By Deena Hardin
Banner-News
MAGNOLIA – Pastor John Riggs and a few members of the Texoma Cowboy Church of Wichita Falls, Texas, are riding horses for 40 days, from Texarkana, Texas, to Washington, D.C., in an effort to bring attention to the need for revival in churches in the United States. They welcome fellow riders and believers along their route, which began on Sept. 29.
“What we’re doing is called ‘The Ride.’ It’s a 40-day call to revival,” Riggs said. “Our real message is to the church in America for revival, to turn back to God and to allow Him to have the rightful place in our lives as Christians. As we look at our country and see where it seems to be heading, we really believe that the only thing that could really bring about true and lasting change for this country is not going to be politics in Washington but a nation that turns itself back to God.”
Riggs and his members are preaching at churches each evening at the end of the day’s ride. On Thursday, the group stayed in Lewisville and Friday they were at Rugged Cross Cowboy Church in Magnolia. On Saturday, they were at First Baptist Church in Parkers Chapel and on Sunday, they were at Tillou Baptist Church in Bastrop, La. Monday’s ride ended in Lake Village.
“We drove to the Texas state line in Texarkana to make sure we started in Texas,” Riggs said. “Then we’ll go all the way through Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia and then into Washington. We’re due to arrive there Nov. 7, which is the day before election day. We’ll be preaching also there in Washington. We want to have a big group, hopefully 150 to 200 riders and then we’d like to gather for prayer right on the Capitol steps.”
Regardless of denomination, Riggs said he wants to encourage riders and others to join his quest. “I pastor a cowboy church so we have a lot of connections through that, but there’s lots of places we’ll preach that’ll be anywhere from Assembly of God to Methodist, Baptist, you name it. That’s something we definitely need in our country is unity. Not just unity in general but unity in our churches, too.”
Riggs’ group is riding 20-25 miles per day and preaching every evening. “We’ve got a few miles ahead of us yet,” he said, laughing, as they rested at Rugged Cross Cowboy Church on Friday.
“It has been a blessing, even just the last few days,” Mike Schmidt said. Schmidt traveled from Oklahoma to join Riggs on the trek. “It’s amazing how God can work.”
“It’s really been something to see how gracious your people are here in Arkansas. They’re so kind and hospitable. People have been stopping and giving us food. It’s been a great experience so far,” Riggs added.
About five in Riggs’ group were riding horses the first few days, but they’re hoping to have more join them along the way. “We’d love to have people come ride if they’re able to. We have more that come later and more that meet us in Washington. People from each state that we go to, they come and ride,” he said.
While riding the nation’s highways on horseback could be hazardous, Riggs said he carefully mapped out the group’s route ahead of time. “A lot of people have worked together on this, everything from our logistics team at home to the guys here that are doing all this other stuff here to make this happen. People have worked hard really hard on that, so I’m very thankful. That’s one element that we have to be careful of. There’s a lot of challenges with some of the highway right-of-ways and stuff. Some of them are really good and some not so good. Safety’s really important and, obviously, you’re riding an animal. We try to keep a real close eye. A lot of things can happen.”
Riggs said there are highways that, by law, do not allow equine traffic on the shoulders. “We have to stay on certain highways. We’ve got to figure out which ones we can and can’t ride on. When we get to Washington, that gets a little more complicated. We’re still working all those details out now. We hope to see some of our elected officials. I don’t know if we’ll get to or not because we’re so close to the election. We’ve made contact with some of them but it’d be great to visit with them, too, to encourage them to do the things they do in interpreting the law and making laws according to the word of God.”
Other members from Riggs’ church accompany the riding group with cars, horse trailers and recreational vehicles. Bridges along the route can present special challenges and the horses will have to be trailered to travel across some of them, especially in larger cities. “No overpasses, things like that,” he said. “A lot of our bridges we can ride across.”
“We’re excited. We’re already seeing God do a lot of great things,” he said. “We’re trying to make His name known and we’re proud to share about it. It’s a great opportunity to do that in an old-fashioned way, I guess, going back to our roots. That’s the purpose of ‘The Ride.’”
Anyone interested in further information can go to http://www.texomacowboychurch.com.