Beast Feast 2010 @ Beech Street

We had our second Beast Feast tonight and it was a great and powerful night. This is one of our "Believe" events at Beech St that is very community focused and evangelistic. We open this event up to families, not just men and boys. We had some incredible food from catfish to deer steak to smoked wild hog to some goood gumbo! Trust me, if you left hungry it was not our fault! Once again, my team of men were absolutely incredible. This group of men have made this ministry a labor of love and they give it their all. I love these men and God used them greatly once again this year. We had several individuals and businesses help us with the event by sponsoring a table. A huge thanks to all our sponsors!! All the funds generated from tables and ticket sales goes right back into Beast Feast to buy prizes to give away and food to eat. We had a great crowd of over 400 at our event this year, with several folks coming for the first time after hearing about last year's event.

We gave away some really nice door prizes for kids and adults. Each adult prize was valued at around $100! We had a "People's Choice" mount contest again this year with 2 categories to judge - antlers and non-antlers. We gave a prize for the winner of each category. We had some really impressive mounts entered! At the end of the evening, each person completes a special card to enter the grand prize drawing for a $500 gift card to Gander Mountain. We give that away right before we go, so nobody leaves early. Trust me, they are staying to win that!

A huge key to these events is getting great speaker. We had a one-of-a-kind man and ministry this year in Hank Hough and Kingdom Dog Ministries (www.kingdomdog.com) Hank brought 2 of his dogs - Monk (chocolate lab) and Bandaro (black lab) with him to our event. He shares spiritual truth and a clear gospel message using the dogs and their training/obedience as an object lesson. Folks are glued to Hank, but especially glued to the dogs! Their obedience to his commands is amazing and fun to watch. They really steal the show! God is using Hank's ministry in a great way all across the country. His very "down-to-earth" demeanor and message connects with folks. We invited Hank to stay over Saturday night and speak in our Sunday morning service. I'll really be anxious to see if some of the folks who attended Sat night will come back to see more of Hank and the dogs in the morning. By the looks of the standing ovation they gave him after he spoke, I'm pretty sure that several will be at our service for more!

We have prayed and worked on this event for months. I trust that each person present was there for a purpose. As we are still sifting through the response cards, we have had several indicate making a decision to trust/follow Jesus in a new relationship. We will follow-up on these people right away to develop what God started at Beast Feast. This is a great "touch" event for our church and I'm looking forward to seeing how God continues to develop it as a tool He can use to impact lives. I'm already thinking about 2011...I'm thinking about a fishing theme. Start praying now for some bites and God's blessings!