Pictured above: Wekiva Run Baptist Church holds weekly worship services at 6 p.m. Sunday evenings.

Fish fry dinners and Dog Box Revivals may not be typical church outreach events, but Wekiva Run Baptist Church is not serving your typical Florida community.

Gulf Hammock, located about 30 miles east of Cedar Key, is a more rural area known for its vast natural wetland and as a popular destination for hunting, fishing and hiking.  That makes fish fry dinners, dog box revivals for hunters and the like the perfect type of events for this new church plant trying to reach its community, according to Pastor Chris Owens.

“This is a very rural area, very small and everyone is so spread out,” he said. “It’s a real outdoorsy area. Lots of families have moved here in the last 10 years so there is a great harvest. We just have to get out there and get them.”

The church was started back in early 2025 and its members continue to meet twice a week with a church service on Sunday nights and a Bible study and potluck dinner on Wednesday evening. The church started with about 20 to 25 people and has since grown to about 30 to 35 attending on Sundays.

“There are not a lot of churches that do Sunday nights so we thought we’d try that,” he said.  

On Wednesday evenings, members coordinate who’s bringing what and they gather for a potluck meal together, followed by a Bible study led by Owens. After a new family joined and were baptized, Owens began studies related to evangelism and sharing one’s faith.

“We wanted to help mentor them and disciple them and felt like this would be good for everyone,” he said. “We have really enjoyed getting into God’s word and sharing meals together like this.”

For Sunday evening worship services, Owens has done a series on the Beatitudes from Matthew but he’s also delivered messages from Acts about how the early church started and what they can learn from them.

One of his biggest challenges, he says, is trying to juggle all his responsibilities. As a bi-vocational pastor, he must juggle being a full-time carpentry and construction teacher at an area high school, pastoring the church and being a husband to his wife, Melissa, and father to his two teenage children, Makayla and Tres.

 “I am juggling everything – work, family and church – and I think I am getting better at it,” he said.

Owens said he partnered with another church to do the fish fry event which was a huge success. The Dog Box Revival held on river front property was also popular and gets its name from the dog boxes hunters use to transport their dogs during hunting season. In addition to the meal of various chili dishes and hot dogs, Owens delivered a sermon from the back of a truck, right next to a dog box.

“We had one Baptism that night so that was exciting,” he said. “We had a good crowd but we are hoping to make it even better this year. We are doing things like this to reach the hunters because hunting is really big here.”

Owens said he was a part of a group of deacons from his previous church who took turns preaching after their pastor got sick. That’s when he began feeling God’s call to preach and plant this church.

When a church of another faith closed its doors during COVID and never reopened, Owens was part of a group of area pastors who began praying that the building would reopen as a church. Eventually the Harmony Baptist Association bought the building and asked Owens to consider opening a church plant there.

He and his wife participated in church planter training through the Send Network, which he said was very helpful. “The Send Network has been amazing,” he said. “It was great to meet other church planters from around the state.”

He also thanked the Harmony Baptist Association and the Florida Baptist Convention for helping with this church plant. Owens receives funding assistance from the Maguire State Missions Fund, which is being collected in Baptist churches around the state and country this month.

For those interested in praying for Owens and this church, he asks that they pray for help with leadership at the church. And while he feels blessed to have an actual church building – many church plants do not, he says – the building set vacant about five years and will likely need roof and AC replacements soon.

Owens said he loves the idea of others from around the state praying for him and this church.

“It’s so helpful to know that there are people praying for you, that brothers and sisters have got your back,” he said. “That is a huge help.”