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Pastor Invites Kids To Grab A Bow And Shoot Arrows Across Church Sanctuary

By Sam Cholke | June 23, 2017 6:09am
 The church's range is about 12 yards, which is short enough to let most new beginners start hitting a target in their first five minutes.
The church's range is about 12 yards, which is short enough to let most new beginners start hitting a target in their first five minutes.
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Facebook/Bow Up Indoor Archery

WOODLAWN — A Woodlawn pastor has invited neighborhood kids to come into his church to shoot arrows — literally — across the sanctuary.

Once a month, the Rev. Brad Beier of Living Hope Church, 6414 S. Cottage Grove Ave. sets up five targets in the sanctuary and lets kids shoot arrows across the church from the congregation’s collection of bows.

“We get them safely going in about 10 minutes and usually they’re hitting the target within five minutes on the firing line,” Beier said Thursday.

He said about 150 people have now come to do archery during the monthly Bow Up events over the past 1½ years and 50-70 have come back to do it again, with a core group coming every month.

Beier said the church is trying to give kids in the neighborhood something to do and they try to treat a bow and arrows as dangerous sports equipment more than a weapon.

“We don’t make it a big conversation about let’s not go out and shoot each other, we talk about it as a sport and recreation,” Beier said. “No kids have ever come in and said they want to go out and shoot somebody.”

He said he and the other trainers will talk about the history of the bow as part of hunting and as an ancient sport when kids do ask.

Beier said he’s reached out to guys in the neighborhood who have been more hardened by violence, including gang members. He said only a handful have taken him up on the offer, and those who did thought it was cool, but lost interest pretty quickly.

He said he’s hooked on the sport himself and bought a 1970s bow from a pawn shop in Wisconsin for his own use.

Beier said after the kids and other participants leave, he and the other trainers will sometimes open the double doors of vestibule of the church to extend the range from 12 to 50 yards and see who can hit small paper plates.

He said he’s getting better and hopes more people come in and get involved in the sport.

The next open session is 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday at the church. The church asks $7 for individuals and $5 from groups for an hour on the range to help pay for equipment.

For more information, call Beier at 312-753-8987 or email bradbeier@gmail.com.


The church's range is about 12 yards, which is short enough to let most new beginners start hitting a target in their first five minutes. [Facebook/Bow Up Indoor Archery]