The menu consists of brisket, "tator salad," coleslaw, and beans, with a lot of love, compassion and mercy thrown in the mix.
Those baked beans might look like a typical item on a catered dinner menu, but Monty Muehlebach, pastor and cooking entrepreneur, uses his cooking platform as a ministry to reach others.
Muehlebach loves to speak with people, solve problems, cook up a storm and ease pain. He provides comfort through his food and through his presence.
He builds his business through networking, gaining ground for his uniquely-made smoked sausages and cheeses, pulled pork and barbecue brisket.
Muehlebach also spreads the Good Word to anyone who needs it. He's not concerned about building the membership numbers of his nondenominational church, open to anyone.
"I'm not out there drumming for my church," he said. "It's about being there and being present."
A Different Path
Muehlebach is very open about his life. He's a divorced pastor who is a former drug user. He made the decision to turn his life over to Christ during a three-day high. Muehlebach had been awake for about three days and still high when he thought, "There has to be more to life than this."
He turned to his Bible and began studying and reading it voraciously. In time, he began leading Bible studies at the Sims Store near Pineville.
Muehlebach moved to McDonald County in 2004 and operated the Sims Store, offering hamburgers, grilled items and other goods to neighbors. He launched a catering business in 2006, mainly due to the elimination of the grill at that point.
From there, he launched Muehlebach Steak & Pubhouse.
"We did really, really well," he said.
That success propelled him to open the same in Rogers. But that enterprise went sour and he closed the operation.
Cowboy Catering Company, however, continued to help him market his unique style of cooking.
"I've always catered," he said.
Despite quite a bit of area competition, Cowboy Catering Company does well, lining up gigs for almost every weekend.
"My style of cooking is hard to find," he said. "Nobody uses the cookers like I do or cooks the way I do it."
Though some customers have encouraged him to seek brick and mortar, Muehlebach is content with the freedom to set his own schedule. That way, if a church member is hospitalized and needs his help, he has the ability to "take off work" and visit with him.
Helping Others
On this particular Saturday afternoon, Muehlebach talks while he prepares potato salad and beans. His ex-wife, Tamara, assists him with many pounds of coleslaw.
As the meat stays warm in his rotating cooker inside his trailer, Muehlebach shares that his catering gigs can span from 40 people for a family picnic or business gathering, to 200 for wedding receptions or 300 people for a bigger dinner.
As he prepares the menu for the large dinner at seven that night, the tables inside the Arkansas Air and Military Museum's hangar are already set. Others scurry around, putting final touches on the tables that are decorated with antique, country or rustic-looking items, including cowboy boots with lace and burlap. About 300 people are expected to dine on Muehlebach's dinner, then listen to Barrett Baber sing, as the fundraiser rolls out to help support Soldier On Service Dogs.
Funds raised help pay for service dogs who will assist soldiers when they come home. Through the organization, soldiers with PTSD have the opportunity to be paired with a service dog.
Fundraiser organizers have fully utilized the hangar as a decorative backdrop. The tables are set down the middle of the hangar, with airplanes displayed on each side. Muehlebach points to Sam Walton's first plane, which is part of the overall display.
Muehlebach first became involved in the organization's mission when he donated 250 bags of his own specially-made beef jerky for Operation Project Friday for soldiers.
The Saturday night fundraiser is his first official dinner to cater for the group. During larger events, the caterer is usually serving and making sure operations run smoothly and doesn't have the ability to speak very much with guests.
Smaller venues give him that opportunity to share life stories with others, hear about others' experiences and visit.
A Call From the Lord
With several years of catering business under his belt, Muehlebach was content to have a long-term goal of serving the Lord as a preacher.
When he came to know the Lord in 2006, he went cold turkey from using drugs. Though he had a couple of relapses, he feels Christ helped him through the recovery.
"When I found the Lord, I put my hope, faith and trust in Him," he said. "Drugs are like death. It doesn't care about your background. It controls you and consumes you."
In November of 2015, Muehlebach went to Dallas and took some classes. As part of that journey, he made a life plan. He wrote down he would start a church and planned to take on that challenge in about five years.
Two months later, he received a random phone call from a person who knew him. The gentleman did not know of his documented life plan. Instead, he told him he felt the Lord was telling him he should help him. They should fix up the Sims Store and that Muehlebach should start a church.
Muehlebach told him he was in the middle of a Daniel fast and didn't want to give him an answer. He waited 60 days before discussing it. Muehlebach was determined he was going to tie up loose ends and head to Texas. He had an opportunity down there to pastor to people in an upscale neighborhood.
He knew if he stayed here, the Lord was calling him to work with former users. He knew the challenges that he faced. Besides, he was so focused on his other opportunity, he didn't consciously consider the other gentlemen's offer.
The man told him several times, though, that he was supposed to help him start a church there. Muehlebach finally went over to the Sims Store and began walking in and around the building, taking stock of what repairs were needed.
The more he walked around, the more he was sure his path was going to be different from he expected.
"I knew I was supposed to stay," he said.
These days, Muehlebach helps members of his church -- and those who are passing through. He ministers to people at catering events and anywhere someone needs help with pain.
Does being a divorced pastor and a former drug user attract judgment from others or make him more relatable?
"Both," he said. "I think some people hold it against me and it also makes me more relatable," he said. "How can you truly relate and have compassion, unless you've been through the same thing?" he said.
Helping others -- even just one person at a time -- is his mission.
"I want to help people realize that there's more to life than mediocre," he said. "I've always tried to help elevate someone because people have helped me."
General News on 03/22/2018