Children of the Corn

I once heard about a woman driving down the highway and saw a dog hanging off the back of a truck that passed headed in the opposite direction. The dog appeared to be hanging on to the truck with his paws for dear life. She quickly turned around in an apptempt to catch up to the truck and to get the driver of the truck to stop. When she finally caught up to the truck she was amazed to find the dog still standing on the rear bumper and holding the tailgate of the truck. However, the dog was not just a dog, it was a coyote. And it wasn't alive - it was a coyote that had been mounted by a taxidermist and placed in that position on the truck as an advertisement for his taxidermy business. Now that's creative!

In the business world you've got to be creative to survive. If you don't believe it just watch the commercials on TV. Companies come up with some really neat ways to make contact with people and get them to buy their product. I got to thinking about that and realized that the same is true for those who wish to win people to Christ. In order to make contacts with people and to reach people with the Gospel - we too must be creative. Face it - there's a lot of people out there that are committed to not coming to church. How is it then that we make contact with them. How do we even get a chance to meet them and get opportunities to build relationships and try to sell them on the product that we know is the best ever - Jesus... We've got to be creative.

This past weekend the Heart of a Sportsman fellas got creative. Sometimes being creative means just looking at the obvious. We got to thinking about deer hunters and started asking what is it that deer hunters love. What do they buy? Here in NC, deer hunters by tons of corn to bait their hunting spots with. So, if deer hunters can use corn to attract deer, why can't we use corn to attract the deer hunters? So we decided to have a corn sale. We worked with a local farmer and sold corn for a day at a special price and man did they show up. These folks, we affectionatley call the "children of the corn " came from everywhere. In five short hours we sold 37,500 pounds of corn! That's over 18 tons! Our guys loaded up truck beds, trailers and the back seat of cars all the while talking hunting and life and building relationships with people. We made contacts with over 60 people who we didn't know - who we'd probably have never known if it hadn't been for the deer corn. It was a lot of hard work and all our backs are sore today, but we'll definately be doing it again, 'cause we want the children of the corn to be children of the King!

"Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God..." - John 1:12

A chip off the old Brock!

I've always said the our buddy Shane Brock can catch a fish in a mud puddle. He just has the nack for setting the hook and haulin' in fish when no one else can. Well watch out, it seems that his daughter, 5 year old Sarah Beth got the "fishing gene" from her old man. On a recent trip to the North Carolina coast, she caught her first Spanish Mackeral and was grinnin' from ear to ear. Dad sure was proud too!

Proverbs 22:6 - Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.

Big Ole Doe

A man who just shot a deer is asked, "what did you get?" The man who shot the deer harvested a female of the species. No man in history has ever responded by saying, "I got a doe." No, the universal answer to that question is always, "I got a big doe." It's like they don't come in any other size, except BIG! That's the case for our fellow "blood letter" Roy Brooks who has laid the hammer down on a couple "big does" this year already. One might think that we poke fun at Roy each week at his response when we ask if he got one, but no, we are actually envious because we have yet to pass one of our broadheads through the vitals of our own BIG OLE DOE. Great job Roy.

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, [a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground." Genesis 1:26

The Elk Example!

What an awesome moment caught on tape. That hunter must have felt the bull elk breathing down his neck (literally). There's a great spiritual lesson that can be taken from this "close encounter" footage. If you notice, once the elk realized he was in a bad situation, he tucked tail and ran. He's lucky that the hunter didn't have a chance to stick an arrow through his vitals. We should follow the example of that bull elk when tempted. I could compile a long, long list of things that satan uses to temp men in general. You know what tempts you. If you hang around it long enough, the evil hunter, Satan, who hates you and wants to destroy your life might just be pursuasive enough to make you give him a shot at your vitals.

II Timothy 2:22 (the elk example) tells us to "flee" from sin. We men don't normally like to run from things, but we should make a tactical retreat like the elk to avoid satan's attempts to ruin us. Remember that God will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able to take and He gives us a way out when tempted by the evil one(I Corinthians 10:13.

Combating temptation with prayer, with Scripture and a good tactical retreat will surely bring eternal results.

"Blessed is the man who endures temptation..." James 1:12

Whacking and Stacking 101

The September goose season is in full swing here in NC. HOS brotha's Jonathan Seamon and Joe Finney have excersised thier trigger finegers on more than one occasion while Whacking and Stacking some "honkers." Early mornings,some good calling, and great shooting have paid off as these pics profess. However probably what plays the biggest part in their success is their hard work. These guys burn the roads up during the preseason scouting and finding out what the birds are doing and where they are at. They stop and talk to people and burn the phone lines up getting permission to hunt these places. Then, they go the extra mile to make sure that things are done right on the day of the hunt. These fellas don't just talk about it they work hard to make it possible. You won't find anyone who works harder to make it happen. Jonathan and Joe are staffers for Lodge Creek Calls - check out their wicked Lodge Creek trailer.

"All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty."
Proverbs 14:23

Bret Farve, Picnic Shelters and Jesus...

“It is finally finished!” Those were the words uttered this past Tuesday night as we attached the last piece of metal on the project we were working on. Note the exclamation point at the end of the first sentence. It’s not a “my Lord I’m glad the agony is over” type statement...it’s more like a victorious “Wow, we have accomplished the task set before us.” The Heart of a Sportsman summer mission project this year was to construct a shelter at the Iredell County Fairgrounds. The shelter will be used during the South Yadkin Baptist Association’s ongoing fair ministry, where the workers at the Iredell County Fair will be ministered to by folks from local churches in our association (see previous blog: “From Start to Finish” for pics of the project)
I couldn’t help but say those words (it is finished) when we were packing up the tools. This shelter had been a long time in the making. This project, a brainchild of Sandra Harrison, had been a series of ups and downs for the past several years. Things like: Permission from the county to build the shelter at the site, money, and time. Not to mention Inspectors and building plans. Plans that had to be drawn by highly trained professionals, I might mention. High-tech, highly engineered plans that ended up being much like the ones for a skyscraper in New York City. After looking at the plans, this shelter obviously must have been designed to sustain the strongest hurricane, tornado, flood, and even an earthquake. However, in God’s time He brought it all together...and it was finally finished!
While hanging out with the fellas and eating a hamburger after we were done, one of the guys mentioned that Bret Frarve had just announced that he was coming back...again. If you follow NFL football, you know he retired from the Packers and said his career was finished. Then, he came back to play for the Jets. Again, he said he was finished. But he couldn’t stand it and he is now back in the NFL as the quarterback with the Vikings. Don’t get me wrong, I love Bret Farve and I’m glad he’s back. I just thought he was finished.
Some of the last words that Jesus spoke on the cross were, “It is finished!” It was not a “oh shucks it’s over” statement, but much like us finishing the shelter, it was a victory cry for mission accomplished! In fact the Greek word used here means it is “accomplished.” Jesus had accomplished what He had set out to do. Jesus had completed all that was required by the Father for our salvation. Everything that was needed to atone for our sin, a perfect life of righteousness to present as an atoning sacrifice had been completed. Nothing more was or is needed. No other sacrifice is required. There is absolutely nothing you and I can add to the sacrifice of Christ. There is absolutely nothing you and I can contribute to his sacrifice – Jesus has done it all that is why he said ‘it is finished.’ It’s not a Bret Farve “I am finished” – but a guarantee! In fact you can bet your life on it! All you have to do is decide whether or not to accept His sacrifice. When Jesus said it’s finished, he meant it. However, if you really think about it, Jesus is like Bret Farve in one way for sure; He’s coming back! Coming back for those who are His.
1"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God[a]; trust also in me. 2In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. John 14:1-3

From Start to Finish

2009 Heart of a Sportsman Mission Project
Iredell County Fairgrounds - Shelter Project