What is Cowboy Church? Cardinal Ranch recently hosted a Cowboy Church on its grounds, which began with a horse demonstration. “We have found that horses can be a great metaphor to help us dive into quite a few deep conversations,” says Cardinal Ranch co-owner Devanee Cardinal. “For example, horses operate best on trust rather than on fear, just like us.” On Sunday, the horse had some fear issues and was learning to use his relationship with Shelby (one of the teens) to help him navigate that fear and gain confidence. Shelby is part of Cardinal Ranch’s Teen Development Program and she and the other teens came up with the message and decided how to show it with the horse, Bluejay. “They talked about how they could relate to Bluejay because when he became uncertain he would run away, be very distracted, or fight against the person trying to help them,” Cardinal says. They could relate to how it was hard for them to show their fears and deal with them in an honest way like the horse was doing. Cardinal says the teens had just been without their phones for two weeks, and were recognizing how much they were using screen time as a way to distract themselves from processing some difficult emotions. Afterwards, they circulated a question: “When things get hard, what do you believe about yourself, God, or others? One answer was that when things get hard sometimes the person thinks God has left them alone, but really they have just taken their eyes off Him like Bluejay did when he saw the tarp. The service is followed by food and visiting and is “super casual” Cardinal says. “I think many people are not comfortable in church buildings for one reason or another, but are still interested in having a setting where deeper faith questions can be talked about.” /PHOTOS SUBMITTED
