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Dallas County Cowboy Church is not your traditional church.
“You won’t see a coat and a tie anywhere,” said Mike McKinney, pastor of Cowboy Church. “Just everyday casual dress, boots, jeans and cowboy hats.”
When Pastor Mike was contacted to lead Cowboy Church, he and his wife, Martha, were living in Forsythe, Mont. where he had been pastoring for 18 years. His pastoral tenure in “ranch and cowboy country” made him a perfect candidate for the job.
“Three Dallas Baptist churches — Shiloh Terrace Baptist Church, Lakeside Baptist Church, First Baptist Church Sunnyvale — decided to sponsor a Cowboy Church for Dallas County,” Pastor Mike said. “Their target location was Mesquite because of its western heritage, cowboy atmosphere and activities centered around the rodeo. Once the leadership formulated a plan, they asked me to pastor the church.”
The sponsoring churches joined with the Baptist General Convention of Texas, the Dallas Baptist Association and the Texas Fellowship of Cowboy Churches for support in establishing the church. After accepting the position, Pastor Mike and Martha moved to the Dallas area, where they lived temporarily in a missions home provided by Lakeside Baptist Church. They began having bible studies and prayer meetings in the home with five other people and proceeded to develop the name and structure for what is now Dallas County Cowboy Church.
Cecil Deadman, who was a pastor for 30 years and now serves as an elder at the church, is one of its first members.“We’d lived in Mesquite for the past 8-plus years, and when we heard about the church, we made a commitment to become a part of the core group,” Deadman said. “It’s something God is doing and I’m just happy to be in on it.”
Affiliated with the Southern Baptist denomination, Cowboy Church is designed to welcome those who may not feel comfortable in a “traditional” church setting. The church organizes monthly community events in a regulation arena where they offer rodeo activities including barrel races, team roping and occasional bull-riding. Sunday morning worship is led by an 11-piece country western bluegrass band that was conceptualized by Reagan Robbins and includes guitars, bass, a fiddle, a mandolin and a banjo. And every service ends with the song “Happy Trails to You.”
Cowboy Church now meets at its new location, 4627 Pioneer Drive in Balch Springs, and will host its grand opening there Feb. 8. The event will include appearances by city officials and Dr. Randel Everett, executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, will be the guest speaker. A free chuck wagon barbecue will also take place.
For more information, visit cowboychurchofdallascounty.com.
