I’m a retired preacher. They call me Hank and I was a preacher plain and simple. I was cowboy preacher, I preach in boots, jeans and a hat.  The folks who came to my church come as they were, no fancy dress codes, sometimes folks bring their dogs, outside of the church you might find cattle feeding and you’ll usually find more pickups than sedans in the lot and either before or after service, some of them have to go feed animals.

My calling is to tell people about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and what He can do in our lives.  I don’t have all the education in the world, I don’t have bunches of initials after my name, I don’t pretend to be the smartest kid in class. I don’t blow smoke up anyone’s pants and I don’t sugar coat reality, I spread the Word of God, no more – no less.

I can say with 100 percent assurance is that I have seen the change in people’s lives when they stop living for themselves, turn to God and ask for forgiveness for their past sins and start living by Jesus’ teachings. 

As the pastor of a cowboy church, my ministry was and my current ministry is geared towards those folks who won’t go to church, who feel betrayed by a church, who feel betrayed by God, who sometimes feel let down by God, by family, by friends, by society, who just feel left out. My motto is ‘Not perfect, but forgiven’ and once forgiven we are saved through the grace of God.

Everything I have gone through in my life has prepared me for the ministry I follow today.  I know that in my own life I was one who didn’t go to church, I felt betrayed by a church, I felt that God had gotten mad at me and killed my mother, I felt that God really didn’t care about me or my problems, I had failed as a father and a husband, I had been betrayed by business partners, I had few if any close friends, very rarely did I speak to or have anything to do with my family and I didn’t feel like I belonged anywhere.  I was a loner and I liked it. 

And that’s what this book is all about, this book comes from a collection of messages I’ve delivered and lived.  I delivered them on a radio program called the Cowboy Gospel Hour, which ran for about 15 years.  As I said, I’ve lived them for the past 40 years and I finally learned lessons from them over the past 20 years.

I’ve known and I know people who were hard living, hard drinking people who woke up one morning worshiping at the porcelain alter and decided enough was enough and turned to God.  I’ve known and I know people who were so depressed that the only solution they could envision was suicide, I’ve known and I know people who were so addicted to drugs and alcohol and were down so low they needed a ladder to see the edge of the curb and I’ve known and I know people who were either abused or abusive and couldn’t figure out any way to break the cycle.  And then these people opened the Bible, turned to the teachings of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and found the light they were looking for.

The messages I deliver are based on the observations I have made watching and working with these folks and everyone else I come into contact with.  My messages aren’t filled with deep theological ramblings or vague concepts, they are straight forward and designed for both the Christian believer and the non-Christian questioner, whether you’re living out in the country surrounded by nature or living in the middle of the concrete jungle.

They are messages of hope, of love and most importantly they are based on the teachings of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. They deal with the issues that each and every one of us have faced or may face, we take a look at dealing with Fear, Frustration, Depression, Overcoming Obstacles of Life and finally maintaining and strengthening our ability to Hope.  The solutions I bring up are the ones I have found that have helped me and the people I know. 

Being a Christian or living as a Christian is a choice, you are free to reject the teachings of Jesus if you so desire, it’s your life and you alone will have to answer for your choices.  The messages I deliver are intended to help folks understand that the Gospel of Jesus is indeed a living Gospel, and it is as appropriate for us today as it was when it was first taught 2,000 years ago.

So saddle up and let’s get started.