Baptist churches in Kentucky are giving away guns as prizes in the southern US state in hopes of drawing wayward locals to Christ.
Lone Oak First Baptist Church is hosting the next "faith and firearms" event on Thursday and has invited the townsfolk of Paducah to come by for a free steak dinner and a chance to win one of 25 handguns, long guns and shotguns which have been donated as prizes.
The purpose is to "point people to Christ" while also celebrating gun rights and the great outdoors, the church said.
Preacher Chuck McAlister - who used to host a popular hunting show on the Outdoor Channel and is a member of the Kentucky Baptist Convention's executive team - will be the guest speaker.
McAlister's ministry "revolves around God, guns, good ol' boys" and has helped more than 3,000 people find Christ in the past two years, the convention said in an article on its website.
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"That's a phenomenal number of souls saved under one man's ministry by anybody's standards," said Paul Chitwood, executive director of the Kentucky Baptist Convention, an umbrella group for 2,400 autonomous churches.
"Chuck has a unique gift that makes him especially effective in reaching out to us good ol' boys, and he does it with passion."
