On Saturday, January 22, at 5:00 p.m., Mount Calvary Baptist Church hosted its 5th Annual Wild Game Banquet.  The Mount Calvary Baptist gymnasium and fellowship building were decorated with trees and mounted wild game.  Before the festivities began inside, attendees enjoyed hunting and fishing simulators brought by members of the Department of Natural Resources.

Preparation for this banquet began several months ago.  Members assisted in a variety of ways.  Some members caught or harvested the wild game.  Many spent much time preparing the dishes. Choices included bear, roasted deer, frog legs, fried fish, deer burgers, dove, squirrel & rice, catfish stew, alligator, crawfish, duck, quail, deer smoked sausage, pork sausage, chicken rice, beans, desserts, and many, many other delicious dishes.  There were also some “tame” dishes for those who did not want to try wild game.

Charles “Chuck” McAlister was the guest speaker.  McAlister is founder and co-host of the national cable program Adventure Bound Outdoors, a hunting TV show “that takes the viewer on hunting adventures in God’s country.”

McAlister spoke of his early childhood hunting experiences.  Around the age of five he would go out hunting with his dad and granddad. His father and grandfather taught him many life lessons in the outdoors. Love of the outdoors would eventually lead Chuck to want to know the God who created it.  He learned that the only way to know this God was through faith in Jesus.  Jesus is the perfect Son of God who died to pay man’s sin debt and then rose victorious over death.  By surrendering his life to Jesus, Chuck began a relationship with the one true God.  He invited the attendees to also surrender their lives to Jesus, so that they too could know this great God.  

At the end of the night, there was a free drawing.  The prizes were 6 rod and reels, a fish cooker, and 2 deer stands.  The grand prize was a 12 gauge shotgun.

This banquet is a ministry to the community.  It is a way to demonstrate the love of God.  Mount Calvary Baptist Church is located at 405 Mount Calvary Road, Dillon.

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