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The young man had raised his hand to ask a question, so I motioned for him to speak what was on his mind. It became immediately clear this was an emotional issue being addressed as he was struggling to get his words out. Slowly what was spoken revealed his troubled heart, “How do I get my pastor… how do I make my church understand the potential to win souls through outdoor ministry? I’ve tried to share with them so they can see the size of the mission field right here in our own community, but there is just negativity in the responses. I’ve even felt my Church would rather I stop talking about it; that it won’t have any effect in seeing men come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.” This event occurred at a Trail To Adventure! Teaching Conference God’s Great Outdoors put on several years ago in Plymouth, Michigan. We heard the same thing in Menasha, Wisconsin a few weeks later from a woman who attended the conference which is designed to equip pastors and lay leaders in the direction of outdoor ministry outreach. Her comments were also loaded with painful emotion. “My pastor might let me do a canoe outing once a year, but that is about all. He feels outdoor ministry waters down the Gospel.” My response to both was the same as I’ve been blessed time and time again to see many lives changed for eternity through outdoor outreaches!
What was my reply to these two attendees and the others who ask the same question at each and every Trail to Adventure! Teaching Series and from time to time via email, letters, or on the phone? I direct them to the results I (and others) have seen and ask them to have the skeptics compare the life changing statistics from outdoor outreaches to what has occurred in their own Church within the last year. Personally, at game dinners I’d spoken at just before these questions were fired at me, we saw seventeen men pray to receive Christ at one event in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area, seven in Pestego, Wisconsin and six in Mason, Wisconsin. Steve Chapman had also emailed mea bout a three day event he’d done in Pennsylvania where over one hundred came to receive Christ. Plus, an important point to focus on is most of these converts were men. If you can see the father/husband come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, ninety three percent of the time the family will follow. That’s huge! If it is the mother/wife, it is only thirty four percent of the time that the family will follow, so outdoor outreach gets the guys! Also, most Churches do not see these numbers of people come and pray to receive Jesus Christ in one year, let alone at just one event.
Guess who comes to these outdoor outreaches too? People who have never been in a Church before in their lives! A case in point is presented by David Hale of Knight and Hale Game Calls as he related a story in GGO’s Trail To Adventure! DVD teaching series, of the very first game dinner he was ever invited to speak at. As he and the leaders of the outdoor ministry team from the Church gathered together to pray before the evening outreach began, something happened. When the leader of the group shared in prayer, he started to weep. Others in the room were also brought to tears and David, being the big soft-hearted guy he is, joined in with the other men not sure what had tugged at their heart strings so. When the team finished their prayer, David asked them what matter had caused them such emotion that he’d seen displayed during the prayer time. “You don’t understand what’s happening here because you are the keynote speaker,” the Outdoor Ministry Leader continued. “I have five relatives out there waiting to hear you talk. Not one of them has ever been in Church before in their lives! But they’ve come into the Church tonight because you are here and they use your game calls, have seen you on TV, and read articles you’ve written in outdoor magazines! David was gripped by the Holy Spirit as his heart was squeezed to be sure he impacted the spiritual lives of those who’d come to this evangelistic outdoor outreach. He was about to speak to husbands and fathers; leaders in their homes who directly impact the lives of others in their family day in and day out! David vowed to God to give the men the hunting stories and game calling know-how that they had come to hear. But, before his sharing was complete, they’d also know about his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!
The point is: outdoor outreaches can see people come under the hearing of the Word that will not come through a Church door for any other reason. But you may wonder if the potential size of this mission field right outside our own backyards is big enough to warrant putting effort into reaching lost souls in the outdoor arena? Well, one hundred and forty nine million people over the age of sixteen recreate in the outdoors here in the USA every year. Add the sixteen year olds and younger, and that’s more than half the nation’s thirty million in total population. So, an outdoor theme activity can reach many in your Churches’ circle of influence that you have perhaps already impacted with the Gospel’s message and also touch those you’ve yet to effect.
Also, beyond the truth that outdoor evangelism has a larger potential size than most mission fields overseas where you may be sending and supporting home grown missionaries already, there is another possible plus. The opportunity for short term mission trips is what sometimes spurs Christians on to the mission field full time! Therefore, with a huge mission field so close, outreach through outdoor events basically out our own backdoors may see those workers who help us win the lost souls of sportsmen be called by God to some distant field of missionary service in the future. Add that to our neighbors’ names being written in the Lamb’s Book of Life; say someone being called to a foreign mission field would be like “the icing on the cake,” wouldn’t you say? Come on! What are you waiting for? GGO’s Trail To Adventure! Pastor and Lay Leader teaching series can help you win outdoorsmen to the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ too!
| Gerry is a past Board of Directors member for Christian Bowhunters of America. He is the host and producer of the nationally syndicated, 25 minute, weekly outdoor radio program God's Great Outdoors and serves on their Board of Directors. He is an Ohio Hunting Safety Instructor and an instructor for the National Bowhunter Education Foundation. Gerry lives in West Milton, Ohio with his wife and their 19-year-old son Clint. Gerry and Cyndi have a married son, Courtney, and his wife, Rebekah who live in Troy, Ohio and a daughter who is a junior at Grace College in Winona Lake, Indiana. |  |
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