WEST, Miss. (ABP) — There's something about the outside of a horse that's good for the inside of a man — or girl, according to Ellen Repasy. That's why she recently helped create a horse stable at a home for wayward girls, even donating two of her own horses for the cause.
Repasy, who lives in Jackson, N.J., and sponsors a girl at the Mississippi home, is the first to deflect credit. And it's true she hasn't acted alone. Her idea has taken a life of its own, incorporating Baptist groups from several different states all working together to make the riding program a reality. Evidently, others agree with Repasy that girls at Lighthouse Children's Home just might be able to learn something from the large animals.
“Sometimes, when a teen has lost all trust in humans, she can bond with a horse and learn to trust again,” Repasy told Associated Baptist Press. “Riding a horse builds self-confidence and helps us to become one with another creature.”
A ministry of nearby Lighthouse Baptist Church, the children's home is one of three under the Lighthouse name. Like the others, in Costa Rica and India, the Baptist school and home are run by veteran missionaries. Founded in 1978, the Mississippi chapter exists through support from private donations, churches and interest groups.
At 15, Paul Platt moved to the Lighthouse home when his parents became teachers there. He later married Angela, who had become a Lighthouse student at age 12, after they both graduated from Lighthouse Christian Academy. Now the former firefighter and policeman is the director of Lighthouse in Mississippi, while his parents continue to teach the girls.
“Ms. Repasy called me back six to eight months ago, and she asked me about horses, if I would be interested in some horses and starting a horse program,” Platt said. “She's a big horse nut. I said it sounded like it would be exciting, but I didn't know what I was getting into.”
Platt said the horse program is “like dangling the carrot out in front of” girls who need a place to find love or to rehabilitate from behavioral problems. Each girl must be willing to come to Lighthouse, and most stay for a one-year term. Ages of the 14 girls in the school range from 12 to 17.
Putting the stable together has been a big undertaking. Details like building fences and obtaining riding tack are slowly coming together, Platt said.
So far, the school has received six horses — all donated — and several trailers, English and Western saddles, saddlebags, panels for a round-pen, buckets, horse blankets and other tack supplies. Cowboys for Christ, a church ministry aimed at people in the livestock industry, has also committed to helping with transportation needs for the endeavor. And all the help is appreciated, Platt said.
“The horses are secondary to the school, so I have to be creative in how I fund the horses,” Platt said. He recently sold a cargo trailer and cut timber to raise money to build a 36-by-48-foot barn with eight stalls. He expects that he and his son will do much of the work to maintain the stable and riding areas on the 78-acre campus.
It's a new enterprise and something Platt said he hopes is worth the considerable expense. According to Platt, 75 percent of the girls who come to the home come from “broken” families. While other homes are more institutionalized and strict, Platt said the Lighthouse home succeeds by love, kindness and the message of the gospel. It also uses programs like a choir, and now horses, to help the girls.
“I think with the horses, it's just like with a pet dog, in that they take a lot of care,” he said. “Hopefully this will help the girls see that there's something more than just them. It's something that will help their character. Obviously, our belief is that the Lord is the best thing for them, but it helps with character building and having good ethics because they learn that something depends on them.”
Larry Neff, who founded the home, learned that lesson as an orphan. At three years old, he was placed in an orphanage in Franklin, Ind., and served in the military before becoming a Christian at First Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church in Franklin, Ind. After graduating in 1973 from Baptist Bible College in Springfield, Mo., Larry founded an independent Baptist church in Boston prior to establishing the Lighthouse.
Fast-forward a couple decades, and Platt will hit the road Sept. 22 for New Jersey, where Repasy and her horses await a pickup. From there, the caravan — horse trailers, tack and all — will drive two days back to Mississippi.
In the end, all the effort and expense will be worth it, Repasy said. Horses prove able teachers because they live as a family, protect each other, discipline their young and care for each other, she said. Plus, the work has drawn Christians across several states closer together.
“God has just been so magnified in this. You can see the work he's doing. It's awesome,” Repasy said. “God has begun a good work in this. I just couldn't do it without giving glory to him.”
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