Cowboys Of The Cross

Welcome to Cowboys of the Cross: your resource for Christian cowboys. Cowboys of the Cross has been providing cowboy church for the rodeo and cowboy community for more than 15 years. The website is your source for stories of faith and encouragement as well as devotions and news and information affecting cowboys of faith. Through LifeSong Family Church in Lewisburg, TN, Cowboys of the Cross leads cowboy church at rodeos, equine events and bull ridings in the United States and Canada.

To support the mission

Cowboys of the Cross is a full time ministry shepherded by Scott Hilgendorff (His testimony can be found below). Like other missionaries, Scott relies on the generous support of private donors to carry out the work of the Great Commission within the rodeo and cowboy culture. Donations are managed through LifeSong Family Church in Lewisburg, TN. To give online, please click the button, selecton online giving and please choose Cowboys of the Cross from the dropdown menu. To give via mail, please make checks payable to LifeSongFamily Church but include a note that it is for “rodeo ministry.” Donations can be sent to LifeSong Family Chuch, 1041 S. Ellington Pkwy
Lewisburg, TN 37091

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The Bible’s greatest ‘rancher’ sought wisdom first

By Daryl Skeeter Spaulding / Cowboys for Christ chaplain

The greatest rancher of all time in the Bible was King Solomon. His kingdom stretched many places surrounding Israel. He had the command of the entire region and a multitude of personal staff that no other ever achieved. How would you like to manage and feed that bunch?

Let’s have a look at how he did it. We find it in 1 Kings 4:22-26. “Solomon’s daily provisions were thirty cors (5 ½ tons) of the finest flour and sixty cors (11 tons) of meal, ten head of stall-fed cattle, twenty of pasture fed cattle and a hundred sheep and goats, as well as deer, gazelles, roebucks and choice foul. For he ruled over all the kingdoms west of the Euphrates River, from Tiphsah to Gaza, and had peace on all sides. During Solomon’s lifetime Judah and Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, lived in safety, everyone under their own vine and under their fig tree. Solomon had four thousand stalls for chariot horses, and twelve thousand horses”. (Bold letters and parentheses are added.)

That’s a lot of livestock, not to mention the waterfowl!!! Plus, all wheat and corn for the refining of flour and meal. Solomon was a ranching and farming mogul. It would have been a sportsman’s paradise. He both grew/raised the daily provisions and imported it from the countries under his influence. The definition of “daily” is what really struck me.

But what really made Solomon such a great man? This guy was about 20 years old when King David placed him on the throne. And now King Solomon was in charge before David passed. There are some indicators in Scripture that Solomon was not David’s first choice for his replacement. Being 20 years old with the world setting on his shoulders, does not exactly breathe confidence. This young King knew this as well. Solomon had a dream when God asked him a question. 1 Kings 3:5-15.

The Gospel through a stolen corn dog

By Scott Hilgendorff / Cowboys of the Cross

When is a corn dog not “just a corn dog”?

When our reaction to a couple stolen corn dogs completely undermines who Jesus is and what he did for us on the cross—the gospel.

A post from a cowboy justifying stealing a couple corn dogs from a gas station self-checkout because of a flaw in their system sparked a lot of back and forth from people raising the issue of stealing while a majority thought it laughable to call it stealing because it was “just a corn dog.”

One of the comments read like this: “like God doesn’t care if you steal a freaking hot dog, He’s got bigger things to worry about.”

Actually, He does care. If stealing a corn dog was the only sin that had ever been committed by anyone, Jesus still would have died on the cross for that person to have a chance to find salvation.

Yes, it’s that serious and to laugh it off or dismiss God’s response to any sin, is to outright reject what Jesus did for us on the cross. Not understanding why it’s a big deal and looking at it as stupid or trivial doesn’t somehow avoid the consequences of not comprehending the gospel. And it’s actually a ticket straight to hell.

Yes, it is that serious.

Romans 1:19-20 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

In a nutshell: God has revealed Himself through everything He made and we all have a chance to realize He exists and is real.

And the way so many people were reacting to a small-time theft shows how little a lot of people understand about the gospel and how to find eternal life in Heaven instead of eternal damnation in hell.

Those of us who have found a saving faith in Jesus and understand the gospel have a responsibility to share it with others so that they can know how to be saved from God’s judgement.

God won’t allow sin in His presence and will judge and condemn us for our sins. The punishment is eternal separation from God and for God to be a just and fair, we’re all condemned for any sin, big or small. A stolen corn dog is enough for God to judge and condemn you without a saving faith in Jesus.

Because God is a loving and fair God, He made a way so that we could all be saved from his wrathful judgement. He sent Jesus to live among us and eventually die on the cross to take the punishment for all our sins in our place. He took on the full wrath of God so that by us believing He was the Son of God, died and was resurrected three days later and by repenting of our sin and asking to be forgiven, we could be saved from hell and given a perfect eternity in Heaven when we die here.

As silly as it might seem to some, God doesn’t have bigger things to worry about than a corn dog. He cares about every one of us and wants us all to have a chance to not just acknowledge He exists, but to come to a saving faith in Jesus so we can be united with Him in Heaven for eternity.

2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

There are a few things beyond a lack of understanding for the need of a savior that frustrate me about the comments around this issue.

Some of the same people who would holler and make a fuss about wanting The Ten Commandments posted in public places forget number eight on the list: “You shall not steal.”

One of the people seeing the post saw it as just another reason to see Christians as hypocrites and reject the Gospel. Our attitude toward a situation some made out to be trivial because it was just a $3 item of food actually helped push someone further away from wanting to ever be a Christian. That’s a pretty high price to pay for a corn dog.

The number of ways people justified stealing from it being the gas station’s fault for expecting us to check ourselves out to how much profit they make anyway, shows just how important it is to cling to our ‘freedom’ to sin. Our ignorance of the consequences doesn’t allow us to escape God’s judgement when our life here is over.

So no, it’s not just a corn dog. It’s one more chance to embrace Jesus or one more chance to ignore the gospel. There’s consequences to both: one horrible beyond our understanding and one better than we can possibly imagine. If you don’t have a saving faith in Jesus and you’re reading this, right now, you have just been faced with making a choice to ignore Jesus or pursue him.

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Email: cowboysofthecross@gmail.com

Contact Us

Phone: 865_293_2668

Email: cowboysofthecross@gmail.com

Mail: Cowboys of the Cross, 3710 Warden Branch Lane, Gatlinburg, TN, 37738

New devotions/teaching right here every other Thursday

Where to find us

June 21, Barbourville, KY, Bull Riders and Outlaws event, cowboy church

Scott is found at events sanctioned by the Southern Extreme Bull Riding Association, the Bull and Outlaws Association, the National Cowboys Association.

They can also sometimes be found at PBR Velocity Tour events, International Professional Rodeo Association events and others.

In all your ways...

In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make straight your paths — Proverbs 3:6
A Cowboy of the Cross believes God comes first and strive to follow His leading from a desire that comes from the knowledge of the cost of our salvation, paid for by Jesus Christ through is death on the cross. Through a saving and repentant faith in Jesus and the knowledge of his resurrection, we know God has forgiven our sins and will take us home to Heaven when our time here is done. Through God’s grace, we’ll get through the mistakes we make and grow more like Christ with study of Scripture, time in prayer and learning to hear God and following the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Meet our Teachers / Preachers and Site Contributors

Caleb Crouch

Testimonies, The Team

I am 28, married to a beautiful lady, and blessed with 5 beautiful children! To begin with my testimony, I would say that Jesus means everything to me! I have often beenreminded of how blessed I am, to have had a mother and father active and together — as well aswho...

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

Testimonies, The Team

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...

Keith Miller

The Team

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...

Scott Hilgendorff

The Team

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...

Josh McCarthy

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...

Jim Bull

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...

Jesse Horton

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...