A rodeo brought this Utah church leader to Oklahoma. The ministry — and dentistry — convinced him to stay

He can't remember his first time riding a horse because horses have always been a big part of his life.

Dr. Jacob Mendenhall grew up on a horse ranch in Alpine, Utah, a small bedroom community outside Salt Lake City. The Oklahoma Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints leader grew to love horses as he worked alongside his father, Robert, who was a horse trainer.

"I grew up in the backseat of a truck and driving up and down the road to horse shows. That's the way he was making a living, so that's really how I was raised," Mendenhall said. "That was our life."

These days, he leads a full life, with his faith and family as his main priorities. As an Oklahoma City oral and maxillofacial surgeon, he sees to the needs of numerous patients and, he recently said "yes" when asked to serve as president of the Latter-day Saints' Oklahoma City Stake jurisdictional area.

Yet, Mendenhall still finds time for roping and riding horses.

"It really is God, family and horses," he said.

A path that ultimately led to Oklahoma

Mendenhall served as bishop of two congregations for several years before he became Oklahoma City Stake president this past summer. In his new role, he provides guidance to eight congregations in the Oklahoma City metro area and the northwest portion of the state. The Oklahoma City stake president position was previously filled by Tom Gray. Stake presidents typically serve for about nine years before being "released" to serve in a new role, said Michelle Magnussen, an Oklahoma Latter-day Saints spokeswoman.

Mendenhall, 48, said his journey from Utah to Oklahoma shouldn't surprise anyone who knows him — it involved horses.

He grew up participating in rodeo events in high school and met his wife, Leslie, during those years because she also was heavily involved in rodeo. Mendenhall initially thought he would follow in his father's footsteps and become a horse trainer because he couldn't envision a life outside of that.

"Everyone I knew did make a living in the Western lifestyle, and it's what I loved and wanted to do," Mendenhall said.

His dad encouraged him to go to college with this advice: Just do this because you want to do it. Don't ruin the thing that you love most by making it something you have to do.

He earned a rodeo scholarship to Utah Valley State College (now known as Utah Valley University) and eventually visited Oklahoma for the first time to compete in a national cow cutting competition in Shawnee. Cow cutting involves a horse and rider moving into a herd of cattle, cutting one cow from the herd, driving it to the center of the arena and holding it away from the herd, according to the American Quarter Horse Association.

Mendenhall won first place and Oklahoma, with its rodeo culture, won him over. When a rodeo injury prevented him from collegiate competitions, Mendenhall transferred to Brigham Young University, the Latter-day Saints-affiliated university in Provo, Utah. After earning a BYU degree, Oklahoma beckoned. This time, it wasn't rodeo that brought him to the state, it was the University of Oklahoma School of Dentistry.

"I was very drawn to Oklahoma," he said.

That turned out to be a good thing because he completed four years of dentristy school and then four years of residency. Mendenhall said he and his wife were "far away from that whole world of horses" as they raised their family of three sons and a daughter.

A home on the prairie

The Mendenhalls felt a strong pull to return to Utah. Not only was it familiar, but it was where the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is headquartered and both Jacob Mendenhall and his wife are committed to the Lord, and their Latter-day Saints ministry efforts are among the ways they live out their Christian faith.

Jacob Mendenhall said he eventually began talking to his Utah relatives about returning "home," but they helped him see that he and his family had built a beautiful life in Oklahoma.

"They said 'Can't you see God's telling you to stay where you are?'" he recalled.

He had been welcomed into an Oklahoma City dental/oral surgery practice and also had purchased land in the Deer Creek area where his family had begun to raise horses and live a life similar to the way he and his wife were raised. Mendenhall said they eventually purchased land in the Kingfisher area, as well.

Oklahoma became home.

The Mendenhalls' children, Buster, Reuben, Cooper and Sadie, have grown up participating in rodeo events, and each of them have placed at the top or near the top of various competitions. His sons would compete in team roping, cow roping and cow cutting, while his daughter pursued barrel racing and pole bending. And when the family gathers, they're outdoors enjoying their land and their horses or participating in faith-filled activities with other Latter-day Saints.

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Jacob Mendenhall said he has enjoyed watching his children embrace his love of horses and rodeo but also the Christian faith "because they are just so dedicated, so faithful and just so full of hope."

The horse enthusiast loves it all.

"It's a culture — a family legacy," he said.

Recently, he spent a day in the operating room before heading home with a smile on his face. He planned to ride horses with with his family before the sun set.

"It's a rich life," he said.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: How a Latter-Day Saints leader ultimately landed in Oklahoma City