PETROLEUM VALLEY, Pa., (BRN) – During the spring of 2023, Harvest Community Church – Petroleum Valley in Petroleum Valley, Pennsylvania, hosted a Wild Game Dinner. The Wild Game Dinner was designed to draw people from the surrounding area to the church who all share the common interest of hunting and fishing.
To enhance attendance in the event, we donated and purchased items of interest to any hunter: knives, firearms, decoys, hunting blinds and tree stands, just to name a few. The delicious dinner provided was also part of the draw.
Our small groups were also involved in providing baskets used as door prizes for the attendees. One attendee, who grew up in the community, commented that he had never seen that many people attend an event in the community in his lifetime. In total, 160 people attended the Wild Game Dinner.
The primary reason for all the planning, preparation and participation was to have an opportunity to share the gospel with those who attended. With that in mind, our invited guest speaker shared his testimony of how a tragic accident in his life brought him to faith in Christ and, eventually, to develop a hunting ministry as a platform to live out the gospel in practical ways.
Not only did he share the good news of Jesus Christ boldly, but our emcee, one of the leaders of our church, reinforced the gospel with a very clear call to repentance and faith. Since all of our volunteers are trained for gospel conversations, there is no way to accurately say how many were had in that one night.
I cannot tell you how many people responded to the gospel, but I can tell you that over 160 people clearly heard it and seeds were planted. We are praying for additional opportunities to invite our neighbors into our church so we might have the opportunity to be faithful to the Great Commission.
