Outgoing Kentucky Megachurch Pastor Launches Ministry to Feed Deer Jerky to Children
A Kentucky megachurch pastor announced the launch of a new ministry that will feed deer jerky to hungry children in the Bluegrass State.
“I am launching a ministry tomorrow morning because of the immediate need to feed hungry children across the state of Kentucky,” Pastor Jon Weece said, who preached his final Sunday sermon to congregants at the Southland Christian Church in Lexington, where he served for 26 years.
He noted, “Please hear this statistic: 21 percent of children in our state are going to bed hungry every single night, and that should keep and bother all of us in this room as citizens in the commonwealth.”
The new ministry, known as the Boone Brothers, plans to turn “Kentucky’s abundant natural resources into nourishment for the next generation.”
“When you give, hunt, or serve with us, you’re helping ensure that hungry children don’t grow into angry adults. … Through a partnership with Kentucky Fish & Wildlife, we process and package venison (deer meat) into a delicious form of jerky (Boone Bites) that are protein-rich and do not need to be refrigerated,” the ministry’s website, which lists Trey Benson and Weece as staff members, explains.
Weece, who began serving at Southland Christian Church in 2000 as a teaching pastor and became the church’s lead pastor three years later, announced last January that he would step down and announced that his friend, Pastor Scott Nickell, would replace him.
The pastor acknowledged that he didn’t know what he would do after stepping down as a pastor until last June, The Christian Post reported.
“As I said in January last year, four years ago, God was making it clear that my time of leading Southland onto the battlefield was coming to an end. What He didn't make clear to me was what my next assignment would be until June of this past year, June of 2025,” Weece said.
He noted that nearly 15,000 people were baptized throughout the 26 years he served at Southland and that about 3,000 people were added to the multi-campus church in the past year.
Weece thanked the congregation for loving him and his family and their financial support, including more than $430 million over the course of his leadership.
“I've never claimed to be a smart leader. … I'm an honest one, but I'm not a smart one. And the reason I can share all the dumb things I've ever done in my life in front of you is because of God's love flowing through you. You have loved me in spite of me and I'm a different man as a result of it,” Weece told congregants.
“I mean, our church has doubled in size. Our budget has quadrupled in size. Central Kentucky is radically different because of the way you express God's love. I also want you to know on this last Sunday that I'm a better man because of your love.”
Regarding Nickell, Weece encouraged the congregation to support their new pastor in a healthy manner.
“Like me, Scott counts it a high privilege to lead this church into battle against Satan every day. And he's got the scars to prove it. So, as his brother, can I just encourage you with this: Support him. Pray for him. Don't do what a lot of churches do to their pastors, which is stab him and shoot him in the back.”
“Scott is a man among boys," he added. "He's proven that here. He will do what is right, even if it's not easy or popular. God has taken these stigmas in his life and turned them, transformed them into strengths. His faith has been tested. Thus, it can be trusted.”
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Originally published January 06, 2026.
