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Hunting Expo Connects Church with Its Community
POPLAR, WI (December 3, 2003) - POPLAR, WI (December 3) – The seventh annual Hunters Expo, sponsored by
Mission Covenant Church, drew more than 500 people, providing an
opportunity not only for instruction, but good fellowship as well.
The November 19 free event came just three days before the State of
Wisconsin's opening of gun deer season. Seminars on various aspects of
hunting were highlighted and parishioners supplied the fixings for a
potluck meal.
Mission Covenant pastor Darrell Nelson, an avid bowhunter organized the
event after his congregation moved into a larger building in 1996. The
goal was to help promote safe, ethical hunting in the area, as well as
provide a connecting point for congregants and other members of the
community. The Expo, which drew more than 250 people in its first year,
has averaged 550 in recent years. Nelson considers the informal
conversations with people not involved in the church as a bonus,
recognizing that the goodwill generated in the community is helpful,
too. For many residents, the fact that the church does something so
practical communicates in a way that a sermon cannot do. Other churches
have picked up on the idea.
"There's a Wesleyan church about 60 miles down the road that does this
now," Nelson observed. "A few of their guys came to our show and got
excited, and about a half dozen other shows in northern Wisconsin and
northern Minnesota have gotten into it."
According to one local news account, the big attraction of this year's
event was the 70 trophy deer mounts and huge racks that lined the walls
and stretched down the Sunday school wing. All of the racks and mounts
were on a one-night loan from hunters in the area. Each rack was labeled
with the hunter's name and the year he or she shot the buck. Local
television stations documented the event in their newscasts.
"There was one other church in Sparta, Wisconsin, who called it a
Hunters Rendezvous," said Nelson in describing how his church got
started with the Expo. "They brought in speakers for a seminar, but they
don't bring in the buck mounts like we do. One of the men of the church
said he wanted to have a game feed and I said, 'Why don't we have a
hunting show?' Our community donates various items and that's what keeps
the costs down - we have a $400 budget for this - we give recognition to
local businesses and everyone in the church brings food.
"The biggest advertisement is the buck mounts," Nelson continued.
"People are fascinated by them. And in a small town like ours, this is
tradition."
Mission Covenant is located on the south shore of Lake Superior, 25
miles east of Duluth, Minnesota. The congregation of 450 is located in a
county that has 29,000 people. Nelson is in his 16th year as pastor of
the church.
For more information about the Expo, call Nelson at 715-364-2738.
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