Preaching at Cowboy Church

Midland, NC —The Carolina Cowboy Church will open at the Southern Winds Arena in Midland, North Carolina, on Thursday, May 5th. It is one of eleven cowboy church organized by Pastor Jeff Smith and the Cowboy Church Network in less than two years. Smith is the senior pastor at Young Memorial Baptist Church in nearby Concord.

“I get a kick out of sharing the gospel—saddle to saddle,” said Smith in a news release from Christian Wire Service. “The only problem is I can’t get cowboys to come to our traditional church on Sunday. When I invite them I hear the same old excuses - ‘I don’t have a suit’ or ‘Sunday is the only day I have to ride’. I decided if they would not come to church, we would take church to them.

Smith rented the local bull riding arena and invited every cowboy he could find. At the first cowboy church on the first night, 68 people attended and five people committed their lives to Christ. Within a few months the attendances topped over 100 people. In the first year they witnessed over eighty professions of faith.

A typical service at the Cowboy Church opens in the outdoor arena with a horseback presentation of flags along with the national anthem. Baptism takes place on a flatbed trailer. Each new believer stands before the crowd and confesses Jesus as his/her Lord and Savior before being immersed under water in the horse trough.

Their music preference is Christian country or bluegrass, often presented by a live band. There is no “pulpit” in the Cowboy Church. The preacher, dressed in boots, jeans and a cowboy hat, stands in the dirt, with his Bible in hand and preaches with out notes. After the service the kids enjoy free hand led pony rides!

“We receive the offering a little different than most churches,” said Smith. “Instead of passing the plate we simply place a boot on a table and the people can give as they enter or exit. This way no one knows who gives and who doesn’t. The best thing about this method is no one has to feel awkward.”

Working with the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, Smith began to train preachers to be cowboys and cowboys to be preachers. He mentors them as they locate an arena, set a date and launch their own cowboy churches.

“Oh, sure, it’s a lot of extra work,” said Smith, “but the payoff comes when I see cowboys who will not attend a traditional Sunday morning service roll up to the barn on a week night to enjoy a genuine life changing worship experience”

“In the past few years God has used horses in my life to promote Jesus in the lives of others,” said Smith. “An un-reached population of people who spend most weekends in the saddle surrounds North American Christians. We have a challenge to put together various evangelistic strategies that will effectively meet horsemen where they are.”

The Cowboy Church uses a different approach to reaching the lost but the message is not compromised in any way. Smith says he is not much concerned about those who have a problem with cowboys attending church in an arena on a weeknight. “When Jesus came to earth he did not come in the robes of the religious leaders, said Smith, He came in the garments of the people. Jesus met the people where they were and spoke to them about the things they were interested in; to the woman at the well, He talked about water, to the fishermen He talked about fishing and to the tax collectors, He talked about money.

“Jesus was culturally relevant. His goal was to ‘seek and to save that which was lost’. The Cowboy Churches are simply using the model Jesus has given, to go to the people with the Gospel.”

The Carolina Cowboy Church will begin Thursday, May 5th at 7:00 p.m. at the Southern Winds Arena, 45 Winding Trail Lane (off Flowes Store Road) in Midland, North Carolina.

For more information, contact: Jeff Smith of the Cowboy Church Network, 980-521-6371, or by e-mail at: .  Their website can be found at http://www.cowboycn.org.