Cowboys of the Cross is now a 501(c)(3) registered charity for tax deductible giving. Giving can be done online through the above link. To give via mail, please make checks payable to Cowboys of the Cross. Giving can be mailed to:

Cowboys of the Cross, 3710 Warden Branch Lane, Gatlinburg, Tennessee,37738

Cowboys of the Cross is a full time ministry shepherded by Scott Hilgendorff (His testimony can be found below). Like other missionaries, Scott relies on the generous support of individual donors and churches to carry out the work of the Great Commission within the rodeo and cowboy culture. 

BIG NEWS!! We’re a registered charity

After 20 years of church partnership, Cowboys of the Cross is stepping out on its own as a federally recognized non-profit organization.

It’s a big step for the ministry which will see me transition away from LifeSong Family Church in Lewisburg, TN and instead, will be working under a new board of directors.

While my work as a full-time missionary in the rodeo and ranching industries will remain mostly unchanged, being our own non-profit will mean a more secure future for the ministry. It gives me the ability to hand it directly over to someone else I’m praying God is raising up to eventually take my place with a foundation in place for them to work from. That includes an active website with more than 230 written devotions and teaching series and YouTube Channel with more than 330 video devotions and series. It’s a hefty resource to be able to pass on made possible not from just my own contributions but a teaching team of five other cowboys representing but the ranching and rodeo industries. That person would also inherit a trusted reputation among numerous rodeo associations and event producers to make it easy for them to continue to lead cowboy church at events.

For me personally, the transition will help me maintain a closer relationship with the people who generously give to make my work as a full-time missionary possible.

Cowboys of the Cross was originally  managed under the Blyth Community Church of God in Blyth, Ontario to provide accountability and receive donations for the ministry. Under the Church of God, Anderson, Indiana umbrella, I was connected with a sister church, LifeSong Family Church, in Lewsburg, TN, who became my hiring church and allowed me to operate the ministry under them in the United States as a full time missionary. LifeSong and its current pastor, Joe Boyd, facilitated my work as a missionary to the cowboy communities found in the rodeo and ranching industries for the last more than 15 years and paved the way for me to finally take this big step forward.

LifeSong and myself see this as a positive change with the church recognizing this ministry as part of its legacy and the transition is taking place all on positive terms.

The new board of directors consists of a retired rodeo cowboy from North Carolina, Eythan Laws, who brings business experience as he helps run his family’s stained glass window company. Also on the board are long-time friends I’ve been in church and Bible studies with from Tennessee, Brandon Hall and Ryan Bridges. Both have work experience in corporate management and elder/deacon board experience at mid-size churches. They will provide a new layer of accountability for me in the ministry.

We are currently approved as a 501(c)(3) meaning instead of through LifeSong, your giving is tax deductible through Cowboys of the Cross and will be tax-receipted.

As the “executive director” of Cowboys of the Cross, I’ll have a little extra monthly work with bookkeeping, with thanks to Amy Houser, a church friend with book experience who has helped us set it all up, but nothing that will take attention away from front-line ministry and providing pastoral care for those who reach out to us.

Praise God for all the help from LifeSong Family Church that got us this far, from all those who have given over the years, the volunteers in our teaching team and to the new friends who have stepped in to help me with this next stage in this ministry’s long journey. While I was building a career as a journalist, doing cowboy church on the side on summer weekends in Ontario with the Rawhide Rodeo Company, God began a lengthy process of convincing me to walk away from a home and a growing career and step into this ministry full time. It was a leap of faith with a single donor family, the Slatts, who were ad clients of mine at the last publication I worked at in Ontario. They’ve been with me ever since and God provided through some of you reading this, the means to go from literally homeless to a permanent home in Gatlinburg, TN which now is the official home of Cowboys of the Cross.

There are partners who have been with us from the beginning and others who have come and gone over the years but with God’s provision through all of them, a lot of incredible ministry has taken place over the last 20 years.

Some partners experience business or life changes that take them away from us and new partners are needed every year. We currently need some new partners to help us raise about $4,000 in new funding. Please see the adjacent column for new giving information.

Cowboys of the Cross

Welcome to Cowboys of the Cross: your resource for Christian cowboys. Cowboys of the Cross has been providing cowboy church for the rodeo and cowboy community for more than 15 years. The website is your source for stories of faith and encouragement as well as devotions and news and information affecting cowboys of faith. Through LifeSong Family Church in Lewisburg, TN, Cowboys of the Cross leads cowboy church at rodeos, equine events and bull ridings in the United States and Canada. 

James for Cowboys

Power in our Words

Part 3 of 3