Two Michigan pastors who happen to be twin brothers are making a scriptural case for hunting, pointing to the opening chapter of Genesis as the foundation for how they understand their time in the field.
Chad and James Hampton, founders of Huntin’ the Truth Ministries, told Fox News that Genesis 1:26 shapes both their theology and their practice — the verse in which God declares that humanity will “rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
Chad Hampton framed the act of hunting as a form of stewardship rather than conquest. “We know that God’s given us that food to manage and also consume so that we can be what He’s created us to be,” he said, adding, “We’re managing God’s creation that He gave to us.”
The brothers’ reading places them in a long-running conversation among religious hunters about what dominion over creation actually requires — a debate that has periodically surfaced in American political and cultural life, particularly around conservation policy, wildlife management, and the role of hunting in state game agencies.
A Mission Beyond the Field
According to the ministry’s website, its stated purpose extends well past the hunt itself. Under the heading “Our Mission,” the site describes the goal as creating and restoring relationships with Jesus Christ through hunting and the outdoors.
The Hamptons say they have expanded that platform to a national level through guided hunts offered to physically challenged men, to men generally, and to youths who lack a father figure or someone to take them hunting. The ministry also says it has helped other ministries and organizations build and maintain their own hunting and outdoor programs — a model that treats the field as a setting for mentorship as much as for sport.
Both brothers are graduates of Rochester Christian University. They pastor churches in Michigan.
Their approach fits a recognizable pattern in American religious life: outdoor ministries that use shared activities — hunting, fishing, camping — as the entry point for discipleship and relationship-building, particularly among men and boys who might not otherwise step into a church setting.
An Ongoing Debate About Dominion
The theological question the Hamptons are answering is not a new one. Genesis 1:26 has been cited for centuries both to justify human use of animals and, by other readers, to argue for a more protective form of care over them. Chad Hampton’s language — “manage and also consume” — positions hunting as a legitimate part of that mandate rather than a departure from it.
That framing also intersects with a practical reality in many states: hunting is a primary tool of wildlife population management, funded largely through license fees and excise taxes on firearms and ammunition. Pastors who hunt often describe their participation in exactly those terms, as conservation rather than extraction.
The ministry’s emphasis on taking out youths without father figures adds another layer. In that telling, the hunt is not only about the animal taken but about the relationship formed — a mentoring structure the brothers say they have deliberately built into their guided trips.
The Fox News interview did not touch on specific policy fights or legislation. Rather, it presented the Hamptons’ personal and theological rationale, delivered in their own words, for why they hunt and why they encourage others to do the same.
Ministry Roots and Reach
Rochester Christian University, where both men studied, is a small Christian institution in Rochester Hills, Michigan. Pastoring churches in the same state, the brothers have built their ministry around a platform that they say now operates nationally through guided hunts.
The article was reported by Breitbart News Second Amendment columnist AWR Hawkins, whose weekly newsletter, “Down Range,” focuses on firearms and related issues. Hawkins is also a political analyst for Armed American Radio and director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts.
Source: www.breitbart.com — https://www.breitbart.com/2nd-amendment/2026/10/11/hunting-pastors-point-to-genesis-126-were-managing-gods-creation/