Christian Outdoorsman is the product of the Lord's working in my life for the past two decades. Like the Jews wandering through the desert, living on manna, I have often wondered, Lord where are you taking me? And he has always responded with "I'm not going to tell you, just follow me... I'll lead the way." Well I've followed, and here I am.

My heart for men's ministry started about 16 years ago. Shortly after marrying my wife Nancy, I attended a "Dad the Family Shepherd" conference at my church. I thank God for the late Dave Simmons and his ministry that touched me that special weekend. It was there that I turned on to the need for men to help build up each other as "iron sharpens iron". Following that seminar I got into a men's group, and the rest is history. Some of those men in that first group are still in my close "circle of friends" to this day.

The next big boost to my spiritual life as a man, was when I attended the first large Promise Keepers conference in Boulder Colorado in 1992. That was the year there were only about 22,000 men there and it rained the whole time... it was great! No amount of rain could quench the fire of the Spirit in the stadium that weekend. A good friend of mine Dave Cook and I, heard about this new Promise Keepers thing on Focus on the Family and we decided we were going to go, no matter what. It ended up that a couple vans full of guys went out that first year. We camped out... That dozen or so guys from our two churches grew into several hundred in the following years. The Lord was really stirring in men's hearts.

I love to sing... and realized a dream to sing with the Promise Keepers Maranatha worship band when they came to Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City for two consecutive years. When they had the "Standing in the Gap" event in D.C. I was offered the opportunity to sing with the Promise Keepers men's choir at the event. Can you imagine what it would be like to be up on stage looking out on a million guys praising the Lord and praying for our country... at that same time however, my wife Nancy was "great with child" and very close to the delivery date. How, as a Promise Keeper, could I justify leaving my wife at home, and possibly miss the birth of my child. I had to pass it up.