BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

"As years passed, in addition to horses, I worked for an oil company. One day in the late '90s, Chad came to me and said, 'Hey Dad, they've started a cowboy church at the barn where they sell cows. It's on Monday evenings, and I'd like to go." Our 13-year-old son wanted more church? Ted thought. "We didn't have to discuss it," Ted recalls. "We added Monday evenings to our Sunday and Wednesday church routine. After a few weeks, I realized that the evangelists had to clean the barn and set up the sound equipment every week. Since I got off work at 4 o'clock, Jan and I took over doing that. I had prayed that God would give me an opportunity to meet with Glenn Smith, the person who started and headed up Church at the Barn, one on one. "We'd been attending for about six months when Jan dropped me off at the church one Monday evening to clean, because she had an errand to run. When I walked in, Glenn was there." A former rodeo clown, Glenn Smith had dedicated his life to bringing the gospel to the rodeo circuit. Because rodeos were generally held Thursday through Sunday, in most cases participants were unable to attend regular church services. Glenn lived in Post, Texas, but spent considerable time traveling across the country preaching the gospel and establishing cowboy churches. Along with two other cowboys, Corey Ross and Trey Johnson, they had started the Lubbock Church at the Barn. "It was a God connection and an answered prayer," Ted now says of his first meeting with Glenn. "I found out that he and his wife, Ann, were close friends with Kenneth and Gloria. Ann had also been close friends with Kenneth's mother. They were very strong in faith." Glenn soon became a good friend and mentor to Ted. "They introduced us to the Southwest Believers' Convention and KCM's Ministers' Conference. We attended those meetings faithfully, and even bought recordings of the conference messages. To this day, I listen to them over and over in my pickup truck. They have taught us how to live in the fullness of the Covenant. Every time we go to a meeting, we feel like we've just been fed by a fire hose." The Call Ted should have been happy. He had a wonderful marriage and great kids. He enjoyed his job and both the churches they attended. But something seemed…off. Often, Jan would come home from work and ask, "What's wrong?" How could he tell her when he didn't have any idea himself ? One afternoon Ted sat at the kitchen island reading his Bible. He was excited about the horse he'd just bought, yet something wasn't right. Ted jumped up and said, "Lord, You're going to have to show me what's going on. It's driving me up the wall! Just show me!" Opening his Bible, words from 1 Corinthians 1:26 (NKJV) seemed to leap off the page: "For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called." Ted sighed. He'd never felt worthy of the call. It seemed God was telling him that wasn't the criteria. Looking up toward heaven, he spoke one word: "Yes." Five days later, Glenn Smith called. "Ted, we've had a thousand salvations this year, but where are they? We've got to start discipling people," Glenn said. "I want you and Jan to be the Bible teachers at Church at the Barn." Ted and Jan soon realized the sale barn was not large enough to accommodate their growing Bible study group. One of the cowboys who had gotten saved at the sale barn, and his wife, offered their feed store as a meeting place on Tuesday evenings. They had nearly 100 people meeting there." One evening Glenn came by and said, "You are building your church!" "Not my church!" Ted insisted. "We are a part of this with you! "Glenn was confirming what had been prophesied to me all those years ago." Soon after, Glenn and Corey began talking to Ted and Jan about getting ordained and calling them the pastors of the church. As Ted was just driving up to the barn one night, he received yet another call from Glenn. "What are you doing?" he asked. "I'm just pulling into the parking lot of the sale barn," Ted answered. "Good, you're up." "You're up!" That's how it started. By October 2000, Ted and Jan were ordained. On Jan. 1, 2003, the church was officially turned over to them. It was renamed West Texas Church at the Barn, known today as West Texas Church. The Warning In 2004, Ted was walking across the arena when he heard the Lord say, Go get a physical. That was odd, Ted thought. He was only 48 years old and had always been in good health. Still, he 1 2 : B V O V NOV READ THROUGH THE BIBLE Old Testament New Testament Fri 1 Jer. 38:14-41:18 Jas. 3 Sat 2 Jer. 42-44 Sun 3 Ps. 119: 89-136; Prov. 27:1-22 Mon 4 Jer. 45:1-48:25 Jas. 4 Tues 5 Jer. 48:26-49:39 Jas. 5 Wed 6 Jer. 50:1-51:19 1 Pet. 1 Thu 7 Jer. 51:20-52:23 1 Pet. 2 Fri 8 Jer. 52:24- 1 Pet. 3 Lam. 2:22 Sat 9 Lam. 3 Sun 10 Ps. 119:137-176; Prov. 27: 23-28:14 Mon 11 Lam. 4:1-Ezek. 1:21 1 Pet. 4 Tue 12 Ezek. 1:22-4:17 1 Pet. 5 Wed 13 Ezek. 5-7 2 Pet. 1 Thu 14 Ezek. 8:1-11:13 2 Pet. 2 Fri 15 Ezek. 11:14-13:23 2 Pet. 3 Sat 16 Ezek. 14:1-16:34 Sun 17 Ps. 120-126; Prov. 28:15-28 Mon 18 Ezek. 16:35-18:9 1 Jn. 1 Tue 19 Ezek. 18:10-20:32 1 Jn. 2 Wed 20 Ezek. 20:33-22:16 1 Jn. 3 Thu 21 Ezek. 22:17-23:49 1 Jn. 4 Fri 22 Ezek. 24-26 1 Jn. 5 Sat 23 Ezek. 27-28 Sun 24 Ps. 127-132; Prov. 29:1-14 Mon 25 Ezek. 29-31 2 Jn. Tue 26 Ezek. 32-33 3 Jn. Wed 27 Ezek. 34:1-36:15 Jude Thu 28 Ezek. 36:16-38:17 Rev. 1 Fri 29 Ezek. 38:18-40:27 Rev. 2 Sat 30 Ezek. 40:28-42:14

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