Rodeo Bible Camp hones rodeo skills, teaches Christian values
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POLSON — “I like riding my horse and love worshipping God,” Johnali Johns, 8, said, giving her reasons for attending the Rodeo Bible Camp held June 14 through 17 at the Polson fairgrounds.
Johns and 49 other campers braved the wet weather and gray skies to hone their rodeo skills as well as attend chapel at the 4th annual camp.
The kids, ages 8 to 14, slept in tents every night except June 16 when they were bused to the Ronan Alliance Church to dry out, play in the gym and watch movie,s according to Jill Hoyt and Holly Porter, who mastermind the camp.
Things went amazingly well at the camp, Hoyt and Porter said, considering the wide age group and the different ability levels.
“You just get so close to them,” Hoyt noted.
Campers brought a horse, if they had one, a sleeping bag, clothes and toiletries to the camp. They attended morning and evening chapel and had two clinic times each day for their rodeo event.
Friends Dakoda Hankinson and Elizabeth Rafferty from Stevensville were excited to come to the camp just to ride. The girls claimed they didn’t even mind getting wet.
Porter and Hoyt thanked their “fabulous cooks” Cheryl Cheff and her crew Christy Houle, Dusty Rider and Krystal Zolman. The cooks prepared three meals per day and snacks for the campers.
Rodeo clinicians were: Yvette Vega, barrel racing, Bobbi Reeves, pole bending, Jessica Milliron, goat tying, Many Andersen, break away roping and Dan Porter and Steve Balgeman, bull riding. Camp Chaplain Levi Britton also tutored students in team roping.
Shane Anderson provided music and announced the events. Milliron Paint Horses provided roping stock and even let the kids dry out in their indoor arena on Thursday. Rocky and Mike Knight, Charlo, hauled in bucking stock according to Hoyt and Porter.
On Friday, after practicing and cleaning stalls, the campers put on a rodeo for parents and guardians, to display newly polished skills.
Hoyt explained that buckles were awarded but winning was not based on the fastest time or the best ride but on Christian characteristics, such as behavior in chapel and at clinic time as well as attitude.
By the end of the camp, seven campers gave their lives to the Lord, Porter said, and many rededicated themsleves to God.
