National Finals Rodeo Ministry - November 29th-December 8th, 2008

Each year our ministry comes to a close with our work at the National Finals Rodeo. Our Fellowship of Christian Cowboys ministry team was in Las Vegas for the finals for a little over a week and, while Vegas is not an ideal place for a believer to vacation, we were truly blessed by the Lord's work. Our team was also joined for a few days by my brother-in-law, Curtis Wiebe. Curtis is married to Leslie's sister, Bitty, and farms near El Dorado, KS.

This year's ministry in Vegas was a little different than previous years. We did not set up a booth at the Cowboy Christmas trade fair as we've done in the past. Instead a couple from a Colorado Springs chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Cowboys used our booth space to sell thier "Christian Cowboy" themed products along with keeping up a display of our outreach material (New Testaments, Bible tracts, and Bible studies). I was a little apprehensive of this change but the couple proved to be an excellent crew for the booth. Not needing to man our booth freed our team up to move around the Cowboy Christmas gift show and make several important meetings and events throughout Vegas. As a result, we were able to follow up on and spend more time with some relationships that would ordinarily have suffered. I am still praising God for this provision and we look forward to continuing this partnership with that chapter next year.

We also had a new opportunity this year to hold a Cowboy Church Service for the Miss Rodeo America Pageant. You probably remember that we have held a prayer breakfast for the pageant contestants in the past. This year we were asked by the Director of the Miss Rodeo America Association to hold a service for the family, friends, and spectators of the pageant. This was a huge opportunity for us. I believe that it was offered to us because of our faithfulness in ministering to the contestants at the prayer breakfast for so many years.


As you can imagine, when we have a new service it is sometimes hard to estimate how many people we will have or what kind of reception we will receive. With new ministries like this we sometimes have three people show up (like a few times at the American Royal Rodeo) or we can have fifteen hundred show up. We usually try to advertise the service with fliers, posters, and word of mouth and then we trust the Lord to bring those whose hearts have been softened. Around five minutes before the start of the service there were seven people in the room (and five of them were part of the service). That could be disheartening, but at the time the service was to start we were scrambling to find more chairs. The Lord provided the people! After the service we talked with quite a few who were challenged by the message and we are looking forward to keeping up those contacts this year!


Later in the week we held a prayer breakfast for the actual contestants of the Miss Rodeo America pageant. This is my fourth year organizing this event for the Fellowship of Christian Cowboys. The prayer breakfast is held during the most intensive time of the pageant and the Lord usually uses it to encourage the contestants and calm their nerves. We had two quick praise songs and then a testimony from the reigning Miss Rodeo America. Amy Wilson, Miss Rodeo America 2008, shared how the Lord had used her over the past year to be a witness in the rodeo world. She encouraged the ladies to see all the opportunities that they have throughout the year to serve the Lord and make the most of them. Following the service we presented each of the state rodeo queens with a Cowboy New Testament, a Bible tract, and a copy of the Fellowship of Christian Cowboys monthly magazine The Line Rider. We let our new helper, Curtis, make the presentation!


We finished up the week with a Cowboy Church Service at the Cowboy Christmas gift show. This service is one that I look forward to each year because so many of the Cowboy Christmas vendors have become like family to us. We've built relationships with many visitors to this service and this is usually the only time we get to meet and minister to them face to face.


I would appreciate your prayers specifically for those who made decisions for the Lord in Vegas this year and for our faithfulness in following up with discipleship! I can't wait until next year...

Click here for more pictures of the Miss Rodeo America Cowboy Church Service...

Click here for more pictures of the Miss Rodeo America Prayer Breakfast...

Click here for more pictures of the Cowboy Christmas Cowboy Church Service...

First Baptist Church of New Castle - June 14th, 2009

I had the chance to visit the First Baptist Church of New Castle, CO this past Sunday before heading to the Rifle Rodeo Bible Camp. The pastor organized an outdoor service at a church member's ranch a few miles out of town and had a pig roast afterwards. This was a great time for me to fellowship with the friends that we have built there in New Castle and to encourage them with the Word! There were a few students from the church that are attending the Rifle RBC.

(On a personal note, this was the first pig roast I've ever attended. I spent more time asking questions about how to cook the pig in an in-ground pit than I did eat. That was pretty cool!)

Flint Hills Rodeo - June 5th-7th, 2009

I had the opportunity to share with our friends at the Flint Hills Community Church in ministering at the Flint Hills Rodeo in Strong City, KS. The Flint Hills Rodeo is one of the oldest outdoor rodeos in Kansas and has a history of being one of the first rodeos that many pro cowboys from the Midwest entered.

This is my second year of helping and it is the church's fourth year of putting up a booth at the rodeo. As with all rodeos, we are just now starting to get into the point where some good relationships are being built. We had the chance to encourage one of the rodeo's bullfighters. Keep praying that we can continue that relationship throughout the rest of the year!

For a few more pictures of the Flint Hills Rodeo Ministry click here...

FCC Rodeo Bible Camp Directors' Conference - May 28th-30th, 2009

Since their inception many years ago, the Fellowship of Christian Cowboys' Rodeo Bible Camps have been one of the greatest tools that the FCC has to impact this world for the cause of Christ. Countless lives have been changed (many of whom are at the top of their event in the PRCA standings) throughout the years. This year 17 local chapters are organizing and manning camps in five states.

In my ten or so years of teaching and preaching at RBC's I have noticed that each camp, while excelling at reaching their community for Christ, has unique strengths. I have always thought that the Kersey/Greeley, CO camp has shown incredible resourcefulness (literally building a camp out of a field every year - then tearing it down when it is all done), the La Veta, CO camp has shown tenacity (when it comes to making sure that every camper feels loved and goes home with something), the Colorado Springs, CO camp has shown diligence (in organizing some of the largest camps that we've had), the Rifle camp has shown endurance (with only a few people putting on a great camp), and the Pampa, TX has shown great faith (I can't tell you how many times the camp has had only a handful of students pre-registered but the Lord always seems to fill up the camp at the last minute). These are only a few of the great camps that have been going for many years. Each and every FCC RBC has a great story and a history of reaching our youth!

I have always thought that if we could get these camps (or at least the directors) together in a meeting that the Lord could use such a meeting for His glory!

Thanks to Harold Daniels (FCC Executive Director) and Charlie Kingsbury (Board Chairman) that meeting was a reality just a few weeks ago. The conference was held in conjunction with the Camp of Champions at Trinity Fellowship of Sayre, OK. The directors had the chance to visit with some world champion instructors, witness another camp's program, ask the FCC National Office Staff business questions, and share with each other some trials and praises from their years of experience.

I believe that the Lord has, at the very least, used this conference to build up a good relationship between the camp directors and the National Office. I know that the directors were blessed by the time together and I can't wait to see how the Lord uses this conference next year!

As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another (Psalm 27:17).

Click here for a few pictures from this conference...

Eastside Bible Church Missions Conference - April 29th-May 3rd, 2009

At the end of April I had the opportunity to fellowship with our friends at the Eastside Bible Church in Morton, IL. As you might recall, I met Eastside's Pastor Steve Weber at the National High School Finals Rodeo in 2007 and the Lord has been building our relationship ever since. It was great to spend time with the church family and hear about the other missionaries that Eastside supports.

Emmaus Mennonite Church - April 24th, 2009

On April 24th, 2009 Leslie had the opportunity to share with the Emmaus Mennonite Willing Workers' group. The same day we held a get together at the Burns, KS community center to share details about our ministry with some friends and family in the area. Leslie's sister attends Emmaus and helped with both events.

Click here to see a few more pictures from this ministry...

Houston Livestock Show Cowboy Church Service - March 8th-22nd, 2009

Click here for pictures from our Houston Rodeo Cowboy Church Service from March 15th, 2009...

Click here for pictures from our Houston Rodeo Cowboy Church Service from March 22nd, 2009...

A Faithful Testimony - March 9th, 2009

Last month I had the opportunity to partner again with the Fellowship of Christian Cowboys in coordinating the ministry at the National Western Stock Show. I have said many times (probably too much) that the National Western is one of my favorite ministries because it has such a great history as a rodeo and it is such a hospitable environment for ministry. This year was no different and I believe that the Lord used His Word in Denver in a mighty way!

During my time at the National Western I was able chat with a rancher who I had seen for several years at the National Western outreaches but had never had the chance to visit with. As we began to talk, Terry explained that he had visited a National Western Cowboy Church Service over ten years earlier while he was participating in a livestock show early on a Sunday morning. He was a man who had no church background and had never given a second thought to the Lord or eternity.

While attending that service Terry heard the Gospel for the first time and placed his faith in Christ. Praise God! For him, starting a relationship with Christ seemed like an easy choice. He had never before heard the truth and had a chance to respond. Since his commitment to Christ he has been active in his local church and has been faithful to make all three Cowboy Church Services at the National Western for the past ten years.

The fact that the Lord has given us such favor with the livestock shows in Denver and Houston has allowed us to put our service information on the livestock show’s schedule. I believe that this is one of the major reasons why so many like Terry visit one of our outreach services while attending a livestock show or rodeo. They come for the rodeo and leave with a life-changing relationship! What a huge opportunity that the Lord has given us.

I’m sure that there are many more like Terry at each rodeo where we minister...please keep them in your prayers. We will be heading to Houston this week to hold more life-changing outreaches. Please pray specifically for those services as well as our travel to and from Houston.

We love you and we can’t wait to give you a report on the Lord’s work in Houston!

In Christ’s Service,

Cory

South Haven Baptist Church AWANA - January 28th, 2009

On January 28th, 2009 Leslie and I had the opportunity to share about cowboy ministry with the AWANA group at South Haven Baptist Church in Belton, MO. We have several friends that attend South Haven. The most remarkable part of this night was that the kids asked really good questions about rodeo, the ministry and our personal lives. We both had a great time explaining the intricacies of cowboy ministry with them all!

National Western Stock Show Ministry - January 10th-25th, 2009

This year marks the fourth year that we have partnered with the Fellowship of Christian Cowboys to minister at the National Western Stock Show in Denver, CO. The National Western is one of the oldest indoor rodeos in the country and has a very rich history of rodeo, livestock shows, and horse shows.

The bulk of this ministry consists of three Cowboy Church Service outreaches at the National Western complex and another service at the Denver Mart for the Western English Sales Association's annual expo.


The Western English Sales Association (WESA) expo is an annual meeting of western clothing manufacturers (such as Wrangler or Justin Boots) and distributors (such as Shepler's or Tractor Supply). We work with the expo's leadership in holding a Cowboy Church Service during each year's expo. It is a great privilege to have that invitation but it also allows us the opportunity to spend a little more time for relationships with the vendors that we see at many other rodeos throughout the year (like Houston, National High School Finals, and the National Finals). You can see from the picture above that there were around a hundred people who attended the service. This year there were several familiar faces but quite a lot of new faces.


The other outreach services were held at the National Western Complex. The services averaged three to four hundred. This year we had the opportunity to work with RW Hampton. RW led the music for two of our church services did a great job. We have worked with RW in the past and I have always been impressed with his ability to meet a crowd where they are and lead them in worship. There is a possibility of having RW help us in Houston (so keep praying).


As with all of our ministries, please keep praying for those who heard the Word and made decisions for the Lord! Pray also for our faithfulness in keeping up contact with those that we can.

Click here for pictures from the WESA Cowboy Church Service on 1/18/2009...

Click here for pictures from the National Western Stock Show Cowboy Church Service from 1/18/2009...

Click here for pictures from the National Western Stock Show Cowboy Church Service from 1/25/2009...

Golden Spur Ministries Year-In-Review Video - December 31st, 2008

I put together this short video showing several pictures and videos from our ministry in 2008. The Lord has used our partners to impact the rural world in a mighty way and this video puts a face on those changed lives. Enjoy...

National Finals Rodeo Ministry - November 29th-December 8th, 2008

Each year our ministry comes to a close with our work at the National Finals Rodeo. Our Fellowship of Christian Cowboys ministry team was in Las Vegas for the finals for a little over a week and, while Vegas is not an ideal place for a believer to vacation, we were truly blessed by the Lord's work. Our team was also joined for a few days by my brother-in-law, Curtis Wiebe. Curtis is married to Leslie's sister, Bitty, and farms near El Dorado, KS.

This year's ministry in Vegas was a little different than previous years. We did not set up a booth at the Cowboy Christmas trade fair as we've done in the past. Instead a couple from a Colorado Springs chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Cowboys used our booth space to sell thier "Christian Cowboy" themed products along with keeping up a display of our outreach material (New Testaments, Bible tracts, and Bible studies). I was a little apprehensive of this change but the couple proved to be an excellent crew for the booth. Not needing to man our booth freed our team up to move around the Cowboy Christmas gift show and make several important meetings and events throughout Vegas. As a result, we were able to follow up on and spend more time with some relationships that would ordinarily have suffered. I am still praising God for this provision and we look forward to continuing this partnership with that chapter next year.

We also had a new opportunity this year to hold a Cowboy Church Service for the Miss Rodeo America Pageant. You probably remember that we have held a prayer breakfast for the pageant contestants in the past. This year we were asked by the Director of the Miss Rodeo America Association to hold a service for the family, friends, and spectators of the pageant. This was a huge opportunity for us. I believe that it was offered to us because of our faithfulness in ministering to the contestants at the prayer breakfast for so many years.


As you can imagine, when we have a new service it is sometimes hard to estimate how many people we will have or what kind of reception we will receive. With new ministries like this we sometimes have three people show up (like a few times at the American Royal Rodeo) or we can have fifteen hundred show up. We usually try to advertise the service with fliers, posters, and word of mouth and then we trust the Lord to bring those whose hearts have been softened. Around five minutes before the start of the service there were seven people in the room (and five of them were part of the service). That could be disheartening, but at the time the service was to start we were scrambling to find more chairs. The Lord provided the people! After the service we talked with quite a few who were challenged by the message and we are looking forward to keeping up those contacts this year!


Later in the week we held a prayer breakfast for the actual contestants of the Miss Rodeo America pageant. This is my fourth year organizing this event for the Fellowship of Christian Cowboys. The prayer breakfast is held during the most intensive time of the pageant and the Lord usually uses it to encourage the contestants and calm their nerves. We had two quick praise songs and then a testimony from the reigning Miss Rodeo America. Amy Wilson, Miss Rodeo America 2008, shared how the Lord had used her over the past year to be a witness in the rodeo world. She encouraged the ladies to see all the opportunities that they have throughout the year to serve the Lord and make the most of them. Following the service we presented each of the state rodeo queens with a Cowboy New Testament, a Bible tract, and a copy of the Fellowship of Christian Cowboys monthly magazine The Line Rider. We let our new helper, Curtis, make the presentation!


We finished up the week with a Cowboy Church Service at the Cowboy Christmas gift show. This service is one that I look forward to each year because so many of the Cowboy Christmas vendors have become like family to us. We've built relationships with many visitors to this service and this is usually the only time we get to meet and minister to them face to face.


I would appreciate your prayers specifically for those who made decisions for the Lord in Vegas this year and for our faithfulness in following up with discipleship! I can't wait until next year...

Click here for more pictures of the Miss Rodeo America Cowboy Church Service...

Click here for more pictures of the Miss Rodeo America Prayer Breakfast...

Click here for more pictures of the Cowboy Christmas Cowboy Church Service...

Pleasant Prairie Baptist Church's 40th Anniversary - November 10th, 2008

Yesterday we celebrated the fortieth anniversary of our home church, Pleasant Prairie Baptist Church. This was probably one of the most memorable ceremonies I've been involved with. We had several "charter" members travel to share with us and, of course, we had a big pot-luck fellowship after. The entire two-hour service was dedicated to remembering how the Lord has used this rural church over the years and our pastor gave a challenge for us to continue aligning with God's Word and to continue to reach out for forty more years. If you are interested, our pastor produced a video of the country church's multistage construction and several outreach events throughout the years. Check it out...

Meet Logan, The Sky Angel Cowboy - November 10th, 2008

This video was emailed to me a few days ago. If you have a few minutes, it would be worth your time to watch it. The video speaks for itself...

American Royal Rodeo Ministry - October 17th-25th, 2008

This past week I've been at the American Royal in Kansas City ministering at the youth rodeo. We were able to pray with the students behind the chutes at several of the performances and help a local church Cowboy Church, Open Range Fellowship, with a booth in the trade show.

If you've known me for any amount of time then you have likely heard me talk about the American Royal. I've got quite a history of performing, trick riding and ministering at the Royal. In fact, when I was riding with the Rodeo Kids I had the opportunity to perform in the Royal's educational shows from 1986-1999. As you can see from the chubby picture above, there is even a life-size picture of me from my Rodeo Kids days in the American Royal Museum and Visitor's Center. In 2000 our college trick riding group, Flying Flamboyance (I have no idea why we selected that name!?!), were asked to trick ride in the American Royal Wild West Show. Since then I have been helping Paul and Linda Scholtz with cowboy ministries and Cowboy Church Services during the Royal's annual rodeo. The Scholtz have been ministering at the Royal since 1979 and have never missed a year. Our partnering with the Scholtz at the American Royal has been awesome as they are looking to phase into retirement from the Royal and we are looking to become even more involved.

I say all of this because this year our ministry at the American Royal was dealt a pretty heavy blow. We found out just a few short weeks before the Rodeo was to start that there was no place in the schedule for the Cowboy Church Service. To the best of my knowledge, this was just a scheduling problem as the American Royal administration simply couldn't find facility that was available during the times we had for the service. As you can imagine we were pretty bummed about this. In fact, I went through half the week feeling like a failure...It was even worse as people kept coming up to us and asking when the service was!


As it turns out, I was able to further our relationship throughout the week with the leadership of the American Royal and, hopefully as a result, this should help us become even more involved with the rodeo next year. I'll be having a meeting with the American Royal leadership in January to discuss some specifics about our involvement next year! Please be praying for this as we would like to not only hold our services and pray with cowboys behind the chutes, but I also hope to be able to help with the American Royal's youth rodeo committee. Pray also for our continued relationship with the Open Range Fellowship cowboy church as they also have a heart to minister at the American Royal. (The picture above is the booth that their church put together for the Royal's trade show.)

Abundant Life Baptist Church Children's Sunday School Cowboy Day - October 12th, 2008

We had the opportunity to help the Sunday School ministry of Abundant Life Baptist Church on October 12, 2008. Abundant Life was my home church after I placed my faith in Christ. The church, along with its home city of Lee's Summit, MO has grown quite a bit over the past several years. We were able use our camp horses to help us teach the kindergarten through fifth grade Sunday School classes about bridling their tongues and trusting in the Lord. Bridling the tongue is found in James chapter three and uses a horse's bridle as an example of control. Having the horses there really gave the kids something to remember as they consider honoring the Lord with what they say. I've also found, the longer that we work with horses, that a horse's relationship to the rider is an excellent illustration of the relationship of man's responsibility and God's responsibility. It is all about trust!

Click here for a few more pictures of this ministry...

First Baptist Church of New Castle

On September 28th, 2008 I had the opportunity to share our ministry with First Baptist Church of New Castle, CO. The church reminded me quite a bit of our home church both with the friendliness of the people and the size of the church (the major difference was the view - as you can see above). I was encouraged by both the fellowship with the church and with the pastor. I'm excited to see how the Lord builds and strengthens this new relationship!

Homewood Christian Community Church - August 24th, 2008

Leslie and I had the opportunity to visit our friends at the Homewood Christian Community Church in Homewood, KS this past weekend. Homewood was actually where I preached my first message about eight years ago and they were the first local church to partner with our ministry with Golden Spur Ministries.

Homewood is a rural church that is around fifteen minutes from Ottawa, KS. Please remember Homewood Christian Community Church in your prayers as they are working on building a new sanctuary to replace the hundred-year-old sanctuary that had been deteriorating over the past few years. They currently have the foundation completed and are going to begin exterior construction over the next few weeks. Pray that the project remains safe and that they would raise the funding needed to complete the project.

National High School Finals Rodeo - July 18th-27th, 2008

On July 18th-27th, 2008 I was part of a ministry team from the Fellowship of Christian Cowboys that ministered at the 2008 National High School Finals Rodeo in Farmington, NM. Last year was my first year of attending the National High School Finals Rodeo and if you recall I was absolutely blown away by the response from the students. I was even more encouraged this year!

The ministry started off with our crew arriving in Farmington on Friday and we spent most of the evening setting up our booth in the trade show. This particular booth was a scaled down version of the booth that we set up at the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas. We had a free table (stocked with Cowboy New Testaments and Bible tracts) and a table that contained a few FCC logoed items for sale. We also had a testimony DVD showing on a TV that showed a few well known cowboys sharing what the Lord's been doing in their lives. I was pretty surprised how many students would stop in our booth and just sit down and watch that video (sometimes the entire 30 minutes). The booth was open each day from 10am to 7pm and served as our "office" throughout the week. I call it our "office" because, while sitting in a booth for six or seven hours a day is not exactly the most exciting opportunity (especially during the slow times), we were able to use that booth space as a place to meet with and build up relationships with the students throughout the entire week.

Sunday was the final day for contestants to check in and Sunday evening was the first performance of the rodeo (there were 13 performances total). We held a Cowboy Church Service that morning in the Memorial Coliseum and there were around 950 people in attendance. That is by far one of the largest services that we have ever held! While that service was encouraging, I was even more encouraged by the students and families who talked to us throughout the rest of the week about the service (either thanking us for being there or sharing with us how they were touched).

If we were not in the booth or sleeping (or at the service on Sunday), then we were at the rodeo performances behind the chutes and in the announcer's stand praying with the contestants and helping out where we could. While at the performances, we each wore a vest that identified us as Rodeo Chaplains. Usually, I'm apprehensive about drawing attention to myself in that manner, but I believe that the Lord used that identification for His glory during this rodeo.

On Friday night (the second to last night of the rodeo) one of the bull riding contestants suffered a serious neck injury. I'm not sure of the specifics, but the doctors had said that his fifth and sixth vertebrae impacted and the result was that his sixth vertebrae was above his fifth. Ordinarily, people do not survive an impact of that magnitude and given enough time (hours in fact) they would definitely be paralyzed. The Lord used two factors to prevent this young man, Corbin, from being paralyzed. The first factor was that a nationally renowned sports medicine neurosurgeon happened to live in Farmington, NM. Within hours of the injury this same doctor had Corbin in surgury and within a day he was already starting to regain feeling in his lower body (he had lost feeling from the neck down in the arena). The second factor, and I believe that this is greater than the first, is that there were literally hundreds of people praying for Corbin throughout the rodeo and the city of Farmington. In fact, several times while we were still wearing our chaplain vests a group of students would stop us and ask us to pray with them for Corbin's recovery. What an awesome testimony...The Lord was using this tragedy to bring genuine thoughtful prayer into the sport of rodeo!

The Lord also used the identification that we had with our vests to lead a contestant to us late one evening so that he could pray to place his faith in Christ. Our team was standing in line at a concession stand after Thursday night's performance and the kid walks up to us and asks, "Can I be saved?" He was so bold and surprising that it took a few seconds for it to register with us what he was wanting. I've never experienced that before!

I left the 2008 National High School Finals Rodeo totally encouraged by the Lord's work there and my head swimming with ideas about ministries and opportunities for the next finals. Too bad it's a year away!

For more pictures from the ministry click here...

Ayore Church Camp - June 29th-July 4th, 2008

Last week marked the third year that I was invited to preach at the Ayore Church Camp in Horton, KS. The camp is organized by the Ayore Church in Morrill, KS and reaches out to youth from Morrill, Hiawatha, and Sabetha (all located around 45 minutes West of St. Joseph, MO).

The camp lasted five days and contained seperate Bible study classes for high school, middle school, and elementary school age students. In addition to preaching to the entire camp during the nightly chapel services, I led the high school age Bible study twice a day. The teaching (in addition to preaching) was a change for me but I enjoyed leading the students through a basic Bible study course. My prayer is that the students will have recieved the tools and methods necessary to study Scripture on their own during the year.

Please keep our friends at the Ayore Church in your prayers as they continue the relationships with these youth and as they prepare for the arrival of thier new pastor in late August!