Cowboy Testimonies
Ranch and Rodeo Cowboy and Bull Rider Testimonies
TESTIMONY — Chuck Middlekauf, Austin, TX — God was looking for this Western and Pop Culture Artist
It’s interesting how God has brought my life around to where I am now. I was never looking for Him, but I guess He was looking for me. I wasn’t raised in the church. When I was little, my mom taught me to pray before I went to bed, so I guess I knew there was a God,...
TESTIMONY — Darvis McCoy, San Jose, CA — From atheist to Bible smuggler
I lived nearly four decades as an atheist adrenaline junkie, looking for adventure wherever I could find it and pushing the envelope in every way. I was an extreme motorcycle rider, Yosemite rock climber and wanderer of the world. The early chapters describe how my...
TESTIMONY — Cory Speh, Granite Falls, MN — Overcoming sin and building a faith-based marriage and custom knife business
I was born and raised in the small Minnesota prairie town of Maynard. My family attended a local church and I grew up in a Christian home. I devoted my life to Christ when I was a child. Unfortunately, I did not fully grasp what it meant to be a follower of Christ and...
TESTIMONY – Austin Beaty, Bedford, VA – A breaking point leads to a stronger relationship with Jesus
The bang! The traumatic moment of losing someone under his command that brought a lot of other experiences together into a turning point that left Virginia Bull Rider and PRCA cowboy Austin Beaty clinging to his faith. He wants his honest story to bring encouragement to you about the importance of a saving faith in Jesus, especially when you reach a breaking point.
TESTIMONY — Kody Rinehart, Rienzi, Mississippi — It isn’t about being worthy
I grew up in a Christian home with Godly parents; my mother and father were the youth leaders at our church at time. Around five or six years old, my mind was wandering and I decided I wanted to get saved, I remember even standing at the top of my stairs and saying...
TESTIMONY — Darryl Skeeter Spaulding, Ringold, GA — Toughest times can lead to greatest growth
I first heard the Gospel in the summer of 1978 between my junior and senior year of high school. My brother and I spent the summer with my brother -in-law and sister [Don and Ruth Ann) to frame houses with Don. They are believers in Jesus and we heard the Gospel from...
TESTIMONY — Stephen Bruner, Indiantown, FL — God brought healing and Stephen and his wife into ministry
Well it all started back in 2007 when I stumbled across Gethsemane Ranch by "happenstance" or what I call a divine appointment. They were looking for a bullfighter to help protect the kids at the bull riding, and I was on my way to pursue a professional rodeo career...
TESTIMONY — Jerry Dean, Etowah, NC — Almost a year ago, God led Jerry to become a preacher
I grew up with a Catholic background. We went to church every Sunday but we didn’t have to work and I never really got too much from it. I went through many of the catechisms and ceremonies that are traditional in the Catholic church and never really understood much of the meaning of any of them.
At the age of 15, I met a young lady whose father was a Baptist minister. They started witnessing to me, questioning me about what the Catholic Church believed and why we believed it. I had always believed in God, believed in Jesus and that he died for the sins of the world, but I never really made that promise my own.
My wife and I were married in January of 2000 and by the end of 2005/beginning of 2006 we had three children. Our youngest was born in October of 2005. In May of 2005, we both realized that we had never truly made a profession of salvation by grace through faith. But we had both been in a church all of our lives and had a head knowledge; we just never had obtained a heart knowledge. The first Wednesday in May, 2006 my wife received Christ as her personal savior.
All the time, the Holy Spirit was calling me to be saved and I didn’t know it. I was in torment because I didn’t have peace about my faith. The following Friday night I bowed my head and heart and asked Jesus Christ to be my Lord and personal Savior and thank him for being that for me.
I did not repeat any specific type of prayer but accepted him and believe in him the best way that I knew how at the time, and he saved me!
TESTIMONY – Nate Camper, Genoa, Ohio – Nate was saved at Cowtown Rodeo, the longest running weekly deal in the country
I found a link to a video of us team roping the other day at Cowtown (the oldest weekly rodeo in the United States in New Jersey) and it made me think a lot about this rodeo. I first showed up there as a 21-year-old bull rider, 21 years ago. My traveling partner,...
TESTIMONY – Trey Williamson, Bartonville, TX –Trey only had a two per cent chance of moving again
May 1, 2016 was the life changing day, having a six-year-old boy, a one-year-old baby girl and a beautiful wife and a string of horses that we finally got to perfection. I was big into ranch rodeo, riding broncs and team roping along with a wife who barrel races and...
TESTIMONY Anthony Lewis, Hurricane, Utah – the passion that came from rodeo awakened a need to follow God
I was born in a strong Christian based home was in church every Wednesday and Sunday. After many years of following Christ, I started to steer away from Him when I let worldly things and people trap me and bring me down. I was in a dark place for awhile and...
Dean LeBlanc, Ontario, Canada – Rodeo school helped him find relationship with Jesus
I grew up in a deep rooted Roman Catholic family. We attended church once or twice a week, I went to a catholic school and faith was a large part of my upbringing. I had always believed in God, but looking back, that wasn't where my real relationship with Jesus...
Nate Kreider: He found his fire for God
I grew up in a rural Christian home in Pennsylvania. My parents raised myself and my siblings to know Christ as our savior. I accepted Christ as my personal savior at the ripe old age of nine. Boy was it easy to be a Christian as a little boy. As I grew up I did not...
Jonathan Longwell – Craig, Colorado: Jonathan felt like he stabbed God in the back
I guess I had always been a Christian, at least since I was three or four. There were times I wondered and thought maybe I wasn't but it all came back to that time I had on our living room couch asking Jesus to be the Lord of my life. As far as really living and...
Benjamin Longwell – Warwick, New Zealand: God consistently pushes Benjamin outside his comfort zone
I was raised in a Christian home and I invited Jesus to be Lord of my life at an early age. It's been the best foundation for living life to the fullest potential of what God has purposed. I guess I was around 17 when I had a revelation of how I could be "good"...
Crispin Gentry – Palmer, Alaska: From angry teen to Marine then bull rider to husband and man of God
My testimony isn’t one of radical conversion and transformation as far as I was never addicted to drugs or alcohol, was never a fugitive or felon, wasn’t a brawler or bully and I didn’t have a “come to Jesus moment” on the jailhouse floor or drawing my last ragged...
Craig Johnson – Corinth, Mississippi: Former meth cook finds new life in Christ ‘A marriage will not work if there’s drugs’
My name is Craig Johnson. I was born and raised in Gray, TN and like many others, I was raised in a Christian home. My mother seen that we went to church on a regular basis but as I got older, I was finding myself just going every now and then. When I...
Gary Wilkins – Boyd, Texas: Gary listened to that small voice inside him and found a relationship with Jesus
My life began on June 4, 1949. I was born in Enterprise, Alabama. My mother, Grace Wilkins, was a God-fearing woman. She always told us to listen to that small voice inside of us and it would tell us right from wrong. That voice was Jesus Christ! Well,...
Michael Damien Moore
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...