NATCHEZ — Lately when David Carter is on horseback, Silverado is the star. But Sunday night at First Baptist Church another horse took center stage.

Axel, who was brought to Natchez from Zachary, La., was only harness broken when it arrived at the makeshift ring at the softball fields behind the church.

The horse had been harness broken by its owners and then put in the pasture “to be a horse.”

By the end of the program, Carter sat in the saddle atop Axel.

Though Carter’s expertise in horse training was on display during the 90-minute program, that wasn’t all he was hoping to show the crowd.

“There are a lot of parallels between horse training and being a Christian,” he said.

During the demonstration, Carter took his time earning the trust and developing a relationship with the horse, which he didn’t meet until just before the service began.

Having trust and building a relationship, Carter said, are two of the main similarities between horse training and being a Christian.

Another is being a willing follower. According to Carter, horses want a purpose in life and want to be given directions about what to do.

“Every horse wants to be a follower,” Carter said from the saddle atop Axel. “All they need to do that is to have a proven leader.

“That is the same way the Lord is to us. Sometimes we are just scared to give up the lead.”

When Carter first began to interact with Axel, the horse tensed up with every new movement or noise. Carter said when a horse tenses or reacts to stimuli, the trainer must persevere.

“If you stop just because he bucks, you’re showing him that is what is right,” Carter said while provoking Axel with a tarp. “You have to stay with it until he acts like you don’t exist.”

For Carter, his love of horses didn’t begin until he was in college at LSU. It was there that he took a job at the farm on campus and began working with the animal he now loves.

Just like the opportunity Carter was given at LSU, he said God gives opportunities to his faithful followers.

“You just have to be open and be ready,” Carter said. “You have to seize the opportunity.”

Axel, Silverado and Carter took over the Sunday evening service for First Baptist Church to present a program called Finding Freedom to the larger than average crowd. The Rev. Doug Broome, pastor at First Baptist Church, said there were as many onlookers from as other churches in the community as from his church.

“It was a good community event,” Broome said. “It gave the community a chance to fellowship together.”

The lesson Broome and Carter hoped to teach was real freedom comes from a relationship with God.

“Real freedom comes when you allow God to take the reigns in your life,” Broome said. “In the wild we have a tendency to buck a little and when we do that we usually put ourselves and others in danger.”