The Great Cow-Mission: Campfire Cowboy Ministries

By Kevin Weatherby

For years, there are things that humans have been searchin' for. Books have been written. Legends have been passed down from generation to generation. Expeditions have been organized and lives have even been lost. I think it's time we finally called in some cowboys, their horses, and their cowdogs to help find some of these things.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Mar 11, 2011
• ISBN: 9781456750107

Kevin Weatherby

I have spent most of my life living on a ranch. I spent my high school years on the Rocker B Ranch in Big Lake, Texas. After graduating and a brief stint in college, I went to work on the San Pedro Ranch outside of Carrizo Springs, Texas. In between all of these ranches and breaking colts for the public, I have worked in the oilfield supply business and became the Pastor of the Pecos County Cowboy Church in Fort Stockton, Texas in May of 2008. If you would have told me that one day I would be a preacher, I would have laughed at you. Don’t get me wrong, I was raised in the church and was baptized as a teenager, but my worldly desires led me down a path of drinking, sex, filthy talk, partying like a rock star in a cowboy hat, and nearly anything else you can think of--until I met my wife. When we met at a Pat Green concert, she was looking for the rowdiest, orneriest, good-timenest cowboy she could find. You guessed it, I was that lucky cowboy. Little did we both know that God would work through her and show me a better life. We have spent the last seven years on the family ranch near Coyanosa, Texas with our three children: My daughters Reilly and Rebecca, and my son Griffin. In the spring of 2011, we moved to Colorado on the biggest adventure of our lives. God had called me out of my comfort zone to start a Cowboy Church in the Kiowa, Colorado area. In my free time, I am an avid reader and enjoy writing, training horses, playing the X-box with my kids, and fulfilling The Great Cow-mission.

Book preview

Bigfoot, Nessie, and Aliens

For years, there are things that humans have been searchin’ for. Books have been written. Legends have been passed down from generation to generation. Expeditions have been organized and lives have even been lost. I think it’s time we finally called in some cowboys, their horses, and their cowdogs to help find some of these things.

1. Bigfoot

We didn’t hear anything from Jed for years. Jed and his black mouth cur dog went in search of Bigfoot in the Pacific Northwest. When he finally made it back to Texas, we asked if he had found anything. Jed told us that his dog had nearly died of dehydration. Seems Cletus felt compelled to pee on every tree he came to … and there was a mess of trees up there.

Jed did find Bigfoot. Cletus tracked that old monster right up to his cave. Jed roped him, but wasn’t very impressed with his catch. Seems Bigfoot was the right color, but didn’t have enough ear. He crossed old Bigfoot with with a Santa Gertrudis cow and now runs a herd of Santa Foot-trudis on government land in Oregon. He won’t let anyone know where the herd is until the Southwest Cattle Raisers Association will recognize it as a new herd.

2. Loch Ness Monster

DJ seemed like the perfect cowboy to send out to look for old Nessie. His two favorite things to do were bass fishing and team roping. We watched as he loaded his Bass Tracker with rods, reels, trollin’ motor, and depth finder. If there was a lunker in Scotland, DJ was sure to find it.

DJ had been gone for about two weeks when we realized that his boat was still behind his barn. We all wondered what had happened, but we noticed that his horse and trailer were gone.

Finally, DJ showed back up a couple of months later. He didn’t find the Loch Ness Monster. Seems he didn’t know he couldn’t drive his Ford all the way to Scotland. He had decided to take his head horse instead of the bass boat because he could ride the horse on the shore and look for the big fish, but still team rope in the evenings. If he just took the boat, all he could do was fish.

He made it all the way to New Jersey before he realized he wasn’t going to make it across the Big Pond. He decided instead to hit some jackpot ropings up there and figured out those guys couldn’t rope. DJ was makin’ a killing. He finally headed back in shame when a girl from New York City out roped him. We didn’t have the heart to tell him that she was from Texas. All the good lookin’ models in New York City come from ranches in Texas and Argentina (and those gals can all rope).

3. Aliens

It only took Stan and Virgil one week to find proof that aliens existed. They reasoned that anything that came from outer space probably smelled a little different than anything on earth. This assumption was made after a big meal of pinto beans somewhere in New Mexico.

They set out and tracked a couple of buzzards all the way to San Francisco. Within five minutes of crossing the Golden Gate Bridge, they headed back to Texas. They still refuse to speak of the incident.

4. God

We tried to send out cowboys to search for God. Many of them agreed, but none of them left their ranches. Seemed God resided right there on their home spreads.

Jim said he found proof of God in the smile of his little girl. Dan heard God in the early mornin’ call of a momma cow. Larry shook the hand of God when a friend came to visit him after a bad accident. Smiley felt God when he forgave an old enemy for cheatin’ him. William found God in the dirt as he hit his knees in prayer for his wife that was sick.

These cowboys didn’t find God in some fancy religious practice. They found God in their hearts when they finally opened up their blind eyes.

Jeremiah 29:13

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

The Powerful Life of a Godly Cowboy

Dean had run this outfit for more years than he could recall. He had seen cowboys come and go like the passing of the seasons year after year. He worked very hard to be a positive influence on these young cowpokes. He did what he could to show them a better way of life.

Dean was known as an old cowboy that usually had the right answer for most any situation. Truth be known, he knew that most of the cowboys knew the answer to their own questions and problems. Most of the time they were just lookin’ for an easier way out of a situation. The cowboys that came to him for advice always left thinking that they had heard this advice from somewhere before. That was because Dean looked to God for all the answers.

Every single morning, Dean was waiting on the cowboys to saddle up. He didn’t get up earlier than the rest to try to best them in any way. He just tried to set a good example. He would never ask a cowboy to do something that he wasn’t willing to do himself. Dean lived by the code of righteousness. In other words, he tried to do the right thing all the time. He was kind when it was necessary. He was tough when he had to be. He loved everyone and you felt it in his handshake. Dean always said that doing the right thing was easy. It was choosing to do the right thing that was hard.

Whether it was around the campfire or sittin’ at home by the fire, everybody always knew that Dean was readin’ the Good Book in the evening time. You could see his lips move just a little if you watched him close as he read. A cowboy asked him one time, What do you get out of that book by readin’ it every night?

Dean took off his small readin’ glasses and stuck an earpiece in his mouth as he closed the Bible.

Dean looked the young cowboy in the eye and said, It helps me understand the yesterdays, gives me hope for the tomorrows, and gives me strength for the todays. The cowboy and others looked down in quiet contemplation of this statement as Dean put his glasses back on and started reading.

Years later, the cowboys gathered around to listen to a man talk about Dean’s life. That’s what happens at funerals. Cowboys had come from all across the state to pay their last respects to a man that had shaped and molded so many lives.

Many of the cowboys had families now. If you were to walk through the crowd, you could hear stories being told to children about things that Dean had taught. There was a little bit of laughter in every story, but the emotion felt most was that of respect.

The preacher spoke of the good things Dean had done. He talked of how Dean had changed lives, not by fancy words, but by his quiet dedication to God and the cowboys that worked with him.

The minister said, I heard a young cowboy ask Dean what the secret to life was. Of all the answers Dean could have given, he turned to the book of Titus and read from the second chapter in verses 12 and 13.

We should live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God, while we look forward with hope to that wonderful day when the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be revealed.

Today, the preacher continued, we all know that Dean’s hope of seeing that wonderful day when Christ’s glory will be revealed has come to pass. We know that he now sits beside Christ in heaven.

There was silence as the preacher held the Bible up high and said, A cowboy once asked Dean why he read the Bible every single day. Dean said, ‘It helps me understand the yesterdays, gives me hope for the tomorrows, and gives me strength for the todays.’

I have taken that to heart since the night Dean spoke those words to me and then handed me his Bible. He told me he had another one in his saddle bags.

A cowboy near the front held his own Bible up in the air and said that Dean had given him one too. Not a word was said as cowboy after cowboy held identical Bibles over their heads for all to see.

Have You Sinned More Than This Killer?

He didn’t pull the trigger. He never fired a shot. As a matter of fact, he didn’t even own a gun. But the Professor was to blame for the murder. He had hunted down this young preacher who now knelt before the crowd. With nothing but satisfaction in his eyes, the executioner nodded his head and the guns fired.

This was his job. He felt called by the scriptures to dole out justice to any that seemed to do something other than the Professor’s interpretation of the Word. He had spent a lifetime studying each word and applyin’ those words as rules for his life. For him, the Professor of Religion, life was black and white.

Rules dominated his life. Rules for cleansing before a meal. Rules before and after prayer. Rules for living. Rules for relationships. Rules for rules. He had all of them memorized. His whole existence was centered on knowing and following these rules.

The Professor knew that his job was