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
by admin | Apr 18, 2024 | Behind the Bucking Chutes
By Scott Hilgendorff / Cowboys of the Cross
If there’s ever a time when people in the cowboy culture pray, it’s at a rodeo or bull riding before competing. Some pray not to be hurt, some pray to win, some pray for the stock and some just use it as quiet time to talk to God.
The Bible gives us lots of examples of praying to God to meet our needs as well as verses that tell us not to worry; that God will provide.
Matthew 7:11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
When we look at just this verse without context and careful understanding of the power a single word in the verses before it, it sounds like God will give us more than we could dream if we just have faith and ask. It’s a common belief but it comes from not having a more full understanding of God’s word.
Here is the whole section:
Matthew 7:7-11 7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 if you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
The word we need to look at closely: “Seek.”
Seeking means we are looking hard into what it is we should be asking God for. Are we trying to follow His will for our lives? Then we would be seeking what we need to follow His direction for us. Are we looking for ways to share the gospel or love our neighbors as Jesus commands us? Then we would be seeking what we need to accomplish that.
And then we would trust that if our parents, who are flawed compared to God’s greatness, are going to meet our needs, then we trust even more that God will give us what we need.
In James chapter 4, he comes at the issue from a different direction, explaining how it’s our nature to want things for our own, selfish desires to the point it can lead to fights and even murder—something we still see in society today. He explains to us that this is why it sometimes seems like God isn’t giving us what we want.
James 4:3 3You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
It’s okay to want to win the rodeo, but what is our motivation? If we’re digging into what it means to be a Christian, a follower of Jesus, then we should be wanting what Jesus would want us to do or what the Bible teaches us about living out our faith. We know in Scripture that we are meant to live in a way that glorifies God. So how can our win be used to give Him glory or point others to Jesus? It can and if what we pray for lines up with what God wants for us, we could see that win come our way.
And if that win doesn’t come, no matter how hard we were seeking God before we asked for it, then we also trust that our loss, even at a time when we personally needed the money or confidence, is still a better gift than what even our own parents could want for us. It just may take some time to see what God was doing in that moment and we rely on God’s strength to endure what feels like a struggle and trust that everything works together for His good–and we get to be a part of that, even when it feels hard for us.
by admin | Jun 30, 2022 | Behind the Bucking Chutes, The Company You Keep
Part 6 of 7 The Company You Keep
By Scott Hilgendorff / Cowboys of the Cross
Just like bull riders will tell you that to get better, you want to be surrounded by better bull riders, we know that the Bible teaches us there are times we have to be careful who we tie ourselves to. If we spend all our time with unbelievers, we can see our own faith suffer. At the same time, we have to spend time with unbelievers in order to share the gospel with them—how to be saved from the punishment meant for our sin by a belief in Jesus Christ, repenting of our sin and asking to be forgiven.
But before we can worry about finding the balances there, we first need to become disciples.
John 8:31-32 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in Him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Jesus tells us that when we have truly become a Christian—a follower of Jesus—then we will ‘abide’ in his word. That means that we will live it out. Our desire to do that is the proof of our salvation.
While there is a lot to being a disciple that the average Christian seems to ignore throughout the New Testament, we know that in its simple form, a disciple is someone who follows Jesus.
In rodeo, most of us have successful cowboys and bull riders who we follow to learn their style, techniques and how they became successful.
Jesus tells us that we will live out his word but he knows we don’t immediately know or understand everything there is in the Bible.
That’s why, even though Jesus calls us disciples, we still need to be discipled.
The Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20 tells his disciples to go into the world and make make more disciples with clear instructions to teach others about what Jesus taught them. That means right now, there are people out there with knowledge and wisdom we haven’t achieved yet who are following, or should be following, the command to make disciples. There are people we need to have teaching us what they know from the Bible.
At the same time, we read our Bibles on our own, attend church services, learn where we can and pray in order to learn and put to practice what it means to live out our faith.
And Jesus tells us it isn’t going to be easy.
Luke 9:23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
There can be a cost to following Jesus and while there is much we can study on being disciples and what it means to follow Jesus, we’re focused right now on making sure we have the right people in our lives to be successful followers of Christ.
By linking with other believers who are more mature and experienced in their faith than we are, we can be discipled by them while we also begin the process of teaching others about Jesus. As we learn, we teach, regardless of how experienced we are. If I’ve just started learning how to throw a rope and you teach me a better way to guide my loop to the roping dummy’s head, it doesn’t matter whether I’ve won a rodeo or even entered one; once you’ve taught me how to do that much, I can teach someone else that much too.
(Supporting photo of the Bible provided by John-Mark Smith of Lviv, Ukraine)
by admin | Feb 24, 2022 | Behind the Bucking Chutes
By Scott Hilgendorff / Cowboys of the Cross
Who do we trust? Close family and friends? Our doctor? Our teachers? The foreman at the ranch we work at that’s been there 25 years longer than us? The rodeo secretary?
Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
There’s always the chance the person we would confide anything to could fail or betray us. We’re human, deeply flawed and deeply full of sin.
It’s God we can trust.
We’ve seen throughout the Bible that God has kept His promises from restoring the Israelites to Jerusalem to sending Jesus to die for our sins.
It’s Him we can fully trust.
If we started our day thinking about the instructions in Proverbs 3:5-6, we would be off to a good start. If we think about these instructions before every action during the day, it would do much more; it would change our life and the lives of people around us.
Why would it do that?
If we involve God in all our decisions, many of them would be different from how we handle bad service in the drive thru to major life decisions like a job change.
We can acknowledge Him by asking for His direction before we make decisions. And think about this: what if when we’re in a serious conversation or argument, we paused to ask Him to guide us before we even spoke?
It takes practice to get used to turning our thoughts to God before we do anything but we can at least start by seeking His direction before we make major decisions or have important conversations.
So how do we let God direct our paths?
A big way is by knowing what’s in the Bible. The more knowledge we have, the more we can automatically know what is right according to Scripture in a decision that we’re about to make. The Bible is the main way God is going to communicate to us.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
These verses teach us much but in the context of letting God guide our steps, it’s affirmation that the Bible comes from God and that it is necessary for us to be prepared to do whatever God wants us to do.
Sometimes God will speak to us through advice from one of those people we trust, but that advice will never go against what the Bible teaches. Sometimes circumstances will make a decision more clear but again, that decision will never go against Scripture. The circumstance could be finding someone’s wallet at the rodeo grounds when you don’t have entry fees. The circumstance might seem like a need being met but we know through Scripture that not turning that wallet in at the main gate would be sin.
by admin | Nov 18, 2021 | Behind the Bucking Chutes
By Scott Hilgendorff / Cowboys of the Cross
“They’re just words.”
There’s recently been a lot of discussion and debate about the tv series Yellowstone, started by an article from RFD TV, about the language in the show.
People seemed evenly split on whether they watch the show or not based on the language and content of the show. But observations were made that when someone complained about the language in online discussions, it led to attacks against them by the people defending the language.
Reading through some of it, the most common comment I kept hearing about the language was that they were just words.
Thing is, many of the people on either side identify themselves as Christians and we do in fact need to be really careful that we understand the significance of words.
Why? Because of numerous verses across the Old and New Testaments of the Bible that tell us how important words are.
One verse to start with is this:
Ephesians 4:29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
It makes it clear that language that isn’t wholesome shouldn’t be spoken. Instead, it directs us to speak words that would work toward making life better for another person. The words we speak should only do good.
Look at just a few ways Proverbs shows us the importance of good words.
Proverbs 16:24 “Kind words are like honey–sweet to the soul and healthy for the body.”
Proverbs 15:4 “Gentle words bring life and health; a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit.”
Proverbs 18:4 “A person’s words can be life-giving water; words of true wisdom are as refreshing as a bubbling brook.”
Proverbs 20:15 “Wise speech is rarer and more valuable than gold and rubies.”
But it gets even more serious in the Book of James which has much to say about words and the importance of controlling our speech because of what it is capable.
James 3:6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
In this verse specifically, James warns us that we can be completely corrupted by our tongue, the words we speak. He describes our tongue as a fire and that we can basically release hell on earth through what we say to people.
Throughout the whole chapter, James warns us that we can speak terrible things and do great harm or we can use words to bring life to others. The most important words we can speak are the words that describe the gospel and how to find a saving faith in Jesus Christ.
This is why it’s important not to downplay the words we speak and the words we listen to. They can influence for good, the gospel and Jesus, or they can influence for evil.
The words we speak aren’t, ‘just words.’
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