God's Great Outdoors

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!

On this week's Trail To Adventure! program, Gerry’s with Dale and Sandi Karch of Three Rivers Archery, a traditional archery supply company located in Ashley, Indiana. The couple tells about how they came to buying the business. Dale started building Tomahawk bows in his garage to sell in their home state of Wisconsin, and as time went on they added other archery products to help those that were into shooting the simple stick and string type bows enjoyed by traditional archers. Discovering that 3 Rivers Archery was for sale, Dale and Sandi looked at how they could acquire this business and make it something that the entire family could get involved in, and with God’s direction they accomplished this goal. It is now a family affair that’s grown their relationships and is making memories for today and for all eternity.

On this week’s Trail To Adventure! Gerry is visiting with Dr. Richard Swenson in Wisconsin and the two are talking about Intelligent Design on this week’s Trail To Adventure! The truth is there is more chance mathematically that your car happened by accident over hundreds of millions of years, then just your eyeballs having evolved and how they works with your entire body? This is just one of the things that Dr. Richard Swenson shares in the interview with Gerry as they discuss this topic and Dr. Swenson’s book, “More Than Meets the Eye”. Having taught surgery at the University of Madison, Wisconsin, and having minored in physics, this interview is jam-packed with information that declares that we have a Creator God. Perhaps the most listened to interview aired by GGO in the 20+ years we’ve been broadcasting.

On this week’s program Gerry visits with one of the most recognized leaders in the sport fishing arena, Al Lindner. The two hook up in Brainerd, Minnesota at the Lindner Media Studios, as Al relates about his testimony, which is the content in the tract produced by God’s Great Outdoors titled “A Fishing Legend Makes His Biggest Catch!” They talk about Al’s time in Vietnam, where he prayed to God for the first time in his life during a close call with the enemy. Al goes into the story of how his brother Ron and wife Deloris, came to Christ, (included in Ron’s tract: “The End Of The Line!”) soon Al’s wife Mary received Jesus too. Then with his two boys and Mary going to church, Al finally agreed to join the family. One day his youngest son requested Al to pray, but he didn’t know how! This broke the walls of Al’s heart and he had to go into the bathroom and cry. It was the beginning of the end of Al’s running from Jesus Christ.

On this Trail To Adventure! Dr. Tom Rakow, the founder of The Christian Deer Hunters Association and Gerry visit together discussing the numerous outdoor ministries that have come about over the years. The idea is to provide Christians looking to reach others who enjoy time in God's creation with the tools to aid in the ability to help win them to receive Jesus Christ as their Creator God. Tom shares about how The Christian Deer Hunters Association got started and how he never expected it to be what it is today. Tom also tells how he began writing books, and today despite the fact that he flunked English several times in school, with his family’s aid he has written a number of books that are helping Christians reach out to their unsaved friends and relatives with true stories on fishing and hunting.

On this Trail To Adventure! Gerry visits with Steve Chapman in Nashville, TN as the two reflect on Steve’s first book “A Look at Life From a Deer Stand”, released back in 1996, yet is still going off of bookstore shelves as it has been reprinted many times. Meeting a need of women who wanted something for their male loved ones actively involved in the outdoors, (specifically hunting) but which also had a spiritual impact and would change lives. Steve also discusses how important outdoor ministry can be in reaching the man and the impact that it can have on the family. Steve hopes his new book “A Look at Life From a River Bank” will also help more men become trophies of grace for the Creator God Jesus Christ.