Yiiihaa!!! Yesterday morning Omar and I tried out something new in multisite ministry. We led "Cowboy Church" under the open sky in the shade of the redwoods on a ranch high up in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Ever since I arrived up here I've been thinking we should have a gathering outdoors for the active outdoor people in this area. There are folks who wouldn't come into a church building and feel that nature is a better setting for spiritual activity. This beautiful place we live is a cathedral anyway.
A couple of months back a crazyman approached me and said "I have a ranch and want to start a church service outdoors for the mountain bikers, horseback riders, hikers, bikers and others who frequent the trails and roads around my property". After a bit of prayer Omar and I felt Jesus calling us to go do this so we signed up to lead Cowboy Church out on his ranch on Sunday mornings as an experiment this month in addition to our evening services at Elevation. So we're extra tired guys this Monday morning!
Yesterday morning I woke up early and rode my Harley thru the redwoods to the ranch not knowing if anyone at all would show but totally excited to simply obey God and go worship there and preach to whoever did show up. I like taking chances, I like a level of uncertainty: if we only take on ministry ops that seem a safe bet to succeed there's no faith involved. We told our Elevation folks this isn't for you unless you bring a friend who wouldn't come inside a church building to keep it from being just another worship service option for already Christian folks. We had a great time for our first service, 12 people total showed up, the weather was excellent and it was a blast - everyone in attendance loved the service. In the coming weeks there is a horse riding group riding up to tie up their horses to the hitchin' post and come to church under the redwoods, fun stuff. Here's an excerpt from an email from the Ranch's owner.
It was a blessed time and we had a nice turnout but hope for a lot more in the following weeks.
The word is just getting out!The fairly liberal Bonny Doon news gave us 2 page ad’s. I’ve already gotten phone calls and emails from people saying they want to attend… including people who don’t normally
go to church, several new believers (a guy that painted my house received the Lord and is coming ) some new neighbors just called and asked if it was ok if her husband, a Jewish man could join us… I loved it!!!
We'll continue through this month and stop for the winter and invite anyone who becomes a regular to Elevation or SCBC services. If it seems like we should do this again we'll start up early next summer and run for 4 months, who knows we're just gonna follow Jesus around the ranch and see where He leads. If not we'll cook up another experiment maybe next time we can be like Indians, soldiers, prisoners, or migrant workers instead of Cowbows. Take a moment to pray for Cowboy Church will ya?
The Cowboy Church sanctuary.
On the iPod: Flogging Molly - Float
