My Outdoor Life: Dr. Tom Rakow, founder of Christian Deer Hunters Association

I grew up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin. My dad was a hunter and a houndsman. My older brother was a hunter. There was no chance for me to become anything but an outdoorsman. If we weren't milking cows we were hunting or fishing.

We always had 15 or so dogs on the farm. My dad had his coon dogs. There was a dog for every hunt including a squirrel dog, a rabbit dog, bird dogs, a fox dog and German shepherds that helped herd the cows.

When I was 13 years old, my grandfather, who had been a mentor, died. Then a few months later my older brother was killed in an automobile accident. I was already headed down some bad roads in my personal behavior and now I was deeply depressed. I began reading the Bible searching for help. Then one night I watched a Billy Graham Crusade on television. It wasn't so much what Rev. Graham said, it was the sight of young people, my age with my problems, coming forward to accept the Lord in their lives. I knew I needed that conversion.

At that point in my life I had two gods: deer hunting and trout fishing. I decided to give up deer hunting and focus on the Lord. This was a lot harder than I had imagined. I can clearly remember a sunrise outside a neighbor's dairy barn where I was working. A huge buck walked right past me and stopped. The golden sunlight was shining through his antlers. I began to cry. A Christian who had been influential in my life assured me that accepting the Lord didn't mean I had to give up all the joys of His creation — that there was room for both in our lives.

The past four decades of my life are testimony to the wisdom of that neighbor's counsel. I pursued degrees from the University of Wisconsin, the Moody Bible Institute in Illinois, the Ashbury Theological Seminary in Kentucky, culminating in a doctor of ministry from Bethel Theological Seminary here in Minnesota. I have been pastor of Grace Bible Church in Silver Lake, Minnesota, for 25 years now. And during all those years I have been able to mix my ministry, my family and my dogs into the joys of the outdoors.

I founded the Christian Deer Hunters Association because I have seen that the outdoors in general and deer hunting in particular make fertile ground for growth of the soul. Our members seek to reach others with the gospel of Christ by sharing practical Bible-based materials. Our goal is to point the way to a proper balance among the Lord, hunting and family.

My own wife and four daughters will testify that I am still a work in progress in God's hands.

A number of years ago I took two of my daughters bow hunting. They were about four and six at the time. I set them up in low-level deer stands, back-to-back in the same tree. I placed myself high up in a nearby tree. As the sun set and darkness began to gather I could hear deer steps approaching through the leaves. My younger daughter began whimpering. I slapped the tree with my hand to quiet her. She cried louder and the deer left. When I explained to her, rather forcefully, that we have to be quiet while deer hunting she said, "But I couldn't see you!" And then, "I'm more important than that deer, aren't I daddy?" Lesson relearned.

In countless other ways, my intimate connection with the outdoors has helped me make biblical principles a helpful bridge between divergent views held by hunters and non-hunters alike; between believers and nonbelievers. In the quiet of a Wisconsin deer woods, a simple prayer of thanks for providing from His bounty got a young man started down the right road for his soul. A pheasant field provided the right venue for a member of our congregation who was troubled but couldn't open up about it in my church office. And this much I know for certain: a deer stand is the perfect place to write a sermon!