God's Great Outdoors

Guest (Male): Through life we come in contact with thousands and thousands of individuals. In that group of people, nearly every one of them will never see again. Then there are those that become acquaintances or friends, and then there are those that we will come in contact with over and over again. Once in a while, we see that God has a plan in the people he puts us in contact with.

On today's program, we'll meet a couple of men that have recently begun a ministry podcast to talk about the outdoors and things of God. Earlier in the day, our host made an appearance as a guest on Everland Outdoors podcast. Now the two hosts of that podcast will join us today on this program.

God has put these two men and our host, Dean Hulce, together on several occasions over the several years and the reason is becoming clearer. All of us need to watch closely to those relationships that God is preparing for us. He has a bigger plan than we can imagine.

Now let's join the conversation and listen to a plan unfolding in lives. Keep in mind that God has a plan for you and those he puts in your path. So come along now in God's great outdoors as we travel together down the trail to adventure.

Dean Hulce: Welcome to God's Great Outdoors on the Trail to Adventure. Today, we are in Rockford, Michigan, and just actually finishing a program for somebody else's podcast, and we're jumping into the God's Great Outdoors Trail to Adventure now.

And we are with actually two guys that I've known for a while. One just kind of comes in and out of life, with Jay Fettig. And we are with Lee Vanderbrink. We're talking about a lot of things. A little bit of history. Jay's actually been on the program, but that was two and a half years ago.

Jay Fettig: Yeah.

Dean Hulce: He was thrown in, I think because of it wasn't Gabe, so it would have been through Terry.

Jay Fettig: I think it was through Terry. Terry said, "You need to meet this guy."

Dean Hulce: And so Jay came up to Two Hats Ranch, and we did a bunch of them that weekend or that time. And actually, we didn't know it, but the first time we met you, Lee, was at Two Hats Ranch as well.

Lee Vanderbrink: At Two Hats. Wow.

Jay Fettig: Two Hats. We got to get a place down here.

Dean Hulce: That is a place to be. You can feel God's presence there in an amazing way. And Skipper and Colby and their wives have become just tremendous friends to us. As a matter of fact, I just saw Skipper, he was at the ATA show. I don't know if you saw him.

Jay Fettig: Oh, he was there right behind me. I didn't say hello, but.

Dean Hulce: Were you at ATA?

Lee Vanderbrink: I didn't go down until Saturday.

Dean Hulce: He was probably still there, but he had breakfast. He was sitting at the prayer breakfast at a table right behind us. And he's become a great friend. And that family is just tremendous people. Skipper probably has the most experience, most knowledge of anybody in the world outside of Texas, but that's where he came from.

Jay Fettig: Before Two Hats was, he worked at The Sanctuary, correct?

Dean Hulce: He started at The Sanctuary. He was up in Northwest Territories or somewhere, British Columbia, ran a business. He started and this has become the Skipper show here. He started, he was married young, he was a state trooper in Texas.

Jay Fettig: He looks actually like a state trooper.

Dean Hulce: He does. He's got that mustache and he's got a cop attitude, too. And I'd say that to his face. I'm saying it to his face. But he felt called to go, I think it was British Columbia's where he and Northwest Territories, somewhere up there. No experience, never outfitted, never anything. And he bought into some territory up there, hunting territory. Moved his family up in the middle of nothing, I mean horseback riding in days and days and days.

Jay Fettig: We got to get him on the show too.

Dean Hulce: He would love to talk about them. So he did that. Stone sheep, grizzly, moose, wolves. So he had all that. And he moved his family out, way out. And then I think the guys that wanted to start The Sanctuary at the time said, "Hey, would you be interested in coming down and doing this?" Because he puts his heart, whole heart into everything. And his body and everything, I mean he's all in.

And so he did that at The Sanctuary. Then some of The Sanctuary guys, some customers I think said, "Hey, we want to build our own or do our own." They bought what was called the Wildlife Place, which is in Chippewa Flats by Bitely. And they turned that in what's called The Legends. Originally they had elk and deer and everything in there. Went down to just deer. Did that for a lot of years. And then one of the portions of the property was over by Big Rapids, and that became Two Hats.

Jay Fettig: That place has evolved a lot from the first time I was there and we met there. I walked in, I think it was newer then. I walked in, this place is really cool. And then I actually went back there a few months ago and was filming some stuff with Gunwerks. And I was like, wow, this place is still growing and it's changed so much.

Dean Hulce: And they have so much to offer for ministry. And we're trying to put together God's Great Outdoors sporting clays shoot there for a weekend. Kind of a fundraiser, but just to let people know what we are and what we're doing. It's a great place.

Jay Fettig: Let us know how we can help on that one. I want to get up there and do that Fury field. I haven't done that yet.

Dean Hulce: The other thing they have is they have the thousand-yard range there, which is probably what you were doing. And then they have what they call, I think it's called confidence course. It's basically like playing golf through the woods shooting different hunting. I don't know if you knew about that, Jay, but.

Jay Fettig: Colby took me through a tour and that Fury course just looks so fun.

Dean Hulce: It's fun to listen to it. But anyhow, so we met through that originally. And Lee, you and I worked for Bearman Ministries, me directly and you kind of indirectly as a contractor with them. And that's how I got a full appreciation for your talents and what God can do. And it's funny how, as you said, we've bounced back and forth.

So you guys just recently started a podcast. How long ago was that?

Jay Fettig: I looked this morning. I think we're only like 16, 17 episodes in.

Lee Vanderbrink: 14, 15, something like that, yeah.

Jay Fettig: And then we also have done a little bit of a, we stopped it after season, but we're doing a little ministry podcast, a little show called To The Stand. It's all about we stand on God's word. And so it's designed to be a seven to 15-minute devotional for a guy to listen to on the way to the stand. And so that was the whole idea about that.

So we did record those too, so it has made us feel like we've done a lot more recording here in a little bit. But yeah, so we've started the Everland Outdoors podcast just to bring people of all walks of hunting and ministry and whatever they're into life just together to learn and to grow and to build the body and to edify each other.

Dean Hulce: As we talked about earlier on your podcast, you can take somebody that doesn't understand, has never had a connection with Christ or the gospel message, and you can explain it through the outdoors and through hunting especially, hunting or fishing. And all of a sudden it clicks. And that's the Holy Spirit's work, not ours. I take no credit for any of this.

Well, we've had your experience and how God has worked in your life up to this point. But Lee, give me your background. Because you said just a little while ago as we were talking off-camera about when you started you thought you knew some stuff. But give us a little bit of your background.

Lee Vanderbrink: Yeah, so I was your typical high school kid that didn't care about high school and just wanted to be hunting every single day. My senior year I was one day away because turkey season always rolled around the spring. It was nice with turkey hunting I could turkey hunt for a couple of hours and just miss one class, and so I could just miss mornings. And they actually caught me at the end and said, "No, you got to stop doing that. It's time to graduate." I was like, "Okay."

But I started out guiding out of high school. Guided for five or six years between Montana, Iowa, Missouri, and Ohio. And then as I was guiding, guiding was like my dream job in through high school. I'm like, that's what I'm going to do the rest of my life.

Then I don't know if you've ever whitetail guided in your career, but it's more or less a glorified taxi cab driver. So I would bring the guys to the side of the road or the two-track or the field, say, "Follow those ribbons, get to your stand, call me if you get lost." And I would just sit there and wait for them. So I was like, well, that's unfortunate. It's not exactly what I wanted it to be.

Then I kind of started contemplating going back out to Montana because my buddy was guiding there. He was obviously a lot more involved in the actual hunt on horseback, bringing guys out. So I was kind of contemplating that, and that's when my buddy and I kind of started filming each other when we had weekends off between clients we would go hunting. And he started filming each other just for fun.

Then a TV show came to the outfitter that we were at. I was watching the camera guy and him and the host of the show, they were talking about the next morning's plan, how to sit, they had to hang some stands and they were strategizing behind that. I'm like, man, that camera guy is literally way more involved in this hunt than I am as a guide. Like he's out there sitting with them, filming it. I'm like, that's got to be probably besides the guy hunting, that's the second coolest job ever.

So I was like, I want to be a part of that. He's like, really cool. This is what I recommend doing. He told me to go to Ruston Rooster Film School. That's Jason Brown's film school. So I was like, okay, yeah. But I'm like, nah, I can film a hunt. Anybody can roll a camera and get footage. I shoot deer all the time. How hard this can be?

So Adam and myself went to Indiana. We're like, we're going to go, we need to go out of state because Michigan wasn't good enough for whatever reason. We're like, we're going to go to Indiana and film a hunt. And we spent the whole weekend filming. We brought all the footage back, downloaded some free editing software program, and I just combined a bunch of stuff together.

And this is actually a local guy. Justin Olk was a local guy had a television show on The Outdoor Channel and he had like really good production quality. But I was like, they were looking for ambassadors or pro staff. So I sent him my footage and I was like, I'm your guy. I can be on pro staff. The only thing I was thinking like I can get a free bow out of this and go hunting and I'm good.

Dean Hulce: You and a million other young outdoorsmen in the country.

Lee Vanderbrink: Yes. And so I sent him the footage and he goes, nicest response ever because I was sending my footage everywhere, and I still have the film that I made. It's hilarious to watch now. But I sent him the footage and he goes, "Lee, you have a natural eye for this, but there's a lot more to it than what you actually see on TV."

So I was like, don't tell me no. And so that's when I signed up with Jason Brown's film school. Went to their film school and then from there it's just been full bore. They were fortunate enough that they saw something in me. They hired me that following year after the film school and from there it's just been filming everything from what I thought was just going in for whitetail.

But my first trip they ever sent me on was to Africa. Yeah, I've never probably had been to Mexico on vacations, but I've never been out of the country and they're like, "Oh, cool, we'll hire you next week you're going to go to Africa for two weeks." I was like, "Okay, so how does this work? How do I go to Africa?" Yeah, so it's been a wild, wild ride.

Dean Hulce: Wow. Listen, we're going to take a quick break so Adam, our production guy, can share with everybody who makes this show possible and thank those. And if someone wants to come alongside us, you can learn how to do that. We'll be right back with God's Great Outdoors on the Trail to Adventure.

Guest (Male): For the last 26 years, God's Great Outdoors Trail to Adventure has been broadcast out to win men and women, boys and girls to Jesus Christ. This is only possible by the generosity of our listeners. Thank you to all who have supported us in the past. God has blessed us because of you, and we pray that you feel his blessing as well.

Additional underwriting support has been provided by: Mathews Archery, the leader in the archery industry. Mission Archery, with revolutionary crossbow technology. Three Rivers Archery, supplying everything you need to make your own traditional archery equipment. Hunter Safety System, saving lives is what we do. And Conviction Game Calls. At Conviction, we don't separate work from our faith. We believe that our faith should be evident in every aspect of our lives and the outdoors is one of the best places to share that.

God's Great Outdoors has produced many ministry tools, including tracts, DVDs, and books to help you reach others for Jesus Christ. You can access these items, other God's Great Outdoors items, and so much more at our website, godsgreatoutdoors.org. That's godsgreatoutdoors.org.

Dean Hulce: Welcome back to God's Great Outdoors on the Trail to Adventure in Rockford, Michigan, just north of Grand Rapids. A lot of people wouldn't know where Rockford is, but most people know where Grand Rapids, Michigan is. Jay Fettig and with Lee Vanderbrink and we're just talking, getting background on Lee.

And in that walk, we've come together a few times without really even knowing it was going to happen. Today's the first time it's ever been planned to be together. And you guys have started this your podcast, which is really a ministry purpose in behind it. And I'm excited to be here because all of a sudden there's things in my head going, this would be cool, this would be cool. I think God puts us in each other's lives for reason.

Jay Fettig: Very much so. And like you said, this is one of the things that the Lord's been working on my heart is there is no such thing as full-time ministry. Even though I'm a part of a full-time ministry where people make money or their career is in ministry or their careers are over here doing that. Those are also some of the many tools that deceive people to believe and start to compartmentalize things where it's just like, no, the whole life, the whole breathing, everything that we do should be a reflection of Christ.

And so it's like, yeah, this is just how we should live. And as I look at Paul making tents and doing what his life and all that kind of stuff. And yes, there is many times evidence and I know I've had many conversations with many pastors and stuff, and I get it. Yes, there is a time where the ministry fully supports Paul and all that kind of stuff and in paying a pastor. I'm not disagreeing with any of those types of things.

But I do want to encourage everybody that is just in the world wherever they are, whatever they are doing, to shine bright and to truly look at it as I was talking to my boys this weekend about, and you touched on it big time when we were talking in our show and the Everland show about following somebody. You were giving the examples of following your dad. And so it's like Christ calls us to follow him.

And so what does it mean to follow somebody down a trail? And his trail led to what? His imminent death. And so are we willing to lay it all down? And so that life that we get to lay down today is all of this work and everything. And we have the opportunity to lay that down to follow him and not worry about where it goes and know that he's got us on either side.

Dean Hulce: Right. And you can see that. We talked about that earlier and Lee, as you just talked about how just a little bit of how going from beginning of, "Hey, I'd like to do this." And I was in the same place in school. But and I'd have no idea how I got through without getting myself in trouble. But you got to have your priorities. But God led me into the outdoor world.

But as you were just talking, and this is the case of both of you guys and myself, is we talked earlier that when Christ said at the end, he could have said anything to disciples. The last thing he said could have been anything. He could have given them direction. And what did he say? "Go into all the world and preach the gospel."

And that doesn't in all the world again is where we are. Because that's whether I'm here today, tomorrow I'm in Upper Peninsula, Michigan, I'll be in Texas Lord willing in a few weeks, I'll be in Florida speaking, wherever I am is all the world. And I think you were talking about what we're doing. Christ called his disciples, the first three out of the fishing basically. Just, "Follow me." And it's amazing to me they just dropped everything. Are we willing to do that first of all? But then also when he was crucified and in the grave and then he came back out obviously, raised. But they went back at one point to fishing. And he had to come back to them and say, "Come on, guys." He didn't say it that way. Maybe he did. We only got so much of the.

Jay Fettig: Yeah, well, he says it to Peter three times, right? He gives Peter three opportunities and it took Peter three times to hear that, like, "Do you love me?" "Yes." "Then feed my sheep. Do you love me?" And so like I think about that often in my own life of about how many times the Lord has nudged me and said, "Do you really trust me? Do you really trust me to lay down your life and to deny yourself?" And Christ says that pretty plainly as step one is to deny yourself and pick up your cross and to follow me.

And so and I think that we often have got I've looked at things and said denying yourself was like letting go of some of the your favorite things that you love doing. And it's like, no, he created me. And one of my mentors says this he when people ask him like, "Why do you hunt?" He's like, and then they'll be like, "Well, is it because you're a trophy hunter? Do you like managing the woods or you want to be a good steward of your land and blah blah blah?" And he's like, "Nah. God made me this way." If I look at Esau and Jacob, it's clear one of them was a hunter and one of them wasn't. And God even speaks to that and he's like, "He made me this way."

And so when I try to go against that and so denying yourself is just showing the love of Christ in the places that you are.

Dean Hulce: Right. And you we all have our own place where they're at. And Lee, we talked earlier about your footage was used. We really worked together without working together. But it's amazing on when we allow God to do that. Lee, give me a little bit of your spiritual background.

Lee Vanderbrink: So my spiritual background is typical raised in the church, Christian Reformed family, church every Sunday. If I was not up in time for church, I'd get the slap in the back of the head say let's go to church. And I've been a Christian.

We had this recent pastor at our church that when my wife and I started going back to the church that I grew up in, this pastor he could preach. It was amazing to listen to. And every single time I left church, I kept like I could feel this in my heart of like literally like I have a calling for something I need to fulfill and I don't know how it is. And I kept like saying I don't like I kept praying of like, "How, Lord? Like I'm a Christian but I'm not seeking you." And to put it short.

And it's funny, it wasn't long after that we both had the ability to create some films with each other and I saw that and I saw how it come together. I'm like, well, this could not be anymore obvious. And like you said, God created you for who you are and he put these passions in your life for a purpose.

And I would have never guessed my passion would ever be filming or photography or anything like that. But I got good at it because I truly think it was meant to be and that's how I'm not a public speaker, I can't recite Bible verses, but I can visually tell a story that could potentially have somebody like you said, you meet somebody on their ground and they can learn a lot from it.

Dean Hulce: Yeah. And God's given like you said, it's a passion. But it's the same thing. It's God's given us each an ability and it's how what and it's what we do with it. Now he, as we said earlier, we sin with our hands open and God puts things in and takes them out. And my prayer is always, "Lord, please don't take. Make sure I'm worthy in myself. I'm not worthy for anything, but that I'm found worthy to be able to continue to do the things I do."

And because I have a fear that God would take that away. I don't know why I have a fear, because if he does, it's a reason for it. And he's got something else planned. But really interesting because I love doing what I did with the writing and the film with you. And I'd love to do more of that. I think that between the three of us, we could do some pretty amazing things together.

Jay Fettig: It's I find it funny because I was bugging Lee the other day. I was like, "Lee, I really feel called that the Lord has me making a film and it's not around hunting." But I was privileged to go to Uganda with our schools over there and I won't bore you with all the details, but I can see the opening of this film because I met an actual witch doctor over there who's practicing, lack of a better word, a sorcery type to conjure and actually heal people.

And again, I don't know where I'm going with this, but the fact that you're like, "Well, we need to make a film." And I've always thought, I was like, "Lord, why am I doing the Everland Outdoors thing? Like what do you have me to do? Like what's going on with this?" Because I've been really blessed to work with Set Free Ministries and how awesome that's been and how it's just really changed my life and I've seen transformations through so many people.

But this film piece of like really getting to people to speak truth and love right where they're at and to use what the gifts and the talents. And I think that that's such the beauty of the body of Christ is that when we all need each other and the eye can't see, you know, we all need the eyes, we all need the ears, and we're not all things. And so it's really cool.

Dean Hulce: I'm anxious to see where God goes with this because I think that the takeaway is God's got a call for our lives. And what we have to do is be open and available when he calls for us. But listen, we got to go to the podcast. We're out of time on the radio program. We're going to go to the podcast for our listeners. Thank you for joining us, if you can only be here for the radio. If you can, jump on the podcast. Thank you guys for being here. I'm actually here in your studio, but so I'm your guest, but thank you for being on the program.

Jay Fettig: Our pleasure.

Dean Hulce: Thank you for joining us to our listeners. Join us each week as we do travel down the Trail to Adventure, and we don't know where we're going to be from week to week, but please join us wherever we're at in God's great outdoors.

Guest (Male): In the Bible, in Jeremiah chapter 29 verse 11, God makes it clear that he has a plan. It says, "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future."

Often we bump into the same acquaintances over and over again. Sometimes it might be coincidence and sometimes God has a much bigger plan for our lives together. We need to be aware of who God is putting in our paths and then carefully watch for his hand in what his plan is.

If you've enjoyed today's program and would like to hear the extended podcast version, you can find it by looking for Dean Hulce or Trail to Adventure wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. This program is provided by and can be contacted at: God's Great Outdoors, PO Box 414, Powers, Michigan 49874, or on the website godsgreatoutdoors.org. Thank you for joining us on the Trail to Adventure in God's great outdoors. May God's plan bring us together each week.