Two accept Christ at Muscle Shoals Association wild game supper

Tony Myers prayed for years that his son-in-law Brandon Reeves would be saved. He also prayed for the men who would be attending a May 20 wild game supper held by Muscle Shoals Baptist Association. 
   
But Myers said he was still a bit shocked when all those prayers were answered at once.
Myers, who attends Pleasant Grove Baptist Church, Wren, gave his testimony publicly for the first time at the supper — the first event of its kind held by the association. After giving his testimony, Myers was standing under a tent listening to a sermon from Sammy Gilbreath, director of the office of evangelism for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions. He said he looked into Reeves’ face and knew the Lord was dealing with him.
   
“It was just like the Lord told me to drop my pride and laid on my heart that He was dealing with Brandon,” Myers said. “I leaned over during Sammy’s message and asked him if he had ever been saved, and he said, ‘No, but I’m thinking a lot about it.’”
   
Myers and Reeves tried to reach the altar at the end of the message but couldn’t for the crowd of men praying for lost people. 
   
“I told him we should just take care of it right there,” Myers said. “So we knelt down there in the grass, and I led him to the Lord.”
  
Wild game suppers have become popular Intentional Evangelism (IE) events across the state, particularly in rural areas like Lawrence County. George Whitten, director of missions for Muscle Shoals Association, said he got the idea during IE training in Montgomery. 
   
“For me, it was a tremendous encouragement to know you can still do things to get the attention of lost people,” Whitten said. “A lot of the guys who came to that event would never come to our churches for whatever reason. It was away from a church setting, and there was probably less pressure than when a lost man goes into a church. It was a very relaxed atmosphere. It was the best thing that we’ve done in the association in the three years I’ve been here.” 
   
Along with Reeves, a 7-year-old boy also trusted Christ at the event, Whitten said. The supper, held at Taylor Camp in Lawrence County, was more a buffet sampler than a sit-down meal. It featured such delicacies as alligator, crawfish, squirrel, duck and “deer meat any way you can cook it.”
   
“The first thing we learned is we didn’t have enough food,” Whitten said of the event, which drew 300 people. “I had a lot of people asking me if we could do it again next year.” 
   
The event began with singing and ended with the awarding of several valuable door prizes, including a tree stand, bow and free mount for a future deer killed by a hunter. 
   
“The people of Lawrence County have three loves,” Whitten said. “Basketball, youth baseball and deer hunting. So talking about hunting really gets their attention.”
   
Myers talked in his testimony about how being saved had changed his perspective on everything — including hunting. He said the event, especially the emotional conversion of his son-in-law of three years, taught him about being courageous and speaking out for God. “I’ve thought a lot about what I said to Brandon and thought what if we don’t drop our pride and ask about their salvation and the person gets killed a day or two later? That would have been their last opportunity. All we have to do is be obedient.”