Kade Madsen, of Honeyville, Utah, has temporarily left bull riding in the prime of his career to serve the Lord for two years in Nashville, Tennessee
Professional bull rider Kade Madsen was watching the Cheyenne (Wyoming) Frontier Days pro rodeo behind the bucking chutes last July when he received the email with his mission call for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Surrounded by curious team members and other bull riding buddies, the 18-year-old cowboy from Honeyville, Utah, eagerly began to read the opening lines when a wise thought forced him to pause.
“I better call my parents and at least let them know what I am doing so that they don’t get mad at me,” Madsen said. “So I hurried and called them and said you got two minutes to get down here or I’m reading it.”
Moments later, parents Doug and Sonya Madsen had joined the group of 10 people. With their son, the Madsens were the only three Latter-day Saints in the huddle. Yet everyone knew how important the occasion was to Kade and seemed to lean in with anticipation as he resumed reading.
When Kade announced he going to Nashville, Tennessee, the news was met with happy wishes and hearty congratulations, followed by an abundance of questions. He was more than willing to explain what it all meant and why he was stepping away from the sport he loved for the next two years.
“This past summer, being around all those good people in the Professional Bull Riders, it made me realize how blessed I am to live where I do, to be born into the fullness of the gospel, and to know there is a bigger purpose,” said Madsen, who started his mission with the home missionary training center on Dec. 4. “I decided to serve a mission for myself, because I would benefit from it, and to help others. I know I can make a difference.”
Riding bulls
Growing up in a family with years of rodeo experience, Kade Madsen said he started riding sheep around age 3 and climbed onto his first mini-bull when he was 4 years old.
“To be honest, it scared me quite a bit,” he said of the memory. “I didn’t know that I was going to be a bull rider. I wanted to be a bareback rider.”
In the years that followed, Kade watched his older brother, Briggs Madsen, become adept at riding the jumping, kicking and snorting 1,500- to 2,000-pound bulls. With persistence and will power, Kade said he overcame his fears and grew to love bull riding through years of practice on a variety of livestock.
At age 15, Madsen became the youngest person to win the Lane Frost Challenge, one of the premier bull riding events in Vernal, Utah, in 2021. He won the same event again in 2023.
He joined a bull-riding tour called the Challenge of Champions and won that in 2022.
Madsen only singled out those accomplishments, but there were many other rodeo competitions and victories that prepared him for what would come after his 18th birthday, and he did it while suffering relatively few injuries.
“I’ve been pretty lucky,” he said. “I broke both elbows twice when I was in junior high. I’ve torn a couple groins. But I have been pretty blessed and lucky in my career.”
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