God's Great Outdoors

On this week’s Trail To Adventure! we’re exploring how two guys, David Hale who was a farmer, and Harold Knight a barber, who got together to design, develop, and market turkey calls. Gerry visits with these two legends in the outdoor world to discover that the only reason they started to sell their calls was because there weren’t many turkeys in Kentucky and they hoped to be able to make enough to buy a non-resident hunting license in Missouri. Giving one of these calls to an outdoor writer way back when there weren’t many turkeys to start with, created quite a stir. His article in an outdoor magazine drove in hundreds of phone calls to get one of their “turkey tubes” and it just went on from there. Both of these men give all the glory to God for what has happened in their lives and they continue to praise Him as the years roll by. The two are able to present their story at game dinners, telling of God’s blessing on them!

On this week’s Trail To Adventure! Gerry is in Montgomery, Alabama as he dropped in for a visit with Ed Gannon. The two met through Russell Thornberry two decades ago, with Gerry getting to do a little deer hunting on Ed’s farm. At that time, Ed was just starting to see wild hogs occasionally on his property. Now twenty years later, it’s being overrun with these animals that are destroying everything and make farming close to impossible! Ed tells how he uses his farm to bless and minister to groups, fathers and sons or anyone God directs his way. He shares the increasable story of how a baby in Russia was saved because of a father’s visit to his place. Then Ed share on his work with “LIFE ON WHEELS” and the powerful impact this outreach ministry is having on mothers and babies around their area of Alabama for the Kingdom of God!

Trail To Adventure! Gerry is at a Game Dinner in Pennsylvania with an old friend, Dick Hribar. Through the years as a fishing and hunting guide, Dick Hribar has put a lot of miles on his body. At the time of this interview he was about to undergo his fourth knee transplant on both legs; he is quite an outdoorsmen, always on the go. Dick shares how as a Special Education teacher in Pennsylvania for 30 years he was able to connect with his students by way of the bow and arrow, connecting with them using archery and hunting, turning many of their lives around as they lacked fathers at home. Dick also talks of his guiding elk hunters who draw the limited and coveted tags in Pennsylvania each fall to pursue the monsters that roam the mountains near his home.

On the Trail To Adventure! photographing mountains, fields, streams, seashores, and much more is the topic with this week's guest Dr. Charles Stanley. Dr. Stanley shares how he got involved in photography to include even developing all of his own photographs which are featured on just about all of the In Touch Ministry's items available to the public. He tells how awestruck he is by God's creation and by the memories surrounding the photos. Dr. Stanley also tells of his early years of fishing, hunting, and shooting, but how the absence of a father in his life to do these things with were clearly remembered in later years when he was a man. He offers to the audience that they may not think that taking a youngster fishing that has no father figure is a big deal, but he assures them that it is and how it can leave a lasting impact for eternity.

On this week's Trail to Adventure! Gerry‘s in Bemidji, Minnesota to speak at a men’s ministry event hosted by the radio station, Your QFM and BAMM. (Bemidji Area Men’s Ministry) While there in the area he connected with Kent Fraser. He’d met Kent at a mission’s conference in Ohio in the mid 90s. Kent and his wife Kim had come to speak at Gerry’s church as they’d just starting to minister to Native Americans in Edmonton, Alberta. During that encounter the two men somehow discovered they’d both lived in Maryland and had another connection too. Gerry’s high school photography teacher later became Kent’s principal, when Mr. Bill Russell changed schools. The connections continued as Kent now travels to capture radio interviews across North America for a radio program like Gerry does. Kent works with a ministry called “Without Reservation.” The ministries radio show is titled, THE STORY TELLER, as Native Americans share their life’s story on the program of how Jesus Christ saved them by HIS blood on the cross! Kent also relates the mercy and grace God showed his family in a plane crash on their travels!

In this week’s Trail To Adventure! while on his way to an event in Alabama, Nashville, Tennessee was the stop for this interview and radio program. Gerry rendezvous with an old friend who was one of the very first interviews back when GGO radio started airing in 1996, Steve Chapman of Steve & Annie Chapman Family Ministries and Music Producers. The two men talk about the couple’s early life, marriage, and movement toward the ministry that they do today. Steve also discusses a number of the books they have written and he has done focusing on outdoorsmen to draw them closer to the Creator God as they spend time in the Creation. This interview includes a history of, “A Look At Life From A Deer Stand.” The men also discuss Steve having written a more recent, but similar style book for the angler titled, “A Look At Life From A River Bank.”

On this week’s Trail To Adventure! we’re in the land of ten thousand lakes, as Gerry is passing through Virginia, a city in the Minnesota, He visits with Joel Hasz in the area of the famous Boundary Waters. Joel has taken his love of canoeing adventures and those experiences and he’s written the different exploits into chapters, tying them to lessons from God’s Word, titled, No Wonder They Call It God's Country! Writes Gerry, “I believe Joel Hasz has written a book most will find easy to relate to. The analogies of viewing God’s Word to camping, time spent on extended trips, plus experiencing unknown adventures, is beautifully unfolded as one journeys through the pages. With more than half of the folks recreating in God’s Creation, I see his work as having use for individuals and groups, desiring a closer relationship with the Creator Jesus Christ.

This Trail To Adventure! program is a re-airing, in honor of the passing of Ron Lindner into his Heavenly Reward on December 1st, 2020. Gerry is in Pequot Lakes, Minnesota as God’s Great Outdoors wraps up one of their conferences on the “How To” of outdoor outreaches such as Game Dinners. Gerry is joined by Ron Lindner of Lindner Media Studio’s and he shares with Gerry about the history of how he and his Brother Al’s years in the fishing industry, and television production of their outdoor shows. Ron tells of a number of experiences that have happened through the years and how in looking back, the Lindner family can see God’s hand and direction in all of these endeavors. “In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.” Proverbs 16:9 is the theme of this interview and the family’s journey, including an event that occurred with TV that could have affected their business future, but God is faithful.

On this week’s Trail To Adventure! Gerry is visiting with Dr. Richard Swenson in Wisconsin and the two are talking about Intelligent Design. The truth is there is more of a chance mathematically that your car happened by accident over hundreds of millions of years, then just your eyeballs having evolved and how they work with your entire body? This is just one of the things that Dr. Richard Swenson shares in the interview with Gerry as they discuss this topic 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. Perhaps the most listened to interview aired by GGO in the 20+ years we’ve been broadcasting.

On this week's Trail To Adventure! program, Dale Karch, of 3 Rivers Archery, a traditional archery supply company located in Ashley, Indiana, is joined by his son Johnny. Dale shares with Gerry about how he, his wife Sandy, plus the family came about buying the business. Dale started building custom bows in his garage to sell in their home state of Wisconsin, and others shooting the simple stick and string type bows enjoyed by traditional archers. Discovering that 3 Rivers Archery was for sale, Dale and his wife looked at how they could acquire this business and make it something that the entire family could get involved in. With God’s direction they accomplished this goal. Truly a family affair that’s grown their relationships and is making memories for today and for all eternity, Johnny has now taking over the reins of the business as his parents have passed the baton onto him with their retirement!