Randy Ellis, pastor of First Baptist Church Chatsworth, Georgia, is a fisher of men and a hunter of gators.
Ellis finally met all regulations specified by the Wildlife Resources Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and qualified to have a hands-on, eye-to-eye hunting adventure in search of an alligator.
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Ellis explained, “I applied every year for eight years to meet the requirements to hunt gators in Georgia. Each year you get rejected, you earn a point, and it took eight points for me to qualify to hunt in the Okefenokee Swamp section, which was my preference.
“There were three of us in the boat when we saw the gator we wanted,” Ellis reported. “It was so large it took us almost 1½ hours to get it in the boat.”
The gator Ellis and his fellow hunters caught was 12 feet long and weighed 800 pounds.
Delicacy
Alligator hunting helps manage the population of the menacing creatures, and their hides can be tanned and used for making certain products, such as cowboy boots. The meat is known for being low in fat and high in protein, and some find it to be a delicacy.
Though Ellis enjoys the challenge of hunting, his real passion is reaching the lost and serving the members of his church. He is doing it through his love for Christ and his love for his congregation.
Ellis gives every evidence of being a faithful Christian, a God-called pastor, and he has a winsome personality and a congenial spirit, according to Mickey McNeil, vice chairman of the deacons at First Baptist Chatsworth. “Pastor Ellis has wonderful people skills, and his smile is contagious,” McNeil noted. “I couldn’t be happier with our pastor. He has fit in with us, and we have fit in with him. The first time I met him, I felt like I had known him all my life.”
McNeil explained, “Brother Randy is a Bible preacher. His sermons are down-to-earth and easy to follow, and he provides an outline of his message in the bulletin, and we have found that to be very helpful.”
Ellis will have his first anniversary at the Chatsworth church in June, but the church has already had more than a 10% growth in attendance.
“There is a special camaraderie in the church,” testified Ellis, “and as in Nehemiah’s day (Nehemiah 4:6), the people have a mind to work. If they see a need to enhance our facilities, they are all over it.”
EDITOR’S NOTE — Full story was written by J. Gerald Harris and originally published by the Christian Index.
