WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2018
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A13
FEATURES
SERMON FROM THE MOUNT
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
STAFF WRITER
Though Todd Pierce is used to
breaking horses as he preaches ser-
mons, he didn’t have to fight too
hard with this one.
Pierce, along with his company
Riding High Ministries, was in
Umatilla on Tuesday, at Two Riv-
ers Correctional Institution.
Pierce travels around Ore-
gon and Idaho, using the exercise
of breaking an unbroken horse as
a metaphor for how people can
change their own conduct.
Each sermon, he uses a new
horse, one that’s never been sad-
dled or ridden. Vixen, a horse now
owned by a family in Hermiston,
was rescued from a kill pen two
years ago.
Vixen showed a little hesitation
at first, but quickly grew comfort-
able with Pierce, and allowed him
to ride her.
Pierce said he was surprised by
the outcome — in most cases, he
said, he gets bucked off several
times.
But he said it didn’t take away
from the lesson.
“Two years ago this horse
was starving, abandoned, had no
future,” he said. “Someone came
along and said, that one’s mine.
Today, someone’s coming and say-
ing to you, ‘you’re mine, I’m going
to love you,’” Pierce said.
Pierce likened the struggle from
the horse, and from the rider, to the
things people have to struggle with
as they try to improve.
Todd Pierce rides Vixen the mare after she has been saddled for the first time. The exercise was part of Pierce’s sermon for Riding High Minstries.
Inmates Sal Rojas and Juan Castillo listen to a sermon
from Riding High Ministries at TRCI.
CRYPTOQUIP
Pastor Todd Pierce hugs Keegan Thompson after Pierce
gave a sermon at Two Rivers Correctional Institution.
SUPER CROSSWORD: TECH COMPANY CLOSINGS
Inmates pray at the end of a sermon in the Two Rivers
Correctional Institution yard.
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