My favorite part of deer hunting was the campfire. I still savor the feeling of the warmth of the fire…watching the sparks and cinders fly up to the sky as we focused on the fire men bonded.

For over forty years I hunted with my “bestest” friend Richard, his dad, and his brother. They went to hunt the big trophy deer… I went to sit around the campfire. There is something about men… buddies, sitting around a campfire sharing stories, laced together with laugher that bonds men together. There is no order or script. You never know where the conversation will go. But at every campfire we learned a little bit more about each other.

Next week our BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) Band of Brothers satellite group that meets at First Assembly in North Little Rock, will begin the powerful study of Romans. What started as 13 men meeting on Zoom during Covid has grown to over 140 men meeting on Tuesday morning at 6am at FirstNLR, Wednesday night at 7pm on Zoom and Thursday night at 6:30pm at FirstNLR.

Here’s the cool thing about what God has done. The only thing these men really have in common is the love of Jesus. They are rich & poor, black & white, young, and old, highly educated, and not, some have never read the Bible and others speak from memory. While a number of the men attend FirstNLR, many belong to different denominations. Most live in Central Arkansas but a growing number live across the country and attend by using Zoom. Here’s another cool thing. Many of the guys arrive early, before the discussion groups meet for what we call “campfire time.” Men who were strangers now enjoying the fellowship because of Jesus. Do you recognize it? It looks a lot like the guys that Jesus called… His disciples.

For 3 years, over 1,000 campfires with these men, His Disciples, sat with Jesus. Can you imagine what it must have been like? Very little was written about “Campfire Moments with Jesus,” but there is one found in John 21:4. It would be the final campfire. There was Jesus with a campfire going and breakfast cooking… “At dawn Jesus was standing on the beach, but the disciples couldn’t see who he was. 5 He called out, “Fellows, have you caught any fish?” Of course, Jesus knew the answer. But he took ordinary life to teach a Spiritual truth. That’s the power of the campfire. It was at the campfire that Jeus looked Peter in the eye and said, “Feed my sheep.” This was the campfire that changed everything.

Until now I have never recognized the similarities in the campfires. Our BSF campfires have talked about gator hunting, shrimping, repairing locomotives, and other manly subjects but when discussion group time comes, it’s like a switch is flipped… just like when Jesus looked Peter in the eye and said, “Feed my sheep.” The campfire is like the appetizer for the main course, God’s Word.

We encourage our Band of Brothers to come early and experience what happens when the Holy Spirit lights the fire. If you’re a man, you don’t have to wait for hunting season for campfire time. If you want to join us in a Blessing… to draw closer to Him and some awesome men click the link  https://tinyurl.com/BSFBandofBrothers or scan the QR code. He will Bless you beyond measure.

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