Cowboy Church

I have people ask me all the time and I know that they've asked you too. What is Save the Cowboy? You know, people come up to me all the time and they're like, oh, you're that cowboy preacher. And I'm like, yeah. And what is Save the Cowboy? How would you answer that? Would you say, well, it's a cowboy church. Or you might say, well, it's not really a church like you're used to going to. It's more like a cowboy ministry. Or would you say it's a group of cowboys and cowgirls that get to wear their hats and bring their dogs to church? Or would you say it's a group of cowboys and cowgirls where they can meet together, where they just don't fit in anywhere else? What is Save the Cowboy?

Here's where the name came from. There's an old movie line I built the whole thing on:

The kind of life you're talking about's dead. Snow buried it last winter. It ain't dead. As long as there's one cowboy taking care of one cow, it ain't dead. Today, I'm going to show you how Save the Cowboy fits into that. It ain't dead. As long as there's one.

And here's my answer:

It is not what is Save the Cowboy. It's who is Save the Cowboy. And who is Save the Cowboy? We are neighbors, plain and simple. We are neighbors. And that is something worth saving. Passing on down to our kids, showing them the right way. Not about figuring out who is a neighbor, but figuring out if we are willing to be a neighbor. It ain't dead as long as there's one neighbor taking care of one man or woman.

I've always wanted to be a cowboy. They were my heroes and I even quit college to go punch cows. Getting up early and drinking coffee with good hands, to be ribbed for getting bucked off even while they were patting you on the back, that was a crew that I wanted to ride with. I also love to hear their yarns. There is something special, maybe even magical, about a cowboy story. It has the power to pull the listener into a realm of dust, danger, and dreams. I've always had a flare for the telling of a story and I have learned from some of the best that the world has never heard of. Now if you'd told me back then that I would be a preacher, I would've thought you'd been kicked in the head by a mule. That was never in my plans, but when I got married, I wanted my kids raised in church...little did I know that it was me that needed it. Now, I'm a cowboy preacher in a town of less than a thousand. My whole life I had been searching for what would fulfill me. God took my gifts (which I never saw as gifts) and passions and now use them for his purposes, not mine. I get to gather strays of the two and four-legged variety. I tell cowboy stories that transport listeners into a world of wonder and the cowboy way. I then take very hard concepts and make them easy to understand. Sometimes I catch myself wondering if I am on the right trail. But then I recall that even when I wasn't following God, he was guiding me. How much more will he lead me when I am willing to follow?

That's why I write the Simplified Cowboy Version, the Bible in the plain talk of a working cowboy. Here's the Twenty-Third Psalm, the whole thing. See if it doesn't read different.

You ought to know what kind of preacher you're getting into business with. Here's a story on me:

A few years back I got to say the prayer at my daughter's high school graduation. I sat with the faculty and as we were lining up to walk in for the ceremony, I looked around at the difference in all of us 'adults'. The school board were in suit and ties. The teachers all looked like Harvard professors at a Nostradamus look-alike contest...and then there was me; black hat and wranglers. One of the teachers walked up to me to be sure I understood my role. 'As you can see Mr. Weatherby, you will be conducting the benediction as well as the salutation.' 'Just so we are all on the same page,' I flatly began, 'by benediction and salutation, what you mean is that I am supposed to say the opening and the closing prayer? Is that right?' 'Yes sir. That is what those words mean,' the teacher tried politely to say. 'Well, I wonder why we don't just say that? Where I come from, we say what we meat and we meat what we say.' She looked around and then said, 'Don't you mean, Say what we mean and mean what we say?' 'No ma'am. I said it right. We take a meat and potatoes approach to communicating. No one ever sat a steak in front of you and had it mistaken for quiche.' 'That's why we always carry a toothpick. Just in case you need to dig out a nugget of wisdom from between your teeth.' I offered her one that had barely been used, but she politely declined. And my message and my preaching were very plain. Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit. -1 Corinthians 2:4

Here at Save the Cowboy, we do things different, not because we disagree with it. We just do stuff different. And I don't really fit in with the three-piece suits and the wingtip shoes and the liturgy, or however you say that, that L word, the readings and the opening up of the hymns. And I love the old hymns, don't get me wrong. But we don't do a lot of that here. And a lot of times I'm looked down on because I started this ministry through the help of God, and because we don't do things like everybody else does it, I get criticized by the religious institution that somehow we're not real. We're not doing it right. But I don't fit in with the bar scene anymore either, with the drinking and the fighting. I used to be in that, but I don't fit in in that group anymore. And nearly weekly I'm confronted on all sides with how I'm doing stuff wrong.

Whenever we come in here, and if it's your first time we'll give you a pass, but you are expected to stand back there in the back, drink massive amounts of coffee. We want you to stand back in the back and visit, because that's what's so great about Save the Cowboy. I think that actually when we come to church, church starts when you walk through that door and you see that cowboy, cowgirl that you know, and you walk over there and you shake their hand, maybe it's been a week since you've seen them. The other thing I think is that we kind of put a hold on church for just a second so that we can hear a little bit from the Word of God, and then after we get done, then we go back to visiting with people, with friends that are here for the same purpose that you are. We are wired for friendship and camaraderie.

And if you're wondering whether you're cleaned up enough to come:

The radio host said, well, Kevin, I know that you say that cowboy churches that come as you are, but don't you think that we should give God our best? And I said, well, how about that fella that's been up at that colt all night long that's colicking, and he's had no sleep, and hasn't showered and put on deodorant, he ain't shaved, he ain't done nothing, but about nine o'clock in the morning he decides to give God that colt, and he goes into church and sits down in the front row to worship God, and he's been up all night, he's got mud from his waist down. And he's sitting next to a fella in a three-piece suit, and I got nothing wrong with three-piece suits, but, Mr. Radio Broadcaster Guy, which one of these two men has given God their best? And he said, well...

If you're close: Sundays at 9:30 AM, Elbert County Fairgrounds, 95 Ute Ave, Kiowa, Colorado. No dress code, nobody makes you stand up and introduce yourself, and yes, bring your dog.

If you're far, I've had an answer for that for years:

If you don't have a church home, you can ride with us! We live stream our services every single week. You can even catch up on past clinics (sermons) that will better your relationship with the Boss.

Remember who you wanted to be when you were a kid? What happened to that dream? Life happened. This world wants to control you, conform you, use you, and then throw you away. This world has become so focused on what we can have that we've forgotten what we can become. It's not what we do that's important. It's who we are that truly matters. We are dreamers that do the impossible because we believe that we can. We are renegades that dare to live outside the 8-5. We are wanderers in search of more by learning to live again. We are adventurers not afraid of failure. We are wild, pure, and will live forever. You were wild once too. Don't let them tame you.

We aren't perfect at Save the Cowboy, but we are family. Our lives are totally given to God and revolve around the cowboy way of life. We live our life like we love it. Do you? And by the way...come see us.

So here's the gate, wide open. Three ways through it: