TESTIMONY – Jesse McCarthy, Forsyth, MT – A broken relationship led to a real relationship with Jesus

TESTIMONY – Jesse McCarthy, Forsyth, MT – A broken relationship led to a real relationship with Jesus

Hello, I’m Jesse McCarthy. I competed as a bull rider for 10 years, first in a local state circuit then in the PRCA. Currently I work on a ranch in Southeastern Montana, my boss is a former elder of the church I attend and I am blessed to have the opportunity to build a cattle herd of my own. In October 2021 God blessed me with the opportunity to marry an amazing woman who has a heart for God and His Church.

I grew up in Wisconsin where I was raised going to church and reading the bible on a regular basis. I was baptized at the age of 13 and though I believed in God and that Jesus died on the cross for my sins, I didn’t develop a true relationship and start to mature in my faith till I was in my late 20s.

Even though I believed, called myself a Christian, and went to church, I still liked to drink, pursue women in an ungodly way and do the whole rodeo after party scene. One of the events God used to show me how much I needed to trust and obey him with my life happened in my late 20’s. I was praying about getting engaged to the girl I was dating at the time and God spoke to my heart telling me not to do it. Well, not liking His answer I went ahead and got engaged. Three months later the relationship ended. I was hurt by this but what hurt more was knowing that I purposefully disobeyed God. This was a huge turning point in my life and it pushed me to get me back into reading my bible for wisdom and direction so I would be able to discern His guidance and instruction for my life.

By reading the Bible more I realized I needed to be a doer and not just a hearer of the word like it says in James 1:22-25.

With the help of my brother Josh McCarthy and some other fellow Christians I have grown more in my faith, and understanding of what it means to be a doer and to live that out each day.

God has transformed me from a guy who hoped he didn’t reek to much like alcohol at church to someone who has asked to preach on occasion and who shares a devotion and leads the congregation in prayer each week.

I no longer look at women, or relationships from a “how can they please me”, to a “how can I glorify God and best serve my wife” view point.

As I look back over the years, I’m so humbled and grateful that God never turned His back on me, even when I turned mine on Him. 2 Timothy 2:13 (NAS) says “If we are faithless, He remains faithful; for He cannot deny Himself. This verse has been proven over and over in my life and I praise God for His grace and mercy.

Though I have grown a lot in my faith and walk with Christ I still do struggle with sin from time to time but now I’m convicted and don’t ignore it anymore or brush it off as “no big deal.” Instead, I take it to the cross and repent of my sins.

Being a Christian is so much more than just being saved by God’s grace. Yes that’s the crucial first step. But just like only putting one ride on a colt and not having it develop into a horse that can be used in everyday work on the ranch. If we don’t continue to grow in our walk with God, we will be missing out on the joy, and peace and plans He has to use us in the every day work of growing His kingdom. As I continue to grow, I’m excited to see how I will be used in the lives of others for God’s glory!

Keith Miller

Keith Miller

Keith Miller grew up in a strict Amish home in Indiana until discovering the freedom of an independent relationship with Jesus Christ. As a bull rider, he met his wife Natalie and together, they have a daughter Gracelyn and have settled in Westport, Indiana. Keith retired from the sport a few years ago to focus on building his family and his business, K & N Builders and eventually took over his father’s spray insulation business. As his faith continued to grow, he became more involved in his church, starting a weekly prayer meeting and eventually becoming a deacon. At the same time, God was stirring in him a need to do more in missions. Keith, with full support of Natalie, decided to start riding bulls again but this time, to start leading cowboy church and to let God use his role as a bull rider to build closer relationships with the bull riders in order to be able to share the gospel and minister to them. Keith mostly leads cowboy church at Southern Extreme Bull Riding Association ( SEBRA ) events but will go wherever God sends him and opportunities present to share the gospel.

Scott Hilgendorff

Scott Hilgendorff

Scott heads up Cowboys of the Cross, a ministry dedicated to bringing cowboy church to rodeos and bull ridings across North America but with a focus on discipleship. The ministry evolved out of Riding for Christ Ministries, the name which Scott operated under for more than 12 years when the ministry was first started by a bull rider he met from Chattanooga, TN.

I’m afraid of horses, far from top physical condition and a nervous speaker in front of crowds. I made my living from my head, not with my hands and am not nearly as handy as I’d like to be.

Never had I imagined I’d be a lay pastor to hundreds of cowboys.

Working as a journalist in a small town in western Ontario, I was at least twice assigned stories about people in the community that were packing up their belongings and going into full time ministry in places like Africa.

I thought they were crazy. Whacko.

I wasn’t a Christian at the time. I had grown up with parents taking me to Sunday school and knew who Jesus was but by high school, after some encounters with some charismatic believers I didn’t understand, I thought evangelical Christians were more like cultists that didn’t think for themselves and were far far too happy to be real.

I had always believed in God, more deeply than I probably realized in high school and university, but I didn’t understand anything about salvation. I grew up in the kinds of churches that are common in Ontario that teach lots about the Bible and how to live your life, but that always leave you just hoping and trusting that you will be judged good enough to enter Heaven when you die.

I’d like to think I was a pretty good person but had no idea that meant nothing in terms of finding a place in Heaven.

Working as an entry-level reporter, almost 20 years ago, pay was terrible but I had the chance to take my first vacation and had saved just enough that I could get someone on about a day’s worth of gas as long as I camped. I chose the Smokies in Tennessee as my destination because I wanted to see some mountains after having had a chance to go to Aspen, Colorado as a kid where I first actually learned, fearlessly, to ride horses.

It was up in those mountains on a quiet road overlooking a single farm far below with a dog barking, a rooster crowing and nothing but mountains after mountains after mountains in the distance that I truly felt God. Clearly, there was something much bigger than me out there when I looked at those miles and miles of mountains that we hadn’t even touched with our box stores and developments.

With a growing interest in photography while working in a newspaper that still paid poorly, I found myself working part time as a rodeo photographer with the Ontario Rodeo Association while making Tennessee a regular vacation spot where just the year before, I had attended my first-ever rodeo.  With journalistic scrutiny and skepticism, I explored religions and the Bible and came to the realization that Jesus was the real deal  and the Bible was truth, committing my life to Christ.

As my faith grew and I continued to visit Tennessee, I connected with some bull riders who led cowboy church and began working with them in ministry while continuing to work in the rodeo industry, moving into marketing and building some great friendships among the cowboys and cowgirls. My role in ministry grew, especially when the other bull riders retired from the sport and left the ministry behind. I was stepping up my involvement in the sport of rodeo and had been to a school for saddle bronc riding in Georgia on vacation one winter. That’s where my fear of horses began. I had become an established rodeo photographer in Ontario and was assisting with the marketing for one of Ontario’s producers and finally. As I grew as a Christian, my role in ministry grew as well, as I started leading cowboy church while finding myself in numerous discipleship relationships. The work of ministry was becoming a full time job while I was continuing to be promoted at work, becoming both a sales manager and editor at one of  the company’s publications. Something had to give as I was doing sermon prep until 2 a.m., while spending hours on the phone and by email keeping up with the cowboy’s I was discipling.

A number of circumstances began to line up where I could see God at work. A network of people to support me had been forming in both countries. My church in Blyth, Ontario, the Blyth Community Church of God, had agreed to commission the ministry and take me on as their Pastor to Cowboys, administering the funding so any donations could be tax receipted and accounted for. God began to press me further through the voices of other people and circumstances that were unfolding. That include a random encounter with a woman in a Christian bookstore in London, ON who heard me telling someone I knew there that I was wrestling with leaving my career and life for ministry. She was overhearing the conversation, at 70 years old, was a retired barrel racer who laid hands on me and prayed in the middle of the store before telling me to leave my job. God pushed in a few other ways and I shocked everyone when I announced I was leaving my career for ministry.

But the biggest moment came within weeks of that when I heard from a young bull rider I had worked with years earlier who had since lost track of completely. The young man’s life was falling apart the day he had contacted me asking for help. I would spend time with him each time I was in Tennessee until finally he just disappeared. His story is very long and complicated but at a time when I was wondering what to do, word got back to me at home that he had resurfaced at a rodeo not to ride, but to lead cowboy church. Then, within a month of going into full time ministry, he tracked me down, again, having no idea I was on a week-long trip to Tennessee, to tell me he had become the associate pastor of a small Baptist church.

It was all the proof I shouldn’t have needed that God was in this ministry and an affirmation that I had made the right decision to quit my higher-paying job for a life in ministry.

The ministry itself now focuses on discipleship with more time than anything built into building and maintaining relationships with cowboys who, while I am so unlike them in background, have embraced my presence in the circuits and more and more, are reaching out with their questions and concerns about the Christian faith.

It’s not about leading hundreds to Christ. Most cowboys will tell you they are already Christians. One of the main focuses this ministry has been led toward is helping them to build authentic relationships with Christ. Many of these guys have never experienced the true freedom grace gives us and never experienced the lasting heart change that comes with a life in Christ.

Through short sermons at cowboy church at bull ridings and rodeos, the messages are often focused on topics of growth from how to pray to what the Bible teaches about patience. As often as possible, it includes illustrations they can connect with like a two-part message on tattoos since so many of them have them and that particular week, several went out and get them one afternoon between events because there was nothing else to do. The message talked about how, if tattoos aren’t inked deeper below the surface of the skin, they won’t last, like a life in Christ has to be rooted deep in the heart, not just in the head with a few simples words of prayer.

Cowboy church is the most visible part of the ministry, but it is merely what opens the door to meeting the riders and building those valuable relationships. Time is spent traveling with or staying with riders and hours are put into telephone and email conversations.

Social networking sites and a ministry web site are maintained as outreaches, distributing monthly messages and other devotionals to a network of more than 5,000 cowboys and rodeo fans now, generating online conversations and prayer requests from across North America and even Australia.

As unqualified as a person may sometimes feel, God can use any of us if we’re willing to follow him when he calls.

Josh McCarthy

Josh McCarthy

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.   

Jim Bull

Jim Bull

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.

Jesse Horton

Jesse Horton

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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