Oklahoma Church Frog Giggin’ Tournament Helps Prod Interest in Missions

This article was originally written by Scott Barkley and published to The Baptist Press. Feature image courtesy of Carter, First/Facebook.

CARTER, Okla. (BP) — Carter, First is getting more of its people involved in missions, whether in Cameroon, Panama or Providence. It got momentum, though, in about the most western Oklahoma way imaginable.

It became apparent during the COVID shutdown of 2020 that people were needing to get outside more. A local radio station encouraged getting outdoors through an online fishing derby where people posted photos of their prized catch on the station’s Facebook page.

Not long afterwards a member of First Baptist told Pastor Jase Hargrove of a discovery. The man was from Louisiana and had found a place in Elk City, only about 20 minutes away, that sold frog legs.

“I asked him why he bought frog legs,” said Hargrove. “My son and the boys at the church catch them all the time.”

The pastor began forming an idea.

“After that conversation I was driving down the road and heard the Lord tell me to put on a frog giggin’ tournament. I ran the idea by a couple of guys and they laughed and said, ‘Yeah, let’s go for it.”

For the unfamiliar, frog giggin’ is frog huntin’ with a three-pronged spear. The legs are separated and ultimately battered and deep fried for all to enjoy. You have a lot of farmers, oil field workers and the like around Carter – the perfect clientele for such an outing. The popularity is obvious as crowds of up to 400, Hargrove said, have shown up for the tournaments in the town whose population is less than half that.

Two-man teams hunt the pond and creek banks all night to bag their 30-frog limit. Prizes are given according to weight, with gift cards to the first-place and second-place teams. Belt buckles for the lead team proclaim them the Carter Frog Gigging Champions. The team with the single biggest frog receives handmade knives worn on their hip.

Hargrove knows the people in his community. But a church member’s endorsement sealed the launch of the event, which is part of the men’s ministry.

“One of my oil field workers who was new to the church was looking for ways to reach folks,” Hargrove said. “We have a lot of oil field people, a lot of farmers – for lack of a better word, a lot of rednecks, those out in the country.”

Gigging starts at 8 p.m. on a Friday and ends at 9 a.m. Frogs are turned in, and as participants go home to sleep, their catches are weighed, cleaned and prepared to eat that evening alongside an assortment of fried chicken strips and fish. The evening event is for the whole family, complete with inflatables for kids and various prize drawings.

Hargrove then presents the Gospel, and some give testimonies. The event has produced salvations as well as new church members. Carter Frog Gigging Tournament T-shirts are worn throughout the year and generate questions about the church, he added.

Missions move forward

The tournament coincided with a renewed hunger for missions at the church. One member who had experienced a stroke in her 20s went to a camp for those like her called Hope Heals. She felt God calling her to return, but as a sponsor. Hargrove calls her the church’s first missionary, with others from First Baptist now accompanying her on return trips.

The church has responded to other missions opportunities as well. A team rebuilt a Colorado church’s entrance. A church member originally from Cameroon, Africa, has helped establish mission opportunities in Panama and Cameroon since 2021. Hargrove’s sister, a church member and nurse, has taken part in medical missions by way of eye surgeries in Mexico.

In 2022 a team of 10 from First Baptist went to Panama, with a group of five going to Cameroon. The next year 11 church members went to Nicaragua. Future considerations are being made for eastern Europe. Hargrove and a team just returned from a vision trip with Rhode Island churches for future mission trips.

Hargrove went to Russia three times as a member of Elk City (Okla.) Baptist Church. Those trips changed his life and outlook on missions.

“Everyone who has gone on missions comes home and starts doing it there,” he said. “There were 25-30 members when I came to Carter. Last year we averaged 105. I’m not a big numbers person, but when those small groups started going on missions they started growing spiritually. And when we started growing spiritually as a church, we started growing numerically.”

There have been more than 100 baptisms since he arrived as pastor six years ago. The majority of those take place in the north fork of the Red River.

The church has a baptistry, but it wasn’t used for about three years after Hargrove arrived.

River baptisms started with one boy who had been saved at Falls Creek Camp. He wanted to be baptized in the river just like his granddaddy. Well, he was one of 13 scheduled to be baptized, and now they all wanted to go to the river. No one should be surprised that a cookout on the riverbank became part of the celebration.

Others wanted to be baptized at the river as well, even in November and December. The riverbank, a place locally known for drunken revelry, had a new kind of spirit moving.

“Now it’s known around town as the place you get baptized,” Hargrove said. “Our people have gone on missions and brought it home. They’re inviting people to church and sharing the Gospel.”