When Josh Gelatt, lead pastor at North Oak Community Church in Hays, Kansas, was growing up, his father began hosting an outreach event for outdoorsmen at the church he pastored in Michigan.
“He loved deer hunting, he loved Jesus and he loved evangelism, so he would do a sportsman’s dinner in February every year,” Gelatt says.
As the event typically happened around the Super Bowl, it was coined “Super Buck,” drawing 200 people into a sanctuary built for 70.
“People would pack in, and they would hear the gospel,” Gelatt says. “Guys were getting saved, and it was a neat thing.”
As the North Oak congregation was looking for ways to reach the unchurched in its community, Gelatt brought up the idea of hosting their own Super Buck, aiming for it to be even bigger than what he had grown up with.
Beyond expectations
After making sure no other local church or ministry hosted a similar event, North Oak moved forward with its inaugural event on Feb. 1, 2025.
Not knowing what turnout might look like, North Oak welcomed 225 attendees to the Saturday evening event.
“If the people come to this thing, let’s call it a win,” Gelatt says. “It blew out our expectations.”
They prepared over 125 pounds of meat and handed out more than 100 door prizes, ranging from a Traeger grill to firearms and knives. Local businesses and members of the church donated many of the prizes.
The event’s main attraction was speaker Jim VanSteenhouse, a sportsman, adventurer and grizzly bear attack survivor.
“He had a really compelling story,” Gelatt says. “He was attacked by a grizzly bear while bowhunting in Canada and the Yukon, and that actually led to his conversion.”
Life transformation
Of the 225 attendees, Gelatt estimates that about half were not connected to any church. By the end of the night, 19 people had accepted Christ after hearing VanSteenhouse’s testimony.
In following up, many of these people were connected to a church, whether it was North Oak or somewhere else.
Hunter Harris was an attendee who was inspired seeing the faith of men like VanSteenhouse.
“Seeing big, tough men—hunters and outdoorsmen—relying (on) and knowing that they need Christ—that’s inspiring,” Harris says.
Gelatt mentions one man who came to the event, and it challenged him to take his faith more seriously.
“Now he’s jumping in, involved in leadership, doing devotions with his family, actively engaged in Bible studies, coming to Sunday school class; he and his wife are just soaking this stuff up,” Gelatt says.
Another attendee, amid his personal struggle and hardships, gave his life to Christ that night and has been attending North Oak regularly since.
North Oak’s upcoming Super Buck event will be Feb. 7 The speaker will be Jeff Tipton, a retired wildlife officer from Ohio.
“He’s really passionate and evangelistic and excited about God’s unique creation and how God has designed various species of animals for survival and flourishing,” Gelatt says. “Jesus tells us that God cares so much for these animals—how much more does he care for you and I?”
North Oak is looking to surpass its attendance from last year, preparing for upward of 270 to come celebrate hunting, but more importantly, to hear the gospel and experience life transformation.
Cody Meyer is associate pastor of youth and discipleship at Ebenfeld MB Church, Hillsboro, Kansas. He is a 2024 graduate of Tabor College with a major in Adaptive Ministry Leadership and a minor in Communications. Cody credits his time at Tabor and his experience serving at Ebenfeld while in college and at Camp War Eagle, a children’s summer camp, as milestones in his call to ministry.
