Holy Smoke #16
The sixteenth annual Holy Smoke Christian Grilling Competition was held Saturday April 6, 2019 at the old school in the Centerpoint community of Preston Ga. The event is sponsored by Macedonia Baptist Church and supported by other area churches. (listed below)
Although the day was mostly cloudy and damp, we were blessed that it wasn't a washout. And besides, the weather didn't dampen the spirits of the teams that competed or the crowd at the Holy Smoke. This year there were sixteen teams competing in the Bar-B-Que competition and eighteen in the cake competition. The teams' donations plus two more church's donations and several individual donations all totaled $5,095.00 for the cause.
Gospel singing began at 10:00 a.m. and lasted until about 5 p.m. with well-known singers from the surrounding area and as far away as Jacksonville Fl. Each of these individuals or groups gave of their time to help in this mission project. They were: (1st) Dayspring Trio, (2nd) Bubba Cobb, Harvey Wills, (3rd)William Herndon, (4th)Young Spirit, (5th)Mercy's Bridge, (6th) Southern Praise, and last but not least(7th) was Angie & Jessica Welch.
Bar-B-Que plates were sold for the noon and evening meals with all proceeds (including the total donations) of the day being divided equally between the Ga. Baptist Children’s home in Meansville Ga. and the Methodist Children’s home in Americus.
The judging totals were tallied soon after the last meat turn in which was at 5:00 p.m. There were several door prizes given away and trophies for the top three cake entries, then local auctioneer Billy Black took the floor for about 20 minutes auctioning off all of the cake entries. This added to the entertainment of the day. It's a treat just to listen to the auction. This part of the event itself raised $3,645.00 (thank you Mr. Billy) making a GRAND TOTAL of $11,651.90 that will be divided between the homes. Praise the Lord!
After the cake auction the judging totals were announced with trophies being given for the first three places in each category and for Grand Champion. We also added a new competition this year and gave a championship trophy to the winner of the Cornhole competition.
The Grand Champion of the 2019 BBQ competition (that included all entries except cakes) was Richland Baptist Church with 1st & 2nd runners up being Safe Harbor Outreach (Parrott) and Weston Baptist, respectively.
What a great day of fellowship and fun with brothers and sisters in Christ and a GREAT collective effort from all for this mission. (THANK YOU)
We thank each of the cooking teams, singers, judges, workers and supporters that made this year’s Holy Smoke another huge success and the best yet for funds raised.
We also give a special thank you outside of the Macedonia family to Terry @ Adams Food Center for his continued support, Paul Stull @ Sunrise Graphics for the trophy decals, Peggy Jo Scott for running the judging room and to the many individuals for their personal donations.