God's Great Outdoors

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! 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.

On this week’s program Gerry visits with one of the most recognized leaders in the sport fishing arena, Al Lindner. The two hook up in Brainerd, Minnesota at the Lindner Media Studios, as Al relates about his testimony, which is the content in the tract produced by God’s Great Outdoors titled “A Fishing Legend Makes His Biggest Catch!” They talk about Al’s time in Vietnam, where he prayed to God for the first time in his life during a close call with the enemy. Al goes into the story of how his brother Ron and wife Deloris, came to Christ, (included in Ron’s tract: “The End Of The Line!”) soon Al’s wife Mary received Jesus too. Then with his two boys and Mary going to church, Al finally agreed to join the family. One day his youngest son requested Al to pray, but he didn’t know how! This broke the walls of Al’s heart and he had to go into the bathroom and cry. It was the beginning of the end of Al’s running from Jesus Christ.

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!

We’ll be about sixty miles south of God’s Great Outdoors home office on this week's Trail to Adventure! Gerry is privileged to visit the new headquarters for American Heritage Girls in “The Queen City” of Cincinnati, Ohio. He’s dropped in on the Founder and Executive Director, Patti Garibay. This is a Christ centered organization geared to equip girls to become the Godly ladies the Bible calls Christian women to be. Patti explains how in 1993, when the Girl Scouts moved away from its original Christian foundations, it seemed time to start a program that was Christ focused and Biblically grounded. The doors opened on American Heritage Girls in 1995 and it just continues to grow in numbers and impact on the young girls lives who take part. Patti Garibay shares what the girls in their troops do in the way of activities and adventure. Troops are located in all 50 states and also in other countries, with wonderful testimonies being created wherever this outreach organization is presented to the community!

On this week's Trail to Adventure! Gerry is with a guest, who on being asked to help a woman load a road kill deer into the trunk of her car so that she could feed her hungry family, had an incredible and moving impact on him. Rick Wilson was that man and visits with the listeners to tell the story on this God’s Great Outdoors broadcast production. Challenged by this event, Rick felt God was calling him to in some way help people who were struggling with hunger issues when it comes to meat and was led to start the ministry Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry. From this little incident and the beginning of this ministry in the Hagerstown, MD area, FHFH has expanded across the nation, seeing numerous people fed by deer harvested by hunters in the fall each year.

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!

Now on this week's Trail to Adventure! Gerry‘s with a very old friend, back to his high school days. He and guest Rick Merkel graduated from Laurel High in Maryland in 1973. Gerry, Rick and another Laurel grad from “73” Mark Horton, rendezvoused in Palaski, New York to fish Lake Ontario. The three were there to try and hook into Brown Trout and Steelhead, plus King and Coho Salmon. Despite the many predictions of server weather, their Captain launched just as the sun peeked above the horizon before being swallowed by the dark clouds moving in. God provide the group with a hole in the weather and a great catch of fish too. Afterward, they bunked in a lighthouse built in 1838. Later, with his microphone uncased, Rick Merkel shared with Gerry on his years of raising champion AKC beagle hounds and how he hunted rabbits in a number of states across the USA. Rick talks about the various rabbit species and how the live. He also relates on acquiring a good dog and the electronics used today when running hounds.

On this week's Trail to Adventure! Gerry visits with Mike Peters who is vice president of Christian Bowhunters of America and the Chapter Chairman of The Lord of the Harvest Archery Club, one of CBA’s chapters. The two talk about how men and women are using this archery & bowhunting ministry to build relationships in the lives of people they know who need Jesus Christ. Mike discusses numerous events that take place across the USA that opens doors for those who love archery and have an impact on lives. One of these events is the Trophies of Grace Whitetail Deer Hunt that happens every year in the fall in southeast Ohio. Mike also, shares how Christ Jesus got a hold of his life!

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!