God's Great Outdoors

Narrator: Many little boys dream of someday being a fireman, a professional baseball player, or maybe even the president of the United States. But there aren't many that would say they want to be a fisherman and believe that they'll someday do just that.

On today's program, we'll meet a man that did. He told everyone he was going to make his living sport fishing when he grew up, and yes, he's doing that now. We'll hear how God began preparing him for a life of ministry at a very young age, long before he ever gave his life to Jesus Christ. We hope that you enjoy today's program and that it challenges you to live out the dreams that God has given you. Now let's join Dean and his world-famous fishing guest on the trail to adventure in God's great outdoors.

Dean Hulce: Welcome to God's great outdoors, a trail to adventure. We are in a very special place on the trail, and I am out of breath, but we are with Al Lindner. Al, you've been on the show many times in the past, but it's been a long, long time.

Al Lindner: It brings back some great memories. Every time Jerry was going up into Canada to do a retreat or anything, he would come by here and grab Ron and me. We would each spend some time together doing a show and just talking about our life and the things God's doing in it and keeping busy. I kind of miss him in many ways. I'm sure you have, too, and many people have. But you have stepped into some big shoes and are doing a good job with it. Praise God.

Dean Hulce: It's amazing what God's doing. I don't know what Dean's doing, but I know what God's doing. It's growing. We lost a lot of stations the last few years when Jerry was alive because it was mostly replayed older shows because of his health. Most of those have come back, thanks to the Lord, and we've picked up a lot of new stations.

I just share quickly that my mom said when I took this position, she said God prepared you from the day you were born for exactly that. So all that thing, mothers know that. It is amazing. It's scriptural, too, by the way. Since I was a kid—and I don't want to make you feel old—but since I was a kid and you guys were real new, the one thing I appreciated was the focus of your programs. Right at the end, usually just a blurb on the TV. How old were you when you started doing TV?

Al Lindner: I've been in television now over 50 years. We started doing In-Fisherman. We started Lindy Tackle Company and did that for seven years of my life. We spun that off to the Rayovac Corporation. During that period of time, I got involved in the media end of the business. We started In-Fisherman magazine, and that took 25 years of my life.

It was a multimedia conglomerate at the time. It was the biggest multimedia outlet in the sport fishing industry. We did radio shows, television, tournaments, and on and on. Everything to do with media and my life's mainly been spent in the media end of the business. We sold that, and I had a four-year work contract with the multimedia company out of New York. We had an opportunity to sell that, and I did. It's a long story, and I won't share that here, maybe another time when I have an opportunity to plan it out better.

God's timing, whatever's right, he's going to get right here. We spun that off, and when I started Angling Edge, I had a four-year work contract when we sold In-Fisherman. They hired me for three years to do television shows. The last year, I did nothing. It was the month of December, and I was having coffee with my wife. She looks at me and she says, "Your work contract is upcoming in May. Have you given any thought of what you want to do? We're independently wealthy. We don't need money. Money isn't a factor. We're set for the rest of our life for what we did. You're still young. Do you know what you want to do?"

I said, "I've always liked doing television." She nonchalantly was cleaning up the dishes, and she kind of walked away, and she just said, "Well, maybe you ought to keep doing them." That seed just resonated. "Maybe you ought to keep doing them." This was December. That February, my contract was up May 8th. I was running on a running machine. February in Minnesota is a pretty cold time. There's nothing else to do if you don't ice fish. I'm pumping around and I'm running. I'd been in prayer for quite a while trying to find out what's next. I'm not getting no answer.

All of a sudden, it was clear in my heart. "Why don't you get back into television, but in this time, I want you to close the show with something that I have done in your life referencing my Bible and get the word out to the viewers." I turned around and went up and talked to my wife. She says, "Let's jump in a plane and go down and talk to Ron and Dolores." Jumped on the airplane, went to Florida, met with Ron and Dolores, and told them what had happened. They said, "Let's go. Let's do it again." That's where we started. Lindner Media Productions was already up, but that was the seed of Angling Edge. Angling Edge came under the Lindner Media umbrella that my nephews Jimmy and Danny run, but we brought the show in. That was the seed, and this year now, it's 22 years it's been on the air. God has blessed it beyond my wildest expectations.

Dean Hulce: Even this for me—I've done men's ministry for about 20 or 25 years, and I write a daily devotional. There's just a lot of things that God has blessed me with. I outfitted for 35 years all over North America, but he was preparing me as he prepared you for all those years before Angling Edge. We have to be open to that. I've been pushing our older men, not only in our church but on the radio and other places, to say you're not done. You're never done. God puts older men in the lives of younger men for a reason. You've got so much history in what you've done, and it's changed lives. It's like God's great outdoors. You get people flipping the channels, "Oh, here's an outdoor program," and they're listening to it. It's no different than what you're doing. Guys want to watch a fishing program, and it's open for that. Before we go any further, we're going to take a quick break just so people can know who makes the show possible. We'll be right back with God's great outdoors on a trail to adventure in Baxter, Minnesota, with Al Lindner.

Narrator: For the last 26 years, God's Great Outdoors' Trail to Adventure has been broadcast to win men and women, boys and girls, to Jesus Christ. This is only possible by the generosity of our listeners. Thank you to all who have supported us in the past. God has blessed us because of you, and we pray that you feel his blessing as well.

Additional underwriting support has been provided by Matthews Archery, the leader in the archery industry. Mission Archery, with revolutionary crossbow technology. Three Rivers Archery, supplying everything you need to make your own traditional archery equipment. Hunter Safety Systems, saving lives is what we do. And Conviction Game Calls. At Conviction, we don't separate work from our faith. We believe that our faith should be evident in every aspect of our lives, and the outdoors is one of the best places to share that.

God's Great Outdoors has produced many ministry tools, including tracts, DVDs, and books, to help you reach others for Jesus Christ. You can access these items, other God's Great Outdoors items, and so much more at our website, godsgreatoutdoors.org. That's godsgreatoutdoors.org.

Welcome back to God's Great Outdoors, where we join Al now telling us his testimony.

Al Lindner: In my heart, I always knew, since I was probably 10, 11, or 12 years old, that I was going to make a living in the fishing industry. Always knew that, and that may sound silly, and it is if you're looking through natural eyes. At Christmas time or Fourth of July weekend family get-togethers, aunts and uncles would always say, "Al, what are you going to do when you grow up?" I said, "I'm going to make a living fishing." They’d say, "Good for you, but you might want to consider school. Nice thought, kid." They’d pat you on the head. But the reality was, I meant it when I said it.

I thank the Lord for this: my father and mother both loved to fish. My brother Ron was 10 years my senior, and he had the biggest impact spiritually on my life after he came to the Lord. He went from being an alcoholic up until 44 years old until he got set free. When I saw how God used him and his wife in ministry, it just turned my life around with everything. I saw the power of God move like I've never seen before.

But that's another story for another time. I started working in fishing tackle in the basement of my mother's house. Ron said, "We could do this. We could pay for fishing trips on the weekend." So we tied jigs and a bunch of stuff, and he started to sell it. Between Chicago and Milwaukee, there's a whole bunch of lakes and bait shops on these lakes. He'd take these jigs and stuff and he'd take them in there, put them on the end of a cap, cut a deal, and guaranteed sales with the store. The stuff started to sell.

A wholesaler came by and bumped into Ron seeing him at these stores all the time. He said, "You know, we ought to form a business. I'm making these calls all the time, and you're making these lures. This stuff is actually selling. You guys make the tackle, and we'll make the sales calls." We formed a business. I'm in high school when this is going on. Pretty soon, at one point at its peak, I had six kids working in the basement of my parents' house, tying jigs, spinning wire, wiping cattails out, cleaning. We had a basement filled with fishing tackle.

The wholesaler that made the offer to buy the business came as I was graduating from high school. He said, "I'd like to buy the business, buy you and Ron out. I want to put my nephew in. He worked part-time there so he understands the business. We'll buy the business from you. You guys want to sell it?" We did, and I took off to Hayward, Wisconsin, to live my dream of fishing.

I went up to Hayward and lived up there for two years. I did some guiding and a little painting to make a couple of bucks. But I got a reputation of being a good fisherman. There were two resorts on the lake that I hung around. One was called Valhalla, and the other one was Raleigh's Resort. There was a boy's camp in the middle of it. From the time I was very young, these people would ask, "Where can I get a guide?" And they'd say, "Go check with that kid down the street, Al. He knows where the bluegills are, the crappies are, the walleyes are, and there's smallmouth on the other end. This kid knows more than most other guides. Go hire him." So I'm having adults pay me money to show them where to go and fish. I'm starting to get paid to fish.

Dean Hulce: Exactly what God put in your heart. You didn't put that in your own heart.

Al Lindner: It was real. When I said it, I meant it. There's a thing called the Hayward Musky Festival that is still on now. When I was there, I won the Hayward Musky Festival with a 28-pound musky caught right in front of Little Island on Grindstone Lake. It's still in the record book. I got a call to drive to Duluth for a sports show that's going to be on the 10:00 news. I'm on television talking to the sports announcer of how I caught this fish and what happened. I'm driving back from there, and they paid me. I forget what they paid me to drive up there. Holy mackerel, this is really neat. That was the seed of everything, and that desire was always there. I just followed. Doors would open, and I would follow the doors that led in that direction. And I didn't even know the Lord now.

Dean Hulce: But he was still preparing you. The Holy Spirit works through all that.

Al Lindner: Without a doubt, he was there. He knew the end of what I was called to do. I certainly didn't know it, believe me.

Dean Hulce: Even what I'm doing is no different. So Ron came to Christ first, you said?

Al Lindner: Yes.

Dean Hulce: How did that bring you to Christ?

Al Lindner: I saw the relationship. When he got set free at Lowell Lundstrom's—Lowell was the last of the traveling tent evangelists in the Upper Midwest. He had an event in Crosby, Minnesota, in a gymnasium. I came back from a bass tournament on Kentucky Lake, and I did pretty good in the tournament. I wanted to go out with Ron and Dolores and tell them what happened. Mary and I were going to go out and have a Dairy Queen and update them.

My sister-in-law said, "We're going tonight to this deal in Crosby. It's an evangelist, a music evangelist family." I had no idea—it may sound dumb to your listeners—I knew nothing about what this was going to be about. Nothing. So we go in there. I'm sitting in the auditorium. I'm here, my wife is here, Ron is here, and his wife is here. We're sitting up there, and Lowell did this thing he does, an invitation to come up. I saw my brother start to stand up, and I looked like this, and I saw tears pouring down his face. I saw my sister-in-law grab his hand, and they both went down there.

Pretty soon they prayed, and I'll never forget this—this is backtracking because he told me what happened, and it was part of his testimony. He said Lowell looked him in the eyes at that time and said, "You're a new babe in Christ. I want you to ask him for something special in your life that you would like to have him deal with." His answer was to be free from alcohol. He never drank again. He became active in AA. The remainder of his life until he was 87 years old was dealing with alcohol-dependent prison ministries. That was his whole life function. God used him in a mighty, mighty way.

So I saw the relationship that he had with his wife, and I saw it change completely. I'll never forget him using the words, "We were married with seven children, and after I came to the Lord, we fell in love." Amazing. All of those things, my wife and I just saw their life change to the point where I was a skeptical—my wife came two years earlier. I was a hardcore—I wasn't atheist at all. I believed in God, but like everybody else that has any common sense, there is a God.

Dean Hulce: There's nobody can be on the water or in the woods and not say there's a God. If they are, they're lying to themselves. Absolutely.

Al Lindner: Not possible. Some can lie to themselves. So then how did I end up coming to Christ? It was a two-year adventure. I saw my wife make a commitment. Between one thing led to the other and after the other, I'm bumping into Christians in television studios. People are sending me tracts in the mail. I'm opening up something asking a fishing question, and a tract falls out: "Jesus loves you." The Holy Spirit was coming in from all ends. There was an army of people praying for me, which I didn't know, from the church that my brother was going to with Dolores and my wife started to go to.

I'll give you a quick story on my wife's side. We pulled our kids out. My wife, Dolores, told us there's this Christian school in Brainerd and it's got a really good education, and we're going to put our kids in. "You ought to consider Troy and Shawn going to it." Mary comes back, she talked to me, and I says, "Okay." I didn't really think anything about it. So she started to go to Wednesday night Bible studies. One thing led to the other. One day I'm at home reading after fishing. She comes walking up the steps with a big smile on her face. She comes up and she says, "Guess what, honey?" I looked at her, "What?" She says, "I turned my life over to Jesus tonight."

My mind is going a hundred miles an hour. I like what I got going. We're doing good. Business is growing. We're making money. What is this with this Jesus thing? I'm bumping into this everywhere. So then, pretty soon, she comes back, and she says one time, "I'd like to pray with the kids." I'm still out in the darkness. I'm not a bad guy. At that point, if you would have asked me, "Am I a sinner?" I'd say, "No, I'm a pretty good guy." And you're already being blessed, so you don't need it in all of that.

So I says, "Okay, we will do that." So we lay—at my son Troy at that point, we kneel next to his bed. He was four and a half years old, and Shawn was six years old, a year older than he was. So Shawn would pray, Mary would pray, Troy would pray, and it would come to me, and I said, "I say my prayers later when I'm alone with God." I kind of read this.

Then one night Troy says, "Dad, can I cuddle with you?" He's laying on my shoulder, just the two of us. He leans up, he whispers in my ear, "Daddy, Mom isn't here, Shawn isn't here, it's just you and I. Can I hear how you pray to God when you're alone with him?" Broke my heart. I almost can cry right now. I can still feel it. I got up, I went into the bathroom, and I cried like a baby. I did not know how to pray with my own four-and-a-half-year-old son. How does that make you feel? Like a piece of garbage. I didn't know how to pray with him. I didn't know what to say or where to go or the opening.

Two days later, I finished a Tri-Leen commercial. A local pastor from the church that they were all going to—he was an avid angler, and he lived in the neighborhood. I'm cleaning up the boat in the yard with everything. I seen him come—every time I see him, he'd stop by. We talked about fishing, and it would all segue into Jesus. That night—I'm telling you, that two-year period of time that I was looking and searching—I'm sure that I heard the gospel 50 times and was never moved until that night.

When he came in, I felt the presence of God. You see him driving in, he's pulling in back of the boat in the driveway. I felt the presence of God like I've never felt before up until that point. It was so real, and I knew exactly—it's like I knew tonight's the night. I'm thinking, I know he's going to talk about fishing. My mind is all, I want to get to this Jesus thing. I want to get this done with. Let's get it done. Tonight. I'm ready. We went in, we had lemonade. I dropped on my knees, asked to be Lord of my life and that. That was the biggest eye-opener, and the rest is history. I can go on and on. I can do 20 radio shows with you of all good stuff that happened after that. Some of it good, challenges of life, how we dealt with things like we all deal with. But without Jesus as Lord and Savior, with him, you can handle anything. I don't care what it is. The good, the bad, the ugly, they're all there. We're going to all deal with them. They're real. We're not saying they aren't. But you've got a supernatural strength that you know that you know that you know.

Dean Hulce: I just got a chance to preach yesterday morning to a group of families of special needs kids. I talked about the burdens, how we don't need to carry our burdens because we're all going to—the Bible says we will have troubles and tribulations. It doesn't say if, it says we're going to. But the only good way, the only true way to get through them is relying on him. I love your testimony of knowing that day because the Holy Spirit had worked on you, well, your whole life really, because he was already telling you, that was already being planted when you were a little kid of where you were going to go. But then how God used that to reach others is amazing to me because you had a platform that nobody else had, really. In your era, there was nobody else that had that. And there's a lot of people in the outdoor world that use God to say thank you, Jesus, when they catch a fish or they shoot a big buck. But if you see behind the scenes, pull that screen up, they're using it. In your case, it was really—because to hear your testimony, it's really, you can see how God worked from the time you were old enough to know.

I had some of that myself because I always said I want to make my living hunting and fishing and the outdoors. I outfitted for 35 years all over, from Kodiak Island to the Rio Grande Valley and all the way across. Similar. You're a little more intense than I am. I've watched you on the shows where you get pretty intense sometimes when you're fishing. I go with a few friends and I say I go because they're good friends, but it's way too intense. When I go, I want to just relax and enjoy it. You're out there to prove something lots of times. Do you get past that now, or do you still have the intensity sometimes?

Al Lindner: I still have the intensity. Not quite the fire in the belly isn't quite what it was, but it's still there. I'm looking ahead, "What is next? Where's the next lake?" Am I looking at retiring? Not by the word "retiring." Am I cutting back? Yes. I am starting to cut back.

Dean Hulce: I think God's going to carry that. As long as you're sharing him and you're using what you're doing for him, it doesn't matter. You're out of time. I've got all day, but you're out of time today.

Al Lindner: Well, we'll pick up on this later again, brother. This is phenomenal that you stopped by. Phenomenal. That was a God thing because we were next door having lunch and we said let's just stop. I thought someone's going to be at the counter and say I know he's not here. So we stood out here for about five minutes. Finally I said, "I'm going to go talk to someone." Thank you. I appreciate your testimony and I appreciate all you do. Thank you for the opportunity.

Dean Hulce: Thank you for our listeners for joining us today. Join us every week. We don't know where we will be, but we'll be some place on the trail to adventure in God's great outdoors.

Narrator: Most of us never think about a life in relationship with Christ to fishing or hunting, but as we heard Al say, they're very similar. There's a hope in outdoor pursuits as there is in a Christian walk. The difference is that when we've made a choice to live for God, the hope we have is more of an assurance. With hunting and fishing, there are no guarantees.

Al's testimony is an example of how God, through his Holy Spirit, is working on us to bring us to a place to acknowledge God for who he is and what Jesus did on the cross. He has a plan for each of us in our lives. It's up to us to first come to him and then to live out his plan.

We want to give a very special thanksgiving to Al Lindner for his time this week. He has been a long-time friend of God's Great Outdoors. If you've enjoyed today's program and would like to hear the extended podcast version, you can find it by looking for Dean Hulce or Trail to Adventure wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. This program is provided by and can be contacted at God's Great Outdoors, P.O. Box 414, Powers, Michigan, 49874, or on the website, godsgreatoutdoors.org. And thanks to all of you for joining us today on the Trail to Adventure. Join us here each week as we travel down the trail and on the water in God's great outdoors.