It all began on a hunting excursion to the Potomac River in Virginia. Kevin Mitchell, his brother and a friend set out for a duck hunt when Mitchell was hit with what he believes was a divine intervention, he said.

“The Lord put on my heart that I spent a lot of time hunting and fishing and none of it was given to Him,” Mitchell said. “I told (my brother and friend) what the Lord had put on my heart about starting a Bible ministry with guys I hunt and fish with. When I left there, I really didn’t know where to go with it.”

That’s when Mitchell sought counsel from friend and spiritual mentor Connell “Pop” Purvis. The outcome was one that was remarkable, a mandate from God Himself, Mitchell said.

“That’s when I went to ‘Pop,’” Mitchell recalled. “He’s always been my spiritual hero growing up. He guided and led us to that first Bible study. In the first 30 minutes, he said, ‘God doesn’t want you to not go hunting and fishing; he just wants to go with you and enjoy the creation he provided. He just wants to be a part of it.’ That was something that really blew me away because I always compartmentalized God as something that was an 11 a.m. thing on Sunday.”

But Brothers in the Field, a hunting and fishing Bible ministry that grew from came to Mitchell’s heart that day, aligns its Christian beliefs with striving to be the church every day and living the word of God, according to Purvis.

The ministry was launched about six years ago. It began with seven men from various denominations, who shared a commonality — hunting and fishing, as well as a desire to find and remain close to God, according to Purvis.

The group soon discerned the ministry as the perfect way to get other men to open up and have a conversation about faith in God in an informal, nonthreatening environment, according to Matt Carr, a member of the ministry. They found that to be true, as the group has grown to around 40 members.

“With this group, we not only come together to study God’s word, but we hold each other accountable to live God’s word each day, and that’s huge,” Mitchell said. “Men need to have other men to lean on and hold them accountable. It’s easy to say (you’re a Christian), but to live it is a different story.”

Through that realization, men from all walks of life — all socioeconomic backgrounds, professional and educational backgrounds and denominational lines — come together to share testimony about their personal experiences with God and bring others closer to God, Purvis said.

“It crosses all these lines, and no one has ownership,” Purvis said. “It’s just God doing his thing. All these guys make a commitment to have a desire to have a closer relationship with God. The common ground is they’ve all had, in their own personal way, an encounter with God. The scripture says, ‘Draw near to me and I will draw near to you.’ They’ve lived that. It says, ‘Without faith, it’s impossible to please God.’ You must believe he exists, and he rewards those who earnestly seek him. These guys have pursued that, experienced it and lived it. The power to transform lives has been an incredible thing to watch.”

The setting is the most unlikely of places one would think to practice faith. The group meets every other Sunday in a barn and studies the Bible, analyzes scripture and shares testimony that ties scripture to real life applications, Carr said.

But the setting has proved to be a prime environment to lead men to God, one in which they are comfortable and can grow in their faith. This, in turn, has led the men to become better spiritual leaders and more involved in their churches and families, Purvis said.

“This movement has empowered men to regain their spiritual voices and to be the spiritual leaders that God ordained us to be,” Carr said. “We want to bring people in and help them either find a relationship or grow their relationship with God so they can go out and spread the gospel. Jesus’ last commandment was to go out and make disciples and you can’t do that unless you spend time with people. That’s what we like to do. We don’t want to take anything away from or compete with churches. We want to help build the church.”

For more information about Brothers in the Field, contact Kevin Mitchell at 252-945-4550 or email at kjtmitchell@hotmail.com.