God's Great Outdoors

Guest (Male): The daily lives of most military personnel and many adults and even some children have a mission and a purpose. Unfortunately, many people go through life with no mission or purpose. These are lives that have no godly direction.

On this week's program, we'll meet a man that served our nation for over 30 years and over that time had a purpose each day and a mission for the well-being of our nation. When he finished his career in the military, he quickly realized that he no longer had a mission to live out.

Through the calling of the Lord, he knew that there was still work to be done. God showed him this on a fly-fishing trip, and then God prepared him for the job. Now the doors that God had prepared for him to walk through years before opened and gave him a daily purpose and mission again. Now let's join our host and his guest as they discuss God's calling on his life in God's great outdoors.

Dean Hulce: Welcome to God's Great Outdoors on the Trail to Adventure. We are in Temple, Texas. I'm meeting up today with Leigh Johanson. Leigh has graciously met us and we had no place to go, so I called the local church and thank you to the Temple Bible Church here in Temple, Texas. Temple is south of Dallas about an hour or so, an hour and a half, I guess. Leigh, good to have you with us.

Leigh Johanson: Glad to be here.

Dean Hulce: It's amazing how God puts people together. I got ahold of Brody Cooper, who is the head of Blast and Cast, and I said, "Hey, I'm coming in. Who would you like me to visit with?" You must either have a good story or he was playing a trick on you, one or the other. But I'm glad to be—we've been visiting actually for about three weeks online and we've got several things in common that we've found out. Why don't you tell us about where you were raised, how you were raised, and then how you came to a relationship with Christ and the places He's brought you through because I found them very interesting. You actually lived really close to me for a while.

Leigh Johanson: Yes, sir. So I grew up in southern Minnesota, farm country community. The closest town was 331 people, and it seemed like I was related to most of them. But it was an egg and dairy and pig farming community. I didn't really have a relationship with Christ when I was young. We went to Christmas, Easter, and that was about it.

Honestly, the biggest motivating thing to get me to go to church was my parents allowed me to drive the snowmobile there in the wintertime, so that would get me in the door. But I didn't have a relationship really with Christ other than just knowing about Him until I joined the Coast Guard. In 1992, I joined the Coast Guard.

My first station was on the Coast Guard Cutter Eagle, which is basically a 295-foot sailboat that goes around training cadets and doing a lot of PR work for the Coast Guard. It was a war prize from the Germans. It was a very neat opportunity. But there was a Chief on board there that just carried himself a little bit different than the normal partying, kind of rough sailor crowd that I was hanging around with at the time.

He attracted me kind of like a moth to a flame, and I just wanted to have the peace that he had. I started asking some questions. Next thing you know, we were going to church and that's when I accepted Jesus, was in the Coast Guard in Connecticut, actually.

Dean Hulce: Okay. So I've got to ask how you went from living in agricultural country to wanting to go to the Coast Guard, which is mostly on the ocean, but the Great Lakes as well.

Leigh Johanson: Yeah, I didn't know anything about the Coast Guard. The first thing that I did actually was join the Minnesota Army National Guard. I went down to Fort Benning, Georgia, boot camp. I realized that I'm getting three squares a day, a place to sleep, and all the ammo that I could really shoot. I was hanging around with guys that I've got some stuff in common with.

I didn't have that back home. My other career opportunities were working at a hog farm. The "aha" moment was when I was cleaning out a farrowing crate, wearing rain gear in the heat of summer, using a steam cleaner, and spraying down. I felt something in my hair and it was a maggot crawling around. I was like, "You know what? There's got to be something better."

So I went to my supply sergeant, who I respected, and I said, "I think I want to make the military a career." He said, "Hey, if you're going to do that, look at the Coast Guard and the Air Force." He was prior Air Force. At that time we didn't have internet really to speak of, so I went and talked to a recruiter. He gave me some propaganda about a guy jumping out of a helicopter and I said, "Yep, that's for me." I signed on the line and next thing you know, I was on my way to Coast Guard boot camp in Cape May.

Dean Hulce: Wow. Yeah. You know, it's obvious when you look back. And now when we look forward with some stuff that's coming up, it's amazing how God had that planned way back on a pig farm. And it's really—Lynn and I have lived through that. Almost everybody if I sit face-to-face across a table—and I've not done any of these programs online because there's something you miss not being able to be face-to-face with somebody. But it is amazing how God worked through that. You've had several—maybe you can give us a list of kind of the places that you've served over your how many years?

Leigh Johanson: 32 years in the Coast Guard, yes, sir. First place again was the Eagle, Coast Guard Cutter Eagle. That was in New London, Connecticut. That's where I met my wife. She was a corpsman up at the Coast Guard Academy. After I was introduced to her, I all of a sudden started finding myself getting sick more and more and ending up at the clinic, so it was kind of weird.

But we got married in Connecticut and then the next place we got stationed was Upper Peninsula Michigan. It was in Houghton-Hancock.

Dean Hulce: Not very far from me.

Leigh Johanson: Yeah. So we were on Lake Superior. We really enjoyed the time up there. That was my wife's really first exposure to lots of snow and rural living, so that was pretty interesting. That's where our first son was born; Tanner was born up there.

And then from there we went to a small fishing community, Coos Bay, Oregon, on the Oregon coast. I was on a 110-foot patrol boat there originally and then the next station was at Coos Bay again at the air station. And then Umpqua River for a short stint, which is a motor lifeboat station, or lifeboat station.

And then Valdez, Alaska. From Valdez, I was sentenced—I mean stationed—in San Francisco. It was crazy that I was fighting that tooth and nail. But the Lord had, like you said, He had a plan and He orchestrated it. The start of the Alaska things that we're going to probably talk about later in the episode, it started there.

He needed me down in San Francisco and I fought that. It wasn't until Pastor Ray gave a message on—you know what? You got a good Father, He's not going to give you a snake or a scorpion. So I was like, "Okay, Lord, You got a plan for it." And we went down there. I was at a maritime safety and security team in San Francisco for a little while.

Then after that went to Virginia. Virginia's where I thought I was going to retire. I worked two jobs in Virginia. We were able to stay in the same house for quite a while and the boys were able to grow up there. I've got two sons, by the way. So we really thought we were going to stay in Virginia.

But the Lord had different plans there too. So I got a call from the detailer and this was right at the 30-year mark that, "Hey, are you interested in going back to Coos Bay? We'd like someone to fill this job and if you do, we'll extend you past 30," which for a warrant officer was not very common. So I just looked into the kitchen with the detailer on the phone and I said, "Lori, you want to go to Coos Bay?" And she said, "Oregon?" And I said, "Yes." And she said, "Okay." And next thing you know, we're heading back to Oregon and that's where I retired, was from Coos Bay, Oregon.

Dean Hulce: Okay. And then you moved to Texas. I mean, that's another big step.

Leigh Johanson: Yeah. You know, I've had several people ask me why. Why Texas? Why did you move to Texas? The only real reason that I can think of is I know the Lord had a plan in it. I knew that Texas—I liked what they stood for with their religious and individual freedoms.

So I figured they were either going to be the first one in the fight or the last one standing and I was good with either of those options. So we moved to Texas. Well, and the fact I like to be able to shoot bacon year-round and that was something I was really looking forward to and done a bit of that. So that's been good. And not knowing that Blast and Cast was in—was going to happen.

Dean Hulce: How God had a plan.

Leigh Johanson: He was all over it, yes, sir.

Dean Hulce: Well, we're going to get into that plan here in a second and how it's really growing and grown, probably in you because you're surrounded by some really good guys, but also in how it's growing in what He's doing here. And we're going to do that, but first we're going to take a break. Adam's going to share who it is that our major donors that make it possible. But then also explain that we are giver-supported. Without donations we don't go. And then we'll be back with God's Great Outdoors on the Trail to Adventure with Leigh Johanson.

Adam Westmark: For the last 26 years, God's Great Outdoors Trail to Adventure has been broadcast 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 blessings 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 Systems, 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, godsgr8outdoors.org. That's godsgr8outdoors.org.

Dean Hulce: Welcome back to God's Great Outdoors. We're on the Trail to Adventure in Temple, Texas, today. We're with Leigh Johanson. Leigh, we've gone from southern Minnesota to all points of North America really at this point. But now you're in Texas. I guess you explained how you got here and then—because we talked about that a little bit off air—but how you got here and then how God put you to work in His service instead of the Coast Guard service.

Leigh Johanson: Yes, sir. So yeah, so well, an interesting—I just want to back up for a second. So at the 20-year mark, I was really almost retired out of the Coast Guard, but took some leave and was praying about it and the Lord said, "Hey, stay in the blue suits. Those are the guys that—that's your ministry for right now," which was interesting.

So I stayed in for 32 years. Getting out, I thought I had a really solid plan. We got moved, went to Oregon, and we had a place in Texas that we were going to go to. Thought I had a really solid plan. It was really interesting going from one day as a W4, my—what I said mattered and I had—I didn't realize how much I put my self-worth and my identity in that job.

But as soon as I retired, that identity went away. And I really found myself just asking the Lord, "Lord, what now? What's my—" because every day in the Coast Guard, you got a mission and a purpose, very clear. So the first week it was great. Every day was a Saturday.

After that I started asking myself, "Okay, Lord, now what?" Well, He brought us to Texas and I still found myself asking that. Got involved with a local church. There was a Bible study going on. We had one of the sections of the Bible study was on solitude.

Some of the guys that were there, who I didn't know well at the time, said, "Hey, we're going to go do a fly-fishing trip up in New Mexico. We're just—the plan is we're going to go out on the river for the day by ourselves and the Lord and practice a little solitude, self-reflection, come back at night, eat a good food, and have some fellowship." That was the plan.

So we did that. Drove 14 hours up to the Four Corners, New Mexico, San Juan River, which is a fantastic place, by the way. And we started doing that. Well, one day while we were up there, Curt, a buddy of mine, and myself were sitting on a boat ramp. We found ourselves at the boat ramp. And being from Oregon, drift boats are a big deal. I'm a boat guy.

So I see this really nice-looking drift boat coming down the river and it's making its way to the ramp. There's two guys in it and they're wearing Blast and Cast Men's Ministry hats and I was like, "Hmm, that's interesting." So as they come ashore, I just look at them and say, "Guys, tell me about that. What's up?"

So they went on to say, "Oh, it's a men's ministry." They explained that they're there to just lead men to the cross and give guys opportunities to go do bucket-listed things, outdoor adventures, but ultimately intentionally lead men to Jesus. I was like, "Well, I don't believe in coincidences, I believe in divine intervention. I think this is it."

So we're talking and Chris Barton, who I believe you just interviewed—

Dean Hulce: I did.

Leigh Johanson: He was one of those men in the boat. He looks at me and asks, "Well, where you guys from?" And I said, "Oh, Central Texas." Well, Jason, who was in the back of the boat, and Chris just look at each other and they start smiling. And I was like, "Okay, what's up, guys?"

And they said, "Well, here's the deal. We were just out in the boat. We were supposed to be on a turkey hunt today. That didn't materialize, so we ended up being in the boat. And we were just out in the boat praying for a Central Texas chapter of Blast and Cast Men's Ministry."

Dean Hulce: It still gives me goosebumps right now.

Leigh Johanson: Me too. Yeah. So I just said, "Let me clarify. So it took us to meet at a boat ramp 14 hours away from Central Texas to set up a Central Texas Blast and Cast Men's Ministry?" Because I was there with five guys from Central Texas, all like-minded, ready to make this thing go. I was like, "Okay, Lord, yeah, this is it. This is why I came to Texas."

Dean Hulce: Amazing. And you know, God has again—we can plan all we want. The Bible tells us our plans are nothing compared to God's plans for us. And too often we see those plans come and we let them go. You know, I think of the guy sitting on his rooftop in a flood and he's praying for God to save him. He sends a boat and the guy says, "No, I'm waiting on God." And He sends a helicopter. This goes on and eventually he drowns and he goes to heaven and he said, "God, I prayed." He says, "Well, I gave you two or three options and you didn't take them."

And I think that that's just a little joke on that, but it's true. When God gives us an opportunity and we pray, "God, show us where You want us," and then He drops it in our lap, we really don't have a whole lot of options. Because if we decide to go somewhere else, first of all, we miss the blessings. Secondly, He's going to get His work done. And thirdly, we're in the wrong place and we're not going to receive the blessings of what we were.

I mean, there was a blessing to go do it, but just the ongoing blessings in life. That's a great example of how God works. And I did hear part of that. I only heard up as far as they came ashore and met somebody from Central Texas. But they talked about praying in the boat. That's an amazing thing. For our listeners, I think it's really an important thing to realize when God calls, we do have an option. He doesn't force us to do anything. But what we miss out on is far greater than anything we could expect by not following it.

Leigh Johanson: Absolutely.

Dean Hulce: So we're going to go into another part of that. So you came on basically eventually after working with them, came on as a Regional Director recently.

Leigh Johanson: Yes, sir.

Dean Hulce: And it's funny, I saw on the website that you're the Regional Director of Central Texas and Alaska. That's a long commute. You're not going to do it day-to-day. So tell us about how that happened.

Leigh Johanson: So that story starts in 2009 when I met a good friend of mine, Bill, who had a passion for Alaska, was building a cabin up there. I met him in California. My son and I and all my family went up there and actually helped him with that cabin initially back then and we've stayed friends for a long time.

He's since sold that place and built another cabin on Prince of Wales Island. Last year, after I'd been with Blast and Cast probably about a year or so, I get a call from Bill. He's up in Alaska at the cabin. It's May and I'm getting ready to go up to see him to help out with Patriot Healing Adventures doing some veteran stuff up there.

I'm just doing kind of a status check on him and we're talking and I said, "Bill, you know, really I think it's getting hot here in Texas." I'm a Minnesota guy down in Texas in the summer, right? So I said, "It's getting hot here. I'm thinking I might look at maybe guiding in Alaska during the summers."

And all he said was, "Hmm." That was it. And we said our goodbyes. Two days later I get a text from him saying, "Call me." So I did. And he said, "Leigh, I've just restructured our whole lives." And I was like, "Okay." He says, "We're going to build a cabin up here. We're going to buy a boat, and you're going to run a men's ministry out of here."

And you know, initially that fear wells up wanting me to say no. But the words of Adam Westmark, a buddy of mine from Oregon, a good brother in the Lord, just popped into my ears. And he's kind of a cool dude. He said, "Leigh, brother, when it's Jesus, just say yes." And that's what I did. I said, "Okay, Bill. Okay."

And the next thing we started planning, started talking to Brody and the other Blast and Cast staff, Chris, and what I'm not good at is the website stuff, the admin portion of that, and that's not my calling. But I really have a passion for reaching guys, whether it's in the woods or in the water. Just being real with them.

I found for myself, I've been much more effective. No matter how many times you invite someone to church, I don't think I've ever had somebody go to church after I asked them. But if I invite them to go duck hunting or elk hunting or fly fishing, yes, then they're there and you can build that relationship and that's—so Blast and Cast has been a natural fit.

When I talked to Brody about that, he goes, "Man, we've got that stuff already in place. Let's talk, let's see how we can make this thing work." So Brody and Chris, we went down and met with Bill and the plans got rolling and next thing you know, we're going wide open right now heading to Alaska in the end of April to start building a cabin.

Dean Hulce: Yeah. And you know, there's a lot of guys—we think of Alaska as this huge unexplored frontier and there's a lot of that. Most of it's been explored, but a lot of that. But there's also guys up there that are in the city and don't get out much. But there's also—it's not very far long flight from Seattle and from a lot of other places to dump into Anchorage and go from there.

There's a lot of guys that would love that experience. Like I said, I've experienced it. My experience was beautiful and great. There were a lot of struggles. As you know, you get to Alaska, everything's ten times harder than almost anyplace else. But it's a great way to build men to have that opportunity. So tell us about what's going to happen.

Leigh Johanson: So right now, before we left last year, we've got excavations done, piers are poured, so timber package is sitting up there waiting for us. The plan is we're going to have about 15 build weeks. Every week there's going to be a team of between six and eight guys showing up. We're praying that the right skill set shows up at the right time and the Lord's been faithful with that in the past.

So and really just giving them a chance and a taste of being able to come alongside us in what we're doing. But we're going to build a cabin and the goal is to be dried in mid-June and by the end of August be ready to close the doors and ready for ministry, a men's ministry starting May of 2027.

Dean Hulce: Well, great. Tell us before we get off the air, tell us how someone reaches you if they want information on this, if they want to just talk to you about how they might get involved, or even how they can stay in touch with—get up there on a trip later on.

Leigh Johanson: Sure, sure. So the best way to go is blastandcastmensministry.org. Check us out. We're going to be doing updates over the course of the summer, so you'll be able to see build progress and how that's going. And then if you want to sign up, there's an alternate list right now. There's still, I think, three spots available for the summer. But yeah, reach out there, that's the best way of getting in touch with me. My contact information's on there and I'll try to reach out and answer any questions you may have.

Dean Hulce: One of the things that I really appreciate about Blast and Cast is they invite men to come. But if it's a Christian man that wants to come, they say, "Bring a buddy." This isn't a fishing club. We are evangelistically intentional. And it's amazing when you get guys on the water or you get guys in a duck blind or a deer blind and be able to visit one-on-one, all those blockades they have in society of like inviting them to church.

Very rarely do they—most say, "Yeah, let me check and see if I'm available," and they're not. They're going to make something. But get them up in Alaska on a boat and let them tell them about Jesus and when you hear about the struggles that they have, God has all the answers. And that's what you guys are doing.

And it's cool to see how the Lord orchestrates the right person to be alongside that person because many times during our events, we'll have a volunteer that'll be there that's dealt with that exact same issue they're struggling with. So it's just really a shot in the arm for us to be able to see that and be involved with it. Well, our time is up. Goes by really quickly. But we are going to go onto the podcast, so if our radio listeners, if you can get there and catch the rest of it, join us on the Trail to Adventure podcast.

If not, join us here each week. If you want to get ahold of Leigh, you can do that actually, you can go to that website that he gave you and learn all about Blast and Cast and get involved. Real big in Texas right now, moving into Alaska, moving into Florida, Louisiana, and get involved. But for right now we're going to have to sign off. Join us every week here on God's Great Outdoors as we head down the Trail to Adventure.

Guest (Male): What a great lesson of how God gives opportunity to His children to live out the calling He has put on our lives. God will get His work done with or without us, but there is a special blessing for those that do the work He's called us to do. Leigh learned that after only a week of retirement.

In the Coast Guard, we heard that those that are in the rescue boats have to learn to fully trust the one running the boat. This is also true in each of our lives. We need to have total faith in the one that is in charge of everything. The God that created the universe also has a plan for each of us to take part in working within His kingdom, to reach others by pointing them to a relationship with our God.

What is He calling you to do within His kingdom? Because if we are His children, we have been called to do His work. Let's get to it. 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, P.O. Box 414, Powers, Michigan 49874, or on the website godsgr8outdoors.org. Thank you for joining us. We do look forward each week to join with you as we share the stories of those that serve the Lord.

We would welcome all of you to join us in this ministry with a donation of any kind. Again, God is going to get His work done. If you feel a calling to come alongside of us, it would be a blessing for all of us. But if not, please keep us in your prayers as we share testimonies from around the country. Join us each week here in God's Great Outdoors on the Trail to Adventure.