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Wild Game Dinner served up food
for the soul
by Barbara Fatkin
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With menu entrees like
gator, buffalo, deer, and hog and hundreds of people wearing
camouflage clothing, you might have thought you were at a
hunter’s convention. As I followed the line of people
entering the Reaves Arena at Perry Agricenter on the rainy
night of February 6, I was having a hard time imagining what
this evening would be like. It was my first time attending
the 13 th Annual Wild Game Dinner sponsored by the Rehoboth
Baptist Association. About 2, 500 people showed up for the
event designed to bring folks in the community together for
fellowship, fun, food, and spiritual renewal.
The food came first, and I tasted gator nuggets, buffalo
sausage, and quail for the first time. There was plenty of
food as the friendly servers heaped chicken, fish, hog, cole
slaw, and beans on everyone’s plate. It was an efficiently
run operation serving 2, 500 people in a short amount of
time.
Guests could buy tickets by the table or individually, so
many areas were filled with groups of friends. The
atmosphere was comfortable and relaxed as people visited
from table to table and made everyone feel welcomed.
The evening’s program started with James Dollar and his
church band from Concord Baptist Church. They were a
versatile group playing favorites from adult contemporary
worship songs to old-time gospel hymns.
Two musical highlights included "Proud to Be An
American, " now a standard for the Wild Game Dinner,
and Governor Perdue’s favorite hymn, "I’d Rather
Have Jesus. " Boe Stanley, Director of Missions for the
Rehoboth Baptist Association and emcee for the evening,
introduced Governor Sonny Perdue and his wife, Mary.
Governor Perdue shared with the crowd how he and Mary had
claimed the Bible verse 1 Thessalonians 5: 24 —"The
one who calls you is faithful and He will do it .
" ((NIV)—during the campaign. He believes that the
Lord has put them in their position for a reason, and he
asked for everyone’s prayers to help accomplish the job.
He also told us that the words from the song "I’d
Rather Have Jesus " (printed below)are hanging in the
Governor’s Mansion to remind him of his purpose and to
keep him accountable.
I’d rather
have Jesus than silver or gold.
I’d rather be His than have riches untold.
I’d rather have Jesus than houses or land.
I’d rather be led by His nail- pierced hand.
Refrain:
Than to be the king of a vast domain or be held in sin’s
dread sway!
I’d rather have Jesus than anything this world affords
today.
I’d rather have Jesus than men’s applause.
I’d rather be faithful to His dear cause.
I’d rather have Jesus than world- wide fame.
I’d rather be true to His holy name.
He’s fairer than lilies of rarest bloom.
He’s sweeter than honey from out of the comb.
He’s all that my hungering spirit needs.
I’d rather have Jesus and let Him lead.
Next on the
program was Keith Davis, a former football player with the
New York Giants. Using the acronym PUSH (Pray Until
Something Happens), Davis performed push-ups with a person
standing on his back ranging in weight from 60 lbs. to over
300 lbs. The audience participated by yelling, "PUSH
" at the appropriate times. Davis commented that the
weight on his back during the push-ups was not nearly as
heavy as the weight of sin on the inside without God in your
life. Then Davis bent an inch-thick rod of steel by holding
it between his teeth and bending it back on both ends. He
drew the parallel that the strongest bars we face in life
are the bars found inside of us that hold us back such as
our insecurities and our fears. His last feat of strength
was bending and twisting a frying pan until it resembled a
rolled-up newspaper. The message here was the new shape that
God gives us when He comes into our lives —a new start, a
new joy, and a new peace.
Tom Lester, who played Eb on the TV show "Green Acres,
" spoke last. Lester, from Laurel, Mississippi, has
shared God’s message at 1,000 churches and crusades since
"Green Acres " was cancelled in 1971. Lester said
that true success is becoming everything God has gifted you
to become and working toward accomplishing this each day
with God’s help. He added that God has a wonderful plan
and purpose for our lives that we don’t find until we are
born into the Kingdom. Lester issued an invitation and ended
the program in prayer.
There was more to come. Hundreds of dollars of door prizes
were then given away. Boe Stanley thanked the 150 volunteers
who worked hard to put the dinner, program, and door prizes
together. Now that I know what the Wild Game Dinner is all
about, I’ll be there again next year and bring a table of
friends. Mark your calendars now for 2004's Wild Game Dinner
on Feb. 5.
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