Episode 055 - The Fellowship of Christian Cowboys - Ronnie Moyer

Taylor McAdams: Hey everybody, and thanks for listening to another episode of the Kick Your Boots Up podcast. As always, like, subscribe, share this with your friends. I say this every week, and I'm just gonna continue to say it every week because the guests keep getting better and better and better. No offense to the last guests. But seriously, this week's guest is just a breath of fresh air. Before I really tell you a little bit about him, I've got to say I've gotten to know him over the years and follow along everything that he's doing personally, and then his family and then also the organization that he represents. So without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, this is Ronnie more Moyer, with the Fellowship of Christian cowboys. He's a national chaplain, so he has kind of a big job compared to others in the fact of he's got a lot more ground to cover and travel. And really, his mission is to just share his story and bring people to know Jesus. And hopefully they fall in love with Jesus along the way as well. But he's more than just what you see a man and a cowboy hat. He's a dad, he's a husband. He's a survivor in many ways. And also, interestingly enough, which we haven't really gotten to talk about Ronnie. So we'll have to get started with this is recording artists in Nashville, you've recorded some gospel music. So not many people can say that they've their speaker and also a senior. So like, ladies and gentlemen, here's Ronnie more. You're Ronnie, it's so good to have you on the podcast. Thank you for joining us. 

Ronnie Moyer: Thanks so much for having me. To be with you. 

Taylor McAdams: Oh, ya know, for sure. And I remember my first experience of meeting you specifically, I didn't even really get to meet you. I got to hear you speak. And I was I was a rodeo Queen at maybe the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo. It was back in like, I don't know, 2013 or something. And I remember thinking, wow, that man is so gifted. He's He's bringing a lot of people to the Lord. I mean, just going to a cowboy church on a Sunday at a rodeo which by the way, I guess if there's a if anyone out there is listening, and they're not familiar with what you get to do on Sundays on the road, maybe tell us a little bit about what you do get to do at the cowboy churches. Let's start there.

Ronnie Moyer: Oh, through through the Fellowship of Christian cowboys, things have have changed a lot over the years. They've been around for 40 years, and rodeos changed, and so has the ministry to the rodeo cowboys. Much more now it's a spectator service. So you may have six 800 People at the spectators at the cowboy church service like it's Cheyenne, Denver, Euston. And it used to be we sat around the trailers on hay bales and lawn chairs and whatever anybody had to eat and coffee and I strum my guitar and we looked at Scripture and kind of had a Bible study now it's it's almost a full blown mini concert with with special music and, and worship and we try to add in a lot I'm I was raised in, in church as much as you can be when you're rodeoing you're on the road, you know, weekend's is, is is not very conducive to a home church, but with the old hymns and so a lot of them we take the old hymns and put them to our own style, but as well as some some praise and worship and and some special music and then the message. And so we've continued on doing that, but more for the spectators now, so a lot larger crowd a lot different, different feel to it now than what it used to be. 

Taylor McAdams: Yeah, that's so interesting, Ronnie, because I remember going to high school rodeos and I know Fellowship of Christian cowboys didn't exactly get to be at every local or state high school rodeo, but they were at Nationals and all of that. And that's so big and so important whenever rodeo competitors are on the road, because yes, they might have their home church whenever they are home. But Professional Rodeo Cowboys definitely don't get to be home every Sunday and maybe not even, you know, a fourth of the Sundays throughout the year depending on how serious they are about traveling and all of that. So you guys having the capability to bring the church to the rodeos and then including the fans. I think that is so so neat. Do you know kind of how it all got started? How you guys got the idea to even start as like a small Bible study at the trailer's like you mentioned?

Ronnie Moyer: Well, I think as an organization, a lot of people don't realize that the Fellowship of Christian cowboys came out of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. 

Taylor McAdams: Okay, I was gonna ask if that had any correlation. 

Ronnie Moyer: Yes, it does. We were the cowboy chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. And due to Ira as and, and insurance and stuff, they made them separate into two different identities. And so that's when the cowboy chapter of FCA became FCC Fellowship of Christian cowboys. And my understanding is Mark stricker and William Wilbur Bogard, were kind of the first guys to have the brainstorm back when it was under FCA to just do the Bible study the fellowship time. Some might play guitar, if they had that, if not, they just had the Bible. And then that's obviously enough, but it was a fellowship more around. I think the trailers, you know, behind the shoots in the arena. And it was much more small, you know, just the contestants and more of a family kind of unit when it started. And then you see it just kind of expand and to what it is today. 

Taylor McAdams: Oh, yeah. And you guys have even encouraged and inspired so many others to do the same thing, maybe on a smaller scale. So most Mozart is you go to most big rodeos you go to now will offer some sort of site if they have a Sunday performance or if there's something related to like championship Sunday, there will be a Sunday morning cowboy church before. And a lot of the rodeo competitors aren't able to make that service because it's too close to the rodeo. Some of them do. Don't get me wrong, but it's you know, some have started their own internally amongst the Cowboys. I remember rodeohouston has like cowboy camp or whatever it's called. And same thing after it's odd hours of the day and night, you know, whenever the competitive competitors can fit it in and stuff. And so I think what you guys are doing really cool, but I think I've got to talk a little bit. I mentioned high school rodeo earlier. You guys are really good about getting the word out there and not expecting anything in return and really walking the walk. And so I'm gonna commend you there. I know, little britches rodeos in particular, I think high school rodeo did this as well. But there was Santa Claus or cowboy Santa Well, you know what the kids know him as and you guys amongst also him as part of the FCC would be passing out waters. And that goes a long way because anyone out there that's hasn't thought about or hasn't put into perspective, the summertime heat at rodeos, it's it's awful. It's it can you know really take a toll on the way you compete the way your horses compete and just having that extra cold bottle of water either right after you competed or right before you go compete, just says so much and goes a long way. And then also one more thing I'm gonna bring up is the stickers where it says, God loves cowgirls. God loves cowboys, I still have that sticker on my makeup case to this day, which I'm not going to tell my age. But I've definitely had it a while. And it's a good reminder to just, you know, whatever you think of whenever you see that sticker to pray for it daily. And so I know like when I was still competing, I would pray for my horses and pray for the runs that I was about to make or whatever it is. And as that's evolved and changed, I've been able to take that with me as a young woman too. So I appreciate everything that you guys have done. So talk more about the the initiatives that you guys do to kind of spread the word and give back and help the kids and competitors also.

Ronnie Moyer: You know, for me first, when I started it was with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. And as a coach, and I was leading worship and leading, leading devotion time and then became basically the sports camp speaker. And at that time, Mike Spencer was the president of the fellowship, Christian cowboys. And I went to my when they were going to separate and I said my, what would you think about doing rodeo Bible camps, like we do the the football basketball volleyball camps for FCA. And, and his first reaction was, were sitting in a booth, I think, someplace eating. And he said, I don't know anything about that. So that's outside of my box. And I'm really not interested in that. You know, he was a professional rodeo clown. And I said, Well, Mike, I can do the camp part if you do the rodeo part. And it sparked a little bit of a flame there that just kind of continued to grow. And so we started the Fellowship of Christian cowboys, rodeo Bible camps, and they took off like a wildfire. And most of the rodeo Bible camps that you see today are just a springboard from all of those all across the country all across the nation, and I would say giving some of the credit to the Fellowship of Christian cowboys. I think a lot of the cowboy churches that we see today. Were Springboarding off of that ministry that FCC started you years ago, we found out once we started doing rodeo Bible camps, that there was a fella in a small town in Wyoming that actually had been doing rodeo Bible camps for years. But he did them like Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, and they were in, you know, he would take the semi he would, he would haul the stock, he would haul fifth wheels. It was like the harvest crew going out, you know, they took trucks and trailers, and they provided all the staff and all they needed was kids and, and a rodeo grounds to do it. And so we weren't the first we thought we were I thought it was a brainstorm. But actually, after we did all the work, we found that no, this guy's been doing it for a long time. But it was just kind of a one man show that got volunteers and family and friends to go with him. And, and so we just took it kind of after the FCA regular sports camp. So you know, you have chapel in the morning chapel in the evening, you have devotion times throughout the day, we have question and answer times where we encourage high school students to ask any question they want to, you know, maybe there's questions that they've been afraid to ask, you know, parents or, or at a local church or something, you know, ask those questions here. It's a safe environment to do so. And anyway, so it's just been, it's been awesome. They work on their events, you know, during during the day, and then we had chapel at night. So it's just been amazing. Watch what God's done through it all. 

Taylor McAdams: Oh, without a doubt, and there's so many questions I have about that. Because you're exactly right. The kids at that age are it's just such a prominent and weird age. You know, they're they're starting to experience so many different things, especially now post COVID, 2020, for all the things that are going on, they are genuinely curious. And I think it's so important that you guys have that question and answer opportunity. Because you're right, small towns, a lot of these kids do come from small towns, and they're afraid if they have this curious question about the Bible, it doesn't even have to be an inappropriate question. It can truly just be like, okay, so remind me about this person, what did they do again, and feel like they're not going to get laughed at? So that's so huge kudos to you guys. What has been your most impactful memory working these camps seeing these camps? Because I guarantee you there's been a few since the kids come in leaving a different kid entirely, and the way they compete, and then also the way that they act outside of the arena as well. 

Ronnie Moyer: Oh, I don't know if there's any one specific thing. It's just here. Recently, we went back to Colorado where they originated the first one we did, because the national office for the Fellowship of Christian cowboys was there. And so Lavida Colorado is actually the first rodeo bible camp we put together. And we went back there this year. My passion and heart has always been to apologetics. So helping people defend what they believe and, and to, to abandon the Subjective Truth of you know, so oftentimes. So oftentimes, we want to take Scripture and we want to make it fit, our thinking, our feeling, our desires, our wants. And apologetics really goes from an objective truth where you let go of your bias and your your, your feelings about stuff, and you look at it objectively outside. And that's what apologetics does. So for me, it's more to where I came from an education and coaching background. To help students take the information, be learned to be critical thinkers, and you know that the world is twisted. You know, you hear the word critical, and everyone's like, Oh, my God, she can't. But that's what education was. We taught young people to take information, ask the hard questions, why, what when how, you know, and process this information and then make based on that information, good decisions. And I remember as a coach, I was with Junior High in high school, sports, and when we did the inservice at the beginning of the year, and they said, Okay, we're moving to a new level of education and we don't, it's not so much what kids think about this information is how kids feel about this information. And I just kind of had a meltdown in the middle of everything. I was like, I work with Junior High in high school boys. I know how they feel they need to stop it and and get away from feeling and go back stay with at that time. The mind And, and being rational and looking at facts and information objectively instead of subjectively on how you feel about it. So anyway, that was a big, that was a big change for me, and probably drove me more passionate than ever toward apologetics teaching on biblical worldviews, helping students develop their own theology and doctrine, which again, those two terms have become kind of bad words in the world. You know, people say, Why just want to love Jesus? Well, if you don't have the right theology and doctrine, how do you even know who Jesus is? And so anyway, I could spend an hour more on that in itself, because it's something I'm really passionate about. And that's why Becky and I have always remain. We don't have a denomination or an association with any denomination, we've stayed completely independent of all things. So that we can look at staff without any bias of denomination behind it. It's let's look at scripture and look at it from a historical stamp point, and from a literary standpoint, and really dig in and see what did the author's intent to the audience at that time mean? And oh, my goodness, it's a lifetime of study with that, but I love it. Um, you know, okay, I'll back off. Now. I just get so excited about it.

Taylor McAdams: Yes, no, Ronnie, I'm so glad you brought that up. Because there's a Lauren Daigle song. That's one of my husband and I's favorite songs. And it's called losing my religion. And basically, it's saying, like, I'm going to have a relationship with God, whatever that takes, whatever that means. It doesn't matter. My religion, it doesn't matter. All this stuff that everyone gets wrapped up in the physical church being a prime example. You know, a lot of people have a lot of church hurt and a lot of church trauma from things that happened at the church because they put so much pressure on how people should be and how people should act. And because they call themselves Christians, this is how they should be and and so I'm really so glad that you brought that up, because that's exactly what I feel as well, my husband as well. And it's easier to read the Bible and talk through things if you aren't judged or jaded by you know, any other idea and not to shame anyone out there that is part of a denomination and they're rocking it like That's awesome. We all have our own, you know, our own path and stuff. But no, I could. I'm on the same brain we brainwave with you there too. So I really, really admire that. And then I'm going to ask you then too, as you're traveling, I mean, you guys go Fellowship of Christian cowboys goes to all these rodeos. You mentioned Cheyenne, National Western Stock Show and Rodeo Denver, little britches, national little britches finals, high school rodeo finals. I'm trying to think of all the places I've seen you, I've even seen you in some different different smaller rodeos across the United States as well. So as you're doing this, what do you notice about rodeo people, rodeo fans? Is there anything that you've noticed or recognized from your services that you just you just can you can set rodeo fans apart from the crowd?

Ronnie Moyer: You know, there's there's obvious an appreciation for what we do. You know, the rodeo, you're your greatest asset is your greatest detriment. And so for almost 40 years now, my passion has been to reach believers with the growing in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Master and King. And so, I'm a little bit different probably than then. Well, you know, I'm a lot different. But a little bit different in the fact that I think what I try to do is see that people mature in their faith, and a lot of people look at at the cowboy church as an evangelistic tool. And yet, that to me, evangelism is kind of a byproduct of discipleship. And so even in my that's what I love about the camping, and the camps, the schools that I do, it's multiple times a day, for multiple days throughout the week, that you're being able to go from Genesis to Revelation and help young people specially dive in and grow in their faith. So it's not just this superficial you know, I started in ministry when it was God loves you and has wonderful plan for your life. But what happens when your idea of a wonderful life and God's idea for wonderful life are two different things? You don't do these big chain. Students become so distant Aren't and feel like they've even been lied to. And so, going back to your question about, you know, a memorable time, this last, last summer was so special in mechanized life to just teach apologetics and get out of the way and let the Holy Spirit take the word of God. Faith comes by hearing, hearing comes by the word of God. And so get out of the way, just preach the Word and let the Holy Spirit do His work. And I'm kind of an anti baptize person, I really don't like to do baptisms at rodeos and, and camps, however, saying that all of my daughters have been baptized at rodeos, or rodeo Bible camps. And I do. And last year there, in Colorado, we had a number of students, we never talk about baptism, we kind of feel like that something for the local church to do. And we don't want to step on toes doing that. And yet, at the same time, for so many rodeo, kids, just like, like my girls growing up and myself, your your churches, whatever is there at the rodeo, because you just, you aren't home, you know, to go to a local church, right? But I kind of avoid the baptism thing. And when you have students that say, I don't understand baptism, but I want you to explain it because I know it's in Scripture. And I'm not the man I used to be here. I'm not the girl I used to be I, I want to know more about it. And completely on the students own. They approached the staff, and asked if, if we would baptize a bunch of kids. And yeah, I'm really hesitant. And I'm like, that's really for the church. He talked to the kids and they're in the same boat, maybe their parents don't go to church, their parents may not even be believers. They don't have a church to go to. And these, these young people traveled together, they rodeo together, they traveled together, they're always together, that's their testimony is to their peers. And to stand up and say, I want my friends to know whether they're followers of Christ or not, I want them to know that I have, and I'm publicly making this commitment. And so it was a really special summer one being back where we, you know, started grass roots, the Fellowship of Christian cowboys, rodeo Bible camps, but also to just see how the Holy Spirit took the Word of God. And without any prompting from us or mention of anything from us just preaching the word, they came to the end of the Holy Spirit, and, again, opens their eyes and ears, their minds to understand to become followers of Christ, and then say that I want to be baptized as well, understanding what that means, you know, it's not just a show, it's something that's really personal to them. And if I could expound just for a minute, this is what I deal with. As national chaplain, this is what I deal with a lot. I always go to the parents, and I say, you know, I won't do this without your blessing. And it's been something that I've seen more and more over the past few years, went to one dad, and I said, you know, would you guys like to help with a baptism? And they're like, Oh, my goodness, no. And I said, Well, look, I'll do the talking. But you can do the dunking, right. Yeah. And they're like, No, I really don't believe in this stuff. I just let my kids make their own decision. And, you know, it's heartbreaking. I mean, at least they're not prohibiting it. But at the same time, there's no encouragement to, you know, take on a lifetime of, of deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Him. And so I looked at the mom and I said, Well, would you like to pray a blessing over your son? And it's like, no, I agree with my husband. I don't want any part of it. And you know, there was as many that said that as said, Oh, yes, I'd love to be part of that. That's heartbreaking to me. You know, it's encouraging for the other half that yes, they would love to be part of the baptism, whether that's praying the blessing or whether that's actually taking me into the water. But that's one of the things that for me, rodeo, you hear about this rodeo family. And that can be a kind of a generic term, but for a lot of people. It's not generic, it is their family, and maybe Sadly say they may be more family than blood. Because those are the people you're traveling with. And you're, you're competing with and, and playing with and working with. And it just, that's one of the things that I love about the, the National little britches rodeo is it wasn't a fix all but it was a place where I could raise my three girls in their age groups of I had a little Wrangler, in the little division, then I had a junior. And then I had a senior, and all three could go back he was was announcing or timing. There were times when I was being a rodeo clown or, or helping with the shoots or doing whatever, you know, stripping shoot whatever it was. And then and so I took that with our rodeo Bible camps and with the National chaplaincy of the fellowship, Christian cowboy, as I said, guys, we're going to have a ministry, we need to be boots in the dirt. We can't just be somebody who shows up on Sunday, and does a church service and walks away. We got it. We got to we got to get involved in the dirty business. And so one of the things that the National little britches Rodeo Association said is do you guys want to? I think it was my wife, Becky that had talked about maybe offering water to the contestants. And the the national Lillibridge has just jumped in said that would be amazing. And you know, our concern has been in other places vendors are selling water. Here we're giving it away. And the NLB era just was like, No, it's, that's great. This is something we can do for our contestants, and then their families. And since we've been doing this, I can't tell you how many years it's been. But we give out close to 6000 bottles of water every year at the finals, just at the National Laboratories finals. And either in money or in cases of water, the vendors bring them to us and say, Hey, we sell this, but we tell them if you're a contestant, go see them guys, they'll give it to you for free. And we're donating money and water for that purpose from the vendors themselves. That's, that's family, what they can do for family. And I just, I get I'm, I'm a fan of that.

Taylor McAdams: Oh, yeah. And that kind of makes you want to get emotional or feel some type of way to because you think of all the users said it so well. You're giving it away for free when some vendors are charging, you know, an easy three to six to $10 depending on the need or whatever. And that's just incredible. Because if you think about it, all these families no matter where they are, let's let's talk about like, let's pretend we're at Cheyenne, okay, that competitors, whatever it is, they've all spent a lot of money to get their families, especially whenever it's little britches, like you mentioned, all the kids are in all the events. So you've got entry fees, you got horse, you everything with the horses, just all of it, they've already paid so much to get there in quite literally what you think is a simple, simple thing, a bottle of water, it goes so far, because there's a lot of times the parents have completely forgotten to eat or drink or take care of themselves because they're too busy taking care of their kids. And so then getting to stop by your tent and grab a water on their way in. That might be the only water they drink all day, sometimes just depending on you know, the schedules and all of it. So you guys are making such a larger impact than you probably even know or even that you that you care about because at the end of the day, it's not about you guys and you guys are all you know you live that everyday to so that's what I wanted to have you on the podcast for to talk about is just like the impact there and, and your guys's view on everything in the end just like what you're doing for the industry. So I can't speak enough good things about it. And if anyone out there does want to learn more about the organization, you can go to their website Fellowship of Christian cowboys.com.org.org or.com. Ronnie, do you remember who he is?

Ronnie Moyer: I think it's not cool.

Taylor McAdams: I think so too. Either way, if you Google it and if since we're in the the google it days, if you Google it, it'll pop up. There's Facebook, you can talk about you know, you can write things you can see what they're up to what events they're at, but we're gonna take a quick break and when we come back, we're gonna get to know more about Ronnie and his story. So everyone stay tuned. We'll be right back.

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Taylor McAdams: We're back with Ronnie Moyer. Ronnie, it's so good as always to have you and get to hear more of your wisdom that you're willing to share with the world. And I should have done this at the beginning. But if you've made it this far, and you're listening to the podcast, Ronnie has an incredible story. And so Ronnie, I just want to give you the opportunity to talk about yourself, because it's not something that you get to do every single day, and probably not something that you want to do, which is exactly why I'm going to ask it because you're so cool. And your impact is so large. So tell us a little bit about your story and how you grew up. And of course, you know, you accepted the Lord Jesus Christ into your heart at eight years old. But that's a challenge too, because we are very similar there. I was eight as well. And you know, how life has ups and downs. So how did you grow up? Was it in Colorado that you were born? 

Ronnie Moyer: Well, I was born in Colorado. Yeah. And my dad abandoned my mom at a very early age, I don't think I was even a year old. And so she went back to school to get her master's degree in education. Most of my family comes from an education background. And you know, I did we, we went to a little nondenominational Bible Church, little country church, and what they focused on was the word. And they talked about things. I had no idea what they meant, you know, this Bible terms of repentance, and forgiveness, and, and propitiation does the atonement all these big, I know anything. But I would sleep underneath the pew, usually, you know, and it's amazing how years later, those things connect. They're in there. I know, when my grandson was born, I sing a special song to it, you know. And every time I seeing, I sing that same song, and you can just see the light bulb come on, that he connects with that. It's like I'm imprinting with that. And so I think that's what the Word of God does. It's living, it's active, it transforms our thinking. And so I was, I was so blast in the go to a summer bible camp for youth every year. And through junior high in high school, I had a wonderful mentor, guy, rich Hansen, he's in his 80s now, been in youth ministries all of his life, still, one of my supporters still calls and texts all the time, and just wants to know how things are going spiritually and, and involved in my life. And he carried me through, you know, and I had those summer experiences. And I guess my, my, my story really began when I married my wife, Becky, how old were you married? almost 40 years?

Taylor McAdams: How old? were you when you guys got married? I don't want to age but okay. We

Ronnie Moyer: were young. I was way Oh, she was way Young. I'm just gonna say that.

Taylor McAdams: That's great. That's great.

Ronnie Moyer: I was in my early 20s. And she stayed there. You know what I mean?

Taylor McAdams: That's right. He's 30. Right. Now, what are you talking about? Yes, yes.

Ronnie Moyer: She's stayed right there. But that, that was one of my goals. And I think partly from being raised in a single parent home. You know, people say what do you want to be when you grow up? It's like, well, I want to be a husband and a daddy. That was my goal. That was what I mean, if I could make a living at that, that's what I want to do. And I was in I was in high school, when I felt like the Holy Spirit was directing me to go into ministry. But I couldn't see myself and in a pulpit in a church confined in a in a building. And so I really ran from, I was like, I don't want nothing to do with that. And so I went on to college and I was heavily involved in sports and athletics and, and rodeo, and then my granddad died and I went to help take care of the homeplace to be with my grandma, and met Becky. And she was like an answer to my prayers. He's, she's an amazingly smart woman. And, you know, we all laugh about it. She put me through college she put, and I don't mean financially, I mean, education, she wrote all the papers. And I probably did my girls. I mean, you know, my first one's got a master's degree, my second one's working on it. The other one's got a bachelor's in, in nursing and, and anyway, it's just I feel like my story or my life really started when I met Becky, and she had the gifts that I don't have administration organization. I'm horrible with that. Becky's good at it. She's just amazing. She homeschooled our three daughters. Which, you know, as you mentioned, at the beginning, we had four daughters, and our oldest daughter died in my arms at home. And, and for the first time in my life, my world really fell apart. In biblical counseling, we talked about the five things that are most likely to, to divide a marriage. And the, in the top five, it's the death of a child, a change in location and a change in occupation. And banking. I went through all three in the same week.  

Taylor McAdams: And I

Ronnie Moyer: walked away from where we lived, seven bedroom, five bathroom house. And what I thought was going to be a career, that amazing career, Becky was working as well, we had this beautiful little blue eyed, blond haired girl who died in my arms. And none of that matters. Suddenly, it was like, and, and I was raised in that generation where, you know, if you have a stroke, or you have a have a problem, you just work a little harder. You work a little long, man, but that doesn't bring back life. No. And so life and death really became a reality and, and an important thing for me. And I remember saying, God, I don't know what you want, but I give up everything, and I surrender it all. And it was like, Okay, you're going into ministry and like, anything, but that,

Taylor McAdams: but there's no money there. That's what everyone thinks. Yeah, well, and I was broken.

Ronnie Moyer: I mean, I was so broken, that's like, Okay, I got nothing else. And I always say that, you know, you, you said, share your wisdom. And I kind of laugh at that. And I appreciate you saying that, but I don't have any wisdom. i The only wisdom that I have comes from the word of God. It really does. Yeah. I, any wisdom that I have of my own is foolishness. If it comes apart from the Word of God, anything good in me better comes from from God, I wow, I learned through that the death of our oldest daughter. I said, you know, when when he tells us in Romans 12, two, he says, Don't be conformed to this world, but let God transform you by changing the way you think. I cannot be the husband, I need to be in the father that I need to be to my three daughters. Now, if God doesn't transform my thinking, the only way I'm going to be a husband and a father that's worth a lick is going to be if I react and respond abnormally and unnatural. And that's through the power of God's word and the Holy Spirit who lives in me. Because left to myself, it would be ugly, you know, me or No, hear me or see my response or my reactions. If I wasn't, act, if I was acting naturally, it'd be nasty. The good part is that I can react abnormally and unnaturally through the power of the Holy Spirit and the truth of God's word in my life. And the thing that I've, you know, I wrote this book under duress, I didn't want to write the book. But as I wrote it, the thing that that kept coming back is, you go back to what's most familiar, and it's true for horse. It's true for people. You go back to what's most familiar. And so, having accepted Christ at eight years old when your world falls apart, when when, when you're devastated, you run back to what's most familiar and what's most natural, and I had a grandpa and grandma who read the word, every day, every day. My grandma read through the Bible every year, she'd started Genesis to Revelation every year, she would read through the Bible, that was important to her. And my grandpa, and grandma, my mom has instilled that in us, my mom was a school teacher for I think, over 30 years. When she retired, she went to seminary, and she got a seminary degree. She wanted to be a missionary on a foreign field and come to find out she had no idea she was going to homeschool seven grandchildren. So with all of her experience and education, she went on to do the most important thing, and that was educating her own grandchildren and instilling in them, you know, not just secular education, but a spiritual education as well. From there, you know, I learned that the more that I spend time in God's Word, the more I'm going to respond and react to the things of the world, abnormally and unnaturally. And that's really what I needed to do through the death of my child. And I can't tell you, I couldn't, I couldn't even give a fair guesstimate to the number of phone calls that I've received over there almost 40 years now of ministry, from either parents whose child just died, or children whose parents have just died. And it's something that when, when in talking to people, it's not that I can sympathize, I can empathize because I've been through it. And that's what they say that's the important part to them is. And so oftentimes, it's not what we say. And Becky and I have a commitment to pray before we go in any situation or conversation, to say, Lord, give me the words to say how to say and when to say and if the same at all. Because sometimes we just need to shut up and listen. And anyway, that's, you know, I, I look at it. And I think Becky and I, instead of going further apart from one another, and further apart from the Lord, the death of of our first daughter, Caitlin actually brought us closer together, and oh, so much closer to the Lord than ever, because we saw our need. And that's one of the things I've said, with the, with the chaplaincy to the other chaplains that I work with is until they see their native savior, they have no need for Jesus. And we live in a world that kind of wants to talk about God, you can talk about church, but but but if you want to talk about the Bible, you really want to talk about Jesus that's going to divide, that's going to be the separating point, you know, is Jesus God in the flesh? He said he was, so there's no option. If you say he was a moral man or a good religious teacher, he didn't give us that option. He said, No, I'm God. So if he wasn't God, then He was a liar and a deceiver. So sure, one good, it wasn't moral. If it wasn't God, He was God. And He conquered death for so we have those who are in Christ in that relationship with Christ. That's, that's our comfort. I will see my daughter again, not because I'm hopeful not because I'm religious. That was one of the things that people's I got really weary there toward. The last few years, I would hear people say what, you you believe that or you say that because you're the chaplain said, No, I'm a chaplain because I believe this. That's why I'm tapping. It's not the other way around. It's the importance of eternity and our decision. I think, one of the scariest and saddest scriptures in all of God's word is Matthew chapter 721. He starts out Jesus is speaking. He says, On Judgment Day Many will say to me, Lord, Lord, I prophesied in Your name cast out demons in your there are many wonderful works in your name. And Jesus responded to those those were religious people. He responded to them, I never knew you. And other we got no relationship Depart from me. He sent them into hell. And it's scary and it's sad because I think that those religious people actually thought they had done enough And then you have the other side of people that say, Well, you know, I'm a follower of Christ, or I've accepted Christ. So God owes me this and God knows, no, God don't always know, you know, oh, as a thing. All he owes us is judgment. And he took care of that judgment through dying on the cross. I love that passage in Hebrews chapter two, where the whole reason that he took on flesh and blood is because we were flesh and blood. And only by taking on flesh and blood, could he die for the sins of those who would deny themselves take up their cross and follow Him? And that has nothing to do with religion, but everything to do with relationship relationship. Yes. And so that's kind of been the key thing for for writing this book that I didn't want to write and, and for the chaplaincy, and for working with young people. As, as you see the world fall toward immorality and chaos. Sadly, you see Christianity doing the same thing. And we can say, even even the cowboy, you know, it's not enough to say, well, we're the we're the only sport that that prays before an event. What, that's wonderful, and that's good. But if it's only a prayer, if it's only words, then it's just like those guys who said, Lord, Lord, we did this and this, and then he's still gonna say, I don't know you. Yeah, it has to be a personal, intimate relationship. And I'm so thankful that the guys that are praying that so many of them, they have the personal understanding, and you hear it in their prayers, they pray in the name of Jesus, you know, it's not some, some nebulous, cosmic humanism that talks about God. But it's Jesus. And that's encouraging. I couldn't think of a better place to raise my kids, but in the rural lifestyle in the country of Colorado, they're in the rodeo in the NLB era. Just because we could put all three of our girls together, travel as a family only had one truck to go one trailer to go, you know, that was a real blessing in our lives. And we were thankful that's kind of where the chaplaincy started, for me was in the NLP era, when I took over doing a lot of that was asked to do the finals when they were in Pueblo, Colorado. And I was thrilled to and just kind of felt like that was my niche, finally, that I could find a spot, you know, in the in the rodeo world could be a chaplain could be in ministry, but didn't have to be in a church be in a church building. And so it's been an honor to be that I, you know, you talk about national chaplaincy, I was appointed that position. Wow. And I told them, I would only do it as an interim until they found someone else.

Taylor McAdams: Oh, gosh, how long ago was that?

Ronnie Moyer: I don't know. 15 years. Here you are? Well, I think I gave my I think I gave my farewell address to the National little bridges finals, I think two or three years ago, and I'm still going, we're looking forward to that. That'll be I got to Rodeo Bible camps to do with kids. And then we're off the first the end of June. The first part of July is the national lubricious finals in Oklahoma. So we'll that's our next big event to head to have to the rodeo bible camp. Wow,

Taylor McAdams: Ronnie, I, I'm just in awe of everything you just said. And I'm so appreciative that you shared your life story with us because there's a lot of people I know our listener demographic ranges, but a lot of our listeners are kind of my age range a little bit younger, some older, and no matter what our life experiences are, it seems like this is definitely a season of learning and figuring out who you are. I know I'm only in year two of marriage and I still don't know what I what it means to be a wife. You know, I'm learning every day and I'm so thankful that my husband treats treats it as like a relationship with the Lord first that we keep the Lord first in our relationship and then each other and that we sharpen each other. And I feel like lately my husband's definitely been the one that's like, okay, Taylor, you need to wake up early. You need to spend an extra 10 minutes reading your Bible, you know, you need to get into it. But before we go, I do have that quick question because there's a lot of I just really feel like I need to ask this question because it might be something I'm going through. It might be something that one of our listeners is going through but we had an a few episodes ago now. There was a lady on here that is really good about encouraging others and whatever she feels led to do. She'll she'll do Definitely reach out to these friends. But we were talking about how hard it is to memorize Scripture. And I don't remember now if it was on on the podcast or off, but either way, I know what my husband would say my husband would say the only way to memorize Scripture is to read the Scripture, live it out every single day. And so now we've started a challenge where we do a verse a week, and there's some weeks when it's I struggle, there's there's definitely ones when I challenged myself to choose a lot, a lot longer verse that's a little bit more deep or meaningful, or, you know, a shorter one. So I guess really quick, what's your best piece of advice for anyone out there that's younger, or I don't want to use the word Baby Christian, but you know, like new to the faith that is really wanting to dive in and get to memorize Scripture more, what's your best advice there?

Ronnie Moyer: You know, it is it's it's familiarity with the word. And I don't know, any substitute to that, you know, you can write it down, you can paste it, you know, on doors and, and medicine cabinet when you're brushing your teeth. And, and but it's the familiarity. It's when you see it, and you see it and you see it and you see it and you see it. And I am an advocate, you know, of apologetics. I think apologetics goes beyond any denomination, or association. And so it answers the questions of why who what when, and I give out apologetics bibles to new believers. And Sean McDowell. Sean is the son of Josh McDowell. Both of them have for for eons done apologetic stuff, you know how to defend your Faith, especially for high school, college students going into a secular world. And so graduation gifts and wedding gifts, I try to give out, you know, an apologetics Bible that they can take. And the beautiful thing about it is is it has like questions in the front that says, you know, how do we know God exists? How do we how do we refute? Or? Or how do we defend creation when we're when we're confronted with evolution? You know, where did where did Cain and Abel, get get their wives from? You know, if there's only Adam and Eve? Where did where did the girls come from? And so it answers basic questions, but it also gets into answering the tough questions. Is there an eternity? Is there a heaven? Is there a hell? One of the amazing things a year ago was was that to watch how many students would laugh when I asked them in a small group? I asked them I said, if I was wearing my bullfighters of faith has three guys little britches, high school and college Bill writers that died in the arena. And one of the boys asked me about and I was a high school student, they said, Well, do you understand what that means? And then they said, Yeah, they died. That's their year. And I said, Yeah, I said, you're getting on tomorrow. Where will you spend eternity? These guys? I guarantee you when they got on that bull, a crawl down that chute. They never dreamt that that would be their last few moments on Earth. They never dreamed that. No. I said what about you? And the scoffing of mom leaving her as like, well, you need to because it's a reality. And through that week, to watch the transformation. And again, it's not, it's not us, it's not me. It's not. It's it's not. It's the word of God. Faith comes by hearing hearing comes by the word of God. So I could get up there all day. And tell you stories about myself, or accolades or whatever you want to call it. And, and maybe hold your attention and get a few laughs and and get a Wow. But that's not going to transform a person's life. And that's not going to rescue somebody from burning in hell for eternity. And get them into habit. Faith has to come by hearing the Word of God, not my stories, not my accolades, not my awards, not my trophies, not my buckles. None of that is going to transform your life. The only thing is going to transfer, transform your life is the word of God. That's what I think this generation more than ever before needs to hear. Amen. Because they're not hearing that from the world. Education doesn't tell them that so any of the churches, bless their hearts don't tell them that. parents aren't telling them that. And so we have to stand up and take a stand that, you know the Word of God is God breathed. It's living. It's active, sharper than any two edged sword. And when you look at Second Timothy, chapter three, starting in fact, and 15, he says, You are taught the Holy Scriptures from from childhood. Well, that was me. I was. And those scriptures have given you eternal life. I to me, and then it goes on it says, The Word of God is useful for teaching us what is right. correcting us when we're wrong, and training us to do what's right to live righteously. And so there's just nothing else that's going to help but the Word of God. And so I just, that's my passion. That's my desire. That's what I want to instill. I still did it. My girls bless their hearts, and now to my grandsons. And and that's what keeps me going in in the chaplaincy, honestly, because I'm retirement age.

Taylor McAdams: You're right, you're right. You could you should you could be, yeah,

Ronnie Moyer: The word of God. 

Taylor McAdams: And you could be full time, grandpa, but you're gonna continue to bless others. And that's really what I love and appreciate and respect about you. And unfortunately, we're out of time for this week's episode. But I have just been so in awe of everything that you've laid down for us today. Thank you for speaking truth. And not only just truth, but the truth into us. I feel like the the truth is hard to hear that sometimes. So I really do appreciate everything that you're doing. And like I said before, if you guys are interested in learning more about Fellowship of Christian cowboys, go to their website, go to their Facebook page, you can follow along to see if you're going to a rodeo that they might be at where you can get plugged in there. But Ronnie, I got to ask to where can people donate if they want to donate to you guys? Is it on online?

Ronnie Moyer: They can donate right there online.

Taylor McAdams: Okay, awesome. Yeah, guys, I encourage you to if you're out there listening and you feel called to give up a little bit of extra money that you have or skip Starbucks a few times just to donate to the Fellowship of Christian Cowboys and everything that they do. They are truly helping keep rodeo alive as well. So if you're a lover of rodeo, you love going to the rodeos, get plugged in with them, follow along, see what they're up to. And Ronnie, I cannot say thank you enough. This has been so so good to hear. And I appreciate every talk that we have. And I'm glad that we finally got to have an interview that was longer than five minutes to get to dig a little bit deeper.

Ronnie Moyer: Thank you for the format. I appreciate it, sweetie. 

Taylor McAdams: Yes, Ronnie. It's been so good. And I wish you the best of everything that you do this this summer with the rodeo camps with all the FCC events that you're doing with the rodeo. So we'll be following along, and we'll see you the next time you kick your boots up.

Ronnie Moyer: Thank you so much.

Taylor McAdams:  Thanks for joining us on Kick Your Boots Up. I'm your host, Taylor McAdams, and we can't wait to share the next story of the West. Until then, feel free to like, subscribe, and leave us a review. Follow us on social media at Justin Boots to keep up with our next episode. And we'll see you the next time you kick your boots up.