Rodeo Pastor

In an age that's all about "branding," Shiloh Ranch Cowboy Church of Powell Butte, Oregon, created its own in a literal sense.

The sanctuary sits on 56 acres of central Oregon ranch land that supports the church's herd of 100 cattle that someday will be used in its rodeo practices and training. Each head bears the congregation's brand. Through the congregation's 1017 Cattle Project, the church donates the beef to feed the needy.

The offering plate takes cash or checks, but members also tithe cattle, pigs, and hay. A taxidermist mounted the head of the first bull donated to Shiloh Ranch. It hangs in the church foyer.

With its shiny floors, low ceiling, and chandeliers made of elk antlers, Shiloh's new worship center resembles a homey lodge, complete with an open snack bar near the entrance. There's a fiddle in the worship band. In April, the church launched its next building project: an arena for rodeo training and practices that someday will be used for a rodeo Bible camp.

"We wanted it to be the same kind of warmth you feel when you walk into somebody's house," says Jordan Weaver, 32, the church's lead pastor. The third-generation Assemblies of God pastor originally from Fort Worth, Texas, is a rodeo cowboy -- a professional calf roper and team roper who still competes in rodeos. He's worked for many years to help resource and counsel cowboy church plants across the nation. Before Weaver and his family moved from Texas to Oregon, for four years he served as the AG's Cowboy Church Fellowship field representative.

In 2012, Weaver and his wife, Lacey, a native of the nearby town of Bend, planted Shiloh Ranch Cowboy Church. This AG congregation serves the area's rural communities known for ranching and recreation. Weaver, who is an AG U.S. Missions Chaplaincy Ministries chaplain missionary in training, notes that it's the only one of its kind in the Pacific Northwest.

Lacey Weaver is executive pastor and oversees church resources, building projects, special events, and team development. Around 600 people attend three weekend services, including one on Monday nights.

In 1997, Jordan Weaver's father, Russ Weaver, planted Shepherd's Valley as the first AG cowboy church, in Egan, Texas, a community near Fort Worth. Together with gospel singer Susie McEntire, Russ Weaver hosts the television program Cowboy Church on RFD-TV. Randy and Darla Weaver, Jordan's aunt and uncle, planted Lone Star Cowboy Church in Montgomery, Texas, near Houston. Shiloh Ranch was a parent affiliated church plant of Shepherd's Valley, but it became a sovereign church within a year.

Late in the 20th century, cowboy churches emerged from rodeo chapel services and ministries to rodeo cowboys where many have come to faith in Christ. Today, hundreds of congregations across the U.S. identify themselves as cowboy churches, including seven in the Assemblies of God.

Weaver is the only cowboy on staff at Shiloh, which follows a mission statement that extends beyond the cowboy: "Providing opportunities for rural-minded people to meet a God that loves them."

Boyd Powers, an officer who oversees administration and missions in the AG's Oregon Ministry Network, says that Shiloh Ranch Cowboy Church attracts "people who wouldn't darken the door of a church." Among its membership are new converts, those with no church background and those who'd dropped out of church, Powers says. He also is a member of Shiloh's board and has be en involved in the church since its founding.

"This church fits who they are," Powers says. "They're reaching people no one else is reaching."

Deann Alford

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