How do you reach a cowboy for Christ?

[Katie]

A Cowboy Church Uses Recorded Messages to Bring In Outsiders. The typical cowby can be seen in barns, ranches, arenas, dance halls, restaurants, tractor supply stores, feedmills, tack and Western wear stores. He is familiar with farm animals, ropes, the outdoors, blue jeans, cowboy hats, boots, and spurs. He’s been put down most of his life. He understands that he is a “sorry old sinner,” but he does not feel welcome at church. He feels uncomfortable with the stained glass, fancy carpet, and foreign style of music. It seems to him that church is “up town” and he is left out in the pasture. He’s an unchurched cowboy that Jesus died for. The challenge is; how can we reach him with the Gospel? A seven-month-old church in Texas is reaching many just like him for Jesus. They are a Cowboy Church, a church without barriers. They meet at a place where a cowboy who doesn’t know the Lord would normally go. The atmosphere is relaxed, not formal. People come as they are and hear music they can relate to. The Pastor of this Cowboy Church is Jamey Burrus. This church is relevant. However, even when all the right things are happening, if the community is not aware of it, it will not make an impact. How does this church let the community know what they have to offer? It is largely through their media ministry. Every service is recorded. Those recordings are duplicated and distributed for free at the back of the church and in locations around town. Pastor Jamey says, “We do not charge for our recorded messages. It is a matter of breaking the ice and letting the Holy Spirit lead as He works in people’s lives. We just try to get the Gospel out any way that we can, because the more people that hear about Jesus, the more folks that can get saved.” One old cowboy had not been to church in more than fifty years. A church member gave him a recorded message on CD. He listened and showed up the next week at church. At first he just stood at the back and would not sit down. Then, he began to tap his foot to the music, allowed people to visit with him, and got some coffee. After returning for several weeks, he gave his life to the Lord, and later was baptized. Now he seldom misses a week. He continually helps in any way that he can as a man in his 70’s. Pastor Jamey heard from a young lady he had met as a girl in her town, fifty miles away. Someone from the Cowboy Church had picked up a CD and left it in her area. She got the CD, listened, and remembered meeting Pastor Jamey. She sent a letter and a five-dollar check, telling how much the CD meant to her, and how it brought back memories that led her to realize she needed a life change. She found a Cowboy Church in her area and started attending there. Now she is a vibrant part of that ministry. A local man passed away. He was the father of a lady who allows the church to distribute CD’s in her store. The lady had listened to the CDs and decided that Pastor Jamey was the only pastor her father could have related to. She asked Pastor Jamey to perform her father‘s funeral. As a result, several family members and friends have started attending the church. They are there today because a recorded message impacted a kind business owner. One lady attended a Baptist church all her life, but her husband would never go with her. The lady’s husband was given a CD of the Cowboy Church and he started attending there. The lady was thrilled to report that her husband is a new man, because he went to church, got saved, and is now living for the Lord. Recordings of the church services are distributed in forty-one different businesses around town and in two neighboring towns at many places the un-churched cowboy would be. Capturing the interest of cowboys is easy because of the unique and beautiful cowboy designs printed on the CDs. The church partnered with Kingdom to create these special designs. Once the CD is in their hand, usually the music brings people to the church. Pastor Jamie explains, “They feel God’s Spirit through the music. That draws them in, then they hear the Word of God, and their lives are changed.”

[Katie]

Hi Lisa!

Thank you for your response. I am blessed that you care about reaching different groups of people for Jesus!
A Bible Study in a bar-Wow! I praise God that they allowed the Bible in the bar. (Too bad that it is not welcome in many schools.) I know that the Bible is what God used to lead me to meet Him. I am so very grateful for the person who shared it with me. It is so wonderful whenever or wherever we have the freedom to share the Bible.

I agree with you, so many people will not take the first step and enter a church. We have to find ways to reach out to them and build bridges. I always like to think of it this way, I am just one beggar showing another beggar where the bread is.

We do have to be very aware of our own weaknesses and brutally honest with ourselves about them, so as to not put ourselves in situations that we would easily fall into sin. (For example, if I struggle with alcoholism, I would want to stay away from ministering in bars.) If we fall into sin, we cannot be the light of Jesus that the world needs to see.

[Lisa]

Cool! I recently heard about a lady who is leading a Bible Study in a bar. It seems a bit odd but I bet that most of those folks would never enter a church. They expect that most church members will give them dirty looks and reject them based on reputation alone. It makes sense to start something in an environment where folks feel comfortable.