God's Great Outdoors

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 this Trail To Adventure! Gerry visits with Steve Chapman in Nashville, TN as the two reflect on Steve’s first book “A Look at Life From a Deer Stand”, released back in 1996, yet is still going off of bookstore shelves as it has been reprinted many times. Meeting a need of women who wanted something for their male loved ones actively involved in the outdoors, (specifically hunting) but which also had a spiritual impact and would change lives. Steve also discusses how important outdoor ministry can be in reaching the man and the impact that it can have on the family. Steve hopes his new book “A Look at Life From a River Bank” will also help more men become trophies of grace for the Creator God Jesus Christ.

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 Trail To Adventure! Dr. Tom Rakow, the founder of The Christian Deer Hunters Association and Gerry visit together discussing the numerous outdoor ministries that have come about over the years. The idea is to provide Christians looking to reach others who enjoy time in God's creation with the tools to aid in the ability to help win them to receive Jesus Christ as their Creator God. Tom shares about how The Christian Deer Hunters Association got started and how he never expected it to be what it is today. Tom also tells how he began writing books, and today despite the fact that he flunked English several times in school, with his family’s aid he has written a number of books that are helping Christians reach out to their unsaved friends and relatives with true stories on fishing and hunting.

On this week's Trail To Adventure! Gerry’s with Craig Johnson in Laramie, Wyoming. Craig tells how reading a copy of Gerry's book "Hunting Blunders and The One That Got Away!" was a part of the chain of events that led him to Christ. Craig shares how despite his difficult years growing up, including teenage alcoholism, everything was great in his later years. But then, Craig started to question why he was alive or even here? This subject so troubled him that he was seriously considering suicide if he didn't get the answer, so he asked God to make Himself known to him the way He wants to be known. This led to a series of events that brought Craig to Christ and he became incredibly active in sharing the Gospel through outdoor outreach as he grew in Christ. A radio program that will help you to be sure!

On this week’s Trail To Adventure! Keith Jennings is the guest on this week’s interview as he and Gerry were together Birmingham, Alabama to do a God’s Great Outdoor’s The Trail to Adventure! Conference. Keith shares how he got started in archery long before there were compound bows and how he hand-crafted arrows in high school, starting a mail order business that led him to into a career in archery. He tells the journey in the industry and the many experiences he’s had from the businesses he’s worked for. One he’s worked with was Mathews Bows and helped this business as they sponsor over 100 ministries, mission fields around the world. Keith also tells about his book Bows and Arrows of the Bible and looks at archery terms in God’s Word. This is an great Bible study book for groups or personal use.

On this week’s Trail To Adventure! Gerry joins up with Joni Eareckson Tada in Xenia, Ohio as the two relive the memory of Joni’s close encounter with a large black bear on a camping trip. Marshmallows as it turns out was all the bear was after at this hair raising encounter. Also discussed is how Ken, Joni’s husband, is using fishing as a way of reaching out to men who need Jesus, or need their relationship with the Creator God brought to a deeper level. Additionally, Joni tells about the special summer camps they have across the nation for physically and mentally disabled young people and adults. Her call is for men who might be willing to come along side these people and be volunteers at these summer events. Since the day years ago when a diving accident while swimming put Joni Eareckson Tada in a wheelchair, God has used her to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She is an inspiration to all of us to do the same!

Now this week’s Trail To Adventure! radio program has us at one of the Trail To Adventure! conferences that GGO conducts across the USA. The location is Stanley, Wisconsin at Maple Grove Bible Church. The guest Chris Smith was one of the speakers from the conference’s lineup of pro’s and ministry leaders who joined Gerry. Chris is from Victory Deer Recovery (www.facebook.com/VictoryDeerRecovery) and he shares how he and his wife Meghan founded the ministry. It started with their love of training dogs as the two went to a seminar on using dogs to hunt and find the shed antlers of deer. The methods of teaching canines to use their noses even in snow covered country sounded simple enough. From there they moved to using their pets to helping others find deer lost while hunting. This lets them build relationships and share Jesus Christ too!

On This week’s Trail To Adventure! we look back to July 6 of 1996, God’s Great Outdoors first aired on WCDR radio out of Cedarville, Ohio. One of those individuals who were instrumental in getting the program off the ground was today’s guest, Jon Skillman. In the year of 2015 God’s Great Outdoors celebrated 20 years on the air as Jon celebrated his 50th year of broadcasting with the vast majority being on Christian radio. Jon shares a number of things during the interview, but the most important thing was how a little boy standing next to him as a teenager beside a roaring bonfire said, “I’m sure glad I’m saved because Hell is going to be much hotter than that fire in front of us!” That night at that Christian camp Jon could not get that out of his mind and prayed to receive Christ as Savior and Lord. This program is designed to honor and thank my friend Jon Skillman as he retires from Christian radio after 55 years of service to our Lord Jesus Christ. Know also, that his efforts live on with each broadcast of God’s Great Outdoors since he helped get us going in 1996!