J.C. Commeville is emphatic in his belief that the best way to get a family into church is to reach the man of the house.
Chow time – Nearly 400 Colleton County-area men and boys attended a wild game banquet and gospel presentation last year.Commeville, who runs a refuge for unwanted and abused animals, has organized a wild game banquet each fall since 2006 to reach out to men who might not otherwise hear the gospel.
“For some of these men, the closest they might ever come to church is when they drive past one at 60 miles per hour on their way to a hunting camp,” said Commeville, a member of Maple Cane Baptist Church in Cottageville.
Last year, almost 400 men and boys attended Commeville’s event at the National Guard Armory in Walterboro. In the three years he has staged the wild game banquet, more than 1,000 men have attended, and 110 have made first-time professions of faith in Christ.
“This is a place where even the most hardhearted man can feel comfortable in coming forward and giving his life to Jesus,” Commeville said. “It’s an experience that pulls at your heart.”
He said the banquet allows rugged outdoorsmen to see past stereotypical notions of what a Christian looks like. “We’ve got some Christian men who can bench-press hundreds of pounds and some who couldn’t lift their own umbrella,” he said. “We’ve got all types.”
This year’s wild game banquet will be held Nov. 7 at 7 p.m. – “sharp!” – at Walterboro’s armory and is free to all men. The menu includes venison, hog, turkey, quail, gator, frog legs and shrimp, along with casseroles, beans and rice.
Churches and businesses in Colleton County help sponsor the event. The featured speaker will be former NASCAR driver Ernie Irvan, named of one of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers in 1998.
For more information, call 843-835-4274.