August 22, 2024 • 66 mins
Join us for an inspiring episode of MAC Outdoors with Mia Anstine as we welcome Rev. David March to discuss his unique ministry, his compelling journey, and the powerful intersection of faith and the outdoors. This episode offers listeners a chance to hear from a pastor who has seamlessly blended his love for God with his passion for hunting and the outdoors.
learn more at MiaAnstine.com/podcast
Important Links:
March's Outdoor Adventures -- https://www.youtube.com/ @marchoutdoors7490
Rev. David March Facebook -- https://www.facebook.com/DavidMarchsr
Episode 88 Arlando Chiles Cazadore -- https://mia.limited/MAC88
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(03:00):
We're officially recording. And welcome to mag
outdoors. I'm happy that you agreed to come on the show, and I
look forward to visiting with you and learning from you today.
For the listeners, we've kind of got caught up in reminiscing
because it's been, like, over a decade that I think
that we've known each other, that we had met, and,
(03:23):
gosh, there's so much that we could share and learn. And
so we were just chatting, and I was like, I better start recording because some
of this is going to be something that the audience is going to want to
hear. But, david, for the audience, would you introduce
yourself and let them know who you are and what you do?
Absolutely. My name is David March. I am a
(03:44):
senior. My son is the second. We skip junior
and went straight to the second. I'm a pastor here
in fayetteville, North Carolina, via youngstown, Ohio, via
Columbus, Ohio. So we are transitioned here?
We have transitioned here. November 6 of
2021, I'm thinking.
(04:07):
That's right. November 6, 2021, is when we transition here.
So we've been here almost. It'll be three years this
November in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and I
pastor a different type of church here in Fayetteville.
It's not your typical building, per se, but we have a
tent ministry where we go where the people are. We take our
(04:30):
church to where the people are. Because if you
been around people that's been in church before, and they
no longer go to church, and you say, hey, would you like to go to
church with us? And they say, well, you know, if I go to church, it
might catch on fire, I might burn up. Or they say, you know,
I've been hurt by the people at the church. I'm not going. Okay, well, we
gonna come to you then. We strictly believe in
(04:53):
following Jesus, Jesus's example when
he took his ministry to the street. That's what we're doing. We've taken our
ministry to the street just like Jesus did. That's awesome.
And you and I had met in the hunting realm, and so
I know we'll visit a little bit about that. But for the listeners, if you
follow me on social media, you know that I share a lot of verses of
(05:16):
the day. And that all starts with my morning. That's how my morning
begins. And Mister March had
shared something on social media. I don't recall today what it was,
but it was something about our faith and the
outdoors and hunting. And I really thought that it'd be great to have you as
a guest so that we could kind of share that. And when
(05:38):
we're. I remember the scripture, too. Sorry, do you? Yeah.
Awesome. I was talking. I was talking about Genesis 27
three, where he said, take
you up your quiver and your bow and go get me some venison.
And that scripture, I remember. I remember sharing a little bit about it in the
post. Abraham was talking to
(06:01):
his son and he said, take up thy quivering, thy bow and go get me
some venison. Because he was ready to eat. I believe it was Abraham.
And he was getting ready to pass. That's what it was. He was getting ready
to die. I believe it was Abraham. Now I'm
not thinking about it. I don't think it was Abraham. Pastors make mistakes, too.
So anyway, that was the scripture that I had
(06:23):
referenced, and it was talking about how day to day, we have to take up
our weapons if we are to do what we, what we
are called to do for that day. We can never lay down our weapons. We
have to pick up our bible, pick up our, our briefcase, our
notebook, our tablets, our Macs, our
computers, our laptops, whatever it is that we use for the day. We have to
(06:44):
take up our weapons and pursue that day with everything we
have. We can't half step it. I believe I was talking about something like that,
along the lines of, I think. Yeah. And that's a really
common scripture that I see, at least hunters, I see them share that a lot
as, like, a reason why we hunt. And there are so
many verses that talk about why we would want meat, why we would
(07:07):
pursue game and stuff like that. And it's something that
I would like to connect more of the newer
hunters, but also experienced hunters with that kind of
reasoning. Because a lot of what I do, I'm
oftentimes defending hunting and also
defending Christianity as well, because that's something
(07:28):
that here recently is severely under attack.
And I think what it's done for me personally is it's pushed me further
into the Bible and further into the word so that I understand
it more. And that's where, like, when you have the confusion of, like,
well, which one was it that said this to, you know, like, was
that, you know, Jacob or somebody saying that to
(07:51):
Esau? And I don't even know how a pastor can keep it all
straight because there's so much in the Bible, we. Have to be on
stage 24 hours a day. And I think
this is just like, a little side note. I think that's where
people get more church hurt than anything, is that they put
pastors on a pedestal and then they expect them to be perfect. So
(08:12):
when they do sleep slip up, and it was actually Esau
and that Jacob situation where they were being.
Where. Where he was getting ready to pass and his brother came in and
deceived him because his brother was out getting some venison. That's
what it was. So you're right. You're right. Dead on. But I think people
put pastors on a pedestal, and when pastors mess
(08:34):
up, they get. The people get deceived and they get let down and they
get brokenhearted. But then that's when they take their eyes off of
God, which is where their eyes should be. Anyway, um, pastors
are just here to help lead and direct and encourage and edify
and uplift and help direct and
situations in life, you know? Yeah. And
(08:57):
I definitely, I appreciate all the work that goes into being a pastor
because, I mean, I think a lot of people think it's just a Sunday
thing, and I know there's so much work that goes into preparing,
and I'm, like, putting you on the spot today. I didn't tell you, like, what
to prepare for. So no verses memorized for today. As
I said, I didn't even remember which verse we were, we were talking about when
(09:18):
I was like, can I visit with you? And so I'm not trying
to put you on the spot, but actually, I kind of. We have
three different churches that we kind of go to because we're an hour
from all three of them, and. But it's one of our favorite
pastors is one that he's perfectly imperfect
and it's something that we love about him, is that he'll just make a mistake
(09:40):
and he rolls with it and keeps going. And I love that because
it's like all of us are. We're just not perfect.
Jesus is perfect, not us. So I'm sorry to put
you on the spot with some. Well, you're fine. It wasn't my
goal. You're good. You're good. But when we're
looking at hunting and connecting with
(10:02):
nature and the outdoors, before we get into that,
could you tell us a little bit about. I mean, I'm telling you about my
journey. I mean, I grew up in a christian family, but the more
I see this kind of craziness,
I don't know a better word to call it a craziness in our nation right
now and probably in the world. I haven't traveled out of the country since the
(10:24):
pandemic, but as we're seeing that, it pushes me more toward
God. And can you tell me about your journey to coming
more into being a pastor and stuff like that? Absolutely. I'll give you
the short version. I grew up in Youngstown,
Ohio. We went to a christian school
where we had some things happen to me personally,
(10:46):
abuse wise, but I'm not going to go into that today.
Grew up in a home with two parents until they
divorced. I think I was like 16 years old. And so
I was pretty much left by myself. And what I mean by
that is, when my parents divorced,
my mother took my younger brother and
(11:09):
sister and moved to enterprise, Alabama while we were living
in Ohio. A good 13 hours drive for
anybody's wondering the distance, it's about a 13 hours
drive from Youngstown, Ohio, to enterprise, Alabama.
And when that happened, well, let me back up. She took my
two younger siblings with her to Alabama, but I had two
(11:32):
older siblings that had already moved out and moved back to
Alabama. And I'm not too sure on how the
conversation went because I hear stories from both sides,
or I did at one time. My mom passed away in 2010,
but I hear, I heard things from both sides, so I'm not sure. I've
always said before, I'm a true believer that it's his side,
(11:55):
her side, and then there's the truth. God taught me that a
long time ago. But growing up in a
church, I grew up in a church. I got, I got, I gave my heart
to the Lord when I was eleven, but I seen a
lot in the church and outside the church.
And then when family started breaking up,
(12:17):
I really didn't have anything to hold on to as far as church wise.
So I left the church at the age of 18. I started drinking
and clubbing and things like that, joined the
gang and did a whole lot of
sinning and whole lot of dirty stuff on the
outside of the church and went back every
(12:39):
once in a while. And I just kept feeling like I was judged, I was
being judged, I was being judged every time I went to visit. And I know
there's a lot of people that feel that way and so after
a while I'm like, you know, I'm just not going to go back. So I
didn't. So I hung out in the streets. And then
as life went on, I left the church for 17
(12:59):
years, was shot at and a whole lot of other
stuff. Details are not really important right now,
but I got into a lot of trouble, did a lot of time in
jail, and one day
my dad contacted me once I had moved to Columbus,
Ohio and I had started dating my now present
(13:21):
wife in the picture.
And I think you met her one time before via phone or something like
that. And my
dad invited us to come to church one day and
that Sunday we went
and it was all like lightning. That day.
(13:43):
I got up in the middle of the service, I interrupted service, just
tears just flowing. I ran to the altar and I
screamed out, I'm tired of living like this. The
pastor was kind of thrown back because I guess he never
heard or had anything like that happen in service at any
time of his ministry. Pastor Larry Jones
(14:05):
in Columbus, Ohio, he prayed for me and then he had my wife come
down and grab her, grab my arms and say, where he's getting ready to go,
he's going to need you to be there for. And hold your arms up.
Fast forward a little bit. I started going through
PTSD from living on the
streets, being homeless, the gang life
(14:28):
and going through the abuse when I was in school
and different things like that with family members and other
people. So going through that season in my life
of PTSD, um, I would
like to call it, it was one of my wilderness seasons where God was
training me to be who I am today and helping me heal,
(14:51):
uh, from all of that so I can be able to speak about it openly
now. Um, and so the, the,
I started going to see a therapist. And if anybody ever had
doubts about going to go see a therapist, erase the doubts, is well worth
going to go see a therapist. It's worth it. And some, and it's
very necessary in some cases to have that
(15:13):
atmosphere where you're free to be able to share
those things that have kept you bound up and hurt
and, you know, just discouraged and depressed for so long and
dealing with anxiety and panic attacks, see a therapist.
So that helped me a lot. And then
after I saw my therapist for a while, I
(15:36):
saw another therapist, and he told
me, he said, you suffer from PTSD.
I don't suggest you go back to work anytime soon. So I'm going to fill
your papers out for permanent disability. And I was really kind of discouraged
with that because everybody in my family always worked. So
(15:57):
he made a joke. He said, why don't you find something that
you like to do and go get paid for it? So I'm
like, what in the world would I like to. What do I like to do?
And then it hit me. My grandfather used to take us hunting and
fishing all the time. And that was my happy
place. That was my peaceful place. So
(16:18):
going through all of that and transitioning into
ministry, I found that sitting on the bank,
sitting in the woods, up under a tree, was my alone time with
God. And the more that I did it, the more I found
that I was at peace with David and understanding who
I truly am as a husband, as a father,
(16:40):
as a provider, as a protector,
and the priest of our household. When that
happened, I started becoming a better husband. I started
becoming a better father. I started listening more than I was
speaking, which opened up the door for me to
be able to go out, excuse me, and share my testimony
(17:02):
to a homeless shelter where people were recovering addicts and so
forth. And so when that happened,
I'm thinking there might be something to this. Okay, God, what are you trying to
tell me? What are you trying to tell me? He
said you've been called to be a minister. Oh,
okay, cool. I'm going to go out and wait. Nope, that's not me. That's my.
(17:23):
That's my daddy and that's my brother. That's not me. Nope. I'm that street
guy. I never saw myself in that position or
living that type of life because of what I saw
in the church. I said, I don't want no part of
that. So I opened up the Bible and I start reading it. And the
more I dove into the Bible, the more I said, okay, what I'm
(17:46):
seeing here isn't lining up with this. This is what
I really want. I don't want that. I want
my life to be an example of
Jesus changing my life and how he can do it for me. He can do
it for anybody that's watching. He can do it for anybody that's
watching. So he told me one
(18:08):
day, I want you to start a show. This is in
2010. Start a show. Yeah, hunting show.
And I'll be honest with you. Can I just be real transparent?
I looked in the mirror, I was like, ain't no black people in doing hunting.
Nobody's doing that. Nobody got no hunting show. Ain't nobody
black doing that. But he said, you're going to
(18:31):
stand out. You're going to be different, and I'm going to open up the door
for you to be able to do that. And so people start sending me.
I had some around here little. Remember, you know, the little orange
Bibles and New Testament bibles that you can find almost anywhere.
People were sending me boxes of those. And
so every time I went out to public land to hunt, I would
(18:53):
have an opportunity to talk with somebody about God out
there hunting and give them a bible. And so I went a step further.
I said, okay, let me get some children involved. So
I started taking kids, and parents were trusting me. Here, take your. Take
them, take them. Because he showed, God showed me one day, he
said, look at what happened with you. Oh, I'm loving this.
(19:15):
Yeah, I love it. He goes, so imagine what can happen if
you started with a kid. If you take a kid hunting
or fishing, you'll never have to go hunting or fishing for them in the street.
And I thought, I kept thinking about that. I'm like, all right. So I
started with my kids to see what was going to happen and see how that
worked, and then it just blew up from there. And later on, the
(19:38):
more I shared my testimony, the more I start filling the call
to pastor and to lead.
And long story short, here I am today, pastor, still
fishing, still hunting, and loving every bit of
it. Loving every bit of it. Now. Now, instead of
hunting deer more often and bear and squirrels
(20:00):
and rabbits and stuff like that, stuff that I can put in the freezer, I'm
now hunting demons that are hunting people and, you know, hurt. Not in
a. In a spiritual sense, because some people might get that and
blow it out the water. But, yeah, that's what I do. I look for people
that's been struggling with depression, homelessness,
anxiety, PTSD, been
(20:22):
strung out on alcohol, drugs. And I go, and I'll attack
whatever it is and help them get past that.
One person at a time. Yeah, one person at a time. And I can't
imagine how many you've reached already
with that. God called you to
that, and you had the tv show, right?
(20:44):
And then. Do you still have the show? Um, right now I
just do it on YouTube. I just posted videos on YouTube
every once in a while. Um, as a matter of fact, it was the early
part of this year. I finally got around to posting my
daughter, though, I think. The one you met, uh, Taylor the hunter,
uh, her first buck that she got when we did
(21:05):
an Illinois hunt up in Illinois. And I think I just
posted that video early part of this year, and then
I posted a video of my dad's hunt. He was in
Vietnam. So I posted a couple of those hunts. So I do a
lot of it now just for YouTube, simply because there were some
things that happened when we lived in Columbus, and I decided to
(21:28):
take a step back, and I said, I can't put my family
in that type of danger anymore. It's just not
worth it. Not for me, anyway. We've
had death threats. People actually come see me
out at the ATA show, the deer in
Turkey exposed, and literally
(21:50):
just really went in with the racial
stuff. I mean, like, really, really deep,
even down to the fact where they followed my wife and out to the car
one day as we were leaving the ATA show
and threatened our life. And I'm like, okay, I'm not doing this anymore. I'm done.
So I walked away. And now we just post videos on YouTube.
(22:12):
Yeah. And that's something that I don't know if a lot of
people realize how
frightening that is. I mean, not. Not just for your wife, but for you
also, I'm sure, because you're their provider and
protector. You know, like, we. We got to meet each other in person,
but. And then we're friends via social media. I have a lot of really good
(22:34):
friends that I've met from social media, but then I also
have friends that are, like,
they think they're my best friend, and I hope that I'm not
offending anybody, but, you know, if you show up somewhere,
and especially a lot of times I travel by myself because my husband has to
take care of our ranch, I. But when they show up out of
(22:55):
nowhere and all of a sudden, this person is your best
friend, it honestly is a little unnerving when
those boundaries are not there anymore.
And I think people have gotten so comfortable on social media as
keyboard warriors. They come in person and
their boundaries are a little different. Now,
(23:19):
some of them that are well meaning, you know, that have good intentions, you can
kind of understand that. But when it's someone who is giving
you death threats, that is so frightening.
And I'll be honest, I mean, we've been friends
over the years, but it's like I've had
more people ask, why don't you have a tv show? Why don't you do this?
(23:40):
Why don't you do that? And honestly, I'm a very private person, and
I, the threats I've had just from social media to kill my
daughter or kill my dogs or kill my horses, I'm
just like, you know, what I've got is good, and I don't need to put
myself or my family out there because it's pretty scary.
And I do a lot about self defense. I do a lot
(24:03):
of firearms training and stuff like that, but I don't ever want to have to
use them. So that's. I totally understand you kind
of backing off on that. If, if you had some incidents that
were scary, I mean, and I
was. Actually kind of surprised when I seen you did the COVID of the magazine.
I was like, whoa. It seemed like she was stepping out.
(24:24):
You were stepping out of your comfort zone. I'm like, whoa. But on the other
side of that, I'm like, wow, she is opening up the
door for so many females, not just in the
industry but around the world or, you know, in the United States
alone, just seeing, wow, here's a female
doing big things. I can do that. I was actually encouraged by
(24:46):
it, too. Well, I really was. I'm glad
because that was a little bit out of my comfort zone. And
I, a lot of times that's what I am worried about is the
attacks. I mean, just, I'll be blunt about the attacks
because whether they're verbal or,
you know, messages or stuff like that, never fun.
(25:07):
And I've learned how to use the delete and block button very
well, but in person is a little different. And I don't know if I've
said it on the podcast very much, but with that field and stream cover, I
was worried about the anti gun people because they are primarily
who's come after me, the anti hunters a little bit, but the
anti gun people. And I had a rifle on that cover, and
(25:30):
I thought it was going to be the anti gun people that came after me.
But actually it was some of the, I would say
white male hunters came after me
and that, that I had no business being there. And it's like, I didn't
put myself there, honestly. I mean, I was interviewed for it, yes, but I
didn't say, hey, I want to be on the COVID of field and stream. But
(25:51):
that was something that has been mind blowing to me, is like, to be attacked
by your own, you know, and it's like, no, I'm not Janet
Waller, Christy Titus, or Melissa Bachman. You know, it's just Mia, that's
all. But the whole article
and the whole reason for being there was just an everyday person
who's trying to make a difference in the world. And I do, you know, and
(26:14):
I thank God for that all the time because without
God, I wouldn't be doing any of the stuff that I do. And I do
know, just like you, how you said you have made an impact on
individuals. I meet individuals all the time
that it just, like, makes my heart
swell at when I see the difference that I made in their lives. And
(26:35):
so I'm very blessed in that way that I can kind of
touch people and help them on their journey for where they're
going. Absolutely. And I can agree with you on that. You said
something that sparked something there that got touched me a
little bit when I started the tv show. And we
were with, we were, we were being represented
(26:57):
by dear space. I don't know if you are familiar with dear space. Yeah. Raised
to be in deerspace. Yeah, we were on the COVID of one of their magazines,
my kids and I, and then my, my kids,
our kids made it in one of their magazines and one
of their brochures and on their calendar.
(27:18):
And I was really happy about it. I was like, yeah, you know, my kids
are making an impact as young people. You know, they're
showing that people from the
not so good side of the tracks, the minorities,
they can have a part of this industry, too. They can go out and have
fun and enjoy the outdoors just as much as anybody
(27:40):
else. But when I started hearing
comments from family, it
really, really hurt.
We're officially recording. And welcome to mag
outdoors. I'm happy that you agreed to come on the show, and I
look forward to visiting with you and learning from you today.
For the listeners, we've kind of got caught up in reminiscing
because it's been, like, over a decade that I think
that we've known each other, that we had met, and,
(03:23):
gosh, there's so much that we could share and learn. And
so we were just chatting, and I was like, I better start recording because some
of this is going to be something that the audience is going to want to
hear. But, david, for the audience, would you introduce
yourself and let them know who you are and what you do?
Absolutely. My name is David March. I am a
(03:44):
senior. My son is the second. We skip junior
and went straight to the second. I'm a pastor here
in fayetteville, North Carolina, via youngstown, Ohio, via
Columbus, Ohio. So we are transitioned here?
We have transitioned here. November 6 of
2021, I'm thinking.
(04:07):
That's right. November 6, 2021, is when we transition here.
So we've been here almost. It'll be three years this
November in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and I
pastor a different type of church here in Fayetteville.
It's not your typical building, per se, but we have a
tent ministry where we go where the people are. We take our
(04:30):
church to where the people are. Because if you
been around people that's been in church before, and they
no longer go to church, and you say, hey, would you like to go to
church with us? And they say, well, you know, if I go to church, it
might catch on fire, I might burn up. Or they say, you know,
I've been hurt by the people at the church. I'm not going. Okay, well, we
gonna come to you then. We strictly believe in
(04:53):
following Jesus, Jesus's example when
he took his ministry to the street. That's what we're doing. We've taken our
ministry to the street just like Jesus did. That's awesome.
And you and I had met in the hunting realm, and so
I know we'll visit a little bit about that. But for the listeners, if you
follow me on social media, you know that I share a lot of verses of
(05:16):
the day. And that all starts with my morning. That's how my morning
begins. And Mister March had
shared something on social media. I don't recall today what it was,
but it was something about our faith and the
outdoors and hunting. And I really thought that it'd be great to have you as
a guest so that we could kind of share that. And when
(05:38):
we're. I remember the scripture, too. Sorry, do you? Yeah.
Awesome. I was talking. I was talking about Genesis 27
three, where he said, take
you up your quiver and your bow and go get me some venison.
And that scripture, I remember. I remember sharing a little bit about it in the
post. Abraham was talking to
(06:01):
his son and he said, take up thy quivering, thy bow and go get me
some venison. Because he was ready to eat. I believe it was Abraham.
And he was getting ready to pass. That's what it was. He was getting ready
to die. I believe it was Abraham. Now I'm
not thinking about it. I don't think it was Abraham. Pastors make mistakes, too.
So anyway, that was the scripture that I had
(06:23):
referenced, and it was talking about how day to day, we have to take up
our weapons if we are to do what we, what we
are called to do for that day. We can never lay down our weapons. We
have to pick up our bible, pick up our, our briefcase, our
notebook, our tablets, our Macs, our
computers, our laptops, whatever it is that we use for the day. We have to
(06:44):
take up our weapons and pursue that day with everything we
have. We can't half step it. I believe I was talking about something like that,
along the lines of, I think. Yeah. And that's a really
common scripture that I see, at least hunters, I see them share that a lot
as, like, a reason why we hunt. And there are so
many verses that talk about why we would want meat, why we would
(07:07):
pursue game and stuff like that. And it's something that
I would like to connect more of the newer
hunters, but also experienced hunters with that kind of
reasoning. Because a lot of what I do, I'm
oftentimes defending hunting and also
defending Christianity as well, because that's something
(07:28):
that here recently is severely under attack.
And I think what it's done for me personally is it's pushed me further
into the Bible and further into the word so that I understand
it more. And that's where, like, when you have the confusion of, like,
well, which one was it that said this to, you know, like, was
that, you know, Jacob or somebody saying that to
(07:51):
Esau? And I don't even know how a pastor can keep it all
straight because there's so much in the Bible, we. Have to be on
stage 24 hours a day. And I think
this is just like, a little side note. I think that's where
people get more church hurt than anything, is that they put
pastors on a pedestal and then they expect them to be perfect. So
(08:12):
when they do sleep slip up, and it was actually Esau
and that Jacob situation where they were being.
Where. Where he was getting ready to pass and his brother came in and
deceived him because his brother was out getting some venison. That's
what it was. So you're right. You're right. Dead on. But I think people
put pastors on a pedestal, and when pastors mess
(08:34):
up, they get. The people get deceived and they get let down and they
get brokenhearted. But then that's when they take their eyes off of
God, which is where their eyes should be. Anyway, um, pastors
are just here to help lead and direct and encourage and edify
and uplift and help direct and
situations in life, you know? Yeah. And
(08:57):
I definitely, I appreciate all the work that goes into being a pastor
because, I mean, I think a lot of people think it's just a Sunday
thing, and I know there's so much work that goes into preparing,
and I'm, like, putting you on the spot today. I didn't tell you, like, what
to prepare for. So no verses memorized for today. As
I said, I didn't even remember which verse we were, we were talking about when
(09:18):
I was like, can I visit with you? And so I'm not trying
to put you on the spot, but actually, I kind of. We have
three different churches that we kind of go to because we're an hour
from all three of them, and. But it's one of our favorite
pastors is one that he's perfectly imperfect
and it's something that we love about him, is that he'll just make a mistake
(09:40):
and he rolls with it and keeps going. And I love that because
it's like all of us are. We're just not perfect.
Jesus is perfect, not us. So I'm sorry to put
you on the spot with some. Well, you're fine. It wasn't my
goal. You're good. You're good. But when we're
looking at hunting and connecting with
(10:02):
nature and the outdoors, before we get into that,
could you tell us a little bit about. I mean, I'm telling you about my
journey. I mean, I grew up in a christian family, but the more
I see this kind of craziness,
I don't know a better word to call it a craziness in our nation right
now and probably in the world. I haven't traveled out of the country since the
(10:24):
pandemic, but as we're seeing that, it pushes me more toward
God. And can you tell me about your journey to coming
more into being a pastor and stuff like that? Absolutely. I'll give you
the short version. I grew up in Youngstown,
Ohio. We went to a christian school
where we had some things happen to me personally,
(10:46):
abuse wise, but I'm not going to go into that today.
Grew up in a home with two parents until they
divorced. I think I was like 16 years old. And so
I was pretty much left by myself. And what I mean by
that is, when my parents divorced,
my mother took my younger brother and
(11:09):
sister and moved to enterprise, Alabama while we were living
in Ohio. A good 13 hours drive for
anybody's wondering the distance, it's about a 13 hours
drive from Youngstown, Ohio, to enterprise, Alabama.
And when that happened, well, let me back up. She took my
two younger siblings with her to Alabama, but I had two
(11:32):
older siblings that had already moved out and moved back to
Alabama. And I'm not too sure on how the
conversation went because I hear stories from both sides,
or I did at one time. My mom passed away in 2010,
but I hear, I heard things from both sides, so I'm not sure. I've
always said before, I'm a true believer that it's his side,
(11:55):
her side, and then there's the truth. God taught me that a
long time ago. But growing up in a
church, I grew up in a church. I got, I got, I gave my heart
to the Lord when I was eleven, but I seen a
lot in the church and outside the church.
And then when family started breaking up,
(12:17):
I really didn't have anything to hold on to as far as church wise.
So I left the church at the age of 18. I started drinking
and clubbing and things like that, joined the
gang and did a whole lot of
sinning and whole lot of dirty stuff on the
outside of the church and went back every
(12:39):
once in a while. And I just kept feeling like I was judged, I was
being judged, I was being judged every time I went to visit. And I know
there's a lot of people that feel that way and so after
a while I'm like, you know, I'm just not going to go back. So I
didn't. So I hung out in the streets. And then
as life went on, I left the church for 17
(12:59):
years, was shot at and a whole lot of other
stuff. Details are not really important right now,
but I got into a lot of trouble, did a lot of time in
jail, and one day
my dad contacted me once I had moved to Columbus,
Ohio and I had started dating my now present
(13:21):
wife in the picture.
And I think you met her one time before via phone or something like
that. And my
dad invited us to come to church one day and
that Sunday we went
and it was all like lightning. That day.
(13:43):
I got up in the middle of the service, I interrupted service, just
tears just flowing. I ran to the altar and I
screamed out, I'm tired of living like this. The
pastor was kind of thrown back because I guess he never
heard or had anything like that happen in service at any
time of his ministry. Pastor Larry Jones
(14:05):
in Columbus, Ohio, he prayed for me and then he had my wife come
down and grab her, grab my arms and say, where he's getting ready to go,
he's going to need you to be there for. And hold your arms up.
Fast forward a little bit. I started going through
PTSD from living on the
streets, being homeless, the gang life
(14:28):
and going through the abuse when I was in school
and different things like that with family members and other
people. So going through that season in my life
of PTSD, um, I would
like to call it, it was one of my wilderness seasons where God was
training me to be who I am today and helping me heal,
(14:51):
uh, from all of that so I can be able to speak about it openly
now. Um, and so the, the,
I started going to see a therapist. And if anybody ever had
doubts about going to go see a therapist, erase the doubts, is well worth
going to go see a therapist. It's worth it. And some, and it's
very necessary in some cases to have that
(15:13):
atmosphere where you're free to be able to share
those things that have kept you bound up and hurt
and, you know, just discouraged and depressed for so long and
dealing with anxiety and panic attacks, see a therapist.
So that helped me a lot. And then
after I saw my therapist for a while, I
(15:36):
saw another therapist, and he told
me, he said, you suffer from PTSD.
I don't suggest you go back to work anytime soon. So I'm going to fill
your papers out for permanent disability. And I was really kind of discouraged
with that because everybody in my family always worked. So
(15:57):
he made a joke. He said, why don't you find something that
you like to do and go get paid for it? So I'm
like, what in the world would I like to. What do I like to do?
And then it hit me. My grandfather used to take us hunting and
fishing all the time. And that was my happy
place. That was my peaceful place. So
(16:18):
going through all of that and transitioning into
ministry, I found that sitting on the bank,
sitting in the woods, up under a tree, was my alone time with
God. And the more that I did it, the more I found
that I was at peace with David and understanding who
I truly am as a husband, as a father,
(16:40):
as a provider, as a protector,
and the priest of our household. When that
happened, I started becoming a better husband. I started
becoming a better father. I started listening more than I was
speaking, which opened up the door for me to
be able to go out, excuse me, and share my testimony
(17:02):
to a homeless shelter where people were recovering addicts and so
forth. And so when that happened,
I'm thinking there might be something to this. Okay, God, what are you trying to
tell me? What are you trying to tell me? He
said you've been called to be a minister. Oh,
okay, cool. I'm going to go out and wait. Nope, that's not me. That's my.
(17:23):
That's my daddy and that's my brother. That's not me. Nope. I'm that street
guy. I never saw myself in that position or
living that type of life because of what I saw
in the church. I said, I don't want no part of
that. So I opened up the Bible and I start reading it. And the
more I dove into the Bible, the more I said, okay, what I'm
(17:46):
seeing here isn't lining up with this. This is what
I really want. I don't want that. I want
my life to be an example of
Jesus changing my life and how he can do it for me. He can do
it for anybody that's watching. He can do it for anybody that's
watching. So he told me one
(18:08):
day, I want you to start a show. This is in
2010. Start a show. Yeah, hunting show.
And I'll be honest with you. Can I just be real transparent?
I looked in the mirror, I was like, ain't no black people in doing hunting.
Nobody's doing that. Nobody got no hunting show. Ain't nobody
black doing that. But he said, you're going to
(18:31):
stand out. You're going to be different, and I'm going to open up the door
for you to be able to do that. And so people start sending me.
I had some around here little. Remember, you know, the little orange
Bibles and New Testament bibles that you can find almost anywhere.
People were sending me boxes of those. And
so every time I went out to public land to hunt, I would
(18:53):
have an opportunity to talk with somebody about God out
there hunting and give them a bible. And so I went a step further.
I said, okay, let me get some children involved. So
I started taking kids, and parents were trusting me. Here, take your. Take
them, take them. Because he showed, God showed me one day, he
said, look at what happened with you. Oh, I'm loving this.
(19:15):
Yeah, I love it. He goes, so imagine what can happen if
you started with a kid. If you take a kid hunting
or fishing, you'll never have to go hunting or fishing for them in the street.
And I thought, I kept thinking about that. I'm like, all right. So I
started with my kids to see what was going to happen and see how that
worked, and then it just blew up from there. And later on, the
(19:38):
more I shared my testimony, the more I start filling the call
to pastor and to lead.
And long story short, here I am today, pastor, still
fishing, still hunting, and loving every bit of
it. Loving every bit of it. Now. Now, instead of
hunting deer more often and bear and squirrels
(20:00):
and rabbits and stuff like that, stuff that I can put in the freezer, I'm
now hunting demons that are hunting people and, you know, hurt. Not in
a. In a spiritual sense, because some people might get that and
blow it out the water. But, yeah, that's what I do. I look for people
that's been struggling with depression, homelessness,
anxiety, PTSD, been
(20:22):
strung out on alcohol, drugs. And I go, and I'll attack
whatever it is and help them get past that.
One person at a time. Yeah, one person at a time. And I can't
imagine how many you've reached already
with that. God called you to
that, and you had the tv show, right?
(20:44):
And then. Do you still have the show? Um, right now I
just do it on YouTube. I just posted videos on YouTube
every once in a while. Um, as a matter of fact, it was the early
part of this year. I finally got around to posting my
daughter, though, I think. The one you met, uh, Taylor the hunter,
uh, her first buck that she got when we did
(21:05):
an Illinois hunt up in Illinois. And I think I just
posted that video early part of this year, and then
I posted a video of my dad's hunt. He was in
Vietnam. So I posted a couple of those hunts. So I do a
lot of it now just for YouTube, simply because there were some
things that happened when we lived in Columbus, and I decided to
(21:28):
take a step back, and I said, I can't put my family
in that type of danger anymore. It's just not
worth it. Not for me, anyway. We've
had death threats. People actually come see me
out at the ATA show, the deer in
Turkey exposed, and literally
(21:50):
just really went in with the racial
stuff. I mean, like, really, really deep,
even down to the fact where they followed my wife and out to the car
one day as we were leaving the ATA show
and threatened our life. And I'm like, okay, I'm not doing this anymore. I'm done.
So I walked away. And now we just post videos on YouTube.
(22:12):
Yeah. And that's something that I don't know if a lot of
people realize how
frightening that is. I mean, not. Not just for your wife, but for you
also, I'm sure, because you're their provider and
protector. You know, like, we. We got to meet each other in person,
but. And then we're friends via social media. I have a lot of really good
(22:34):
friends that I've met from social media, but then I also
have friends that are, like,
they think they're my best friend, and I hope that I'm not
offending anybody, but, you know, if you show up somewhere,
and especially a lot of times I travel by myself because my husband has to
take care of our ranch, I. But when they show up out of
(22:55):
nowhere and all of a sudden, this person is your best
friend, it honestly is a little unnerving when
those boundaries are not there anymore.
And I think people have gotten so comfortable on social media as
keyboard warriors. They come in person and
their boundaries are a little different. Now,
(23:19):
some of them that are well meaning, you know, that have good intentions, you can
kind of understand that. But when it's someone who is giving
you death threats, that is so frightening.
And I'll be honest, I mean, we've been friends
over the years, but it's like I've had
more people ask, why don't you have a tv show? Why don't you do this?
(23:40):
Why don't you do that? And honestly, I'm a very private person, and
I, the threats I've had just from social media to kill my
daughter or kill my dogs or kill my horses, I'm
just like, you know, what I've got is good, and I don't need to put
myself or my family out there because it's pretty scary.
And I do a lot about self defense. I do a lot
(24:03):
of firearms training and stuff like that, but I don't ever want to have to
use them. So that's. I totally understand you kind
of backing off on that. If, if you had some incidents that
were scary, I mean, and I
was. Actually kind of surprised when I seen you did the COVID of the magazine.
I was like, whoa. It seemed like she was stepping out.
(24:24):
You were stepping out of your comfort zone. I'm like, whoa. But on the other
side of that, I'm like, wow, she is opening up the
door for so many females, not just in the
industry but around the world or, you know, in the United States
alone, just seeing, wow, here's a female
doing big things. I can do that. I was actually encouraged by
(24:46):
it, too. Well, I really was. I'm glad
because that was a little bit out of my comfort zone. And
I, a lot of times that's what I am worried about is the
attacks. I mean, just, I'll be blunt about the attacks
because whether they're verbal or,
you know, messages or stuff like that, never fun.
(25:07):
And I've learned how to use the delete and block button very
well, but in person is a little different. And I don't know if I've
said it on the podcast very much, but with that field and stream cover, I
was worried about the anti gun people because they are primarily
who's come after me, the anti hunters a little bit, but the
anti gun people. And I had a rifle on that cover, and
(25:30):
I thought it was going to be the anti gun people that came after me.
But actually it was some of the, I would say
white male hunters came after me
and that, that I had no business being there. And it's like, I didn't
put myself there, honestly. I mean, I was interviewed for it, yes, but I
didn't say, hey, I want to be on the COVID of field and stream. But
(25:51):
that was something that has been mind blowing to me, is like, to be attacked
by your own, you know, and it's like, no, I'm not Janet
Waller, Christy Titus, or Melissa Bachman. You know, it's just Mia, that's
all. But the whole article
and the whole reason for being there was just an everyday person
who's trying to make a difference in the world. And I do, you know, and
(26:14):
I thank God for that all the time because without
God, I wouldn't be doing any of the stuff that I do. And I do
know, just like you, how you said you have made an impact on
individuals. I meet individuals all the time
that it just, like, makes my heart
swell at when I see the difference that I made in their lives. And
(26:35):
so I'm very blessed in that way that I can kind of
touch people and help them on their journey for where they're
going. Absolutely. And I can agree with you on that. You said
something that sparked something there that got touched me a
little bit when I started the tv show. And we
were with, we were, we were being represented
(26:57):
by dear space. I don't know if you are familiar with dear space. Yeah. Raised
to be in deerspace. Yeah, we were on the COVID of one of their magazines,
my kids and I, and then my, my kids,
our kids made it in one of their magazines and one
of their brochures and on their calendar.
(27:18):
And I was really happy about it. I was like, yeah, you know, my kids
are making an impact as young people. You know, they're
showing that people from the
not so good side of the tracks, the minorities,
they can have a part of this industry, too. They can go out and have
fun and enjoy the outdoors just as much as anybody
(27:40):
else. But when I started hearing
comments from family, it
really, really hurt.
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