is his story…
From a young age I knew something had been significant about my life. I was saved around eight years old when my Sunday school teacher asked who believed in Jesus. I remember raising my hand and being called to the front of class. I knew Jesus died for my sins – not that I knew how real death really was – and that he was raised to life again. That’s the best I could remember and that it felt like my conscience was following me around telling me to wonder literally, what would Jesus do.
I also felt set apart like I was apart of something greater than myself that was not just an association. I later found out we call this being sealed by the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit truly was a comforting person that time in my life, through Him I asked many questions and sought these answers up until I would get distracted fighting with my brother and sister while my mom tried to raise us alone.
I just want to say this as forward as I can, my dad killed himself while I was home at the age of Four in Cowparas Cove TX. My dad, Marvis “Buster” Moore, was stationed at Ft. Hood as the 142nd Signal Battalion Command Seargeant Major. He was well respected and he was my hero. This event has stuck with me my entire life but I have truly given this burden I carried for so long over to Jesus Christ. With the help and leadership of the Holy Ghost I have learned to address the issues that had stemmed from being fatherless.
I’m 28 now and God has been so good to me as a son. His chastening proves that he cares how close I am in Him and in fellowship. God has given me hope through His Son’s blood and the Holy Spirit’s restoring power to carry on. I am just merely a sinful man that belongs in the mire of my disobedience and sinful flesh to wallow in, yet I am saved and have promise in Jesus’ name. I believe that He died for my sins, was resurrected in three days and seated at the right hand of the Father and will come again.
It’s been a long life, more had followed after my dad’s death with institutions and programs for troubled youth and juvenile detention and medications. I mean the list is endless. At the age of 18, I had even attempted to take my own life. However, I realized not long ago that I have a heavenly Father who I know, and that knows me. In every situation, my God has given me the endurance I need. I hope to use my experience to help someone in need. I started riding bulls and bareback broncs because my dad did all three rough stock events, but I hope through rodeo I may spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ and get other cowboys to leave their old self behind with all the drunkenness, lust and strife to become a new creation in Jesus Christ. I have sinned no less than you and deserve the same consequences, I just want everyone to believe that there is salvation and no condemnation in our Lord Jesus for those that believe in Him. We have been forgiven.
by admin | Apr 10, 2018 | The Team
Howdy! My name’s Josh McCarthy and I compete in saddle bronc riding in the PRCA and I’m the youngest of five from northeastern Wisconsin. I grew up in a Christian home and went to church every Sunday. I accepted Christ into my life when I was little but I didn’t really understand what it meant to be a follower of Christ.
When I got into high school I went to church and youth group and got really good at “playing the part,” but any other time of the week my faith didn’t affect my life at all. During that time, some pretty big things happened: my brother started riding bulls and competing on a local circuit, and I got started riding saddle broncs. I grew up going to rodeos and had a real passion for it, but in those early years I focused on myself and didn’t honor God with my life or my competing in rodeo.
I’d pray before my ride and attend cowboy church and thought I was good to go, but boy did God open my eyes about my faith the past couple years.
One thing that still sticks in my mind was when I went to upstate New York and worked at a Christian camp teaching campers how to ride horses. I had a bible study with one of my coworkers and we were talking when he said, “I don’t doubt you believe but you don’t take it seriously.” I kinda blew that off, being a dumb kid, but it stuck in my head. Over the summer last year, God started doing a lot of work in my life. I started competing in PRCA rodeos with my brothers, and throughout the rodeo season God just kept putting people in my life that got me thinking about my faith.
I met Chris Watson, the vice-president of CLG, who had a rodeo ministry. We became friends and he’s been encouraging me in my faith. Another big impact was from saddle bronc rider, Doug Aldridge, and his wife. He really lives out his faith and we could talk about God, faith in Christ, and rodeo which was exactly what I needed. Closer to the end of the summer I attended a cowboy church in Iowa which was led by Cory Wall. The biggest part of that sermon, which I still think about, is when he said, “sometimes you’re the only Bible people read.”
After that Sunday I really got to thinking about my faith and that I needed to take it seriously since God took it so seriously He sent His son, Jesus Christ, to pay for my sins. During that time I recommitted my life to God.
I’ll be honest my life isn’t perfect. After I accepted Christ I still fail, struggle and I’m still a sinner but I keep reminding myself of 2 Corinthians,“Therefore, If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”
It’s a great reminder of God’s promise that through the Holy Spirit He is working on making us to be more like Christ, and that the old sinful person we were doesn’t control us anymore. As this year’s rodeo season comes into full swing, God is really helping me to look at rodeo and this lifestyle as a way to show who He is and spread the Gospel.
Some things God has blessed me with are great brothers/traveling partners that always have my back, my family and my home church: their prayers and support are a great blessing. If you take anything away from my story, I hope it’s this: if you put your trust in God and accept His gift of grace, through His son, Jesus Christ, as Lord and Savior, God will be with you every step of the way. I spent plenty of time going the wrong way but God never gave up on me and opened my eyes to the one thing that matters, Jesus Christ.
My buddy Doug Aldridge once told me, “your spiritual walk and bronc riding are a lot alike,. In bronc riding, you can try all you want and make the best ride but if you miss your mark-out, that ride doesn’t amount to anything. Just like our spiritual, walk you can think you’re a good person but if you don’t have Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior it won’t amount to anything. Just like the mark-out is the most important part in bronc riding, Jesus Christ has to be the most important part of our lives.”
He is the way the truth and the life.
by admin | Apr 10, 2018 | The Team
I grew up always praying before meals and hearing that our friends that passed were in heaven. However, I never felt I knew who God was and definitely didn’t have a relationship with Him. I lived my life thinking if I seemed like a good person, then I must be a good person and who was God to not let a good person into heaven.
My senior year of high school I started thinking about God more purposefully. I was questioning things in my life and why, if He had control of everything, why I’d been dealt such a crummy hand. Why had my father left when I was one? Why had he never returned? Why was I so poor and why was I so unpopular in school? Looking back I realize I wasn’t poor, just didn’t have money and I really didn’t want to be popular in school; that’s not who I am (or ever was).
I went on a hunt for who God was, only, being the smart man that I was at 18, I didn’t need help. I could do this on my own. So I thought about God from time to time. I even read a bit of the bible from time to time, though not very much or often. My decision came down to me feeling sorry for myself and not liking someone else being in control of me. I wrestled back and forth on whether I believed in God or not for several years.
Finally, it all came to a head when my mom asked me, point blank no beating around the bush, if I believed in God. Now, keep in mind, I’ve always loved my mother. I’ve always had a good relationship with her and would NEVER intentionally hurt her in any way. However, at that moment I had to be honest with her, knowing it would hurt her. “No. I don’t.” I replied. Instantly I knew I was wrong. I felt my chest hurt and sadness entering me. I couldn’t hardly breathe there was so much pressure on my chest. I am also an extremely hard-headed person, so while I knew I was wrong, I was not able to admit it. Not even to myself.
A few years went by and I went back and forth with my belief in God. I knew this time I needed help but didn’t want my family to know what I was doing so I asked people that didn’t know my family life.
A friend suggested I read Job and described it as a bet between God and Satan. I sat up almost all night trying to read it all. I would fall asleep and wake up again a few minutes later and get right back into reading til I passed out again. I needed to know who this “God” was.
About that time, my wife and I hired someone to work for us in our oversize load escort business. He was a very Christian man and wasn’t afraid to spread the gospel. I remember telling him to take it easy because these truck drivers didn’t want to be preached at all day and night. Boy, did I get it wrong. The guys we work with have been instrumental in bringing me around to believing. Who’d have thought these big, greasy, rednecks would have a faithful side? But so many of them are faithful beyond question. It was me that didn’t want preached to. I just wanted the Cliff Notes and the answer key to go over on my own time.
Discussions with my new employee, quickly becoming friend, always seemed to lead back to God. Mostly by his dedication to his faith, partly by my growing hunger for knowledge about God. We’d stay up late into the night and I’d ask questions and he’d answer or tell me, “I’ll get back to you on that,” when he didn’t have the correct answer on the tip of his tongue. After several invites to church (I had an aversion to church because I just never felt comfortable there. I always felt the preacher and the people attending were just saying “stuff”.) I loaded up my wife and son and went to church. Forty minutes of drive time to get here left me plenty of time to think of reasons why I should turn around but I felt I was suppose to keep going.
The moment I walked in the doors I knew I belonged. I can’t put my finger on what it was, but I didn’t feel like I had in every other church I’d visited in the past. I knew this was where I was suppose to be. After months of talking with the pastor and some of the congregation, I could feel myself starting to lose doubt. I remember after one Wednesday night bible study, I stopped the pastor to ask two simple questions thinking, “five-ten minutes, tops.” I had gone to church straight from the road so my wife had her truck and after a while she and the pastor’s wife left him and I to our discussion. That five minute talk lasted til 2:30 or so in the morning. One question led to another and one answer led to another question. I could feel myself panic when he told me he could see that I was there, ready to be saved. I froze momentarily and replied with “Let me take this new info home and process it.” I did mention I was hard-headed, right?
A couple weeks later I was still being hard-headed all through church service. At the end of service, our pastor asked the praise team to play and sing while he talked to us about salvation. Anyone could come up front and pray that wanted to or you can pray right where you are. I remember telling myself I don’t want to go up in front of everyone and make a big deal about what I found myself believing, without doubt. Then I was walking. I was kneeling and then praying. I was overcome with emotions and felt all that pressure on my chest since I’d told my mom I didn’t believe in God, being lifted. My pastor knelt beside me and asked if he could pray with me. We talked and I told him I did believe in God (the first time I’d ever said that out loud). I admitted that I was a sinner and I asked God to forgive me for those sins. I told him I believed Jesus was the son of God and Jesus died on the cross for my sins. I asked God to lead my life for His needs. There is no question that He heard me and answered my prayers.
I was saved that day and know that God has put me here to lead others to Him. I have been told by many friends and family that they can see a whole new me. I thought I was always a good person, evidently there is more to being a good person than just staying out of trouble and being honest and fair to people. I liked to think that just being a good guy most of my life was good enough but I’ve learned that we can never be good enough to get into heaven. Ephesians 2:8-9 says : For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.
several years.
Finally, it all came to a head when my mom asked me, point blank no beating around the bush, if I believed in God. Now, keep in mind, I’ve always loved my mother. I’ve always had a good relationship with her and would NEVER intentionally hurt her in any way. However, at that moment I had to be honest with her, knowing it would hurt her. “No. I don’t.” I replied. Instantly I knew I was wrong. I felt my chest hurt and sadness entering me. I couldn’t hardly breathe there was so much pressure on my chest. I am also an extremely hard-headed person, so while I knew I was wrong, I was not able to admit it. Not even to myself.
A few years went by and I went back and forth with my belief in God. I knew this time I needed help but didn’t want my family to know what I was doing so I asked people that didn’t know my family life.
A friend suggested I read Job and described it as a bet between God and Satan. I sat up almost all night trying to read it all. I would fall asleep and wake up again a few minutes later and get right back into reading til I passed out again. I needed to know who this “God” was.
About that time, my wife and I hired someone to work for us in our oversize load escort business. He was a very Christian man and wasn’t afraid to spread the gospel. I remember telling him to take it easy because these truck drivers didn’t want to be preached at all day and night. Boy, did I get it wrong. The guys we work with have been instrumental in bringing me around to believing. Who’d have thought these big, greasy, rednecks would have a faithful side? But so many of them are faithful beyond question. It was me that didn’t want preached to. I just wanted the Cliff Notes and the answer key to go over on my own time.
Discussions with my new employee, quickly becoming friend, always seemed to lead back to God. Mostly by his dedication to his faith, partly by my growing hunger for knowledge about God. We’d stay up late into the night and I’d ask questions and he’d answer or tell me, “I’ll get back to you on that,” when he didn’t have the correct answer on the tip of his tongue. After several invites to church (I had an aversion to church because I just never felt comfortable there. I always felt the preacher and the people attending were just saying “stuff”.) I loaded up my wife and son and went to church. Forty minutes of drive time to get here left me plenty of time to think of reasons why I should turn around but I felt I was suppose to keep going.
The moment I walked in the doors I knew I belonged. I can’t put my finger on what it was, but I didn’t feel like I had in every other church I’d visited in the past. I knew this was where I was suppose to be. After months of talking with the pastor and some of the congregation, I could feel myself starting to lose doubt. I remember after one Wednesday night bible study, I stopped the pastor to ask two simple questions thinking, “five-ten minutes, tops.” I had gone to church straight from the road so my wife had her truck and after a while she and the pastor’s wife left him and I to our discussion. That five minute talk lasted til 2:30 or so in the morning. One question led to another and one answer led to another question. I could feel myself panic when he told me he could see that I was there, ready to be saved. I froze momentarily and replied with “Let me take this new info home and process it.” I did mention I was hard-headed, right?
A couple weeks later I was still being hard-headed all through church service. At the end of service, our pastor asked the praise team to play and sing while he talked to us about salvation. Anyone could come up front and pray that wanted to or you can pray right where you are. I remember telling myself I don’t want to go up in front of everyone and make a big deal about what I found myself believing, without doubt. Then I was walking. I was kneeling and then praying. I was overcome with emotions and felt all that pressure on my chest since I’d told my mom I didn’t believe in God, being lifted. My pastor knelt beside me and asked if he could pray with me. We talked and I told him I did believe in God (the first time I’d ever said that out loud). I admitted that I was a sinner and I asked God to forgive me for those sins. I told him I believed Jesus was the son of God and Jesus died on the cross for my sins. I asked God to lead my life for His needs. There is no question that He heard me and answered my prayers.
I was saved that day and know that God has put me here to lead others to Him. I have been told by many friends and family that they can see a whole new me. I thought I was always a good person, evidently there is more to being a good person than just staying out of trouble and being honest and fair to people. I liked to think that just being a good guy most of my life was good enough but I’ve learned that we can never be good enough to get into heaven. Ephesians 2:8-9 says : For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.
by admin | Apr 10, 2018 | The Team
I was ‘raised Christian.’
I can’t remember a time before I was 10 years old that I wasn’t a church-goer, though I remember several years of my teens where my family didn’t attend church.
I confessed my sin and my need for Christ when I was eight years old, but I do not think I completely understood what that meant. In my late teens, I turned to partying and heavy drinking. At 21 years old, I started riding bulls.
There was a guy who always prayed over the riders before each event, but for a few weeks he was gone for some reason. When he showed up the next time, I tracked him down and asked if he’d pray over us before the bull riding…he told me to get everyone together behind the bucking chutes.
When we had all gathered, he grabbed me and said, “Go ahead, brother. You’ve got something to say.”
I don’t remember what I said, but I know it was the true beginning of God’s calling on my life.
A year later, I found myself at a rodeo I had never been to, and when I asked a friend of mine if they had a “cowboy prayer” at this rodeo, he replied, “No.” I told him, “Well, they do now…get the guys together.”
Seven guys met that evening and prayed. Seven guys gave their lives to Christ on one night the following year, and our small group grew to about 50 people every rodeo. In those early years, I continued to drink too much and seek the company of women I didn’t know or care for.
Then God got my attention when before one rodeo I was asked not to lead prayer in the center of the arena because of my actions. I vowed from that moment on my faith would be evident from my actions.
I still live my faith out imperfectly, but I know God directs my steps now, and I do not choose them on my own. Through obedience, God was able to use me to lead dozens of people to his Son, even though I was a poor witness to Christ’s teachings.
My advice to anyone seeking to deepen their walk with Christ is to OBEY! Even small steps of faith can make a way in your life for God to bring others to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. Small steps of faith open your heart up to the work of God’s Holy Spirit in your life, that you might no longer be conformed to this world, but transformed by the renewing of your mind.
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