Who is Jesse Mullins?

Currently in the process of expanding his website and launching an e-newsletter, as well as finding a publisher for his second Christian book, the recently drafted Original Reason, Jesse Mullins, Jr., is an editor and author whose contributions span a wide-ranging array of themes. Social commentary, Christian commentary, Bible interpretation, news reportage, and political punditry are just a few of his journalistic pursuits. His essays, personality profiles, and editorials have won him a following as an observer of human affairs, current events, art, letters, and culture—especially in the field of the American West and the cowboy tradition.

A reporter and freelance writer in the early years of his career, he was Editor-in-Chief of the award-winning American Cowboy magazine from its conception 15 years ago until July 2009. During his tenure the magazine had a nationwide and even international readership that totaled 250,000. Mullins’ opinion writing has been featured on Townhall.com, the most highly trafficked political website in the country, and his journalism and other writings are searchable on the web. In 2006 he was awarded the Will Rogers Communicator Award from the Will Rogers Memorial Commission. The award “recognizes the virtues, the values, and the consummate skills of individuals with rare talents to uplift and to inspire,” according to Commission chairman Jim Hartz, former NBC anchorman.

In 2004, Mullins and the person who was then-publisher of his magazine—William E. Bales—began work on a project that eventually became the National Day of the American Cowboy. The U.S. Senate-sponsored resolution gained passage in 2005 and was signed into effect by President George W. Bush in 2005.

Mullins has lived in Abilene, Texas, since 2008, when he wedded the former Kit Lawson and made his home with her in that West Texas city that was her hometown. They each have three children from previous marriages. Prior to that, he lived for 9 years in The Colony, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. Through his mother, Mullins is descended from a prominent line of preachers—the  Lemmons family of Arkansas, a family that produced Reuel Lemmons and other notable soldiers of the faith. Though he is not a minister himself, Mullins has filled the pulpit some two dozen times and has taught several Bible classes.

Raised in Oklahoma, he attended Oklahoma State University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Wildlife Ecology and a Master of Arts in English. All three of his children were adoptees, each of them having come up for adoption in early elementary or preschool years, and all are now grown and making their way in the world.

The author, who was raised in a Christian family, is currently a member of the University church of Christ, in Abilene. He was for 9 years a member of Rockhill church of Christ, Frisco, Texas.

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For a sampling of some choice bits from Mullins’ cowboy editing/writing life thus far, click here. This material bore the tongue-in-cheek title,”A Christian Writer’s UnChristian Writings,” when it was featured in a recent edition of his e-newsletter.

SOME CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

Recipient of the Spirit of the West Award (conferred July 21, 2009) in Ogden, Utah, during the Ogden Pioneer Days Rodeo. The award was for role in creating the National Day of the American Cowboy.

Recipient of the Will Rogers Communicator Award from the Will Rogers Memorial Commission.  To see something about the award, visit this link: http://www.willrogers.com/new/articles/cowboy_day/award/mullins.html

American Cowboy magazine won the Aim Award for best magazine in the Western lifestyle field and the Western Heritage Award for best national magazine article of the year. Motion picture actor Sam Elliott emceed the Western Heritage event at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.

Gave keynote speech before the regional convention of the National Association of Newspaper Columnists, February 2007, in Oklahoma City. Was recommended for that speaking engagement by Jim Hartz (see mention above). For more on the occasion, see this URL: http://home.earthlink.net/~bobhaught/willrogerswriter

Assisted Paul Harvey on a special commentary he did on The Great American Cattle Drive.

Editorial chosen as the featured (lead) opinion piece of the day on Townhall.com, the Heritage Foundation’s website that is the most heavily trafficked site for political commentary on the internet.

Heartland USA magazine, circulation 1 million, gave cover story treatment to profile of Sam Elliott, which had run as a cover story for American Cowboy. They did likewise with profile of Tom Selleck. 

Reader’s Digest bought reprint rights to a couple of stories American Cowboy published, and dispatched its own team to cover yet another story AC was the first to run.