by admin | Aug 1, 2024 | Behind the Bucking Chutes
By Scott Hilgendorff / Cowboys of the Cross
The more we believe false information, especially across social media, the more we miss what is really going on and the more we miss a chance to reach others for Jesus.
This most often applies to major news-making issues like the election, or a mass shooting or other issues that we become divided on. It’s an actual fact that foreign governments have even employed people knowledgeable of our language and culture whose job it is to make fake memes and posts to fuel our conflicts with each other. Division makes us weaker. Other people fan the flames simply for the sport of it it, sitting back and watching controversial made up stories go viral and people freaking out about it or celebrating it if they think it represents a victory for them. Some of these posts come straight from satire sites that don’t even hide that what they wrote was only made to sound believable and yet we share it as truth anyway.
But Christians, this is where I need you to hear me. In the rodeo and western industries, the public sees us as standing up for “God and country.” People see us representing truth and freedom but they watch us and they see us post content they, themselves know not to be true and we lose all our credibility with them.
We need to be trustworthy people. We have just a few main jobs to do when our hope is in Jesus and our salvation is secure in a saving faith in him. First and foremost is to share the gospel and make disciples. Among others is loving everyone including our enemies while living a life that honors and glorifies God who made a way for us to be free of His judgment and punishment of our sins. When instead of sharing the gospel, we share information that isn’t true, we lose our credibility among the people who don’t know Jesus. They need to be able to believe us when we tell them of the consequences they’ll face for their unrepentant, unforgiven sin. Instead, they see us at best as gullible or at worst, intentionally dishonest. It’s easy to be fooled by the false content that’s out there and it’s getting even easier; especially when it’s something we are passionate about like many of us are about the election. Let’s make sure we find even more passion for our pursuit of Jesus, allowing our saving faith in him to be what motivates and changes us.
Ephesians 4:25-27 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. 26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and give no opportunity to the devil.
All of Chapter 4 is worth reading a few times to see some of what the Bible tells us should be showing up in our lives as we grow in our faith.
by admin | Jul 9, 2024 | Behind the Bucking Chutes
By Scott Hilgendorff / Cowboys of the Cross
Right now, in at least the two counties around me, people widely believe women are being sex-trafficked out of busy parking lots in broad daylight with drugs being sprinkled on everything from $20 bills to green tomatoes lying on the ground in a parking lot median. Yet no one has been abducted.
Meanwhile, people constantly scoff at the warnings of the dangers that bears pose with populations at all-time highs. The animals are becoming fearless of people who, locals and tourists both, continue to feed them or leave insecure garbage for them to get into. While there are no reports of women actually being hauled unconscious out of their vehicles after they crash their car from the drugs they absorbed through their skin, there are 11 bears that have been euthanized this year so far because of close encounters with people the included “scratches.” If you’ve seen the size of bear claws, these scratches required emergency room care.
We pick and choose what we want to believe is true but with the amount of false information that spreads online constantly, like a new trend of posting missing children that aren’t really missing, it takes more work than people are willing to put into checking if something is real. Instead, they just share it and now people are literally afraid of green tomatoes on the ground but are not afraid to try to pet a bear.
For Christians, many of us treat the Bible the same way. We aren’t afraid of the consequences of not repenting of our sin and putting our trust in Jesus, but we’re afraid of missing out on the wealth and prosperity we falsely think is ours if we have enough ‘faith’. We aren’t willing to put the time into reading scripture for ourselves or following teachers we know we can trust to help us know what is true. Instead, far too many of us spread false ideas about we think is in the Bible. We are willing to put people’s entire eternities at risk if they should die before they’ve found a saving faith in Jesus. Around here, that could literally be from trying to pet a black bear because no one told them it was dangerous, just like no one told them the truth about Jesus or what’s really in God’s word about salvation.
James 1:23-24 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.
James takes this one step further.
He’s telling us that when we do hear the truth about God’s word, we need to take it seriously and live it out. To not do what we know God wants us to do, is as dumb as forgetting what we look like right after seeing our own reflection. But in order to do what God wants us to do, we have to know what is right and true from scripture, not just what we want to hear or what sounds good coming from others.
by admin | Jun 13, 2024 | Behind the Bucking Chutes
By Scott Hilgendorff / Cowboys of the Cross
When we face a struggle, it can feel like we’re alone. We can vent or unload to a friend about what is going on but often be left feeling they just don’t understand.
Sure, a rodeo or ranch friend can understand and sympathize with having to sit out events or work because of a bust femur, but it’s harder for them to appreciate the struggle when the steel rod that was needed isn’t set right, there’s an infection and the down time has now increased because of a second surgery. Meanwhile, the bills are piling up and the friends that helped with some meals have got busy with their own lives. Far more than anyone can understand, the struggle you’re facing is very real and very difficult.
The same can be said when, as believers, we’re fighting to overcome a sin in our lives but we keep falling back into it. The rodeo lifestyle in particular floods us with opportunity to party hard and make the terrible choices that go along with that from cheating on a wife or girlfriend to finding ourselves in need of rehab while rodeo fines have piled up and there’s no way to pay entry fees anymore.
First, when it comes to what are referred to as trials in the Book of James, we see from James himself both an understanding of the struggles a person can face whether in his time period or ours and he offers and encouragement.
James 1:2-4 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
This can be really hard for a person to accept and a difficult attitude to adopt when you’re in the thick of trial or struggle but James is offering us an assurance that we can try to see it as a good thing and take joy in it because that struggle will be used to help build us to be more like Jesus. When we have a saving faith in Jesus, we begin a process called sanctification which means that our lives become about making us more like him. While we will never become fully perfect before we get to Heaven, we will become more and more like Jesus as we learn from the Bible, live out what we’re taught and grow in our faith.
In that process to become more like Jesus we find there are sins in our lives we want to rid ourselves from and Hebrews offers a great encouragement for those particular struggles.
Hebrews 4: 15-16 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Jesus is the high priest being referred to here and what we see is just how great a company we keep as Christians—followers of Christ. Jesus himself, even though he was perfect, still faced temptations and God loves us so much and understands the struggle, that through our saving faith in Jesus, we have God’s grace and mercy for when we fail and to give us the confidence and encouragement to get up again and press onward each time we feel like we’ve fallen.
Count it all joy, my brothers,[a] when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
by admin | May 29, 2024 | Behind the Bucking Chutes
By Scott Hilgendorff / Cowboys of the Cross
There is a lot of teaching out there that focuses on God making life great for us here. Yet the reality is that sometimes the people we perceive to be the worst unbelieving sinners, seem to have all the money and success while we try to live by God’s word and feel like we’re always struggling against defeat.
The idea that with more faith comes more gifts from God is really misleading and if you work with horses or cattle or compete in rodeo, this is something you should be able to understand. If you work with them long enough or compete in enough events, you are going to get hurt, no matter how much faith you have. It’s just how this world works. It’s broken. Adam and Eve actually broke it by choosing to commit the first sin. Because of that, they choose for there to be people capable of causing harm in the world and for earthquakes, disease and even rodeo accidents to be something that could happen. We live with the consequences of that including God’s punishment of sin without a saving faith in Jesus.
Jesus was sent here to die on the cross while taking on all of God’s wrath meant for our sins so that with belief, repentance and asking to be forgiven, we would no longer face that wrath but instead be welcomed into Heaven as if we were without sin. Even though it was meant to be, Jesus going to the cross was a tremendous trail, one so intense that there was blood in his sweat as he prayed and asked God to not have him go through with the intense suffering he knew he was about to face.
Luke 22:39-43 Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. 40 On reaching the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” 41 He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, 42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” 43 An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him.
Of course God could not remove this trail from Jesus’s life but in verse 43, we see God sent an angel to give Jesus the strength he needed to endure what was to come.
We can ask God to deliver us or others from a trial and know that He might, but we should also ask for strength to endure it.
When our focus is on Jesus and as we become more like him, we find that even when we face trials and struggles, our attitude has also changed and go through those challenges stronger and less negatively impacted by them than before we knew Jesus. That doesn’t mean we don’t sometimes struggle or cry out to God for deliverance or relief like Jesus did on the Mountain of Olives. What we have that others don’t, is the strength to get through it when we ask God for help and trust in His perfect plan.
by admin | May 15, 2024 | Behind the Bucking Chutes
By Scott Hilgendorff / Cowboys of the Cross
Fly high cowboy, your fees are paid.
Using some form of that phrase when someone in the rodeo cowboy crowd has died is fairly common.
The problem is, most people don’t really understand what they’re saying and it creates the false impression that we call go to Heaven when we die. I see it used by people I thought knew differently but they continually place a cowboy in Heaven who almost certainly didn’t enter that rodeo.
How can you say that? How can you know for sure? That’s judgmental.
Well, the reason I can say it with almost certainty is because I’d had an open and frank conversation with that person in question and he made it clear to me he didn’t believe in Jesus and wasn’t interested in it. He was someone I got along with and was explaining why he didn’t come to cowboy church at the rodeos we were often at together because he didn’t want me thinking it was personal. He made a lot of sinful or what I would consider “dumb” choices at best, but he was a nice guy who was well-loved by all those he partied with every weekend.
Here’s the kicker: most of the time when we share a social media post about a cowboy riding a rank one in Heaven or getting his wings (we don’t become angels), we don’t actually even know what the person believed before they died and we never ask. Most of us pray. Most of us believe in God, but that doesn’t get us to Heaven. James reminds us that even the demons believe in God. A lot of us don’t really know ourselves how to be certain we’re going to Heaven, never mind how to tell someone else.
And sure, one never knows what happens privately between a person and God but we’re also told in scripture that when someone has a genuine, saving faith in Jesus, there will be fruit. Fruit are changes in a person’s life that show Christ and the Holy Spirit in them is moving them away from sin and into a life that’s more holy. By holy, we mean more Christ-like by how we see Jesus in the Bible
John 15:8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.
That made it that much harder personally when he died. It’s important to understand God can draw someone to Him at any time and there’s no telling what happened in his last moments, but the reality is, not only did he not believe, but he openly rejected Christianity.
So how can so many people put him in Heaven?
I think when we love someone, it’s hard to think of them suffering for eternity in Hell. I think we also just don’t think seriously enough about how real both places are. It’s also largely because we don’t really understand what is called the gospel—how through Jesus, a person is saved from God’s wrath against sin and made right before God to be given an eternity in Heaven.
We can’t ‘love them’ into Heaven. Only the love of Jesus gets them there through their faith in his birth, death and resurrection and belief that he took the punishment meant for our sins so that by repenting of those sins and asking to be forgiven, we can be given eternal life in Heaven.
This is where the expression in rodeo that “he paid your fees” comes from. It’s taken from a genuine understanding of the gospel that tells us that Jesus paid the price meant for our sins.
Being liked and loved by others, being popular, being good by how we might measure goodness; none of these ideas gets us into Heaven. Even the kindest most generous person is separated from God by just the smallest sin and none of us are able to get through life without some kind of sin like a moment of anger or a lustful thought.
Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Grace and mercy are what God has given us through Jesus’s death on the cross. We deserve God’s wrath for our sin, any sin, but we’re given a way through a saving faith in Jesus, to be made right with God. The ‘works’ being referred to is what makes it clear that just being a good person doesn’t earn a place in Heaven. Works are the good actions we do and way of living we might lead. Through an understanding that any sin deserves punishment and no amount of good can earn us Heaven, every single person has the same chance to have Jesus pay his fees.
by admin | May 15, 2024 | Behind the Bucking Chutes
By Will Brunke / Cowboys of the Cross
My wife and I’s most recent visit to worship service this past Sunday yielded some interesting results. While my usual excitement for the weekly message roiled along with the complimentary coffee that is offered in the foyer, the monotone rhythm of the substitute pastor managed to counteract the excitement of the spirit even coupled with the moderate dose of caffeine into submission. Yet, as I dazed in and out of the message, a “God Thing” happened as only He could impose. And during my arousal from a near neck-snapping chin nod, I felt transported sideways into a message entirely as if I was the only
one hearing it.
Concerned that my “side message” may be spurious in nature, I attempted to reengage the subject matter and connect the talking points back to the pastors original baseline message. But then yet another anecdotal framing reinforced the first, and
another, and another. On the drive home, my wife stopped for fast food and while waiting, we were asked to pull ahead by the curb since our order was slow to materialize. My wife and I then picked up on a conversation cut short earlier and again, I came back to that same sticky thought in my brain.
Then they forgot the spoon for the milkshake.
As I soothed my wife and jokingly reminded her that sometimes the greatest test for a Christian is how we treat the drive-through employees on our way home from church, I stepped out of the truck to secure both the order and humanitarian spirit. But on the ride home, the gears really started turning in my head.
What I write at this moment will come with a disclaimer; Scott Hilgendorff, who was called to lead this ministry full time, knew nothing and knows nothing of what I am about to say. Nor is Scott probably comfortable with my calculated poking of the proverbial “bear(s)”.
And that is the point. Poking you bears. And most of you bears have been hibernating ……right on top of an unrealized gem.
Now as a retired bulll rider, in the nearly 20 years I have known Scott, I have quietly been amazed by him of many things. One point of amazement is a running joke I started and repeat to Scott and others who know Scott personally. Tell me if you’ve heard it: It’s the one about a guy who comes from a diminishingly Christian nation named Canada. He hears the Holy Spirit telling him to abandon everything he knows and go to one of the most populous Christian nations named ‘Merica because there are people in places who haven’t heard the Gospel and some of those who have heard it, were given a false version of it.
This joke for most Christians in America could be considered offensive. It’s like having to sit without interruption while a comedian roasts your wife or child that you were so sure that there was nothing wrong with or funny about. What?? We need missionaries to come from outside the U.S. to spread the Gospel in our own back yards?? Harumph!!
But yes, it’s true. A lot of us absolutely stink at spreading the Good news, proclaiming the Gospel, participating in the Great Commission, and even discipling. Many more treat the sanctuary of the church as barricade from the world rather than a fort to train the Christian soldiers and prepare and discipline them to resist and defeat the evil one who prowls like a lion. (1 Peter 5: 8-10)
And not only has Scott Hilgendorff left his successful professional former life in Canada, Scott has chosen to inhabit the dirt holes and hovels to whence you dare not approach. Scott has not only worn the shoes of the peace of the Gospel, (Eph 6: 10-20) but he bought the extra padded insoles and the snake guards that extend up to the knee and has been like the one crying out in the wilderness, (Isaiah 40: 3-8) in a spiritual battle to save the souls of countless characters –many of ill repute.
While many of us Christians are not equipped or called into missions, in general, the church congregation has adopted a contemptuous view of missional work outside of the quasi-vacations to Honduras, Guatemala, Costa Rico, Kenya, etc. We are constantly surrounded by chaos and despair in our own communities but speed past it daily. all the while, after 100’s of known missional studies conducted over the years and a similar number of personal admissions I have witnessed, the most common reactions to first-time foreign missionaries upon their return home are;
“They seem so happy with so little over there”
“I didn’t know that the country of _ __ had so many Christians”
“I never felt unsafe”
What I am NOT saying is that safety should not be prioritized. I am NOT saying that foreign mission trips are bad. After all, God will send a messenger to his people and there is a plan for every one of us, (Jer 29:11).
What I am saying is that Scott has planted the Christian flag by the encampments of despair where happiness is sometimes fleeting at best. Scott is surrounded by non-believers in stark contrast to the number of professed Christians. Scott has risked his safety many, many, many times. And while there have been many breakthroughs, conversions, and moments of pure joy, the reality of the matter is that through Scott, the Lord has taken a nearly inarable field and brought forth fruit from it.
What I am also saying is that those of us who are familiar with Scott have been given a unique opportunity to support a grassroots mission that few people are called or equipped to succeed in. Not only has Scott persevered, but he has thrived in the environment the Lord led him to and developed a road map for local missions work that is more valuable than the latest and hottest crypto currency but will stand the test of time.
What I am asking is that as many of us as possible should lift up and support our brother who has defended the faith, (1 Peter 3:15) from the likes of false teachers, hollow prosperity, and mere wolves in sheep’s clothing who have perilously outnumbered him.
Scott, at times has had to bear his cross quietly and even at times against resistance from all sides.
I have been to the places I am describing to you. I have seen and heard the atrocities and abominations. And I have also been there when these same perpetrators of hate and sin have made the 2 am phone call to Scott when they had no one else to turn to or were in desperation. Even though Scott was a “Goodie Goodie Missionary” his reputation was beyond reproach and his name was trustworthy. Through John 13:35 Scott has cultivated relationships of love for his neighbors no matter if they were believers or had admonished him for calling sin, sin. I met and was joined by Scott in the days of yore concerning my bull riding career. I was taught and discipled by this man. I in turn taught and discipled.
And yes, when I say, “lift up and support” I mean give. Financially support a ministry that has boots on the ground of the lowly corners of despair where the lost gather together unaware of their own peril and sometimes just horribly misinformed. And where opportunists prey openly and spiritual warfare aims to keep any unity and understanding scattered like seed thrown for the birds to eat.
Please consider making May 2024 the month you commit to our brother in the faith.
Be Proverbs 17:17 A friend loves at all times and a brother is born for adversity
Don’t be Proverbs 17:16 Why should a fool have money in his hand to buy wisdom when he
has no sense.
Tax deductible donations, tithes and offerings are administered for Cowboys of the Cross through a church in Lewisburg, TN. Tax deductible donations can be sent to LifeSong Family Church, 1041 S. Ellington Pkwy, Lewisburg, TN, 37091. Checks should be made out to LifeSong Family Church with a note in the envelope that it is for Cowboys of the Cross or rodeo missions.
Contributions can also be made online at https://www.lifesongfamily.org
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