The annual Blessing of the Hunt hosted by Goss Baptist Church at the Columbia Expo Center Nov. 14 is once again expected to draw thousands of people to be blessed prior to hunting season as the event celebrates its 20th anniversary.
The primary goal of Blessing of the Hunt has always been to glorify God and glorify Jesus Christ, according to Bro. Brian Malone of Goss Baptist Church.
“Seeing people coming to know the Lord is the greatest thing a person can experience in their life, to find forgiveness and find grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,” he said. “There are a lot of hunters out there that we pray over, and we ask for God’s mercy and grace on them and safety for the hunting season.
“But the most important part is that they find the Lord Jesus, so we pray for those hunters and pray for anybody and everybody that comes. Not everybody has to be a hunter; everybody is welcome to come. But we pray for God’s blessing and for God to do something great in their lives. We do this every year because we serve a God who is this amazing God who loves us, cares for us and looks and longs for people to come to Christ.”
Bro. Mark McArthur, who previously served as pastor of Goss Baptist Church and started Blessing of the Hunt, will open the program with history of the event to celebrate the past 20 years.
The event started with the desire to pray over hunters after a hunting accident killed local hunters. When it first began, it only drew 150 people. Within a few years, the event exploded and had to be moved to the Expo Center to accommodate the large crowds. It peaked to roughly 5,000 when Alan Robertson from Duck Dynasty spoke.
“Part of (the growth) was because of the big prizes we give away, but part of it is people want to be a part of praying over the hunters and doing something different. I think that’s what Blessing of the Hunt has served — some kind of different ministry,” Malone said. “That worked out well.”
This year’s guest speaker will be Jay Lowder of Harvest Ministries (not associated with Harvest Ministries in Marion County) in Wichita Falls, Texas. A hunter and evangelist, Lowder travels the country for different hunts and events, and his speaking engagement at a Blessing of the Hunt in Missouri is how Malone learned about Lowder.
Malone said he was told Lowder was one of the best speakers that event has ever hosted, and he’s really looking forward to hearing his message.
Lowder said he’s super excited to join Marion Countians for the 20th Annual Blessing of the Hunt and can’t wait to meet people from the community.
“I hear there’s always a great turnout, and it sounds like there’s a lot of guys that are like me and have a passion for the outdoors,” he said. “A lot of those guys are just like I was for years. I spent a lot of time in the great outdoors and somehow didn’t realize the huge connection between the outdoors and the creator of the outdoors.”
Lowder has been on a variety of hunts, including for whitetail deer, Rio Grande turkeys, black bears in Canada and more.
“I would have never dreamed that my love for hunting and fishing would have ever been an open door for me to speak to other men’s lives that have some of the same passions that I do,” Lowder said. “My dad was a big-time hunter and took me on my very first hunt when I was young boy. We went on a squirrel hunt, and I just fell in love with it. It’s been something I’ve been doing ever since.”
The Texan said he plans on giving a talk called “The 5 Most Important Lessons I’ve Learned in the Great Outdoors,” which details hunting experiences that turned into so much more and helped him see what really is important.
This year’s prizes at Blessing of the Hunt will include cash, a shooting house, a quail hunt for two, rifles and much more.
“We’re just looking forward to what God’s going to do this year just like he’s blessed us in the past,” Malone said.
