Rodeo Bible Camp 2010

I spent last week having the most fun doing ministry I have ever had. The problem is; I'm not sure why?

Theory 1: The people I was doing ministry alongside. Most of you probably remember Zac Sanger (the man I introduced you to last year in the newsletter and on this blog). I got to spend another week with him. He prefers to do ministry one horseshoe at a time. We talked a lot aboutshoeing horses (something I know nothing about) and ministry (something I thought I knew a lot about). Zac is the type of guy who will have a conversation about God with anyone and he will be the first to tell you that it has more than once cost him a client. Part of my job is having conversations about God; yet sometimes they never happen. Boldness is a quality he has in abundance. Another guy that I had the pleasure of serving

alongside was Seth Reynolds. He is the same type of guy as Zac. Willing to talk about Jesus with whomever, whenever. I had met Seth a year ago at a Rodeo Bible camp and had no idea he would be in Colorado this week. Two guys whose love for Jesus spills out of their lives. That is something that will make it fun to serve. Seth and Zac both took the time (outside of their assigned duties) to speak truth into the students lives. They have a passion for God that expands the time card. There are a ton of things I took away from that week!

Theory 2: Rodeo. It is always fun doing rodeo! Always fun fighting bulls!

But if I hadn't been rodeoing at the time; I still think that I would have had fun and enjoyed serving! Theory 1 is the winner!

What I learned this week; or should I say was reminded of this week was that ministry is about the people. The people you come into contact with and the people that change your life. Zac and Seth are two guys that changed the way I do ministry and changed my relationship with God. You wanna have fun serving God; find people who are passionate about Him and surround yourself with them! There is never a dull moment with Zac and Seth and they are livening up the Christian lives of anyone they come into contact with: this guy included!

The False Worlds We Create (if you don't have time to read it all, just read the last paragraph)

"Today's youth want to be challenged" -- Wayne West, Jr. High Sunday school teacher, bullfighter

In the last three years as I have been in youth ministry, coached athletics, and worked at bull ridings for adults and youth, I have come to basically the same conclusion.

However, this conclusion has now come to fail me. I find that as I look at many of the situations around me, challenge is not the word I would put with it. Today, many people want security, a quality that we continually provide for our children (often longer than is needed). Here are a couple examples:

My soccer team has actually been in some games this year. I have pushed these kids harder than they really needed pushed, but for the first time in 3 years they are actually a decent team that has a chance of winning when they take the field. Some of these kids have taken me yelling at them as a negative. This year many parents have taken yelling at their precious suzy or timmy as "too aggressive" and "not very nice." Kids are complaining to their parents; parents are complaining to each other. It is not a good situation.

When I was growing up, I played all kinds of sports, excelling at none of them. I have been yelled at many times and in a couple different languages. Why? Because my coach knew I could be better than I was playing. Expecting the best out of people is the only way that you can get the best out of them. Me aiming low is not helping any of these kids get any better at soccer. Me patting tommy on the head and telling him that he is good at soccer isn't helping me, the team, or our chances of winning. If we want to eliminate competition lets get rid of everything that is laborious: instead of "hide and go seek" with its hiding and searching, we could let every kid run free in search of himself. What about instead of "tag your it" we could play "tag your special" with no designated tagger allowing each kid to remind himself or herself (we are going for equality here) that they are special in everyones sight.

That is one of the reasons I love being around the sport of rodeo. If you aint any good...you know pretty quickly. There is absolutely no way of hiding it. If you don't want to try...then you lose every time. And when you lose there is no one back there pointing out moral victories. Yesterday I saw a dad tell his kid to get up and walk out of the arena after being stepped on by a calf. Why is this? Because him lying there in the arena wasn't doing him any good and wasn't doing anyone else any good either.

What worries me is this idea that in sports everyone deserves a chance to play and everyone deserves equal playing time, and no one should get yelled at! We have spent so much time creating these false worlds that protect our kids from all aspects of real life. Upward! basketball and other places where everyone plays equal amounts are for those learning the game and should remain outside the box of common thinking when high school sports comes into play. Pissing and moaning about Johnny getting to play more or a coach yelling is not the correct way to go about anything.

The correct way is to get your butt in the gym, put on a game face, and figure out how far your heart will take you. If it is a matter of skill, a coach can help out, but if it is a matter of the heart then the ball is in your court.

I refuse to say bad things about a coach for this very reason: I have not been at their practice all week to see if little timmy has an ounce of fight in his blood for the ball. I have not been to practice all week to see if he has any kind of coachable spirit. I have not witnessed whether or not my kid has any kind of respect for his teammates or coaches. Therefore I will keep my mouth-shut.

People may disagree with me on that; but as I have seen both sides of coaching and parenting (at their best and at their worst); I cant help but feel uncomfortable about how many people have an opinion about the way coaches handle their business. If you look at them as people who are trying to achieve their own acclaim through the accomplishments of others you might be right. But also remember that they are preparing your student to work hard for everything that they get; to be part of the team even when it is hard; and to find the depth that they have to reach to excell at something. If you ask me, in this no-child-left-behind-world where many graduate and still cant read, sports seems to be the final real preparation for that hard-to-get-along-with-boss, the unfair workplace; the disappointing grade on a college test; or the rejection that comes with life. We don't need less sports; we need more.

PBR Questions

This might be my fault but I doubt it.

My association with the PBR is small, but my interest in it is great. My home page on my computer is www.pbrnow.com. I get e-mail updates about recent activity within the organization and during competition. This may be my fault for being on the ground floor of all the pbr information.

But I do not know when the PBR became so much like the WWE. One thing that bothers me is the amount of trash talk during the World Cup of Bull Riding. The CEO, Randy Bernard, talked bad about team Canada; JW Hart (team USA's captain) talked bad about Adriano Moras (team Brazil's captain); Team Brazil and team USA talked trash to each other; Cody Lambert talked bad about everyone. It was crazy.

One thing I have really liked about bull riding is the understanding that they are not competing against each other necessarily; but against their bulls. I fought in a freestyle contest the other day, a couple of the guys were talking trash to each other before hand. Not the playful stuff, but the getting in their face and talking smack. Both of them got run over (I refuse to talk trash because Im not good enough to back it up). There is the unwritten rule in my mind that "if you cant beat your bull, you cant beat anyone else." The trash talking didn't need to be there in my mind.

Something else that bothers me about the current state of the PBR is the Television contract with Versus. PBR fell into the same trap as the NHL. Each of them signed a more lucrative contract at the expense of viewership. The PBR would have been better served to take less money and less televised events for the opportunity for greater exposure. To be bumming around on Versus when less primetime, but greater exposure (without having to pay extra for it) is the smarter move.

Other things that bug me is the talk about coaches and the big deal that comes with it. There is nothing wrong with having some one coach you (I would actually endorse it, thanks to Bennie Bob), but the whole discussion came about because of a reride controversy by JB Mauney. He was awarded a reride on a bull, that was a questionable decision by the judges. With the instant replay rule, anyone can hit the button to have a replay viewed. This replay could have overturned the reride option. Having a coach to make the decision for a rider to hit the button seems to be a little to much micromanaging. Bullriding schools have furthered the sport (I was helped out a ton at the bullfighting school). Older riders mentor younger ones all the time, but when it comes to competition, your ability and decision making in competition needs to be all your own.

I think the PBR is the best bullriding in the world. As much as the CBR wants to rival it; the PBR has the best bulls and the best riders in the world. The CBR is on the right track to gaining equality by not bogging themselves down in the trash talking crap; and video replay controversies; and sponsorship for every single aspect including the bells ringing on the underside of the bull.

Fredonia Rodeo

This last weekend was the Fredonia Bullriding.

It was the last chance for a while for Quentin and Colby to ride so we took advantage.

For those of you that were wondering why I was walking funny at church, in the middle clip you can see the calf shove his horn into my stomache and slam me agianst the slide gate; hence the limp and purplish bruising all over my lower back. If you don't understand what you are watching, here is what happened: when Quentin slid down on his calf, it laid down in the chute, and upon returning to its feet he slammed me into the slide gate. End of story.

It was a good time. I cant wait to get my arena built so we can practice up for next season. The Central Park Rodeo team has done well so far without the practice, so I expect great things when we can do this weekly.

Thank you very much to the Kansas Jr. Bullriders Association for all that they do. If you want to see results or a schedule of upcoming events, go to their website at www.kjba.org. It is a great organization for kids to get experience with rodeo. It is a rough stock only organization that puts on shows all over the Central and eastern part of Kansas. If you are interested in rodeoing and from around Topeka, give me a call or shoot me an email and we can make it happen.

Thanks. Great job Colby and Quentin!

A buddy of mine now

A couple weeks ago, I was in Falcon, Colorado at Rodeo Bible Camp. Most of you are shocked that they even have one of those things. Yes, it was a legitimate bible camp. Throughout the day each student would do chores; attend worship service, study and practice their rodeo events, and spend quite time with God. Looking back on the things that we had to get done; it is easy to see why I was up 5:15 or 5:30 in the morning to do chores. I wasn’t even aware that God was up at 5:15; but that hour or hour and a half before the kids were up was a blessing to my life that I would rank second amongst his blessings that week. The first was a conversation that happened between the other bullfighter and a student.

The students name was Cody. He actually wasn’t a student. About 3 weeks ago, a bull stepped on his ankle, crushing it. Goodbye rodeo scholarship; Goodbye professional rodeo. He will be out for about 2 months, until he will receive a full ankle replacement at the age of 18. At one of Grandma Jeanie’s four course dinners at camp, Cody was attempting to glorify his injury. The last statement he made was this: “If that bull had killed me that day, dying in the arena doing what I love. I am glad I knew where I was going.” Zac, the other bullfighter called him on it.

“Really?” Zac asked. Cody said yup. “You are really sure you knew where you were going?” Cody was unsure of the follow up question. “Are you positive?”

Zac was like a shark with blood in the water. Zac would be the first to tell you that he didn't always live the Christian life. One fateful night he met the God of this universe very intimately. Since that life-altering night; Zac has been on fire for God. He shoes horses now, and is one of the best farriers in SE Colorado, but there is no question about what (or should I say whom) he has really given his life too.

Cody’s faith had really been circumstance and fluff up to that point and Zac called him on it. He could tell that Cody was fooling himself with his own false bravado. Zac shared his faith with Cody that night. I sat at that table for an hour and a half without saying a word. Cody went foreword that night, was baptized later that week. Talking to him later that week, there was an assurance to his voice about where he was going and whom he was living for.

Zac is one of those guys whose passion has challenged me to rekindle my relationship with God. Funny how you go somewhere to teach and end up learning!

The Mulvane Rodeo

Colby and Quentin rode down in Mulvane this weekend as part of the Kansas Jr. Bull Riders.

Colby rode his sheep for a score of 64 points. Quentin got bucked off of his holstein calf. It was a pretty good time.

Invocation was given by Jess Pope who also took it to a steer later on with score of 81 points.

Burlington Rodeo

Colby, Trey, and Quinten Rodeod in Burlington this weekend here's the video.

Trey's first ride

This was Trey's first ride on 1604.

Soundtrack is provided by the PBR Allstars.

We drove to Kingman, Kansas for the Kansas Jr. Bullriders Association on Saturday.

  

It was a pretty cool experience for him and for me.  

Next up: Burlington, Kansas at the end of May.