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.
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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.
You can learn more about The Drive and hear stories of life change on YouTube.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Jessica King and originally published by Baptist Standard.
