COWBOY CHURCH SERVICE
9:00 a.m. Sunday
| Born in Brownwood, Texas, Jeff grew up in a pastor's home and has traveled a long journey to get where he is today. From the time anyone can remember, all Jeff wanted to be was a cowboy. Though many children say this for a time, the desire never left him as he grew older. At age three, Jeff began singing for churches, civic and community groups with his family. He was seven when he prayed to receive Christ as his personal Lord and Savior and was baptized at that time. The desire to be a cowboy continued in his heart so at about the age of ten, he began working on a ranch owned by friends of the family who had a son about his age. All through Jr. High and High School, Jeff worked with horses and cattle in the area. However, at age twelve, Jeff felt the call of God to go into full time Christian ministry. Not understanding at the time how this would fit into his plans to be a cowboy and work on ranches, he struggled through the years of education and preparation for the ministry. He graduated from Howard Payne University in 1984 and from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1986. For twelve years he ministered in local churches as youth, music, and education minister, day-working all he could along the way. Because he had continued singing and entertaining through the years, and because he mostly sang cowboy and gospel music, he began to get invited to cowboy poetry/music gatherings, chuck wagon competitions, ranch rodeos, and community celebrations across the country. Eventually, these cowboy events began using Jeff's abilities as a minister to do church services around the chuck wagons and in the rodeo arenas. Though many thought it crazy, God had finally revealed to Jeff what his years of cowboying and ministry were all about. There was no longer a struggle between the two. God had planned all along for them to go hand in hand. Since 1992, Jeff has been traveling full time ministering to Cowboys. Now, Jeff lives in Coleman County, just south of Abilene, TX with his wife Donna and their children, Mark, Addie, and Molly. He cowboys on ranches and ministers in ranching and rural areas as well as many of those same cowboy events. He has recorded six albums of cowboy and gospel music, was named the Male Vocalist of the Year by the Academy of Western Artists in 1997 and has been nominated six more times. He has appeared in movies with Tommy Lee Jones, Sissy Spacek, and Farah Fawcett, among others, and has appeared in commercials for Maxwell House Coffee, and Chevy Trucks. In September 2005 Jeff was honored by the American Cowboy Culture Association, receiving a lifetime achievement award for his contribution to Western Music. Jeff is respected by the cowboys with which he rides as a true hand. This is what he is most proud of. After all, from the time anyone can remember, all Jeff wanted to be was a cowboy. |