God's Great Outdoors

This Trail To Adventure! on a trip to the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky to speak to this ministry’s staff during their morning devotions, Gerry connected with this week’s guest. Robert Smith’s story was about being blessed by God on an all-day whitetail deer hunt where only a half hour before dark he shot a monster buck. No ordinary deer, this typical ten pointer harvested on November 11th of 2000 with his rifle in northern Kentucky became a new state record buck. Robert, realizing that the Creator is truly the “Lord of the harvest” was thankful for this animal. Being what he calls “a meat hunter” he certainly had plenty of meals, but said when it came to the antlers value, it wasn’t a big deal. When an antler collector offered to buy the set, Robert knew the money could be used for an upcoming mission’s trip his church youth group was taking to Jamaica. Selling them was giving back to God, resulting in salvations abroad!

On this week's Trail to Adventure! Gerry is in the hills of Southeast Ohio on a visit with Mike Peters who is vice president of Christian Bowhunters of America. Mike is also the Chapter Chairman of the Lord of The Harvest Archery Club, a chapter of CBA. The two men talk about how men and women are using this archery/bowhunting worldwide ministry to build relationships in the lives of people they know who need Jesus. 95% of adults who come to Christ do so from a one on one relationship with a Christian working to build a relationship with them over a period of two years or more! Mike discusses numerous events that take place across the USA which open 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.

Now on this Trail To Adventure! of the radio program God’s Great Outdoors, we find Gerry taking the listeners to “The Cheese Head State” in the wilds of Wisconsin for the interview. An event targeting the youth in the Clark County area is the location where he and GGO board member, Arnie Wolf connects with Eric Hauge on Eric’s family’s farm. His farm abuts a huge county forest and is the perfect setting for the Wisconsin’s annual youth deer hunt. The three men discuss how that weekends outing is set up and that the goal is to mentor young attendees, plus sharing Jesus Christ with them. Every aspect of the adventure is reviewed and “Safety First” is rule number one for the boys and girls who come! This ministry is Rushing Wind-Wisconsin; with the same care going into it Arnie practices at his fishing camps in Canada. And it works, having success stories that can be shared from the more than ten years of these hunts impacting the lives of future men and women for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

This week’s Trail To Adventure! is so important, as the topic is treestand safety. Gerry and his guest are at the annual Archery Trade Association Show, in Nashville, Tennessee. Gerry visits with Paul Meeks who started the API Outdoor Treestand Company, which by the time he sold it, was the number one manufacture of this type of product. Paul shares about the history of hunting from trees and how he got started in this outdoor industry with API, also being the first aluminum stand to appear on the market. Then when Paul eventually sold the business, he started the “Great Day” outdoor product line with an assortment of products designed for ATV users and such in North America with his son, Ilar Paul Meeks. Gerry and Paul spend the majority of this interview talking treestand safety to help the listeners understand the importance of the topic and tomseriously 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 and wife Cyndi are visiting with Arnie and Dee Wolf at their home in Chili, WI. Gerry was invited to meet Mitch Hoyt and his wife Chris, to learn about their story. In this interview Arnie tells that an event done in the area needed a speaker and he’d contacted Mitch Hoyt to share with all who attended. Mitch, who is in a wheel chair because of a deer hunting treestand accident that took place on a September morning in 2006, began to tell how he was disabled. Part of this testimony relates to Mitch’s wife Chris having asked him to please not go on that day. But, the deer hunter chose to focus on his desires instead. Climbing into a friend’s treestand that had been hanging there for several years and before he’d safety harnessed up, he crashed to the ground. Finding himself immobile and with his one elbow wedged in a small tree’s crotch, thinking he would died caused a life’s reflection. God used this time stuck there to speak to Mitch and begin a heart change in him that makes this a “must listen to” interview as the Holy Spirit used it all to change his life, as you’ll see!

On this week’s Trail To Adventure! treestand safety is the topic as 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. 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 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 this Trail To Adventure! radio program we’re in the “Land Of Ten Thousand Lakes.” Gerry is at the Grace Bible Church in Silver Lake, Minnesota, as he and his wife Cyndi are visiting the church and the founder of The Christian Deer Hunters Association, Dr. Tom Rakow. Tom starts the interview with how he came to Jesus Christ as his Savior and Lord. From there he shares how he got started writing books to include the deer hunting devotionals The Christian Deer Hunters Association uses in their evangelistic ministry. The devotional was his first project for a college literature class writing requirement. With his family’s help Tom’s been able to produce literature that is helping Christians reach out to their unsaved friends and relatives on topic of fishing and hunting. With a desire to save souls, he’s written a number of books towards that goal and this is despite the fact that he flunked English several times in school.

Friends, on this Trail To Adventure! of the radio program of God’s Great Outdoors, we’re in the state of Michigan. This interview is with Mike Ritchie on the CenterShot Archery Program, and how churches are bringing bows into their houses of worship. Mike, with his churches help, was one of the first people to use this recreationally designed and evangelistically targeted outreach effort! This ministry teaches the sport of shooting the bow and arrow, plus ties it in with teaching God’s Word to those attending, with each lesson. Mike Ritchie is from Roscommon Baptist Church and tells how he and his ministry team are using this outdoor activity based program, and a number of other outdoor outreach programs, to touch the lives of men, women and children with the Gospel Message and seeing lives changed for eternity.

On this week’s Trail To Adventure! we’ll be hearing of an Indiana Jones style hunting trip that started in the year of 2002! 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; Tim decided he had 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 a famous archaeologist, he was told that no evidence had been found to prove the Bible’s Book of Genesis story and 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, produced the production of the “Thinking Man” documentary films. These include Patterns Of Evidence EXODUS, Patterns Of Evidence MOSES, and Patterns Of Evidence THE RED SEA MIRACLE, Part One & Part Two!

Now on this Trail To Adventure! of the radio program God’s Great Outdoors, this interview is a look back over the ministry’s time. Gerry visits with a retired Ken Beck, the past owner of the Black Widow Bow Company, in the rolling hills of Ken’s home located in Nixa, Missouri. The two look back on their first meeting in person at The Trophies of Grace White Tail Deer Hunt in southeast Ohio. This annual event has been going on for over 25 years now, put on by a chapter of Christian Bowhunters of America, The Lord of the Harvest Archery Club. Ken discusses his life’s journey and how he was blessed to be used by God to help the ministry of God’s Great Outdoors get started in July of 1996. Ken speaks on outdoor ministry and how important it is that the listeners consider being involved, as Christianity is under fire.