Our Story

By Frank Slaughter, Pastor

An incredible journey began in the fall of 2006, when Bob Gurney, Dave Putthoff and I began to dream about starting an outreach to cowboys, bikers, outsiders of all kinds, the rural community and people who just love horses and the outdoors. We started with the idea of having a monthly event to connect all these folks together under the Cross. Since then, we’ve done regular gatherings centered around everything from horse training clinics, trail rides, rodeos, team sorting, music concerts and even pot luck dinners.

We’ve learned a lot in the last two years with the biggest thing being this: Jesus said that a good shepherd will leave his flock to go find that one lost sheep (Luke 15:4-7). Now we have become shepherds — searching desperately for that one lost soul.

One of the other big things we have learned along the way is that there are lots of other folks with the same heart to find that one lost soul. Their partnership is awesome!

The name we chose for our ministry, Open Range Fellowship, appealed to us because on an open range there were no fences or barriers — in our case, nothing to hinder the work of the Lord. “Don’t fence us in,” akin to the title of an old western song, is our motto because we want to be a community that helps those who feel fenced in (or even fenced out) find the open gate that leads them home.

We also want to help them get off God’s back burner and onto the front lines of the battle that is set before all of us! We are not trying to re-invent the wheel. We just want to redefine it by keeping it simple, real and by being faithful to the calling of our Lord Jesus Christ. You see, when Jesus went to the Cross to pay for the sins of the world with His life, He said for you and for me to go out and tell others about it. Why? So they too can have eternal life simply by faith, trusting in His finished work on the Cross for their salvation.

The Lord has blessed Open Range Fellowship with a meeting place at Ransomed Heart Arena in Lone Jack, Mo. This arena was built and dedicated to the work of the Lord by Tim and Lori Raveill (see photo and directions on the back cover). It is home to “Cowboy Church” services every Saturday evening.

It is also home to HorsePower, a ministry for at-risk children. This arena is exciting because not only can we hold events such as the “Mounted Shooters” or “Lew Starret’s Sermon on the Mount,” but also have a place to meet as a community on a weekly basis.

Open Range has already birthed two extension ministries. Open Road, headed up by Calvin and Doris Jones, is reaching out to the motorcycle community. Open Trail is a trail ride ministry.

God has great plans for Open Range Fellowship, and He has great plans for you!

Happy trails, and may God bless you!