We ride. We worship.
We share the Gospel.
A church for the Western community. We meet in arenas, barns, and on ranches — because that's where our people already are.
You don't have to clean yourself up before you come to Jesus.
Bring your family.
Wear your boots and your hat.
Pull up a chair.
There's a place for you here.
Take the Bible
to where the
people already are
A handful of folks gathered around bull riding. It grew into riders, ranchers, cowboys, families, and people from every walk of life, worshiping Jesus together.
Church doesn't have to be four walls. Sometimes it's boots in the dirt. Worship beside an arena. Kids running loose on a ranch. Cowboys praying together before they climb on. Families hearing the Gospel under an open sky.
Jesus is why we're here.
Reach the lost
Bring the Gospel past the walls of a traditional church and into the places our people already live.
Build disciples
Open the Word together and grow in it — not once, but week after week, year after year.
Strengthen families
Marriages, kids, grandkids. What's built at home outlasts everything else we do.
Serve our community
Show up for Kern County with our hands and our time, not just our words.
Share Jesus through
the Western way of life
The culture we love is not a gimmick. It's the door, and Jesus is what's on the other side of it.
One church.
One family.
One mission.
Make Jesus known.
When we get together
Twice a month right now, and building toward something bigger. Come early — the coffee's on before anything starts, and nobody will make a fuss about you standing at the back.
Bibles & Bulls
Worship and the Word first. Bull riding after. Come out for the Word, stay for the ride — and bring a chair.
Sunday Service
Church in the dirt. Worship, the Word, and prayer for whoever needs it. Families welcome — the kids aren't a problem here, they're the point.
Launch Sunday
The day Bibles & Bulls becomes a weekly church. Everything between now and then is us getting ready for it.
Where we meet
Funny Farm Arena
2731 Enos Ln
Bakersfield, CA
Out on Enos Lane west of town. Plenty of room to park a truck and trailer. Come early — the coffee's on before anything starts.
Bring the kids.
All of them.
Nobody here is going to give you a look because your kid is loud, dusty, or halfway up a fence.
Little Riders is our ministry for kids — the Gospel at their level, plus room to run. At the bigger events, we put on mutton bustin', and it is exactly as good as it sounds.
If you've got teenagers who'd rather be at the chutes than anywhere else, bring them too. That's most of us.
Small groups, Western style
A round pen is the small circle where a horse gets started — patient, close up, one at a time. That's what happens in these.
Eight or ten people in somebody's shop, barn, or front porch. You read a little Scripture, you talk honest, you pray for each other, and you don't leave until it's said. No curriculum you have to keep up with. No pressure to talk if you'd rather listen the first few times.
Men's pens, women's pens, and a couple that are open to everybody. New ones start whenever somebody's willing to host.
Find a Round Pen
Join the Outfit
Out here, your outfit is the crew you ride with. Ours is the group that shows up early, sets it all up, and stays late to tear it down.
You don't need to be a polished believer to be useful. If you can carry a panel, hand somebody a cup of coffee, or keep an eye on the kids, there's a job with your name on it.
Pastor Charlie Salazar
Charlie leads Bibles & Bulls. You'll usually find him with a microphone in one hand, standing in the dirt, saying something plain enough that nobody has to pretend they followed it.
I gave my life to Christ at fourteen. By eighteen, church hurt pushed me out, and I spent about sixteen years trying to do life on my own. Some of those seasons were dark — one of them nearly ended with me going over a cliff. Looking back, I can see He never stopped coming after me. I was the prodigal, and He was waiting.
When He brought me back, He put Bibles & Bulls on my heart. I knew there were people like me — people who believed in God but got hurt, walked off, or never felt right inside a church building. So instead of waiting on them to come to us, we take the Gospel to them.
If you haven't been to church in twenty years, I understand. I was gone for sixteen. You don't have to have it figured out.
In bull riding, nobody can give the nod for the rider. Faith is the same. Nobody can nod for you — but when you're ready, give God your nod and see what He does.
Reach out to Pastor Charlie
His family
Carina and I have been married ten years. Our marriage has been through its share of battles and seasons that tested us, and she has stood beside me through every one of them. I believe God put her in my life on purpose. We keep choosing each other, our family, and our faith.
Penelope is seven. She's the one who made us parents. Brave, sharp, and impossible to talk out of anything she's decided.
Emmanuel is six. He's growing up surrounded by faith and family, watching the example we're working to set for him.
Niko is three. He's the character of the house — the personality, the laughter, the noise, and a fair bit of chaos. He's what makes this home complete.
If you come out, you'll meet all five of them. They're usually the ones setting up chairs.
Build it with us
Every dollar goes into panels and chairs, into gas and stock, into feeding people, and into the arena we believe this church will one day stand on.
The vision is bigger than bull riding — worship, teaching, kids and youth ministry, outreach, and a place of our own. Giving is how it gets built.
Secure giving through Planning Center. One time or recurring, card or bank — and you'll get a receipt for your records. You can also hand it to anybody on the Outfit at a gathering.
Nod when you're ready
In bull riding, nothing happens until the rider nods. The gate stays shut until he says he's ready — and nobody nods for him. Same here. Tell us what you're after and we'll take it from there.