Bio
Jeff Gore
WEBSITE -www.jeffgore.org
Born
in Brownwood, Texas, Jeff grew up in a pastor’s home and
has traveled a long journey to get where he is today. From the time anyone can
remember, all Jeff wanted to be was a cowboy.
Though many children say this for a time, the desire never left him as
he grew older. At age three, Jeff began singing for churches, civic and
community groups with his family. He was seven when he prayed to receive Christ
as his personal Lord and Savior and was baptized at that time. The desire to be
a cowboy continued in his heart. So at about the age of ten, he began working
on a ranch owned by friends of the family who had a son about his age. All
through Junior High and High School, Jeff worked with horses and cattle in the
area. However, at age twelve, Jeff felt the call of God to go into full time
Christian ministry. Not understanding at the time how this would all fit into
his plans to be a cowboy and work on ranches, he struggled through the years of
education and preparation for the ministry. He graduated from Howard Payne
University in 1984 and
from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1986. For twelve years he
ministered in local churches as youth, music, and education minister,
day-working all he could along the way. Because he had continued singing and
entertaining through the years, and because he mostly sang cowboy and gospel
music, he began to get invited to cowboy poetry and music gatherings, chuck
wagon competitions, ranch rodeos, and community celebrations across the
country. Eventually, these cowboy events began using Jeff’s abilities as a
minister to do church services around the chuck wagons and in the rodeo arenas.
Though many thought it was crazy, God had finally revealed to Jeff what his
years of cowboying and ministry were all about. There was no longer a struggle
between the two. God had planned all along for them to go hand in hand. Since
1992, Jeff has been traveling full time ministering to cowboys. Now, Jeff lives
in Coleman County,
just south of Abilene, Texas, with his wife, Donna, and their
children, Mark, Addie, and Molly. He cowboys on ranches and ministers in
ranching and rural areas as well as many of those same cowboy events. He has
recorded six albums of cowboy and gospel music, was named the Male Vocalist of
the Year by the Academy of Western
Artists in 1997, and has been nominated six more times. He has appeared
in movies with Tommy Lee Jones, Sissy Spacek, and Farrah Fawcett, among others,
and has appeared in commercials for Maxwell House Coffee, and Chevy Trucks. In
September 2005, Jeff was the youngest person ever honored by the American
Cowboy Culture Association, receiving a lifetime achievement award for his
contribution to Western Music. Jeff is respected by the cowboys with which he
rides as a true hand. This is what he is most proud of. After all, from the
time anyone anyone can remember, all Jeff wanted to be was a cowboy.