God had to rope Russ Weaver into
ministry. But once lassoed, Weaver began to work to reach the cowboy
culture. The results have been tremendous.
Weaver planned to be a professional
calf roper, but at age 16 he felt the Lord calling him to ministry.
Weaver resisted, telling God he would make a fine deacon, but full-time
preaching really didn’t appeal to him. However, he promised to
be obedient to the call when he asked the Lord to heal an unsaved friend
who had been gravely wounded by a bullet to his head. The friend recovered
completely.
Not your customary
sanctuary: Wooden walls, hay bales for seating and a horse trough
as a baptistry are unusual features of Shepherd’s Valley. The
jeans-clad Russ Weaver is at top.
After Bible school, Weaver became
an assistant pastor in Greeley, Colo., but he yearned to be in professional
rodeo.
A visit by then-Eurasia regional
director Charles Greenaway changed his life. "During the sermon
he looked straight at me and said, ‘Your mission in life is the
people you can reach with the gospel,’ " Weaver recalls. Weaver
realized God wanted to send him to the cowboys he knew so well. He received
appointment in 1980 as the first Assemblies of God home missionary to
rodeos and horse racetracks.
In essence, Weaver already had been
doing such ministry. During three years of roping in the college national
rodeo team finals, he, his brother, Randy, and a calf-roping contestant
led 43 participants to the Lord.
During his first 13 years as a home
missionary, Weaver roped calves in rodeos. As a contestant he qualified
to use areas at rodeos where he could conduct services.
The first year, more than 400 attending
his services at rodeos raised their hands to accept Jesus as Savior.
Sensing that such people didn’t receive the necessary follow-up,
Weaver in 1994 began full-time training of horse track and rodeo chaplains
who could disciple new believers. Today, in part because of the efforts
of Weaver and A/G home missions chaplain Paul Scholtz, virtually every
rodeo includes a church service.
Weaver still is director of the
13 racetrack chaplains in Texas. But in 1997, he put down roots just
south of Fort Worth and became pastor of Shepherd’s Valley Cowboy
Church, the first A/G cowboy congregation. About 90 percent of the 320
attendees became Christians at the church.
This is no ordinary church. Many
of those inside, including the pastor, wear blue jeans and cowboy boots.
There are farmers, ranchers, wranglers, cowboys, horse owners and agribusiness
operators.
The metal barn building, which features
a double-decker front porch reminiscent of the Old West, doesn’t
look like a church. The sanctuary has wagon-wheel chandeliers that add
to the ambiance. On a recent Sunday, a cowboy who works with problem
horses placed a round pen in the middle of the dirt-floor sanctuary.
As he worked with the horses, he preached a sermon on how God trains
Christians.
An adjacent arena with a grandstand
also provides pointed object lessons. A jeans company arranged to pay
the calf-roping entry fees of 50 teen-agers at an area event provided
that the contestants attended a service at Shepherd’s Valley. During
the sermon in the arena the contestants heard a "He paid your fees"
sermon about how Christ died for them to get into heaven.
Weaver, 48, still attends horse
activities in the area — and evangelizes whenever he has the opportunity.
His father, Jasper, 71, is now his assistant pastor. His brother, Randy,
started his own cowboy church in Montgomery, Texas, a year ago after
serving as chaplain at Houston’s horserace park for several years.
