Wild game cookout brings Georgia Tech Fraternity men to our house

A fellow campus ministry director, Bill Boldt, gave me the idea of doing a wild game dinner in our fraternity ministry. Bill and the other staff at Auburn (my alma mater) simply called it Fraternity Wild Game Dinner. It made sense to me - since at Auburn many students go deer hunting several mornings a week and wear their camo to class. Wild game dinner at Auburn is probably like Pasta night at the University of Milan.

Another friend, Strib Stribling (no, that is not his stage name), gave me the idea to call our wild game dinner "Beast Feast." Student ministry must be creative and relevant to the students we are reaching out to. Sometimes a small touch like calling a cookout a "Beast Feast!" adds some excitement. We do things like this to build trust and deepen our friendships with the students. 

When it came time to get the wild game together for the beast feast, all I had to do was email 5-6 men from our church and ministry partner team. Immediately, an elder in our church, Jim, offered an ample supply of quail and pheasant. Then another man from ChristChurch, Bo, offered venison and wild hog. So, I had two large coolers full of beast but now I need help preparing the feast. Here is a 30 second video narration of the beginning of the preparation:

Thankfully three men, all Christian outdoorsman, offered to help. Mr. Kyle Ray, a Georgia Tech man himself, and an expert wild game cook, came all the way from Ellijay, Georgia and served as head chef. Later we were joined by my brother Bradley. Together we smoked a huge wild hog ham, friend venison and pheasant, and grilled bacon-wrapped quail. The yard smelled like Fat Mat's Rib Shack, the food tasted better than Dream land BBQ, and with the help of some great men, we were ready for our guests from the Georgia Tech fraternities. We had invited men from three houses where we currently lead Bible studies, Fiji, Sig Ep, and Phi Delt. We expected somewhere between 5-20 students.

10-15 students came. All of them were hungry Phi Delts. We nearly ate all of what we thought was enough food for 30. Most of these guys had never been to our house before. Most of them are new to our Bible study. From the smiles and comments I noticed, I am sure the first Beast Feast will  not be the last.

And, there are many more wonderful students at Tech who would be glad if someone invested in them and gave them the opportunity to hear about a relationship with Christ through Bible study and creative Greek Ministry events like Beast Feast.