God's Great Outdoors

As Gerry was on his Trail To Adventure! traveling to speak at a Game Dinner in western Wisconsin, he hooked up with Daryl Christensen. Daryl is a past God’s Great Outdoors Board of Directors member and spent most of his life in the professional walleye fishing arena. He shares how when the economic crash of 2008 took place, it hit the fishing industry hard. This caused Daryl to move to an early retirement from his profession, going in a different direction. Having been one of Wisconsin’s leading members of the state’s bird watchers, he began doing studies for the Department of Natural Recourses. So, besides getting to speak at Game Dinners, this has opened doors to present the Creator, Jesus Christ to those who enjoy ornithology.

This program begins with a description of what the retreats are like at Rushing Wind in Ontario, Canada an hour drive above International Falls, Minnesota and through these fly-in fishing times, many lives have been changed for eternity. Phil Driver is the guest on this week’s Trail to Adventure! Phil heads up a ministry called Northwest Iowa Special Youth Challenge. This is a youth hunt that’s for disabled and terminally ill girls and boys getting them afield for turkey in the spring and deer in the fall. Gerry and Phil talk about how they met at a Trail to Adventure! Conference that took place in Iowa, something that Phil only came to in order to meet more speakers for their ministry. He didn't think he would learn anything new at this Trail to Adventure! Conference, but was sorely mistaken as he learned a number of things that helped their ministry today!

On this trip Gerry is at the Trijicon factory in Wixom, MI and on a visit with Chuck Wahr who is the Vice-President of Sales & Marketing. Chuck shares about Trijicon’s founder Glyn Bindon and the owner’s family, and their relationship with Jesus Christ, and how this is mirrored in the way they conduct business. He also relates about his growing up with adventures in the outdoors, his family and the enjoyment of time in God’s creation, near Muskegon, Michigan. Chuck tells about a controversy that developed regarding scripture references on scopes made for the military that created quite a stir not too long ago. The two talk about that issue, and the fact that this manufacturer of illuminated sights has been in the practice of putting Bible verse references on their products since their beginning.

Gerry is in Ashley, Indiana on this week’s Trail To Adventure! program with the owners of Three Rivers Archery, Dale and Sandi Karch. The pair share how they got started in traditional archery and opened a small shop there in Wisconsin. Dale began to build Tomahawk bows; his recurves are now one of the best-selling traditional bows today. When they approached Three Rivers Archery Company about putting the Tomahawk in the catalogue, they were informed that if they wanted them added in, the couple would have to buy the company because it was for sale. God had been preparing them for this in their archery journey as you will clearly hear with this interview.

Gerry is in the upper part of the country’s western prairie land on this week’s Trail To Adventure! at Pheasant City Lodge in Wessington, South Dakota, at the home of Kevin and Kristie Tevedal, the pair share about how they use this pheasant hunting facility in what is considered the top state for these game birds as a way to minister to others. Men's ministry, father/son, father/daughter ministries, women's retreats, church groups, and more all have used this facility for outreach. Both Kevin and Kristie share personal stories of events, actions, and testimonies of ministry they have seen take place at the lodge. This couple and their family work to make Jesus Christ first and evident to the clients, in all they do at Pheasant City Lodge.

At the annual Archery Association Trade Show, Gerry visits with Paul Meeks who started API Outdoors Treestand Company. Paul shares about the history of hunting from trees and how he got started in the treestand industry with API being the first aluminum stand to appear on the market. Then when Paul eventually sold the business, it was the number one manufacturer of treestands in North America. Gerry and Paul spend the majority 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 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 visits with Doug Beal who is a member of The Lord of the Harvest Archery Club, a chapter of Christian Bowhunters of America. The two talk about the Trophies of Grace Whitetail Deer Hunt that happens every year in the fall in southeast Ohio. Hunters, their friends, family and neighbors come from across the USA to take part. CBA members do numerous events that take place across the nation to open doors for those who love archery and so, have an impact on lives. The southeastern Ohio Tar Hollow hunt is a wonderful outreach that the men and women of CBA are using their archery and bowhunting to build relationships in the lives of people they know that need Jesus Christ. Doug and Gerry also discuss the signs of the Creator in His Creation all around us!

This broadcast is really part two or the other half of last week’s program, as Gerry visits with Ralph Cianciarulo of the “Archers Choice” television show at the production studio in Lanark, Illinois that he shares the co-host position of the TV program with his wife Vicki. Ralph talks about his early years of growing up roaming the woods and fields of his Illinois home and the adventures he had. These times included his boyhood memories with the family and how the bow and arrow introduced into his life set a course for where he is today. Ralph also tells how he met Vicki through archery and their TV show got its start. This path in life led to the two of them praying to receive Christ, as did their son RJ. The two meeting and choosing a life together all are the result of archery and God’s plan for their lives!

On this week’s Trail To Adventure! we’ll be hearing from Vicki Cianciarulo who is the co-host of the outdoor television program titled, “Archers Choice.” Vicki and her husband Ralph, travel around the world chasing the many different big game species they harvest and film hunts for the show. Vicki describes her early years of growing up with her mom in a single parent home and how it impacted the times at church, limiting that experience. Being a “Tom Boy” she loved the outdoors and getting dirty during those adventures was all part of the fun. As a young woman she had a chance to go on a grouse hunt in the northern part of Wisconsin and from that moment on she was hooked on hunting. Next in Vicki’s life came archery and that is where she became acquainted with Ralph who owned the shop she visited to begin the sport. Together this couple was hunting in God’s Creation as the Creator Jesus was pursuing them all to have a personal relationship with this family!

Treestand safety is the topic of this week’s Trail To Adventure! as 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 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. 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.