Centennial Valley Community Church, WY
To all who would obey the Lord Jesus and love your neighbor; the Cochon du Lait ministry does just that. Jim and Debby Davenport, “The Pig People” have been coming to our community church for over 15 years. After learning about their ministry and after much prayer the church decided to host the outreach event. The first one we had at our small village church high in the mountains of Wyoming went better than we ever imagined. We invited the town by putting up flyers in a few keys spots. We offered a pig roast and invited some locals to play banjo and guitar. The musicians in our church also got involved. Then we prayed, sat back and watched to see what God would do. People came, we ate, and everyone had a great time. The roasting of the pig was unique and something everyone was interested in. We charged nothing to the community as it was an outreach by the church. In the following few years the outreach grew exponentially. We actually roasted two pigs last time and the community looks forward to the time of fellowship with each other and the members of our church.
Jim also preaches a message from his heart to the people of the community. It’s honest and true to God’s word. Our Lord wants us to reach out and offer the free gift of salvation to all who will hear . . . and Jim does exactly that. I feel blessed that the Lord allowed us to be a small part of this vibrant outreach to the lost in our community . . . so important in fulfilling the Great Commission.
God will bless all who obey His word to reach out to others.
Pastor Bob Matthews
Riverside Baptist Church, ND
Thank you to Jim and Debbie Davenport for their Cochon du Lait ministry. We are in the planting stages of birthing a new church. So, we used the ministry to develop interest in the work. We, also, used the event to build a contact list. Wow, did it work. We hosted over 200 people at our event. We plan to do this event next year with double the people.
The ministry drew our congregation together. Everyone had a part in it, from the cooking of the pigs, the preparing of the side dishes, setting up tables and chair, electronic equipment, etc. Jim delivered a powerful message from God’s Word on the benefits of team building. It was a great message to begin the day of activities. The entire day was an exciting and awesome event.
The Davenports provide a step by step, item by item planning guide that takes the guesswork out of planning. Both Jim and Debbie are available through out the process to answer any questions and supply knowledge.
Todd Fuehrer
Pastor
Cornerstone Baptist Church, AR
In August of 2015, our church, Cornerstone Baptist of Texarkana, AR, hosted a Cochon De Lait with Jim and Debby Davenport.
The event was planned and prayed over. When it was all said and done, we found many things to celebrate:
We celebrate what we were able to do for others.
We showed a welcoming and hospitable spirit. One guest said it was the ‘friendliest church” he’d ever attended. One of our intentions was to build bridges to our community. Using media, invite cards, and personal invitations, we were able to make contact with a number of people living in our area. One couple visited homes around our church to invite them. One of the band members who played at the event was so impressed that he texted our minister of music:
Thank you so much …I’ve never seen organization effort and hospitality as I did Sat
…..if there’s a model for Christ’s love for fellow man you guys have it.
We were able to serve spiritual needs. We offered a prayer tent and a group spent much time in prayer preparation. The prayer team will continue to operate in our church.
But we also celebrate what we did for ourselves.
Our Cochon De Lait built morale and enthusiasm for our church. Nothing like this event had ever been attempted at Cornerstone. We had never even fed as many as nearly 400 people who came! Some doubted there would be much response, and were pleasantly surprised!
There was great participation- ½ to ¾ of our active members were involved in the event.
On top of that, there were no complaints! People came together and worked. Now they are asking when we are going to host our next Cochon De Lait.
Even our youth and children “jumped” in by helping to set up, serve, and run games.
Finally, the following Sunday, there were new families visiting and decisions made. Some commented how they liked our vision to reach our community. We are still seeing first time guests coming to our church
A favorite moment for me personally was seeing large response to plans as people streamed in Saturday evening.
The church concluded activities with a feeling of, “We did it!” But realized the “GOD DID IT”!
In short, we saw the modern fulfillment of one of my favorite verses in the Bible:
So we built the wall. And all the wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.” Nehemiah 4:6
First Baptist Tom Bean, Texas
On Cochon De Lait, the pig roast:
I had the privilege of meeting Jim & Debby Davenport at a pastor’s retreat. In this encounter I witnessed their love for both the LORD and people. Particularly, the LORD blessed them both with a strong sense of humor and a God-given ability to cook. After having spent a week-end with them I was able ‘taste and see’ the LORD is good! Over the intervening years the LORD kept the Jim & Debby on my heart and in April 2015 the church I pastor, First Baptist Church, conducted our first ever Cochin de lait. Prior to their coming not one member of had ever heard that term. But, praise the LORD, I can say that by the time they loaded their trailer to head back to Louisiana a large part of our community knew about and enjoyed Tom Bean’s first Cajun-style pig roast. The event was the most successful outreach our church has participated during my tenure as pastor. The attendance surpassed our expectation, over 300 people in a town of 1,043, 31% of the population attended. The pig was excellent! We prayed, God must be in it and we organized and in the end the LORD provided perfectly. Our entire church body worked together as a unit. We accumulated a whole new list of folks without a church home. And miraculously what was supposed to be a rainy day gave way to a perfect cool and cloudy evening. God is so good! I would encourage pastors to prayerfully consider inviting Jim & Debby, “The Pig People”. They bring a unique ministry that opens doors for relationships with lost people and at the same time brings the entire church together. I count them both as dear friends and co-laborers!
On preaching:
Jim Davenport is a gifted communicator and First Baptist was blessed to hear him during our Sunday morning worship service last April. Jim shares from his heart. And Jim’s heart is all about growing relationships that point people to Jesus! Jim shared about God’s work on his own heart and then how the LORD has used him ever since. Jim is funny and keeps people interested in what God is saying through him. The LORD used Jim to prepare people’s heart for reaching out to others and building faith in God’s supernatural ability. Jim is living proof of God’s work through a truly surrendered life. I appreciate Jim and recommend him.