God's Great Outdoors

On this week’s Trail To Adventure! we’re exploring how two guys, David Hale who was a farmer, and Harold Knight a barber, got together to design, develop plus, market turkey calls. Gerry visits with these two legends in the outdoor world to discover that the only reason they started to sell their calls was because there weren’t many turkeys in Kentucky and they hoped to be able to make enough to buy a non-resident hunting license in Missouri. Giving one of these calls to an outdoor writer way back when there weren’t many turkeys to start with, created quite a stir. His article in an outdoor magazine drove in hundreds of phone calls to get one of their “turkey tubes” and it just went on from there. Both these men give all the glory to God for what has happened in their lives and they continue to praise Him as the years roll by. The two are able to present their story at game dinners, telling of God’s blessing on them!

You’ll get hooked on this Trail To Adventure! as Gerry’s with the owners and operators of Rushing Wind Retreat Center. Arnie & Dee Wolf share how God worked it out in their lives to own this facility. It’s a once in a life time adventure you can take someone on where they’ll have the Creator God speak to them by way of the outdoors, speakers and fellowship of others! This couple also talks about all the aspects of the camp, as they work to set the stage for sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. This fly-in adventure fishing camp is a place where men can invite friends and relatives to join them for the five days. Also, there are couples retreats that have helped restore marriages and seen changed lives for eternity time and again. Why not check out what a Rushing Wind trip could do for your loved ones!

On this week’s The Trail To Adventure! Listeners will be moved to consider evangelistic outdoor outreach events. It’s a visit to a Pennsylvania church and this program’s guest interview is with Pastor Neal Wintermute. The two men’s discussion is about the church’s mission and how their game dinner is seeing men come to Christ each year. Pastor Wintermute shares with Gerry the different things that the church has tried and is doing in relation to this annual outdoor outreach. One thing is for sure, they are well aware of the fact that everything they do throughout the year, including the game dinner, needs to be bathed in prayer from the day of planning to completion. Getting to know about the different ideas God’s Great Outdoors shares on the “How to” of outdoor outreach events has help them on their way.

The Trail To Adventure! is in North Augusta, Georgia and Gerry is joined by Dr. Bill Brown who teaches at the online program at Liberty University. Bill was formerly at the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary where he taught Evangelism and Church Planting. During Bill’s years of being a pastor in Alaska, and the things that he learned on how to reach men, he relates these strategies to Gerry and the listeners. Growing up in an outdoor family, and experiencing the numerous outdoor interests that men from his congregation desired to do, allowed him to formulate a plan and program to reach the unchurched in the community where one lives. Dr. Bill Brown shares how on some Sundays, he had more men in his church as a pastor in Alaska then women, which is unheard of in most churches because he geared up for men!

This week’s Trail To Adventure! has Gerry in one of the most recognized sport fishing area in the USA; it’s the New York’s Finger Lakes region. He and wife Cyndi were at the Penn Yan Bible Church in Penn Yan, for that church’s first ever game dinner. Our host was there as that Saturday’s dinner’s speaker, then he shared at the Sunday’s Service, as Cyndi presented in special music in the morning’s time of worship. Afterward, Gerry sat down to visit with the Pastor Leo Galletta and the outdoor outreach event director, Rowley Hayner. The two men spoke of the churches desire to minister to their community and present the Gospel to each un-churched person there. Though not a big church or with many members who do outdoor activities, the area is loaded with folks who are. So, the idea of something to bring in sportsmen, seemed like it might just work to help change lives for Jesus Christ and it did, Praise God!

Hoping you never get hooked the way one of the guests on this Trail To Adventure! did. On this week’s program Gerry’s with Todd and Joni Lakes as they tell about their first trip to Rushing Wind Retreat Center in Ontario, Canada. For Todd this was a once in a life time adventure of getting to both fish Canada and it was a fly-in as well, “A Bucket List” experience! This Ohio couple had been invited by some friends to a event that you can take someone to where they’ll have the Creator God speak to them by way of the outdoors, speakers and fellowship of others! This fly-in adventure fishing camp is a place where men can invite friends and relatives to join them for the five days. But, Todd and Joni had come to a marriage retreat, which has helped restore marriages and seen changed lives for eternity, time and again. Hear what happened to them and check out what a Rushing Wind trip could do for your loved ones!

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 Trail To Adventure! Gerry is in Montgomery, Alabama as he dropped in for a visit with Ed Gannon. The two met through Russell Thornberry two decades ago, with Gerry getting to do a little deer hunting on Ed’s farm. At that time, Ed was just starting to see wild hogs occasionally on his property. Now twenty years later, it’s being overrun with these animals that are destroying everything and make farming close to impossible! Ed tells how he uses his farm to bless and minister to groups, fathers and sons or anyone God directs his way. He shares the increasable story of how a baby in Russia was saved because of a father’s visit to his place. Then Ed share on his work with “LIFE ON WHEELS” and the powerful impact this outreach ministry is having on mothers and babies around their area of Alabama for the Kingdom of God!

On this week’s Trail To Adventure! Gerry visits the Antler King’s home office/warehouse in Black River Falls, Wisconsin on the businesses’ 30 year anniversary. The program’s guest is the owner Todd Stittleburg, who stepped out in faith back in 1987 to go full time with his deer nutrition, feed and food plot business. Todd left a great position with a very large company, giving up some really good perks to make the move, but, he knew God was with him and the family as they made this life altering transition. His Savior Jesus has been there at every turn, even the day when their home and the attached Antler King office burned to the ground. Todd shares how devastating watching everything he and his family owned was and the struggle in faith it was. But, his God is always faithfully and is always there!

On this Trail To Adventure! Gerry meets with Dave Battle who is someone making his living related to God’s great outdoors. Dave and his wife Beth live in Anchorage, Alaska. He was raised to believe in Jesus, the Bible, and Creation, as he was immersed in experiencing the outdoors with his father. However, in his college years everything he was being taught as he studied to become a wildlife biologist was telling him, not only was Evolution a fact, but there wasn’t even a God necessary for life to exist. Yet, one day in class, an eye-opening look at how each skull he was required to examine and study from the different animal species revealed that they had to have been both intricately and intelligently designed for that animal to exist at all. They had such precise locations for the many openings and these hole locations; to him was positive proof of Intelligent Design!