The 70

Top Picture: Cornerstone Baptist - "Heart of a Sportsman"

Middle Picture: Stanleyville Baptist - "Stanleyville Men of the Outdoors"

Bottom Pictures: Colonial Baptist - "Colonial Outdoors"

You can crack on a man’s pick-up truck, make fun of his coon dog, you might even get by with tellin’ a fella that his mama is looks funny....but don’t ever tell a man that you can catch more catfish than he can. If you do, you’d bess be ready to back it up!
Well, the “Heart of a Sportsman” men at Cornerstone Baptist in Cleveland, NC decided to have a little catfish tournament and sent out a “friendly challenge” (see June 26, 2009 blog post) to the guys at Colonial Baptist Church in Cary, NC and Stanleyville Baptist near Winston-Salem. That’s when and where we found out that you cross the line with an outdoorsman when tellin’ a guy you plan to catch more fish than he does. After all, a man does have his limits and can only take so much! We might have embellished a little on the video challenge we sent the guys, and we might have been a little over dramatic on the consequences of the outcome – BUT it did bring the guys out of the woodwork. I don’t know if it’s true, but I heard that guys cancelled vacations, fixed boats that hadn’t worked in 15 years and practiced for weeks leading up to the event. Whatever the case, on Friday July 24, 2009, 70 men from three churches came together for a great evening of fun, fellowship and fishing.
You might not have caught what I just said so I’ll say it again. 70 men!!! 70 of the baddest, toughest, roughest looking (we like to think of it as ruggedly handsome) country boys from NC that you have ever seen. Hard working men. Regular guys from regular jobs across the state who happen to enjoy their role of highest rung on the food chain by harvesting critters and using them for nourishment.
Impressed by the large number of men at the event, I heard one guy say before we started and after seeing all the boats beached along the shoreline at the tournament that “the night was already a success even if we didn’t wet the first hook.” Another fella said, “it’s awesome to see this many guys who don’t even know each other come together for a night of fellowship.” One church leader said, “Just think, one year ago our guys didn’t even know each other and now we’ve got over 20 dudes together for this event.” That’s what it’s all about. We came together to not only fish but to glorify the one who created the fish, and the lake and the land around the lake: the Almighty God.
Seeing all these men come together made me think of those guys that Jesus used. They were regular men. Many were tough, rugged men - Men who liked to fish – just like these guys. He chose 12 regular men just like this to change the world. Imagine what He can do with 70! It is my prayer that we fish for men as hard as we fish for fish!
God is good all the time...and all the time God is good!



Special congratulations to Brian Cain of Stanleyville Baptist go for the biggest fish of the night (28 pound flat head catfish) and Eddie Ritchie of Cornerstone for the smallest fish (unable to register a weight on the scales). Oh yes, Cornerstone did get lucky and won the Ironman trophy with 98 pounds of cats on the night – but the real trophy was hanging out with 70 cool dudes. Thanks for all the fun...we look forward to doing it again!