Enthusiasts turn hunting, fishing into tools for witnessing to outdoorsmen

As the month of November unfolds, tens of thousands of Alabama men eagerly anticipate the beginning of the fall hunting season. With hunting such a passionate subject and sport for so many men, various hunting organizations and churches — a number of them involving Alabama Baptists — work to provide good, Christian fellowship for those avid hunters.
   
Several prominent national organizations cater to the Christian outdoorsman, such as Christian Hunters and Anglers, a fellowship and ministry group that reaches out to both hunters and fishermen.
Designed to give support to men and their roles as family leaders, this national organization supports them by “teaching and discipling men in healthy principles of Christian living, and by mentoring and encouraging them in their relationship to God.” Activities include workshops, Bible studies, and accountability groups that focus on communication skills, resolution of conflict, financial skills and other family skills.
   
Other groups go beyond such activities to focus on how hunting can actually be used to glorify God.
   
The Christian Bowhunters of America group provides Christian hunters with an outlet of fellowship and also encourages a healthy, balanced view of God and His creation.
   
The Christian Bowhunters of Alabama is the statewide arm of this national group.
   
According to Darrin Jarvis, president of the Christian Bowhunters of Alabama, his group began in 1997 with four hunters.
   
Originally made up of members of the Caffee Junction Church of God, it has grown to include 23 families and men of many different denominations. The group, he said, holds monthly meetings in McCalla and sponsors four tournaments every summer.
   
“This group gives people a place where they can enjoy fellowship with Christians who share their love of archery and know they can be around one another with their families and not worry about the language being used or being offended by things that go on in secular activities,” Jarvis said. “We encourage people to bring their children to our shoots and welcome new people. We want to be a loving and caring group that enjoys archery and God.”
   
Wayne Vining, a member of Riverside Baptist Church in Helena, said the group provides wonderful ways to enjoy God’s creation. “Christian hunters should always let it be known that they are not just out there to ‘kill something,’ but that they are there to enjoy God’s blessings and enjoy time in the outdoors,” he said. 
   
In that same vein, the group — and others like it — encourages Christian conservation tactics.
   
“Hunting has been part of man’s existence since that fall and God gave us dominion over the animals, even telling us to ‘kill and eat,’” Vining said. “But as Christians we should be good stewards of the land and all that’s on it. And it says in Proverbs that a godly man should never kill a game animal that he, or someone else, is not going to eat.”
   
With the interaction between men on hunting excursions, there are many opportunities for both a good and bad witness; Christian hunting organizations stress the importance of a godly Christian witness to fellow hunters.
   
“There are a lot of young people today who live in single-parent homes where the father isn’t there a lot. Introducing these folks to hunting also allows a chance to introduce them to Jesus,” Vining said. “A Christian man introducing a young person to the outdoors is a witness that will last a lifetime.”
   
Jarvis agreed “deer hunting can be an excellent opportunity for sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with other hunters” and said one of the purposes behind the Christian Bowhunters of Alabama is to provide members with tools to share their faith in the field.
   
This passion for reaching other hunters for Christ is what propelled Kyle Woodfin, a North American Mission Board resort missionary, to start Legacy Outdoor Ministry. The group’s purpose, he said, is to “build a Christian legacy through the great outdoors.” The ministry combines teaching young people outdoor skills such as hunting, fishing and camping.
   
Woodfin encourages Christians and churches as a whole to engage in activities that can reach out to hunters in their areas. One of the most productive ways to do so as a church is to host wild game dinners. “We’ve seen more than 200 professions of faith since we began this ministry,” he said, “and a lot of them have been 40 and older.”
   
He also participates in hunting shows, where he sets up an archery exhibit and gives out gospel tracts that have been written with hunters in mind, teaches archery and marksmanship classes to young people and conducts father/son hunting expeditions.
   
Baptist churches throughout Alabama have already caught on to the effectiveness of hunting-inspired activities and ministries. First Baptist Church in Gardendale hosts an annual wild game dinner that attracts hundreds of fathers and sons; last year, First Baptist Church of North Mobile hosted such an event and saw 127 attendees saved.
   
Another prominent Christian hunting organization takes its passion for the sport even further, and uses hunting as a way to reach out to the less fortunate.
   
Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry (FHFH) is a national outreach ministry that provides venison and other big game to soup kitchens and food pantries throughout the country.
   
Since its inception in 1997, FHFH has been responsible for the processing of 1,400 tons of meat for donation.
   
According to Rick Wilson, the founder and president of FHFH, he began the ministry after an experience in helping a woman load a deer into the trunk of her car.
   
The woman was transporting the deer, which had been run over, to her home so that she and her children could eat.
   
“Standing there as she drove away, I knew I had just looked into the eyes of Jesus,” Wilson said.