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Gateway Outdoors: Hunters sharing Christ’s love

By DAWN HANKINS - dhankins@t-g.com
Posted 12/9/21

Chad Boyce is an avid hunter—one who doesn’t mind sharing his Christian testimony while waiting for the deer.  

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Gateway Outdoors: Hunters sharing Christ’s love

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Chad Boyce is an avid hunter—one who doesn’t mind sharing his Christian testimony while waiting for the deer.  

His mission for Gateway Outdoors all started, he says, when he was first invited to be hunting guide in Missouri for an organization who takes underprivileged individuals hunting.  

After a heart-filled weekend of deer hunting with a little disabled girl with cerebral palsy, Chad says he came home on a mission to provide the same opportunities in middle Tennessee.  

He first talked to his pastor, Jason Daughdrill, at Gateway Church in Shelbyville. He explained the calling he believed that God had placed on his heart.  

It wasn’t long before Chad and wife, Tara, had set up a non-profit organization called Gateway Outdoors. The program, as a result, continues after several years.  

The Boyces believes that the “great outdoors” provides many in need the chance to experience a setting designed to uplift them spiritually, emotionally and mentally. Well, as God intended. They’re thankful the mission continues today.  

Tara recalls, “We planned our first guided deer hunt and provided a banquet the night before to meet and greet the hunter’s and their family members. We provide dinner and we have a guest speaker to share the Word of God. We emphasize the importance of having a relationship with God and we relay how much God loves them.”  

The next day, after the dinner, which is typically a Saturday, each participant and their caretaker go on a guided hunt, thanks to Chad and Tara’s mission.  

On Friday, Dec. 10, at 6 p.m., the couple will host this season’s dinner at Gateway Church on Madison Street.  

At this meet and greet, hunters— those with special needs— are paired with guides who assist during Saturday’s deer hunt.  

“We are always looking for donations to help purchase the supplies needed for each hunt,” says Tara. “We are also looking for land to hunt on twice a year. We are insured and have all of the required coverage in place.”  

The couple have also sponsored over the years a fishing expedition.  

“We are always looking for ways to expand this ministry.”  

Anyone wishing to support Gateway Outdoors may mail checks to Gateway Outdoors P.O. Box 503 Wartrace, TN 37183. All donations are tax deductible. Receipts are available for tax records.  

For more information, call 931-580-7499 or email boyced@gmail.com.