Mark Patterson’s Legacy of Discipleship Through Horses

A Story from the HoneyRock Barn

By HoneyRock Center for Leadership Development

December 23^rd, 2021

Mark Patterson, who ran the horsemanship program at HoneyRock from 1985 to 2006, did much more than teach people to ride. He taught them about God.

A horse can teach you a lot about God.

That’s a lesson former HoneyRock Center for Leadership Development ranch and grounds manager Mark Patterson discovered on a pack trip with a cantankerous Appaloosa named Sid. This hard-won lesson became the inspiration for the ministry that continues to come out of the HoneyRock Barn.

But back in 1985 when Patterson first took the reins of the operation, he couldn’t have imagined just how powerfully God would use horses in his ministry.

Prior to HoneyRock, Patterson had worked his whole life as a farmer in rural Illinois raising cattle and hogs and growing corn and soybeans. Although he’d increasingly felt the nudge toward ministry, moving his family from their Illinois farm to the Northwoods of Wisconsin felt like a giant leap of faith.

“I just really felt the Lord calling me into full-time ministry,” Patterson said, adding that his wife Karen felt the same.

With one daughter and another one on the way, Patterson and his growing family moved to Three Lakes, Wisconsin, unpacking boxes even as he learned the ins and outs of the barn. At that time, HoneyRock had kept horses for about a dozen years. His new job not only involved taking care of HoneyRock’s herd of horses, ponies, burros, and donkeys, it also entailed getting certifications in Western and English seat and leading a team of wranglers and farm hands—or “farm boys” as HoneyRock called them—as they did everything from drive sleigh rides and teach equestrian classes to bale hay and lead pack trips.

Mark Patterson’s Legacy of Discipleship Through Horses

On one pack trip in 1989, Patterson saddled up a stubborn Appaloosa called Sid for a six-week stretch of pack trips in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest.

“Nobody at camp liked to ride him because he was hard-headed and had a hard gait to sit,” Patterson said, referring to the Sid’s rough trot. “The thought of riding Sid for six to eight hours every day for six weeks was unthinkable.”

But since no one else would ride him, Patterson figured he might as well.

It was rough going at first. Sid didn’t like the saddle, and he didn’t like being ridden. He bucked. But about two weeks into the series of pack trips, something changed.

“I no longer needed to catch Sid to groom and saddle him every morning; he just came to me,” Patterson said. “He stood still for me to climb up on him. I no longer needed a harsh bit to control him while I rode him. In fact, I almost never needed a bit at all. I would turn my eyes and shift my body in the direction I wanted Sid to go, and he would simply go that direction.”

After two weeks, Sid had transferred his trust from himself to Patterson. Not only was Sid’s transformation incredibly moving, but it also spoke to Patterson as a rich metaphor for the relationship Christians are welcomed into with Christ.

Later, on a different pack ride, Sid even bent down and sat on a beehive getting stung all over to protect Patterson from the bees.

Over the years, Patterson told the story to his staff countless times, adding: “Can you be to Jesus as Sid was to me?” he’d ask them. “Can you spend the time to know Him? Can you transfer your trust from your own instincts to the wisdom of Jesus like Sid did with me? This kind of relationship will bring you joy in hardship, light burdens, and a full life.”

And over the years, Sid’s example was contagious. It resonated with the wranglers, campers, visitors and students that passed through the HoneyRock Barn.

Laura Jean Pulscher, who worked as a wrangler for six years, said that Patterson helped rebuild her faith, which had been flagging in the months leading up to her freshman year at Wheaton College.

His simple, solid faith became a model for me to emulate. No pretenses, just a deep love for God and for his herd.

“Mark modeled how faith played out in the messiness of life,” she said. “He showed calmness when horses escaped, quietly appreciated God's handiwork in the Northwoods, and took time to listen to my struggles with faith and Christian community. His simple, solid faith became a model for me to emulate. No pretenses, just a deep love for God and for his herd.”

Several years ago, Pulscher was diagnosed with ALS, a progressive neurodegenerative disease. “Despite having faced the difficulties of a slow, terminal diagnosis, I know that seeds Mark planted in my life 20 years ago are part of the reason my faith has remained despite difficulties,” she said.

Andy McGovern, who worked as both a farm boy and a wrangler, also said that Patterson’s ministry had an enormous impact on his life. Inspired from his time at HoneyRock, McGovern earned a horsemanship degree and later served in youth ministry for 15 years, modeling his ministry after Patterson’s.

“His devotion to Jesus showed through his humbleness and caring for people,” he said. “There is not a day goes by where I don’t think about Mark and the way he handled situations out in the field. Mark changed my life. … Everyone needs a Karen and Mark in their life.”

“There is not a day goes by where I don’t think about Mark and the way he handled situations out in the field... Everyone needs a Karen and Mark in their life.”

Patterson’s example also extended to his children, particularly his daughter Erin (Patterson) Sharp.

After long days at school, Sharp would race to the barn to ride her favorite horse Morning Star, or Star for short. While she struggled at school, Sharp found the barn and its horses straightforward and restorative.

She also discovered that she had a knack for breaking and training them.

“I was hooked not only because I loved working with [Star] but because God used that time and space to speak directly into me,” she said. “He taught me about myself through Star and every horse that would follow in my journey of training horses.”

This passion ultimately led Sharp back to HoneyRock in 2013, where she led the ranch, and sought to employ the same work ethic, passion, patience and devotion to God she saw her dad model.

In her role, she aimed to make the barn a safe space physically, emotionally and spiritually for students, staff and campers to grow and be challenged—and connect them with the same powerful experience of learning about God through horses.

“My goal as a leader was that students, staff and campers would of course learn quality horsemanship and take what they learned and impact the horse world powerfully with Jesus, as well as be equipped with life skills that they could take with them in and outside of the horse industry as they transitioned to their next phase in life,” she said.

As the summer went on I began to recognize God in almost every interaction I had with the horses

Amanda Herr, who was a wrangler between 2013 and 2015, said that Sharp helped her to see God’s work through the animals. One year, Herr remembers Sharp encouraging the wranglers to share how they saw God in the previous day.

“As the summer went on I began to recognize God in almost every interaction I had with the horses, which is crazy to think because I remember in the beginning it was a bit of a struggle for me to recognize,” she said.

Catherine Limkeman—who served as a Graduate Assistant in the barn at HoneyRock from 2015 to 2017 as she completed a graduate program and is now the equestrian director at another Christian camp—agrees.

“Some of the most impactful encounters I have had with God have been while interacting with a horse,” she said.

Over the course of her years at HoneyRock, Limkeman recalls her horse Summer teaching her about fears and anxieties she didn’t even know she had.

“Summer was much quicker to give me her trust than I have ever been in giving God my own despite God being the perfect leader and protector,” she said. “Her attitude towards me was one I long to have towards God and am still working to have. God has indeed been faithful to me, even when some of those worries came true, and I thank him for the journey of growth I took with Summer and Erin at HoneyRock.”

Up in the hayloft, there are more than 400 signatures etched into the wood. They’re the names of all the wranglers and barn staff that have passed through the HoneyRock Barn since 1973. To this day, nearly 1,000 campers and guests experience the barn each year, and more than 600 campers have earned a basic, intermediate, or masters in horsemanship since 2013. All of them—whether wranglers or barn staff, campers or other visitors—have experienced God’s presence and grace through the horses and the staff like Mark and Erin.

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If you experienced God through the HoneyRock Barn—the people or the horses—we invite you to share your story.

Today, Patterson’s vision of discipleship through horses that was established in the ’80s has endured as the heartbeat of an equestrian program. Several years ago, an Equestrian Track was added to Wheaton Passage, the premier college orientation program formerly known as Vanguard and High Road. As of fall 2021, an Equestrian Track was also added to the Vanguard Gap Year program, during which Vanguards spend much of their week at the barn, training with our new Equestrian Program Manager, Melissa Hougas. Graduate students assist with the training, development and discipleship as they too are being trained for leadership in ministry.