Each year Fellowship of Christian Cowboys sponsors Rodeo Bible Camps conducted by local FCC chapters all across this nation. (Paul and Linda have been partners with the FCC in this venture for many years.)

Young people come to Rodeo Bible Camps every year to learn rodeo skills in bareback riding, saddle bronc riding, bull riding, calf roping, team roping, steer wrestling, barrel racing, pole bending and goat tying, as well as horsemanship and trickriding at select camps. Most of the instructors are either world champions themselves, or have years of experience under their belts in the events in which they teach.

From ages 8-13 for junior camps and 14-18 for senior camps, FCC must set a limit for the number of students they can safely teach. And safety is a number one priority in all Rodeo Bible Camps. All rough stock contestants are required to wear mouth pieces and protective vests. Because rodeo is such a rough sport each student is required to furnish proof of medical insurance.

Students and team leaders sleep in military tents or on the floor in indoor facilities for the three or four days of camp. Some individuals bring cots to sleep on, but for most it is bedrolls on the ground the old cowboy way. One Bible camp in Colorado even has an old fashioned roundup and open range branding.

Three hot meals a day are furnished by volunteer camp cooks, in old cowboy trail-driver fashion. Students are provided showers at the end of each day. Some are shower tents set up on site. Others are transported to local school gymnasiums. It is hot, dusty work, but everyone loves it.

Rough and tumble riding and roping is not the only thing that students learn at Rodeo Bible Camp. Students are divided into small groups with older team leaders who help with devotional times and any personal problems they may have. Collectively the groups meet in the mornings for devotion and Bible study. They meet again after lunch and once more in the evening after supper.

Many young people come to Rodeo Bible Camp from broken and abusive homes. They attend with visions of becoming world champions in a rough and tumble sport, but lurking just below the surface are emotional problems and confusion. Students are encouraged to discuss problems with an adult volunteer whether it be a team leader, instructor or helper.

All volunteers are required to gather at 6 a.m. before breakfast for a quick scripture reading and discussion of any major problems with campers or procedures. This meeting then ends in a prayer to start the day off.

Rodeo Bible Camps across the country have five major goals that are uppermost for the four-day youth outreach program:

Challenge your youth to expand their horizons
Attitudes of commitment, respect, humility and appreciation
Motivation to a higher level of skills physically, mentally and spiritually
Priorities for choosing what is really important in life
Salvation, the ground work for successful living.

The beginning of each one of these goals spell out the word "CAMPS", a way to reach the youth of this nation by providing a place of growth in people skills, rodeo skills and living skills.

The Fellowship of Christian Cowboys, Inc. feel that they have a mission to accomplish. The cowboy is as much a part of American heritage as George Washington, mom and apple pie. The original trail-driving cowboy era about which so many movies have been made lasted only a few short years. But the tough, simple life spirit of the cowboy has lived on through ranching and rodeo.

Men and women of the Fellowship of Christian Cowboys feel that God is sending these basic, no frills, tell-it-like-it-is kind of people out into the world, presenting His call to salvation. These rugged, earthy vessels called cowboys and cowgirls are so simple, so direct, so real that there is no doubt they are sharing real answers to life’s real problems.

Written by Roger Thompson. Article reprinted with permission from LineRider, the magazine for the Fellowship of Christian Cowboys.

If you are at all interested in helping at or starting one of these Rodeo Bible Camps, we would LOVE to have your help!! For more information please contact the National Office of the Fellowship of Christian Cowboys at 719- 630-7636 or email the Chapter Director, Mike McArthur at info@christiancowboys.com.

Or go to the FCC Rodeo Bible Camp website at http://www.christiancowboys.com.

Featured on both The Learning Channel and 48-Hours, Sankey Rodeo Schools have helped many professional rodeo athletes and countless others take their competitive efforts to the next level. Maybe they can help you too.

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