Ironman Catfish Results

This report comes to you via Ed Strickland who was there, and a link to The Heart of a Sportsman, our Brothers from Cornerstone who put this on. I'll throw in a few of Ed's pictures, but if you click on the in link above, you can see each of the 3 churches and read their version of the trip as it is good. If anyone knows the blog from Stanleyville, please send it to us and we'll link to it.


From Ed:

Well it's official, the Ironman Catfish tournament is in the books. Did we win?....well no, was God honored? Absolutely. What an amazing evening of what our ministry is all about, fun and fellowship with other Christian men, 70 to be exact between the three churches. Seventy guy's that had never met came together and ate an awesome meal, laughed and acted like we had been friends all our lives.


As many of you know it started out with a ton of trash talking by the guy's from Cornerstone, and that video. And when we arrived, just before dinner they announced that they were in a Christian way going to "put a monkey stomping on us" meaning Colonial and Stanleyville.

Well, I'm sad to announce they delivered, 98lbs later in 10 fish and well... Enough about that! The truth of the matter is we had an awesome time. We had twenty-three from Colonial Outdoors and two ringers in Jamie Olive and David Moss Jr. We really worked hard to prepare for this event. Jamie led the charge with advise for many of us who had never fished for catfish. Chris Crumm went out Thursday night to catch some bait and Dale Strickland, Cody Pigot and David Moss spent almost all day of the event catching our bait in some local farm ponds. We were stoked. But in our defense, none of us but Jamie have ever even been on High Rock Lake. We knew we had our work cut out for us, and we knew these guy's could catch some big cat's, but we felt we could make a decent showing. We are kind of like an expansion team in the world of cat fishing, I mean let's face it, it's hard to go to New York and beat the Yankees, but you give us a season or two and it will be on like donkey kong.

I must say Thanks to the guys from Heart of a Sportsman,Cornerstone Church for all their hard work putting this on, and thanks for including Colonial Outdoors. Thanks to the gang at Stanleyville for participating with us, you guys did an awesome job. And the men from both of these churches are some of the most Christ like guys I have ever met.

You know, the neatest thing of all is this, Colonial Outdoors did not even exist a year ago, and God put it all together, and put Jeremy and the folks at Cornerstone in our life and in just a little bit of time we had the awesome opportunity to participate in an event like this, and I am certain it want be the last. Oh! By the way, we finished third, and it takes a man to admit that.

Gratuitously plagiarized from their website, the words are good enough to reprint:

Impressed by the large number of men at the event, I heard one guy say before we started and after seeing all the boats beached along the shoreline at the tournament that “the night was already a success even if we didn’t wet the first hook.” Another fella said, “it’s awesome to see this many guys who don’t even know each other come together for a night of fellowship.” One church leader said, “Just think, one year ago our guys didn’t even know each other and now we’ve got over 20 dudes together for this event.” That’s what it’s all about. We came together to not only fish but to glorify the one who created the fish, and the lake and the land around the lake: the Almighty God.

Seeing all these men come together made me think of those guys that Jesus used. They were regular men. Many were tough, rugged men - Men who liked to fish – just like these guys. He chose 12 regular men just like this to change the world. Imagine what He can do with 70! It is my prayer that we fish for men as hard as we fish for fish!
God is good all the time...and all the time God is good!



Special congratulations to Brian Cain of Stanleyville Baptist go for the biggest fish of the night (28 pound flat head catfish) and Eddie Ritchie of Cornerstone for the smallest fish (unable to register a weight on the scales). Oh yes, Cornerstone did get lucky and won the Ironman trophy with 98 pounds of cats on the night – but the real trophy was hanging out with 70 cool dudes. Thanks for all the fun...we look forward to doing it again!

Attention Outdoorsmen: They called us Sissies, Wimps and Baby Christians; Catfish Challenge

Centershot Ministry, Our Guys Get Training to Help Reach Out Via a New Ministry

(From left to right) Chris Crum, Mike Hayes, Ted McKinney, Manny Montoya and Polly Montoya all completed the Basic Archery Instructor course on May 30, 2009.

It was taught by Charles Larue in Clendenin, WV. The course will enable these individuals to teach International Target Style Archery through the fundamentals put together by National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP) www.archeryintheschools.org .

It is the goal of Colonial Outdoors to combine this training with the gospel message through the Centershot Ministries program www.centershotministries.org . The archery class can be available to people of all ages, gender, and abilities by using a bow (Matthews Genesis) that is not draw length specific. The class can connect children to the church, strengthen a relationship between child and parent, reach children for Christ, and even allow people with different levels of abilities to compete against others.


“I am excited about the possibilities that will be available at Colonial”, said Manny Montoya. “I know God has laid it on my heart to start this program at Colonial”, stated Chris Crum. The bows have already been purchased and the program is in need of about $1,500 more dollars for equipment to get started.

If you read this and feel led to contribute please contact Chris Crum tyson1978@yahoo.com or Ed Strickland estrick318@aol.com .

Hunting and Fishing for Souls (and New Members)

Colonial Outdoors had a booth outside the worship hall to help tell about our ministries. There were a couple of fellows who came by to talk and you could tell that their hearts were being convicted to join.

Plus it was fun to wear camo to church.

In the pictures are John Simonds, John Simonds III, Pastor Davey and Ed Strickland.

Some families came up and you could see the bonding between Dad's and Son's beginning. Some came up alone, but (almost) everyone was interested

The biggest smile I saw though was Pastor Davey when he came up and saw the display. It's good to have him support our efforts.

We're praying God will convict a few souls through our ministry.

Lord Of The Spring Video - Please Watch

We are partnering with our Buddies at Heart of a Sportsman of Cornerstone Church.

Please let everyone you know see this video and help raise funds to reach people for the Lord.

Take a look and enjoy, then let your heart decide on helping out.

What we need to communicate to people is the fact that every dollar raised now is for evangelism. The Booth at the National Wild Turkey Federation and production cost are done. We need $12,000.00 for I believe 15,000 videos and it works up in five thousand increments from there.

If someone would like to partner with us on this project, they can make checks out to Things Men Do and earmark it Lord of the Spring Project. We need to pray for Gods provision on this that He will provide these funds and that He will use this and us through it to further His Kingdom.

Ted and Brian's Great Hunting Adventure

My hunting partner, Brian, and I had been drawn for a special three day wild turkey hunt on the NC. Game Lands and we were excited at the prospects! We arose early at 5 am, put on our cammo, and grabbed a snack, our guns and flashlights and headed into the woods with high expecations. The barred owls were the only things responding to our calls, and they were putting on a concert. It was too early to use a hen yelp or crow call. I headed down river while Brian headed up river.

Picking my way through the dry noisy woods with the aid of my headlamp, I had barely gotten in sight of the river in the pre-dawn darkness when suddenly from a large tree along the bank, a big gobbler struggled to get airborn, beating his powerful wings in the branches. He sailed effortlessly across the river and crashed-landed in the trees lining the opposite bank.

Immediately, I sat down under a large oak and after putting on my gloves and facenet began softly clucking and yelping on my old slate call. Each time he would respond with a booming gobble or double-gobble. This went on back and forth for at least half hour and by now it was broad daylight. Suddenly I saw him pitch off the roast and sail toward an old clearing across the river. Remaining in the same location, I called occasionally to which he responded on the ground from the other side. Still he refused to fly back across the river. Already the action was smoking hot! Could I expect more of the same?

Deciding a change of location might even kick things up a notch, I relocated on a slight tree cover hill overlooking the river. It reminded me somewhat of an Indian mound and afforded a good view of the swamp to my left, and the 60 yard stretch of beautiful river bottom hardwoods and grassy green forest floor between me and the river. Another half hour of sitting produced no desirable results, so I decided to stalk slowly from tree to tree along the edge of the swamp, watching ahead for movement. Suddenly, I spotted two gobblers and a hen feeding in the park-like river bottom at approximately 60 yards.

Dropping to my knees, I crawled to some trees and brush in order to hide and observe these turkeys and get a diaphram call in my mouth. In response to soft purrs and clucks, all three stopped feeding and stretched their necks to look, but no gobbles. They went back to feeding. I was a little disappointed they did not break into a full strut display, or come running toward me immediately.

Both were mature gobblers, but one was a true Trophy with a huge white head. We later came to call him "snowball head." I wanted desperately to make a "jelly head" of him with my 12 ga. 3 inch magnum copperplated load of number fours ! He was a wise old tom, 20 plus pounds, with many seasons in his ten inch beard. He knew all too well that a "chick" in tow is worth more than ten hens clucking in the bush! He stayed close to his "chick" and fed just out of range.

However, at my urgent calling, the younger of the two toms began to feed in my direction, and would pause to look when I purred. By now, my heart was pounding and I was beginning to shake. When he went behind a tree, I got on my knees and raised the camoflauge Browning pump, steadying it against a tree.I was in the appropriate posture, because I was praying hard he would keep on coming !

Determining the small opening in front of him to be about 30 yards, I aimed the shotgun there. When I saw the red head emerge, I trained the bead on it and squeezed the trigger. There was an explosive flurry of feathers and flopping!!! Instantly, I ejected the shell and prepared to shoot him again, but that would not be necessary. He was down for good !

Here it was only the first morning of a three day hunt and God had blessed me already with an
eighteen pound bird with a nine inch beard ! I was jubilant and praising Him.

I had the luxury of sitting for hours,soaking up the beauty of His creation,reading my little
New Testament that I always carry in my hunting pack, and meditating on the Truth of His Word. There was abundant wildlife to observe also, such as ducks, crows, hawks, owls, squirrels,piliated woodpeckers,and coyotes.

Later I took Brian to my "honeyhole" and he saw a number of gobblers and hens. He shot a large tom, knocking it down,but before he could get to it the bird jumped up and ran off. A
major disappointment- but he eventually shot a nice jake out of a flock of four on the last morning.

What a hunt ! One for the record book- at least our record book !

Enjoying Gods Great Outdoors, Ted McKinney

Pond Fishing Last Tuesday - Pictures and Words

Last Tuesday, we went to Yates Pond as a group to do a little fellowship via a pole. It was a good group that was able to come. We opened the day with a prayer...then got to it.




Some brought spinning rods, some fly rods, some baitcasters....both artificial and live bait got uses and everyone had lots of high hopes. I even saw the Hank Parker super hook set on a 10 incher ;-)




Here's Ed Strickland hoping for old Bucketmouth to stretch his line...















I think everyone caught either a bass, bluegill or a perch, most about this size
















But with out a doubt, the two best fishermen of the day were Steve Wade's daughters, Morgan (11) and Mary Bishop (9),who were wearing out both the bluegills and the other fishermen. I stood next to them at one point and they caught four fish on four casts....












A good time was had by all and next week we'll be back in the classroom studying God's word. On this night at the pond, we got to fellowship with God and each other on his turf.