AG Chaplain Ministers at Stock Show and Rodeo

The everyday vernacular for most folks may not include the term "to ruminate," hence they won't readily understand why they should engage in such a process with Scripture. But Texan Russ Weaver, who has led chapel services at the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo for the past decade, would be hard pressed to find a more perfect verb for his audience.

"To ruminate" is what cows do with their cud: chew again what's already been swallowed.

"This is from our culture," says Weaver, 62. "What do you do with the Word of God? You think about it, ruminate on it."

Weaver is just the man to explain the Bible in such language. The son of the late Jasper Weaver, an Assemblies of God pastor and horseman in Colorado and Utah who showed quarter horses, Russ Weaver grew up in cowboy culture. In 1980 he became a professional rodeo cowboy. An award-winning calf roper and team roper with the Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association , the Assemblies of God commissioned him and his wife, Anna, as U.S. Missions chaplains to horse racetracks and rodeos.

After retiring from the pro rodeo circuit, in 1997 Russ and Anna planted Shepherd's Valley Cowboy Church in Egan, 25 miles south of Fort Worth, as the first Assemblies of God cowboy congregation. The church broadcasts its Sunday services to an audience of upwards of 500,000 via RFD-TV on a half-hour program aptly titled "Cowboy Church." The show is co-hosted by Weaver and Christian vocalist Susie McEntire , a sister of country music superstar Reba McEntire.

The Weavers' children's rodeo activities connected him to a member of the board of directors of the annual Fort Worth event. With 4-H and the Future Farmers of America club members in mind, 10 years ago the board member invited Weaver to hold the event's first chapel service.

What began that year during the 23-day-long show and rodeo as a single service one of the three Sundays has since grown into services each Sunday. Gatherings originally took place in a livestock arena, but five years ago the chapel services venue moved into the Will Rogers Auditorium.

While the huge show began in 1896, it had never included a worship service before Weaver initiated one.

"The cowboys weren't thinking about church back then," Weaver says. "In the late 1970s, the rodeo cowboy farmer rancher began to be seen as a ministry field." 

More than 700 attended that first Sunday service in 2006. Typical attendance can exceed 400.  

This is Weaver's unreached people group. Cowboy and ranch culture include many subgroups.

"Farmers, ranchers, people who just like rural America, people who show goats, sheep, horses, donkeys," Weaver says. Some show their pets; others run commercial businesses that raise animals, he says.  

"The sheep culture is different from the cattle culture and the horse culture," Weaver says, adding that within the horse culture are subset breeds such quarter horses and draft horses. Each group is distinct.

"Rodeo guys are the athletes of the world," he says of the subgroup to which he belongs. Within that group are subsets such as "cowboys of color" - black and Hispanic rodeo cowboys.   

"It really is another culture," Weaver says. "But when they go to the show they speak the same language. Cowboy is a term that fits everybody there. We're reaching out to everybody."

In rural communities where many cowboys grow up and still reside, church remains a staple for some to be on a Sunday morning. Yet what Weaver has found is that some never have made a firm commitment to follow Jesus as Savior.  

"Most cowboys already believe in God," Weaver says. "They think because they know that, they're probably OK. They just haven't figured out how to live for Him yet. They need to know they have to repent of their sins and get saved."

And once they do that, Weaver says lives change dramatically.  

"They're very serious, follow-through kind of people," Weaver says. "Their language improves. They excel at Christianity."

He illustrates his messages with images familiar to his audience. His first sermon this year at the Fort Worth show, for example, he incorporated themes of cattle, sheep, and fruit trees and tied them into the stock show. The 2015 show began Jan. 16 and ended on Saturday.  

Weaver says the number of people who make salvation decisions for Christ at the rodeo services averages between 200 and 300.

With approximately 700 cowboy churches across the United States, including 11 in the Assemblies of God, there are plenty of congregations where people who accept Christ at the rodeo services can feel comfortable and be assimilated.

"They've got a place that's in their culture, that's the reason cowboy churches are doing so well," Weaver says. "So many have gotten saved in cowboy churches at rodeos. Now they can have services in their own communities."

Alvin F. Worthley, AG Chaplaincy Ministries director, is an admirer of Weaver's.  

"He's one of those guys who can go into a people group that might shun others," Worthley says. "He's one of them, very incarnational. It's very clear he has a heart for people and love for animals."

Gerald Duran, a ferrier from Jackson, Mississippi, is a regular at the Fort Worth show and rodeo.  

"Some people maybe never have gone to an everyday church like we're used to," the horseshoer says. "The horse show folks and rodeo folks are there, and the church goes to them."

Duran believes Weaver has gained credibility with attendees because he has roped professionally.

"Cowboy audiences listen to him where they wouldn't listen to somebody in a three-piece suit," Duran says. "He has a demeanor that makes everybody feel at home. He's sensitive to the Word and to people's needs."

Image used in accordance with Creative Commons License. Photo credit: Texas A&M University-Commerce Marketing Communications Photography, Flickr. 

Deann Alford

Deann Alford is a journalist and author. She attends Glad Tidings of Austin, an Assemblies of God congregation in the Texas capital.