Jesus Drank SunDrop

I believe He did. Because SunDrop is the drink of champions. SunDrop has this big distribution center in my hometown of Tullahoma, TN. It's got 50 grams of sugar, enough caffine to enable a horse to dunk a basketball, and comes in a pretty green bottle.

Jesus drank SunDrop because it's God's gift to men who are so strung out that they must stay awake!!

By the way, I've only had 4 SunDrops since January 1. My addiction is no longer a battle. I'm finally winning.

Man I'm tired. We had a super weekend though. We had our booth at the National Wild Turkey Federation's annual convention. Get this ... 3 years ago we went there to set up a booth and pass out tracts.

Year 1 - passed out 1200
Year 2 - passed out 4500
Year 3 - passed out 7000.

I can't believe it. We could have passed out 9000 if we'd not ran out so soon.

I also made a KILLER deal with a turkey call maker. How about this ... OMN is now going to offer men's groups their own, personalized, box call. Church logo, men's group logo, your name, scripture verse, whaever.

I'm so stoked about that because if I were in a men's group - I'd be the first one to get 2 - one for me and then one for my dad.

Getting to dream up stuff like this for guy is so cool. There was just never a place to go and find that sort of thing, and to get to be an outfitter for Christian stuff like this is such an honor.

This probably sounds like a back door way of promoting something new; I promise it's not.

Well ... how do you know?!!! Trust me brotha'. I just get keyed up, SunDrop or not, when I get to dream up stuff that guys can identify with and use for ministry purposes ... even if it involves shooting a turkey during the process.

A WORD OF WARNING FOR ALL SOUTH FLORIDA OSCEOLA TURKEYS:

My crew is coming down there in exactly 168 hours to assist you in "giving up the ghost."

I'll be using my Knight & Hale Championship Cutter, my Call To Him 2 1/2 Splitter, coupled with my new Call To Him Striker & Triple Glass Custom Classic. On top of that, I'm bringing years of turkey hunting experience downloaded into my brain from study and large amounts of time in the field.

I want to let all you toms know that so that you can't say the fight wasn't fair.

You'd better have all the fun, meet all the girls, and party up.
The clock is ticking.
At least you have the benefit of knowing when your death will be.

The Enemy At The Gates

Today I must set up our Outdoor Ministry Network booth at the annual convention of the National Wild Turkey Federation. Now most likely if you're reading this you are at least interested in the outdoors, so you may know about the NWTF. If not, let me tell you man, it's the coolest form of chaos you'll ever experience.

40,000 ... yes, all the zeros are there ... 40k turkey hunters will descend upon the host city, this year right here in Nashville, to see all the new products, book hunts, meet the celebrities they see on TV, and visit all the vendors who are able to sell them all sorts of gear right on the spot.

So we set up our OMN booth, to promote our ministry efforts, yes, but mainly to pass out a tract I had printed called, "The Turkey Hunter's 10 Commandments." We'll pass out around 4500 of those jokers. So basically, we'll cover more than 10% of the crowd with a gospel tract. Not bad when you realize that we can't blanket the crowd, they must walk by us.

The bad news ... it's Thursday, and I'm fighting off a sinus infection that I've had since Tuesday night. Antibiotics are kicking in finally. I know it's the enemy, because this is our biggest show of the year; plus, this is our first year of full time ministry, and this show kicks off some of our new capabilities to help outdoorsmen and churches use the woods and water to share Christ.

I'm praying over it. Just wanting God to give me the strength to make it through these next 4 days. I'm praying for a good show, too. We need a good launch.

I met with my fellas about our Hooked Tournament. We've decided that it would be best to gather sponsorship this year, and do the tourney next year, given that at all costs we want to host a quality event. Make a big impression the first time out. So therefore we must do all the prep work.

It's 5:45 am ... so I'd better get on it. We've got a lot of set up to do today.

We've got a new display for our booth, made by Old Timer Log Homes. It's really cool looking. I can't wait to set it up and see it. It looks like the front porch of a log cabin.

Hooked

I'm meeting today with a few guys about a Bass Fishing Tournament.

We are going to host a tournament this summer as a fund raiser for our ministry. I fly fish, so bass fishing is not my gig. So I'm getting some of my top notch cronies to help me out.

One of my pals is Tony Sellars. He's a professional bass tournament angler, and started a TV show and ministry years ago called Anglers for Christ. You can see him if you have Direct TV or Dish Network. Even cable, too.

I've also got my buddy Daryl Welch helping me out, and some fellas that are pastors from Grace Baptist Church in Tullahoma, TN, where I grew up. We'll host it in June at Tims Ford Lake. I grew up on that lake, and it's well known throughout the South for Smallmouth. It's clean, deep water, and a big lake for sure.

My reason for having it down in Tullahoma is simple:

1 - I have a lot of contacts down there
2 - There's 3 major lakes in that area, so there's tons of anglers
3 - I've had a lifelong dream of sharing the gospel with my hometown. All of it.

Last night it hit me. I've always wanted to share the gospel in a "mass population" way to my hometown, and it occurred to me that this would do that. By the time we set up the website, do the marketing and promotion, and all that jazz, we'll get the message of Christ out to that entire multi-county area.

I think I'll pull in my buddies Jeff & Ben at LifeWay Special Projects to help, too. They help people in the faith world, especially churches, with "special projects." Just like this. I might get them to do a keychain, or some other smaller prizes I can give out, as promo tools. They are really good at that.

I've never done this, but I know it has worked well for organizations who've done it under the same pretense. I think the key is to run a first class event. I do know how to do that. I've got the contacts in the outdoor world to do it. We'll pay some great prize money, which should draw a crowd. And we'll go all out with atmosphere, door prizes, participant packages, food, etc.

I'm going to swing for the fence. I've got some celebrity contacts in the county music industry that I'll going to try and work out to come and make celeb appearances.

I'm thinking about calling it "HOOKED."

Reason being, most bass tourneys are always including the term "CLASSIC." So I thought I'd go with:

HOOKED
not the average bass tournament

On a different note, we finally got our caps. I think they look cool. We've got a lot coming at us this year. Need your prayers. Serious about that.

Far From Folsom Prison

It's Monday morning. Early. Way early. Couldn't sleep.

Last night my church did somthing that was really cool. We had this Valentine's banquet, with this really weird and fun way of serving dinner. You had to order from a menu that forced you to pick food with words you'd never heard before. In a 3 course meal, I was literally served my desert and potatoes first. Soup, salad, green beans, and roll second; 3rd course was ham! It was neat. Then, we did karaoke. So me and a few pals sang Folsom Prison Blues by Johnny Cash. It was the launch of my musical career, and its demise, all in the same moment. Much like American Idol.

I'll be leaving for Montana at the end of this week. Speaking out there at a Wild Game Dinner. It's a church in Helena, Canyon Ferry Road Baptist. I speak at a lot of these wild game banquets. It's neat. There's a huge connecting point with non-believing men who love the outdoors.

I've got a lot to do this week, which is probably why I'm up at 3:30 am.

We are going to be doing a lot of filming this year; got some awesome church resources we're doing on DVD. Bought 2 mack daddy professional video cameras. I'm really stoked about that.

So I figure that since I can't make it singing like the man in black, surely I can shoot for the small screen!!! Then again ...

Oh, one of my prostaffers, and best of pals, David Moss & wife Leah just had their baby today. Aidan Moss. He's the best. Welcome to the world of Daddy-hood you guys.

No Limit Texas Hold 'Em

Leaving Vegas today.

I was eating dinner with 2 guys last night who are believers. One of them, John Thompson, put it well. He said, "I feel like I have been visually assaulted." We had a good laugh. He's right, though. If you've ever been to Vegas, you know that there are, literally, waht you might call 85% naked women everywhere. The streets are littered full with these little pamphlets showing women that have censored body parts; censoring just enough not to get fined by the local government. On the billboards, on the back of taxi's there are advertisements - everywhere.

I thought to myself last night as I was walking over to the Bellagio, "I'll never let my son come here until he's old enough to handle this." I honestly can't imagine trying to raise a child in Vegas, and yet there's stuff to do for clean fun; it's just that you can't ever get away from the not-so-clean stuff.

So get this: I had never been inside the Bellagio. Wanted to see it. They all pretty much look the same really. The thing that was really interesting was this Friday and Saturday No Limit Texas Hold 'Em poker tournament. It takes place every weekend. That place was packed. Probably 500 players or more. The thing that struck me was how expensive it was. 1000 just to "buy in" to the game, plus no hand ever played under $60.

And the stacks of chips people were housing was amazing. They wouldn't let you stand too close, but I could visually add up some of them, and I saw at least several thousand dollars being put in the the game by several players ... at every table. Unreal. You know they are going into some major debt to do this becasue there are not a ton of high rollers in Vegas at any given time.

My non-gambling expedition to Vegas' Shot Show went well. Secured a few more sponsors. One I'm really excited about; tell you about that one when we get the deal sealed.

Leavin' on a jet plane here in a few hours.
Can't wait to see my boy, and my woman, who is also my wife!

Viva Las Vegas

So what do you do in Vegas when you don't gamble??
Answer: not much.

You know what I noticed the first time I came to Vegas 2 years ago? I wanted to see what a casino looked like. I've heard they are beautiful (and they are). I went to a bunch of Casinos: MGM, Caesars, Venetian. I thought I'd be walking in to this huge party scene. Man, nodoby was really that happy. Honest. I walked through the casino floor, and all I noticed was that most people were pretty intense at the tables. Then it hit me as to why ... they're mostly losing their money. Would you be happy???

Did you know that 92% of all "gamers" are actually "up" at one point in their stay at Vegas - that is - they are ahead of the house - but only 17% actually leave with more money than they came with!!! (read that out of the little embassy suites fact sheet about Vegas, on my coffee table)

I'm here at the Shot Show. It's one of the largest hunting industry shows in the world. Literally. It's always held at the Las Vegas Convention Center. If you can shoot it, use it to shoot with, hunt with it, or wear it, it's all here. For many men who love hunting, this show is like crack cocaine. It's honestly pretty cool - I'll have to admit.

I'm meeting with our sponsors, making new ones, meetn' and greetn', trying to promote our outdoor ministry; all that keen stuff.

I'll tell you this: I'm now thrust into the world of non-believers. And it's so neat. As a pastor, I was surrounded by believers, and still am some, but nothing like I used to be. I think we get so big time insulated from the "real world" that we no longer have any idea how to even communicate on a deeper level with people who don't know Christ.

So here I am in Vegas, and when it's all said and done, I'm working for the cause of Christ at the Show . . . and everyone else is just waiting for the show to close each day so they can hit the tables!!!

I think I'll go watch Everybody Loves Raymond now.

Big Meeting Went Well

The meeting with my publisher went very well. This project is going to be so cool. I asked a buddy of mine in the hunting industry to co-author it with me. He's kind of the Jack Nicklaus of the hunting world. Seriously.

Now I've got to get the proposal ready for them, and then their "higher ups" have to stamp it for approval. I can't imagine them not doing it. It's so unique and it's never been done. Always a plus! Putting book proposals together take a lot of work, but I'm understanding them a little better now, so it's coming a bit easier.

I'm really humbled by the relationships God has given me in outdoor ministry. I really am. I can't believe I get to do stuff like this!!!

As soon as I can let the cat out of the bag ... you ... my blogger friend ... will be the first to know!

Found A Truck

For the last month I've been searching for a truck. We need it for our outdoor ministry use in things such as traveling to film hunts, doing adventure trips, and going to trade shows.

I hate the vehicle purchasing process. You just feel that when you walk on to the lot you have your intestines hanging out! You just know you are getting taken. That's how you feel anyway. There are a lot of great car dealers out there who are people of integrity. There really are. I've found that it helps to try and find one person you really trust, and stick with them.

I actually went back to a buddy of mine to find this Toyota Tundra. His name is Chris Eaves. He and I hung out in high school, believe it or not! He lives in my hometown, about 90 miles from Nashville. A little big town called Tullahoma. I love that place. Such a super place to raise a family.

I'm glad to have it. Pick 'er up on Monday.