Due to a generous donation from a fellow Baptist church in North Carolina, the Hebron Baptist Church in Green Bank is fully equipped to offer the Center Shot archery class.

Center Shot is a Christian-based archery program which offers fellowship, a Bible lesson and archery lessons for all ages. The program is geared toward children, but instructor Kevin Simmons said he will teach anyone that wants to learn.

“I taught [my wife Sandra] in five minutes to shoot,” he said. “You can learn in a matter of seconds how to shoot a bow. I’d love to get some of the adults involved. It gets them involved with their kids. It gives them a family thing to do at home, or here for free.”

Simmons also taught his 11-year-old daughter, Irish, how to shoot and now, she loves to beat her dad in a shootout.

Simmons said the program will be unique because the fellowship hall will be equipped for lessons during the winter. He said it is better for the students to keep up year-round, instead of taking a break for the winter.

Pastor Paul Murdock said he hopes to get more churches involved in the program to unite the community and give the children something safe and free to do after school.

“We were just pleased to have Kevin, who is trained in archery,” Murdock said.

In a serendipitous event, Simmons met Murdock and became a member of the church.

“It was kind of a blessing,” Simmons said. “He and Lyla showed up at the house looking for someone else. We got to talking and we started coming down here and everything worked out the way God wanted it to.”

Simmons moved to the area 12 years ago, but he has deep roots in the county. His grandparents lived in the area and his father, Benny Simmons, was a second generation pastor in the county before moving to Clarksburg.

The church has five bows, four right-handed, one left-handed, and dozens of arrows, as well as two targets to be used in the archery program.

Simmons said anyone interested in learning to shoot a bow is welcome to come by and enjoy fellowship and the lesson.

“We don’t discriminate against anybody, if you want to try, we’ll try,” he said. “If we get a steady group coming, I thought maybe we could get all the kids together and go to another church, and show them what we do, so we can get more churches into it.”

The program is open to people with special needs, as well.

Hebron Baptist Church is located in Green Bank, across from the Dollar General Store. The archery class is offered every Wednesday evening at 5:30 p.m. A short Bible lesson is held prior to the archery lesson.

Suzanne Stewart may be contacted at sastewart@pocahontastimes.com