God's Great Outdoors

This broadcast is really part two or the other half of last week’s program, as Gerry visits with Ralph Cianciarulo of the “Archers Choice” television show at the production studio in Lanark, Illinois that he shares the co-host position of the TV program with his wife Vicki. Ralph talks about his early years of growing up roaming the woods and fields of his Illinois home and the adventures he had. These times included his boyhood memories with the family and how the bow and arrow introduced into his life set a course for where he is today. Ralph also tells how he met Vicki through archery and their TV show got its start. This path in life led to the two of them praying to receive Christ, as did their son RJ. The two meeting and choosing a life together all are the result of archery and God’s plan for their lives!

On this week’s Trail To Adventure! we’ll be hearing from Vicki Cianciarulo who is the co-host of the outdoor television program titled, “Archers Choice.” Vicki and her husband Ralph, travel around the world chasing the many different big game species they harvest and film hunts for the show. Vicki describes her early years of growing up with her mom in a single parent home and how it impacted the times at church, limiting that experience. Being a “Tom Boy” she loved the outdoors and getting dirty during those adventures was all part of the fun. As a young woman she had a chance to go on a grouse hunt in the northern part of Wisconsin and from that moment on she was hooked on hunting. Next in Vicki’s life came archery and that is where she became acquainted with Ralph who owned the shop she visited to begin the sport. Together this couple was hunting in God’s Creation as the Creator Jesus was pursuing them all to have a personal relationship with this family!

Treestand safety is the topic of this week’s Trail To Adventure! as statistics show that one out of three people that hunt out of a treestand will have an accident at some time in their life, with a number of these incidents being fatal. Jay Everett from Hunter Safety Systems is this week’s guest. Gerry and Jay spend part of this interview talking treestand safety to help the listeners understand the importance of the topic and seriously consider their need to wear safety harnesses while hunting from an elevated platform. Jay relates facts on the safety harness and how their research reveals that most falls take place going up, getting into, coming out of and then descending to the earth. The goal of this program is to be sure that none of the listeners will become a part of the tragic statistic, on the negative side.

On his trip back home from the annual National Archery Tournament held in Louisville, Kentucky, Gerry intercepts and visits with Mike Ritchie from Roscommon, Michigan. Mike and other members of his church have seen the number of their congregation double in size in the last few years because of the outdoor ministry program they do to bring folks under the hearing of the Word. This week’s interview topic’s focus is on CenterShot Archery, and how churches are bringing bows into their buildings. This shooting sport ministry teaches how to shoot the bow and arrow and ties it in with teaching God’s Word to those attending at each lesson. Mike Ritchie shares how he and his Church ministry team from Roscommon Baptist are using this program as one of key outdoor outreach programs, to touch the lives of men, women and children with the Gospel Message and clearly seeing lives changed for eternity.

On this week’s Trail To Adventure! we’ll be hearing of an Indiana Jones style hunting trip that has lasted for fifteen plus years now! The guest, Tim Mahoney, who owns and runs Mahoney Media Studios, a film production studio in the “Twin Cities” of Minnesota, relates his story. It began when years ago, Tim got the chance to visit Egypt. He traveled to the location where it is believed the Israelites lived while slaves in this foreign land. Tim had wanted to document the archaeological digs on film. In a discussion with an archaeologist, he was told that no evidence had been found to prove the Bible’s Book of Genesis’ story on the Exodus or that Israelites had ever even lived in Egypt at all. This idea rocked Tim’s world and made him question his faith. So, he began doing an investigative study that unearthed all kinds of proof and also, the production of the documentary film, Patterns Of Evidence EXODUS!

Mark Looy is this week’s guest as he shares about the now open and new exhibit called the Ark Experience. This life size Ark is expected to have 1.4 million visitors in the first year and is a way to evangelize those who come to explore this rescue craft straight out of the Bible! Gerry visits the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky and talks with Mark from Answers in Genesis. Mark relates about this apologetic ministry focusing on the importance of the first book of the Bible. Also, God’s Great Outdoors Family Fun Fossil Hunt’s an annual adventure on August 20th in Ohio, is just a little over an hour from the Museum. Along this year is Dr. John Whitmore, who teaches young earth geology and paleontology at Cedarville University, as he’ll be sharing with the fossil hunters and the discussion will revolve around Noah’s flood.

On the road returning from speaking at a Game Dinner in Hudson, during that drive home found Gerry visiting Antler King’s office in Black River Falls, Wisconsin. This week’s guest is Todd Stiddleburg who stepped out in faith to go full time with his deer nutrition, feed and food plot business and he has been in business since 1987. Todd left a great position with a very large company, giving some really good perks to make the move, but, he knew God was with him and the family as they made this life altering transition. His Savior Jesus has been there at every turn, even the day when their home and the attached Antler King office burned to the ground. He is always faithfully there!

Gerry is in Anchorage Alaska on this week’s Trail To Adventure! discussing his early years in life and growing up in the mountains of North Carolina and following his dad through the woods is how Dave Battle begins this interview. Remembering the other men who also were instrumental in his life and how one individual on a gravel mountain road impressed him to be more active in his relationship with Jesus Christ, because he had his Bible with him on the seat of his work truck. These days Dave is a wildlife biologist in Alaska and as he shares he is still learning about God’s creation every day.

This week’s Trail To Adventure! has Gerry visiting in Wisconsin as he drops in on Dr. Richard Swenson. Did you know, there is more chance mathematically that your car happened by accident over hundreds of millions of years, then just your eyeball having evolved and how it works with your entire body? This is just one of the things that Dr. Richard Swenson shares in the interview with Gerry as they discuss the topic of intelligent design and Dr. Swenson’s book, “More Than Meets the Eye”. Having taught surgery at the University of Madison, Wisconsin, and having minored in physics, this interview is jam-packed with information that declares that we have a Creator God.

With the Ark Experience now open, Ken Ham, Founder of the Answers In Genesis and the Creation Museum in Kentucky, is this week’s guest. Ken shares about watching his dad, a Christian school teacher in Australia where few people know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Ken also became a school teacher and like his dad was challenged on creation vs evolution and what the Bible said on the matter. This led to Ken’s passion to present the truth of the book of Genesis and the real facts of what science reveals about God’s universe and our earth. Ken unveils how studies done by Answers In Genesis and others are discovering why young people doubt God’s Word, because of evolution and “the millions of years” they are taught in schools, yet there are many items people can learn to use to defend God’s Word.