Franklin Living — When most people think of church efforts, they might picture choirs in robes, or passionate suit-and-tie preachers in pulpits, or children gathered around a Sunday school teacher with a brightly-illustrated Bible storybook. They probably don’t picture camo-clad hunters and fishermen feasting on wild game, listening to presentations by outdoorsmen or gathering for dove hunts – but that’s the picture at Mountain View Baptist Church in Phil Campbell.

H.U.N.T. Outdoors Ministry was dreamed up by Jason Hester on his way to church one morning, seeing people out fishing and hunting. He saw himself, before he became a faithful churchgoer. He said he remembers thinking, “If those folks knew what I know, they would be at church.” That thought was the seed of inspiration, and Hester said he felt the Lord leading him to begin a ministry for outdoorsmen.

Hester reached out to a few other people at Mountain View to share his idea, which began to take shape right away. He established a committee of five to help lead ministry development and activities and get the program off the ground.

The effort was quickly christened H.U.N.T. Outdoors Ministry – “Harvest Unlimited, Now and Tomorrow,” from Matthew 9:37.

“I thought it was a great idea,” said David Evett, one of the committee members. “Living in the demographic we have here, with so many people who hunt, fish, canoe, whatever – it’s a great idea. Almost every family has somebody who does something outdoor-related.”

Committee member Benton Nix also jumped on board right away, buying in to the vision Hester had for the program, which all three said has been successful because of God’s leading and timing.

“I knew it was going to be a big task for us all,” Nix said – a big task, however, with a big result. “Hunting, fishing, all that is great; that’s what we all like to do. But that’s just a platform for us to tell others about Christ.”

H.U.N.T. Ministry was established with a first event already in mind. Beast Feast was from the beginning a centerpiece of the ministry, the primary event designed to bring people in. The first order of business was to begin fundraisers – from chili suppers to yard sales and anything they could think of – as well as lining up sponsors, to cover the cost of the event. Hester said they knew they wanted to keep the Beast Feast free for attendees.

“We decided a long time ago that if we had to start charging, we were done,” Nix said.

Beast Feast 2016 required strategic planning for the group, as its first big event. Coordinators had no idea of the turnout to anticipate and had to figure out logistics like food prep, weather, door prizes and other organizational details.

Hester said while other churches host single events like Beast Feast, he knows of no other church that offers a totally free event that is part of a larger ongoing ministry.

That first year, Beast Feast drew nearly 400 attendees for the wild game supper, speaker and wide array of door prizes – nearly $5K in prizes from tree stands, to quail hunts, to game cameras, to rods and reels, to grills, gift certificates, Yeti coolers, deer feed and flashlights. The event has hosted T.W. Norman as speaker for two years now, for both the 2016 and 2017 events.

Fish, deer, turkey, geese, squirrel and duck have all been served as part of the Beast Feast menu – along with all kinds of fixins and desserts. But although the door prizes and wild game dinner are both big draws for the event, Hester said the primary focus is deeper – bringing people to faith in God. “We had people come who were saved who had never been in church before,” Hester said. Evett agreed, “It’s about God. It’s not about us.”

Although the ministry is based at Mountain View Baptist, people from other area churches, like Pleasant Hill and St. Paul, are also involved.

A large percentage of those actively involved in the ministry are men, but H.U.N.T. ministry welcomes women participants as well. One active member is Hester’s wife, Toni Hester. “I love to hunt, so I thought it was great. I was pretty pumped about it,” she said. “We enjoy doing it, and it’s something that gets everybody in church to hear the gospel. I think it’s awesome.”

While Beast Feast is the cornerstone of the ministry, the group has also hosted other events, like speaker Jeff Danker of BuckVenture TV. A Wild Game Seminar held separately from Beast Feast in 2016 was an aspect of Beast Feast 2017, sharing state hunting reporting laws with attendees.

At first, Jason Hester said, the congregation as a whole was uncertain about the ministry – not that anyone was against it, but “they weren’t as adamant about it as we were,” he said. “But after our initial event – everybody is all in now. We want to grow and do more.”

From committee members’ perspective that growth is imminent. Nix said he anticipates a near future when Beast Feast outgrows Mountain View Baptist as a venue.

“I could foresee that – if not next year, then the year after,” said Nix. Members would love to keep Beast Feast at Mountain View, to promote the church, but that’s not a priority. “The bottom line is, it’s not about promoting this church. It’s about promoting God. If we have to go offsite to do that, we can.”