God's Great Outdoors

Gerry is in Ashley, Indiana on this week’s Trail To Adventure! program with the owners of Three Rivers Archery, Dale and Sandi Karch. The pair share how they got started in traditional archery and opened a small shop there in Wisconsin. Dale began to build Tomahawk bows; his recurves are now one of the best-selling traditional bows today. When they approached Three Rivers Archery Company about putting the Tomahawk in the catalogue, they were informed that if they wanted them added in, the couple would have to buy the company because it was for sale. God had been preparing them for this in their archery journey as you will clearly hear with this interview.

Gerry is in the upper part of the country’s western prairie land on this week’s Trail To Adventure! at Pheasant City Lodge in Wessington, South Dakota, at the home of Kevin and Kristie Tevedal, the pair share about how they use this pheasant hunting facility in what is considered the top state for these game birds as a way to minister to others. Men's ministry, father/son, father/daughter ministries, women's retreats, church groups, and more all have used this facility for outreach. Both Kevin and Kristie share personal stories of events, actions, and testimonies of ministry they have seen take place at the lodge. This couple and their family work to make Jesus Christ first and evident to the clients, in all they do at Pheasant City Lodge.

At the annual Archery Association Trade Show, Gerry visits with Paul Meeks who started API Outdoors Treestand Company. Paul shares about the history of hunting from trees and how he got started in the treestand industry with API being the first aluminum stand to appear on the market. Then when Paul eventually sold the business, it was the number one manufacturer of treestands in North America. Gerry and Paul spend the majority 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 and they also look at how Paul Meeks and API helped in the radio program’s beginnings!

On this week's Trail to Adventure! Gerry visits with Doug Beal who is a member of The Lord of the Harvest Archery Club, a chapter of Christian Bowhunters of America. The two talk about the Trophies of Grace Whitetail Deer Hunt that happens every year in the fall in southeast Ohio. Hunters, their friends, family and neighbors come from across the USA to take part. CBA members do numerous events that take place across the nation to open doors for those who love archery and so, have an impact on lives. The southeastern Ohio Tar Hollow hunt is a wonderful outreach that the men and women of CBA are using their archery and bowhunting to build relationships in the lives of people they know that need Jesus Christ. Doug and Gerry also discuss the signs of the Creator in His Creation all around us!

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.