Montague County Cowboy Church disciples men, sees life transformation on annual cattle drive

In 2011, Montague County Cowboy Church Pastor Joe Caballero took a camping trip with his family, along with two other families, to Carson National Forest in New Mexico. While camping, they met the man who cares for the cattle grazing in that area. 

“The [cattle owners] hire a guy they call a ‘rider’ to stay in the mountains with the cattle all summer, keep an eye out, ride fences and so forth. Well, we were camped right where he was because there's some horse pens up there [and] we made friends with him,” explained Caballero. 

The rider introduced Caballero to the cattle owners Jeff Martinez of Rio Vega Ranch and Jeff Larsen of Don Larsen Land & Cattle Co., both located in Alamosa, Colorado. Caballero learned that Martinez and Larsen “round [the cattle] up in October” when he and a friend were in Alamosa the next weekend to retrieve some misplaced equipment from their camp, and the two volunteered to help “drive [the cattle] out of the mountain.”

Caballero said this “turned into an annual thing.”

“Now I know why Jesus left and always went into the mountains to pray and get re-energized and then come back and start ministering again,” said Caballero. 

Over the years of returning to Carson National Forest to help Martinez and Larsen drive cattle, God was laying it on Caballero’s heart that he could involve more men in the experience. In 2020, he said the Lord “really started pushing” the idea for “The Drive,” a week of worship, discipleship and driving cattle for Montague County Cowboy Church men. 

“I was thinking, ‘No one's going to want to do this’... [but] God just kept on and on, and finally I said ‘Okay I'll bring it before the church. We'll see if anybody's interested,’ and when I made the announcement about ‘The Drive,’ [there was a great response],” said Caballero. 

Caballero said God gave him an analogy for what would be the mission of “The Drive”: to help get men to Jesus “from wherever they are.” 

“On the last day [of The Drive], we drive them like 20, 21 miles out of the mountains, all the way down to the shipping pens,” explained Caballero. “The analogy of it is if we don't get the cattle out before winter hits, the first snow, they're going to be snowed in, and the cattle, they're going to die. Same thing with our men today. Sometimes you don't even realize you're in a desolate area, but you need people to come and gather you up and move you to a better place [which] is being with Christ.” 

In October 2023, men from Montague County Cowboy Church traveled to Carson National Forest for the inaugural trip of “The Drive,” which served as a training year for the “Wranglers,” men who care for the camp and horses, and who also serve as ministers to the guests. 

Caballero said he was encouraged by the change he saw in the men when they returned from “The Drive.” 

“It set these guys on fire, the ones that were up there for the training. It created a camaraderie of men that now are friends and coming back after that week together, how they acted in church was totally different,” said Caballero. 

Discipling while driving cattle 

Every Oct. 1-6, 30 men are invited to participate in “The Drive,” 12 as guests and the rest come to serve as Wranglers, chuckwagon cooks or video crew for the week. 

Guests arrive at the camp on the evening of Oct. 1 and are briefed on the week ahead. The next two days, participants will gather for their morning tent meeting, where they will hear a devotional “to reflect on throughout the day” and prepare for the evening tent meeting, which will be a worship service. In between tent meetings, guests will pair up with a Wrangler and gather cattle into “The Beaver,” a 12,000-acre pasture where the cattle are contained on the mountain. 

Caballero said pairing up guests with Wranglers is intentional for both safety and discipleship. 

“Everybody has a partner, that way if something happens, somebody is there to help them. So we always do two by two, just like Jesus sent his disciples out, we send the guys out two by two,” explained Caballero. “So these Wranglers have the opportunity to minister to them all day long while they’re gathering cattle.”

After taking an “off day” on the third day, guests “do the big gathering where we go over into ‘The Beaver’ [and] gather all the cattle that day that are in that pasture, and we put them in this trap. Then the next day, we'll get up and we're going to drive them all the way down the mountain.” 

“The Drive” is concluded with “a big church service” to focus on how Caballero and the Wranglers "can help these guys get out of the [spiritual] predicaments that they're in.” 

Caballero said the powerful part of the week is hearing how God moved in the guests’ lives. 

“We have a video crew that goes with us and they interview every guest. The night [guests] get there, [the video crew will] interview and say, ‘What are you here for? What do you expect?’ Those are your two main questions. Then on the last day, they'll interview [guests] again and say, ‘So did you get what you were looking for?’… That's where the power is,” said Caballero. 

Becoming a “night and day different man”

One testimony from “The Drive” that was particularly powerful for Caballero was that of Dewey Hill’s. 

Hill went on the first Drive in 2023 after reconnecting with Caballero and beginning to attend Montague County Cowboy Church. 

“I've known him since he was a kid [and] I hadn't seen him in years, and then all of a sudden Dewey pops up again and [was] living a life that was taking him nowhere… [So] I said, ‘Well, if I get him on this Drive, maybe it'll grab a hold of him [spiritually],’” explained Caballero.  

Caballero said the first year he “just walked around with a cup of coffee in his hand” and didn’t participate. But he decided not to give up on Hill and invited him to attend “The Drive” again in 2024. 

“The second year, [Hill was doing] the same thing, and I told the guys, I said, ‘I'm going to have to [not invite] him [back] because as much money as this costs us, I need guys that are serious and who are going to be all in,” explained Caballero. 

Caballero said the next night, Hill returned from taking a call after the tent meeting was over and said, “‘You're going to have to preach that sermon again… I've got to know what y'all talked about.’”

“I preached that sermon all over again and he surrendered himself right there, gave himself to the Lord [and] got baptized the next day,” said Caballero. “It's been the most miraculous thing to see the power of God change the men that you think are a hopeless case, but the Lord says, ‘No, I’ve got him.’” 

Hill asked Doug White, a chuckwagon cook on “The Drive,” to baptize him. He said over his two years of attending “The Drive,” White became a “father figure” to him. 

“I don't think that Doug and I had ever even shaken hands or exchanged conversation at church before we got up [to New Mexico]. But from that year to the following year, we did develop a relationship,” explained Hill. “[He’s had] an amazing impact on my life.” 

Hill said since accepting Christ, he’s a “night and day different man.” 

“I totally said, ‘Here you go, I'm done. I want to live for you… and I've never looked back,’” said Hill. “I hope the way I live is evident to those around me.” 

Caballero said he witnessed Hill go through a transformation he doesn’t see often. 

“[Hill’s] on fire. I'm so excited about him because I've seen him grow up and the lifestyle that he lived, and what he's doing now– this transformation, I'm telling you, doesn't happen like this very often,” said Caballero. “He said, ‘The Lord says now, so I'm in,’ and he has changed everything. It's just unbelievable.”

“Making more men of God” 

Caballero said, “it's been a blessing to see the change in the men that have come up here.” 

“[God] just keeps sending the right guys every time,” said Caballero. “Most of the guys come from our church, so it's been a real pleasure seeing them when they come back. Now they're involved in church, and they're getting involved in different parts of the ministries within the church. They've got this tight brotherhood now [and] are just having the best time of their life.” 

Caballero said he’s looking forward to “The Drive” 2026 looking a little different. 

“So this year, we're going to send out to the cowboy churches, and we're going to try to get the churches that maybe sponsor two guys from each church,” explained Caballero. “I’m hoping it's going to be a good mission outreach for their men because we need to get our men back in the game.”

Caballero said he’s excited to get other churches involved in “The Drive.” 

“I’ve seen [men] change, and that's been the blessing about it. So what I look forward to is the next change,” said Caballero. 

Caballero said cowboys are “tough, set in their ways,” but are looking to stand up for the truth. 

“They're going to tear everything down to make sure that whatever you tell them is the truth,” said Caballero. “Once they get a hold of the truth, the Bible, they'll fight for it, they'll stand up. They don't care what anybody thinks. That's what I'm looking forward to: making more men of God.”

You can learn more about “The Drive” and hear stories of life change on YouTube.  

To learn more about Texas Baptists Western Heritage, visit txb.org/ministries/western-heritage.