Beep! Beep! Beep! That was the sound that I heard at 1:30 a.m. on October 25th. It was time for my brother, Trevor, and I to get up and make our way to the Havelock Memorial Hall to prepare for our annual Hunter’s Breakfast. Before I tell you how things went I must give you a little insight as to what exactly this “Hunter’s Breakfast” is.

Each year, on the first day of deer season, the Havelock Wesleyan Church serves up to hunters, and anyone else who wants to come early enough, a hearty breakfast. “A breakfast to start your hunt” is what the flyers say. This breakfast consists of pancakes, eggs, ham, toast, muffins, donuts, tea, coffee and juice. All for the price of 5 “bucks”. Havelock Wesleyan has been doing this for a number of years and it has become a tradition in the community.

I believe that we do this for the simply reason that “You (we) are the light of the world, A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your (our) light shine before men.” (Matthew 5:14- 16). We want to show our light in a practical way to the community around us. We want to let our lights shine.

Havelock Wesleyan is located on the corner of routes 880 and 885. That means that we are in the middle of “town”. We prepare the Hunter’s Breakfast to let people in our community know that we are here for them, and that we are here to serve them, not just the church on the corner.

At 2 a.m., Trevor, myself and one fellow from our church arrive to prepare the coffee and juice as well as to start cooking the eggs and pancakes. Shortly before 4 a.m. several of our church folk arrive. They have come to serve the hunters, toast the toast, give away door prizes, and wash dishes.

In the days leading up to this event one of our church folk has gone to several local and outlying business to get donated items that we can use for door prizes. This not only allows us to give something away but for local businesses to be advertised. Most of the food is donated by church folk and even a couple of local community members who look forward to what we do each year. This helps to keep our costs down allowing us to use the revenue in further outreach events.

The first person through the door comes exactly at 4 a.m. I walk out to greet him and give him a prize for being the first person to our breakfast. Shortly thereafter people start to come on a steady basis.

As the morning progresses I am in the kitchen with several others keeping the food coming off of the grill. As we are doing this I can here another member yelling out numbers in order to give out prizes. And others are busy coming in out of the kitchen letting us know how many heaping plates they need.

Along with the breakfast we give out “survival packs”. The contents of these bags vary from year to year but generally include: matches, a candle, a tea bag, flagging tape, string, band-aids, a tract, and a message from me inviting them to church and wishing them luck on their hunt.

From time to time when our guests were asked how the food was the response was either “I need a nap”, “That was so big” or “excellent“. It is a guarantee that no one will leave physically hungry.

As of writing this we have not seen anyone who attended the breakfast come to our church. However, we believe that seeds were planted and that God will make them grow. As this little church on the corner continues to reach out we trust that God will take our efforts and multiply them.