Holy Smoke #17

April 10, 2021 was the date for the 17th annual Holy Smoke Christian Grilling Competition at the old school in the Centerpoint community of Preston Ga. The event was sponsored by Macedonia Baptist Church and supported by other area churches (listed below) and many individuals.

After a whole year off due to covid it seemed that everyone was ready to enjoy a day of Christian fellowship and fun together. Although the morning brought rain, the afternoon brought sunshine and showers of blessings. The weather didn't dampen the spirits of the teams that competed or the crowd that attended. This year there were twelve teams competing in the cake and Bar-B-Que competitions and six teams in the cornhole competition. The teams' donations plus three more church's donations and all totaled $2,645.00 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) The Back Porch Pickers (Mauk Ga), (2nd) William Herndon (Jax Fl), (3rd)Jessica Welch, (4th)Russ Kern(Madison Fl), (5th)Trinity Southern Gospel, (6th)William Herndon, (7th)Bubba Cobb & Harvey Wills, and last but certainly not least was Dayspring Trio (Americus).

Bar-B-Que plates were sold for the noon and evening meals with all proceeds (including many individual 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 at 5:00 p.m. Before the trophies were awarded 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 raised $5,560.00 (thank you Mr. Billy) making a GRAND TOTAL of $15,266.54 that will be divided between the homes. Praise the Lord! Talk about “showers of blessings”

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 awarded a championship trophy to the winner of the Cornhole competition.

The Grand Champion of the 2021 BBQ competition (that included all entries except cakes) was Shiloh Baptist Church(Americus) with 1st & 2nd runners up being Ft. Perry Baptist and Richland Baptist(last year’s GC), respectively. (see all of the winners below)

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 success and the best yet for funds raised.

We also give a special thank you to Terry @ Adams Food Center for his continued support, Paul Stull @ Sunrise Graphics for the decals, Chris Jones @ Jones Sanitation and to the many individuals for their personal donations.