A6 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 29, 2016
COMMUNITY
Riding High Ministries presents ‘living parable’ to inmates
By JADE McDOWELL
Staff Writer
The horse was older and
more stubborn than Todd
Pierce was used to, but he told
the circle of inmates around
the pen he didn’t plan to give
up on her.
“I know miracles can hap-
pen,” he said.
Pierce, founder of Riding
High Ministries, had arranged
for the 6-year-old mare to be
brought to Two Rivers Cor-
rectional Institution for a
demonstration on breaking a
horse to a saddle, conducted
as a metaphor for accepting
God’s help to change.
The horse, however, was
having none of it.
She ran around and around
the makeshift pen in the hot
sun, ignoring Pierce’s at-
tempts to calm her and elicit-
ing the occasional groan from
the inmates as she skillfully
dodged the lasso yet again.
“I would imagine this ain’t
her irst rodeo,” Pierce said,
drawing chuckles from the
audience.
“We’ve all got our own
personalities, our own fears,
our own issues,” he contin-
ued. “Hers aren’t unique.
But I think the thing that is so
damaging to her is that she’s
been doing it for so long.”
Some of the men in the
prison might be able to relate,
he said. But it wasn’t too late
for the horse and it wasn’t too
late for them.
Pierce said an unbroken
horse is an example of wasted
potential. The animal running
in circles around him had been
handed food and water with-
out anything required in re-
turn, he said, stuck behind the
same fence every day like just
another piece of livestock.
STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS
Todd Pierce comforts inmate
Jamaul Jenkins while the two
pray together Wednesday at
TRCI in Umatilla.
STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS
Todd Pierce, founder of Riding High Ministries, of Shelley, Idaho, works on saddle breaking a
horse as a group of inmates watch Wednesday at TRCI in Umatilla.
“Their only purpose is to
be consumed,” he said. “But
she’s not one of those. She’s
something special.”
Asking her to accept a sad-
dle and rider probably seemed
like a punishment to her. But
Pierce said if she took that
“leap of faith” it would allow
her to live a better life — a
life that allowed her to leave
her pasture, to see more of the
world and accomplish valu-
able things.
In the same way, Pierce
told the men lined up around
the pen, people can choose to
accept God’s love and accept
the responsibilities he gives
them. The choice can open
up their opportunities and al-
low them to change the world
around them for the better,
and it’s a choice every one
of them could make that very
day.
“It’s not tomorrow, not
yesterday, it’s this shot right
now,” he said.
Whether or not the in-
mates decided to take that
shot, the horse did. With the
help of a prison administrator
who was handy with a lasso,
the mare eventually calmed
down, allowing Pierce to rub
her nose and look into her
eyes, talking softly to her until
she was ready to let him drape
himself over her back.
“I don’t want to violate her
trust, to make her think she
has no other choice,” he said.
“She does, it’s just her other
choices suck.”
By the end of the hour-
long session, Pierce was sit-
ting on a saddle on her back,
trotting around the ring as he
testiied of the love God had
for each one of the inmates.
A “son of this world,” he
said, took care of themselves
irst no matter how it hurt oth-
ers, but a “son of the light”
showed love and humility to-
ward everyone.
“I’ve realized God isn’t
just ixing me, he wants
to recreate me,” he said.
“There’s got to be nothing left
I’m not willing to lay down
... The miracle of being one
of God’s sons is we can start
over.”
It was a message that res-
onated with many of the in-
mates, who knelt in prayer
with Pierce when he got off
the newly broken mare.
Jamaul Jenkins was
moved to tears as Pierce
approached him after the
ceremony for a one-on-one
conversation. Jenkins said
Pierce told him he had felt
prompted that he needed to
speak with him, and he was
Deans Market & Deli, Pendleton. Dix
pleaded not guilty Thursday in circuit
court in Pendleton to charges of
fourth-degree assault, strangulation
and menacing, all misdemeanors. Dix
remains in the Umatilla County Jail,
Pendleton, in lieu of $10,000 bail.
Wednesday
•Morrow County Sheriff’s Office
cited Heidi Jo Hanna Abercrombie,
45, of Irrigon, for having a poten-
tially dangerous dog.
•Hermiston police arrested
Cuauhtemoc Valenzuela, 23, of
230 E. Dogwood Ave., Hermiston,
for second-degree assault and
unlawful use of a weapon against
another.
Tuesday
•Umatilla police arrested Charles
Edward Waite Jr., 53, of Cato, New
York, for second-degree forgery,
identity theft, negotiating a bad
check, and second-degree theft.
•Boardman police arrested Tyler
Joe Stone, 28, of Hermiston, for felony
attempt to lee police.
right — Jenkins had been
struggling with the recent
death of his mother and other
heavy trials.
God works in mysterious
ways, Jenkins said, and he
believed God had worked
through Riding High Minis-
tries that day.
“Things
I’m
going
through, I really needed to
hear that,” he said.
Jenkins had never seen
anything like a horse being
broken before, but his face
lit up as he called the whole
afternoon a wonderful expe-
rience.
“I feel a weight lifted off
my shoulders,” he said. “It
feels good to be forgiven.”
Shane Hall said watch-
ing the demonstration was
a “great example of the re-
lationship between God
and man,” and Christopher
Mack said he was moved by
Pierce’s metaphors as well.
“I thought the analogy
was really itting,” he said. “I
didn’t think they could break
a horse in such a short amount
of time, but it was really gen-
uine, it wasn’t phony or con-
trived.”
Pierce, a former profes-
sional rodeo cowboy and
current chaplain for the Pro-
fessional Bull Riders circuit,
said he had created the “liv-
ing parable” not to convert
people to any speciic religion
but to help them live a better
life, both inside the prison and
after their release.
“I want these men to
change the way they perceive
themselves, and that will
change the way they conduct
themselves,” he said.
Worship
St. Johns
Episcopal Church
All People Are Welcome
Scripture, Tradition and Reason
LOG:
continued from Page A5
11:35 p.m. - A caller told law en-
forcement she asked a drunk man to
leave the residence on Walker Road,
Hermiston, because he “made the
children uncomfortable,” and now he
is driving a pickup on Bridge Road.
1:36 p.m. - The Morrow County
Sherif’s Oice responded to a report
of a woman screaming near North-
west Jones Street, Heppner, but did
not ind anything suspicious.
Family service 9am Sunday
Gladys Ave & 7th Hermiston
Fr. Dan Lediard, Priest. PH: 567-6672
LANDMARK BAPTIST
CHURCH
125 E. Beech Ave. • 567-3232
Pastor David Dever
Sun. Bible Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10:00am
Sun. Worship Service . . . . . . . . . . 11:00am
Sun. Evening Worship . . . . . . . . . . 6:00pm
Wed. Prayer & Bible Study . . . 6:00pm
www.hermistonlmbc.com
TUESDAY
12:15 a.m. - A caller reported he
saw a female walking on Ott Road,
Hermiston, and gave her a ride. She
claimed her boyfriend threatened her,
held a gun to her head, stole $800
dollars and kicked her out of a vehicle
at Ott and Airport roads. The female,
though, who said her name was
“Avalon,” did not want to go to police
because she has a warrant out of
Clackamas County. The caller said he
took her to Umatilla Inn, Umatilla. Law
enforcement did not ind her.
10:48 a.m. - A German Shepherd
on Daytona Lane, Hermiston, attacked
a neighbor’s chickens, killing one and
nearly killing or injuring others. The
owner of the fowl reported this has
happened before and would shoot
the dog.
11:38 a.m. - An Ione business
owner reported he received a lyer
from a company in Portland using his
business phone number.
3 p.m. - A Morrow County deputy
sherif assisted a school bus with chil-
dren that broke down on Interstate 84
east of Boardman.
4:35 p.m. - An Irrigon caller on
Southwest Wyoming Avenue reported
someone tried to hit her with a
cellphone and threatened to hit her
little sister. A Morrow County sherif’s
deputy arrived and told everyone
they need to be civil and separate if
they cannot.
5:43 p.m. - A child in Echo
swallowed iodine, which promoted
an adult to contact “poison control,”
where someone advised her the
substance was not toxic but could
cause a stomach ache and vomiting,
so no need for an ambulance.
ARRESTS, CITATIONS
Saturday
•Oregon State Police arrested
Lonnie Ray Martin, 67, no address
provided, for DUII and refusing to take
an intoxication level test. Police later
cited and released Martin.
Friday
•Hermiston police arrested Kristi
Deann Higheagle, 35, of Pendleton,
for driving while suspended/revoked,
possession of methamphetamine,
possession of Hydrocodone, and
resisting arrest.
•Hermiston police arrested Juan
Marin Flores, 41, no address provided,
for strangulation and harassment,
both misdemeanors.
Thursday
•Pendleton police arrested Derrick
Donovan Dix, 23, of Hermiston, on
charges of domestic violence after
receiving a report at 2:36 a.m. that
Dix pushed his girlfriend out of a
moving vehicle then took her car at
The Full Gospel
Home Church
235 SW 3rd
Phone 567-7678
Rev. Ed Baker - Rev. Nina Baker
Sunday:
Sunday School........10:00 am
Worship...................11:00 am
Evening Service........7:00 pm
Wednesday Service..7:00 pm
"Casting all your care upon him;
for he careth for you."
1 Pet. 5:7
Grace Baptist Church
555 SW 11th, Hermiston
567-9497
Nursery provided for all services
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Echo
Community Church
21 N. Bonanza Street, Echo OR
Phone: (541) 376-8108
Sunday School • 9:30am
Worship • 10:45am
Children’s Church • 11:15am
Potluck & Communion ~
First Sunday of the Month
First United
Methodist
Church Of
Hermiston
Rev. Dr. James T. Pierce, Pastor
Open Hearts, Open minds,
Open doors
191 E. Gladys Ave.
Sunday Worship at 11am
(541) 567-3002
Hermiston Seventh-day
Adventist Church
Saturdays
Adult Bible Study and Children's
classes . . . . . 9:30 a.m.
Worship Service . . . . .10:45 a.m.
Pastor Dean Lifshay
855 W. Highland Ave.
PO Box 272 • Hermiston, Oregon
541-567-8241
Our Lady of Angels
Catholic Church
565 W. HERMISTON AVE.
DAILY MASS: Monday-Friday
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . English 7:00 am
THURSDAY . . . . . . . . . Spanish 6:00 pm
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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Spanish 7:00 pm
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541-567-8441
NEW BEGINNINGS
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700 West Orchard Avenue
P.O. Box 933
Hermiston, Oregon
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oasisvineyard.us
Worship 10:00 AM
"come as you are"
First Christian
Church
"Proclaiming the Message of
Hope, Living the Gospel of Love"
SUNDAY WORSHIP 10:30 AM
SUNDAY SCHOOL 9:30 AM
CHILDREN'S CHURCH 11:00 AM
Nursery Provided
567-3013
775 W. Highland Ave., Hermiston
To share your worship times call
Terri Briggs
541-278-2678
