Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 909 | Phil Is Mistaken for a Homeless Man at His Own Event & Jase Sifts Through Dog Poo for Treasure

Episode Date: June 21, 2024

Phil got mistaken for a homeless man at an event where he was the keynote speaker, and Jase had to perform a dirty duty to help a friend find a lost wedding ring. The guys are joined by the founder and editor of Hook & Barrel magazine, John Radzwilla, who once had the gall to pull an April Fools' Day prank on Phil during an interview! John and the guys discuss the importance of the outdoors to the emotional and spiritual development of young people, as well as Willie and Jase’s appearances in the magazine.  -- Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? Welcome back to Unashame. Man, we left off with Zat doing some serious preaching. You know, I was thinking, Zat, that we talked about me going into the quote-unquote wrong church. But really, if you've got a consistent message, you're never in the wrong place. You're just maybe not in the one that invited you. Because I got to think about it, if the folks at the next door, building had asked me to give my message that I had prepared for the one next door,

it still would have worked. Yeah. I mean, you know what I'm saying? The message is powerful, and I could have given it wherever. If that I said, you know, when do you start over there? Well, about 30 minutes. Can you give us a little thumbnail? Hey, I'd love to.

Let's line up and do this. I mean, I speak all. I bet I've spoken at, I don't want to put a number on it, but different. I don't even know what we call. I guess the philosophical word is denominations. Somebody called them tribe, different tribes. I think that's pretty good. I just kind of stick with Jesus.

But, I mean, probably half my audiences are not church people. Yeah. Now, that's where it gets interesting because they actually listen better. The message of Jesus travels well. It does. It does. So that's why, you know, I used to be nervous because I'm a shy guy, you know, and I always start off my speeches saying, you know, my biggest fear, kind of the celebrate recovery moment, you know, is I struggle with public speaking. Yeah.

But at this point, you know, I've lost the nervousness as far as it depends on me. I mean, I think you always should be a little nervous because you're talking about things that will alter your eternal dwelling. Well, and you're speaking on behalf of God, so yeah, you're going to take that pretty serious. But I mentioned yesterday that I always, when I'm talking about an unashamed life, I remember the first time that I remember you talking about Jesus in a public setting, and it happened to be in the same city that I had left out of and turned my life around in New Orleans. But, you know, you were there to show people how to blow a duck call, but you decided since you had a group of people together, it's like,

well, I might as well just tell them about what I believe about Jesus. And so you went into it. And it stunned them. It stunned me. It stunned their guy that we were with down there. But the only person wasn't stunned was you. Because you were just like, well, why not? I got a group of people here.

Why not tell them about it? And so that had a huge impact on me because I was like, well, you can talk about this anywhere. About five preachers said come to our church and what you said. Because we want to invite some people in it. They were thinking just what they saw. They thought, well, this would be pretty. go we'll just get people to come in here what was funny is phil always would do his duck call seminar and then he he would say you know i got paid to do that but i'm going to give you this for free

and then you would tell them about jesus yeah but what i found fascinating now when you talked about going to the wrong church i was with phil one night when he went and spoke i was just kind of back before the days we had handlers the family was the handler you know and i went with him and Phil sitting on the front row, you know, there's hundreds of people fixing to hear him speak. And one of the pastors of the church comes up to Phil and gives him directions to the homeless shelter down the road. Because he thought Phil had just stumbled in as a homeless person and was sitting on the front row. Yeah. And so that just shows you, if somebody doesn't know who you are, you don't belong.

I bet he was embarrassed when Phil walked up on stage as the keynote speaker. Yeah, that was his opening line. Phil was like, hey. Some guy. No, I think he said, somebody missed a memo that I was coming. And he said, but now I know where your homeless shelter is because I was directed there. And then he did a little deal about don't judge a book by its cover. It was kind of clever.

And the guy was mortified. He was. He was like. And as I recall, a few people, you know, actually came to Christ that night. Oh, yeah. And so it was like, wow, literally don't judge a book by its cover. I mean, we've all had our moments.

I got escorted out of the Trump Hotel, you know, as being a person that just didn't belong. You were unseemly. Yeah. But we worked it out. We worked it. And we got over it. Yeah. Don't judge a book by its cover.

You got that, Zapp? I got it. Don't judge a book by its cover. Phil, did you know when you got up there that first time in a non-jublishabody, church setting that were you planning like i'm i'm going to given something here was it or did it just come to you in the moment it just came forth yeah but it was so interesting phil i remember back to those like we used to go those d u banquets and some of those uh risk a is not a strong enough word i mean stripper and raunchy and yeah just raunchy and when you get up and share jesus in

that environment you know there is an adrenaline rush because i had the same experience many times after I saw Phil do that. But I thought, you know, is this not what we were talking about last podcast, about we're supposed to be representing heaven itself, Jesus enthroned, and work to be done? And even, I didn't read the Ephesion 610, Al, but you brought it up, you know, after the podcast, you know, finally be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power put on the full armor of God.

I mean, that's what you do when you declare Jesus, especially in those types of setting. which is why we wear these hats, Al, who someone is sending them to us in the mail and we're reading them because yesterday, an airport all day, or a day before yesterday, people constantly were saying, what is that? Well, you know, I just had multiple Jesus presentations in the airport.

And then when I got home, we were hosting six college kids from parents, Pepperdine who sang that they led worship yesterday at church. Yeah. But they were standing at my house. Right. I come rolling in there about 9 o'clock. And, of course, I walked in, and there was a young man there, you know, eating at my table.

And I said, who are you? And he said, who are you? I said, I live here. This is my point. And he told me who he was. I was like, oh, that's good. And the next question, he said, what, what's that mean on your hat? I thought, well, if he's staying at my house, this is a perfect question.

And as I started the presentation, they all gathered up. And, of course, they were believers. But they seemed fired up about it, which, as tired as I was, it started about a two-hour conversation on how we're going to move the needle, as spirit-filled people on this earth in Jesus. And I thought, you know, if I can't take time out and talk to six college age, because I don't have much time left, but they got a bunch of time, Lord Willard. And so I was really excited, which is why I went to that, here I'm seeing, which they were awesome.

Well, what's ironic, Jay's is you didn't know this, but the guy that makes his hats, Brian, a good friend of ours, the name of his deal where he makes hats and T-shirts, which is trying to provoke people to talk about, You know what's called? It's called 611 Armory, and it's based on, guess what, Ephesians 611. You're kidding me? No. I'm liking this guy more and more already. Which is exactly where you just were in the text.

The next verse, he based his whole business on. By the way, he gives all the profits from it to mission work around the world. So if you ever want to check them out, 611 Armies. Yeah, I'd like to give prizes. I did a first in my speech Saturday. And I don't know why I did it. I got up there, and I guess because the cell phone, I've told you all, you know, I told you this crazy story when I was going through the roundabout as a woman almost hit me.

And when I looked at her, she had a cheeseburger in one hand and the cell phone, and the other, and we were driving with her knees and looked at me like, well, you're getting all bent out of shape about. And I just noticed. And what was in both hands can't kill. That's the thing. I was like, what are we doing here? You know, I'm trying to survive.

And now the guy, the security guy that I had on this venture that I went on, he was a cop. And I was like, what's the number one thing you're pulling people over for? And he's like, they're looking at their cell phone driving off the road. I was like, oh, you're pulling people over for that? I said, because every five cars I pass, that's the problem. And he's like, oh, yeah. He said, we're just every day. And I was like, what's a fine on that?

And he said, $900. I was like, who-hoo-hoo. I said, get them. But anyway, I did something I'd never done. I got up there and I said, who brought their Bible this morning? It was a thousand men. And I was surprised. I would say probably a hundred.

Of course, they raised their hand. And I said, raised your Bible if you brought, I'm asking, I want to see it, you know. And so, and I said, how many people here under 21 years of age brought their Bible? because I was just curious in our social media world. Well, it was dark and I couldn't see very good, but there was a guy on the front row, it raised his Bible. And he kind of did it in a way like, yeah.

I got it. And I said, I'm giving you something. Well, I looked down, and I didn't have anything to give him. And so I reached in my back pocket, and I pulled out and I had a $20 bill. I said, come up here. So you're giving cash prizes now at your event? I said, look, y'all know I'm not a preacher because I'm actually giving you money for being here.

And just in a moment, I just, I looked down at the 20 and I thought about the message on there. And I said, I want you to read that because I can't see three feet in front of me. I can see everything else. And he said, in God we trust. And I said, the fact that you're 19 years old and you're carrying your Bible around, because I know it's a a lot more difficult to live a bold life for Jesus at 19. I said, I'm giving you this $20, but only because of that message on there. Because I think you can handle the responsibility on whatever you do with this money.

I want you to read it again, saying God we trust. Everybody cheered, you know, and I thought it turned out to be a pretty good illustration. You were just taking out what you had. You were taking what you had and turned it into a little less of that. That's pretty. That's what it is. That's what it is. Well, so, Brian, if you're listening out there, Jason needs some hats to

give away or else he's going to go broke. Yeah. Well, I've never done that before, but I thought that old boy is probably pretty happy that he showed up. Well, Dad, the dad doesn't do a lot of events anymore, but one of the last ones he did, he threw his duck calls into the audience and just decided to give him away. But I noticed, I saw the video of it and it scared me death because he kind of did it like a hammer throw.

Like he was whipping those things around and then threw it out in the audience. And I thought, did anybody get hurt? That looked like a lawsuit waiting to happen, so that's what happens if you don't have gifts. A little scramble where it hit. Yeah. Yeah, I saw the video, and I thought somebody might have got hurt. There's young people leaving being thrown, and it's. It was his original cause.

Some of him he's had on that land. I once said the greatest moments in my life were when there was an element of danger involved. Yeah. Yeah. When you fire something off to the crowd, I guess we can use that. as the platform. So I see now on our monitor, our guest has a ride. We got a guest on the podcast. And so we're excited about that. So when we come back from this break, I'll introduce you to who's going to be with us on the Unashamed podcast today. Welcome back. We have our guest,

John Radswilla. Did I get it right? You did. You did. Thanks. It's like Godzilla. Just a cool factor. That was my first thought. Your name is proof that dinosaurs really did it. Yeah. And it rode skateboards, Willa. Rads Willa. He was Rad. He was Willa. I love it. John is the, he is the founder, co-founder, as well as CEO of Hook and Barrel, which is a great magazine. And I think what does our brother Willie have to do with you? Because when I went to look at the magazine and kind of look a little bit into you, John,

I noticed there was my brother Willie right there front and center. So what does he do for you guys? Well, all right. So first off, thanks for having me on. Willie, man, when we first start at the magazine, Willie was on the cover of our 2019 September October issue. And so from there, man, I think we've had everybody, and I'm so glad to actually get Jace, you in an issue as well. We actually had Willie on the cover again of our January issue here with the Buckman. of this past year.

Willie has always been a cover guy. He loves to be on the cover of anything. I mean, it could just be, you know, a magazine. It could be a television show. He's a cover guy. That's what I love about this because when I did this article, and it was about treasure hunting. You know, I have the treasure hunting show,

Duck Family Treasure, and y'all are nice enough to do an article about me because you're promoting our season three being launched on July 26th on Fox Nation. And I said, well, it's about time you get me on the cover. And they said, no, you're not on the cover. You're in the back. But it kind of goes along with your role in this.

And I'm like, you know, you're exactly right. Let Willie get on the cover. I'll be deep into really the meaningful part of the magazine. You're in what's called the feature well in our world. It's the three most important stories of the magazine, including the cover story. Yeah. You're like in the meat and potatoes of it, Jace. I just know from, you know, if you look at the cover of the Bible, that's one thing.

But if you read it, oh, wow. That's what the meat is. Yeah. And actually, Phil, you and I have crossed paths before, too. You did a radio interview with my buddy Brian Glenn, and we interviewed you. And actually, we did an April Fool's prank with you. They had said that we needed to have food for you guys. When your whiskers gets this long, you tend to forget things.

I don't know how you forgot the sushi, dragon fruit, and venom energy drink we brought instead of the chick filet, we promised to prank you. But you were definitely a man. Tell us the story. Oh, yeah. Did he try any of this? Well, you know, it was. It was kind of funny because so Phil comes in and we're like, oh, you know, everyone's kind of scrambling. And they're like, hey, did you get his lunch? Did you get his lunch? And because whoever the handler for your book tour was like, he needs to have lunch. We're like, yeah, we'll, you know, we'll grab chick-fil-a. And so we'll grab whatever we could get. But I was like, we're going to take it a step further because it was actually April Fool's. And we went, I got some sushi, a weird dragon fruit from the store. And the angriest looking at energy drink I get. It was a venom energy drink. And he took one look at that. And I remember, Phil, and I was like, I was wondering if you were going to, I don't know, you kind of have this position or this disposition about you, kind of scare somebody the first time you meet him. And I was like,

I don't know how he's going to react to this, but you actually sat down and definitely man of the Lord sat down and actually, I believe your prayer went something along the lines of, you know, Lord, thank you for this day. Thank you for this food. Please bless the hands that brought it, whatever it is. Something along those lines and you roll the punches. Then we brought out the Chick-fil-A. I bet he didn't partake in that first. No, not one bit.

So, Dad, did you even know there's such a thing as April Fool's on April 1st? I heard through about it, you know, for years. For years, I didn't pay any attention to it. You just didn't participate in. You're not pranking a lot of people. Do you go to that prank Jimmy Red and some of the locals? Oh, welcome to the redneck world. It was a hard opt-out on that part of Phil.

I love that. I have never heard that story. I didn't realize that. I was probably somewhere in the vicinity, but I missed it. So tell us a little bit about the magazine, just kind of how, why you started it, what you guys are trying to accomplish with it before we get into Jason's piece. Well, Hook & Barrow is a Lifestyle and Entertainment magazine for Modern Outdoorsmen. And it was started years ago. It's kind of a long story, but I'll try to keep it.

is short. So basically, I was working a job that I was getting really burned out by. And I thought to myself, you know, I wish there was a, because I was working in the media and I was trying to get things placed. And as I sat down and kind of thought about where I wanted to place my clients, I never could find the resource. And there's a lot of great outdoor magazines that talk about the niches of hunting and fishing and the specific critters were targeting, targeting as outdoorsmen. And then there's all the lifestyle magazines. Like, the GQs, the maxims, the men's healths, the men's journals. And those definitely, let's just say, don't necessarily agree with a lot of my values.

And I got up from the bar I was sitting at and I went across the street to Barnes & Noble. And I thought to myself, is there a redneck GQ? And it wasn't. I went through it. I'm like, but what would this even look like? I'm like, it would have famous people in the cover. it would have food and drink. It would have the personalities, the musicians, some travel destinations, some fashion, which would most likely be like, you know, camouflage and the gear that we're going to wear. Like,

what would this look like? So I went through and I found like garden and gun. And that's way more garden than it is gun. And then I went through and I found, you know, recoil. And that's way more tactical and law enforcement. I found all these other great publications. But nothing was a lifestyle and entertainment magazine for outdoorsmen in a general interest read. And so I think I purchased a few of them and just kind of went back. I went back to the restaurant I was at. And the waitress was in the corner doing her college work. And I said, hey, give me a piece of that paper.

And I start sketching out a logo. And I sketched out a logo and wrote a little business plan and went home to my wife. And I said, look, honey, I know, I know we're a little bit burned out with what we're doing here. And this is my idea. This is the next great thing. And she looked at me. She's like, do you know anything about magazines? I said, absolutely not.

I think that's going to be the genius here. I'm not going to repeat the same old, same old. And she believes in me and she signed on within, I think, 30 seconds of me pitching her the idea. And she said, let's go. And year one was really hard because you can't get advertising if you don't have distribution. And you can't get distribution unless you have advertising. Well, there's one other way to do that. And that's called tap into your life savings.

And so what we did. And that's called commitment, John. Yeah, yeah, it's called taking a good. That's why it says nobody cares work harder behind you on the screen. This is getting into the burning the ship's story, you know. Yeah, we burn the ships. Yeah, for sure. We figured it out.

No. And so the way that the magazine games played is work, it works like this. So if you have a magazine, let's say you have 100,000 for easy math. You pay for your space on your shelf, and then what doesn't sell, you buy back. And you bring back in house and you recycle or do whatever with, right? And so a good sell through, let's say, is like 18 to 22%. Like 22% is we're very excited about this issue, how well itself sold through. And I'm like, so what do you do with the rest?

Like you buy them back and you shred them. Well, that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. So let's not do it that way. And so what we decided to do is we're going to give them away for free and what we call controlled circulation. But I just didn't want to throw them out in the doctor's offices and the local coffee shops hoping an outdoorsman picks them up. I mean, that's just, that's just chaos.

It's called littering, in my opinion. So I spent a while, and I managed to, through a few relationships, get all of the Bass Pro Shops and Cabela's in Texas. And I'm like, this is where it's going to start. So we stroked the biggest check of our adult lives at about 34. And the rule was you could not ever have an empty rack. And they had to be on the rack for two years. And we had Martin Truex Jr. on the cover. He had just one.

And they were gone in two weeks. I'm like, uh-oh. We got a problem. start stroke on a bigger check. And my wife's like, well, how are we going to do that? We're not really selling a whole lot of advertising. And, well, you know, as like again, you know, nobody cares, work harder. We just worked and worked and worked.

And y'all are men of faith. And our pastor has a saying that, you know, you do the natural. God will do the supernatural. And I think every day and everything that I do, I'm able to look myself in the mirror and go, I've left it all on the floor. There's nothing here. And that's what we did in the, beginning we just we there were nights we got to a point where our mortgage was

overdue we had no food we were like hugging each other at night crying like what are we going to do and to save all the the inside baseball of the things that happened and the the trials we had to endure and figure out we made a few choice decisions that allowed us to cut a few people and in things that weren't going necessarily right for us and where we're going to take advantage of And the ship started to turn. And by about issue five, we broke even. And then we're like, wow, we actually didn't lose money on this deal.

And by issue six, we made a couple thousand bucks. And we're like, wow, we could actually eat tonight. And things got easier. And the next issue got easier. The next issue got easier. And I think God just kept doing the supernatural. And, you know, we were talking about it. And I will be the first to admit, guys.

I am a very faithful person. I probably don't know the Bible. Bible as well as I should, though this was the first book I bought for my son was the sportsman's Bible. I wrote him a letter in here and it says all that you need to know is in this book. I love it. I wrote him a great little note when he figures out how to read someday. Right now he just wants to draw on it and I have to hide it in a drawer somewhere from him. But, you know, we would, anytime we would have something terrible happened to us, I took it as a sign that the devil was getting in the way of God's plan.

and I would get excited because I knew that we were on the right path anytime something bad happened because if we were on the right path and something bad happened, that was the devil trying to get in our way. And I would get strangely excited because I was like, you know what? Bring it on, devil, because I am a competitor. I am a fighter. I work hard when nobody cares anyway and I will grind until literally I have nothing absolutely left. And that's what you need to do to fight the devil. But I'm like, bring it on.

And that used to be my saying almost, bring it on because I knew I was on the right path. And today we're America's fastest growing outdoor magazine for lifestyle and entertainment. We're in almost every single state. We have over $100,000 or over $75,000 in circulation soon to be $100,000 by the end of the year. 220,000, something like that, thousand digital subscribers. That's awesome. You know, it's a testament to God's work and our hard work, man. We still do all we can in the natural.

So you did an article on Jace, and it's about treasure hunting? It is about treasure hunting. I'm glad that at some point, you know, when he was talking, I thought a weird thought. I think we're probably the only people in the world that have been on the cover of hook and barrel and GQ. I don't think you were going on the cover. Really? But you were, there was an article, yes. No, I think we were actually on the camera.

But maybe I'm wrong. But we were actually in the article, which turned out to be quite controversial. Yeah. But so that was an interesting statement. Because I couldn't imagine you're like, man, we need some people if you're going to come up with that idea of a magazine. And then all of a sudden someone must have showed you a picture of us. And you're like, because you said redneck GQ. I mean, that was actually the duck show we had.

That's right. That was the aura they presented. because as you claimed in the last podcast that you were a model of sorts so i guess i have uh there's a local store they they have a store of a chain of one and i wear their stuff because it's just an outdoor it's good godly men selling outdoor stuff mostly fishing but yeah outdoor stuff yeah and uh i love their products so i go in there but every time i wear something they say people i guess they paused the frame and zoom up where I got it. And he said, we keep getting emails from y'all's podcast listeners,

wanting to buy our stuff. So they keep giving me merchandise, you know. But your story is a lot like ours, even with the duck calls. Yeah, I thought about that when he was in time. Phil said, hey, I want to serve God, leave my family to heaven, and we're just going to work hard and build duck calls. And that's kind of how it happened. It was a struggle.

Yeah. And, but it just, year after year, it just got better and better. I think, John, it does something. I've always said about our business and our family, and it sounds kind of similar to what you and your wife did, is that the humility training part of that helps you realize when you find success that it wasn't you that did it. It was, it was God that made it possible, but you did the work in the process. That's why I love that natural and supernatural, because a lot of people say, well, I just don't know, sit there. or I wait for God to drop this in my lap. No, he never said that.

No. You know, what he said was is, I need you to do what I've called you to do, which sounds like what you guys have done. Well, we were reading on the last podcast about the Ephesians, too, we're God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works. Now, I know he was talking about, you know, representing Jesus in heaven,

but that's what we do just in the little things of life that people say, oh, there's something different about these people. But to answer your question, Al, which is because I never answered your question. but we, they took notice of our show. I don't know how y'all ever got wind of that. But, and basically, you know, I got into treasure hunting from this podcast because it was a hobby that I picked up and really helping a family friend out who was going through cancer.

And I just presented it to our audience on whether we are to do a show or not. And they overwhelmingly convinced me to do that. and so we've done multiple seasons. But the irony of the show is that, yes, we're out there using a metal detector. We're in the outdoors. There's a lot of great things about it, especially when COVID happened. I'm like, well, why not be a metal detector? I mean, you're out there, you know, social distancing, whatever.

We were out there, you know, finding treasures. But the irony of the show, because it's based on a biblical principle, you know, in Luke 15 on the reason Jesus gave those around him, because they said, well, look, if you were a man of God, you wouldn't be sitting here eating with tax collectors and sinners. And he told three stories on why he was doing that. And it was basically the idea that there's joy in life when something lost and is found, but there's also joy in heaven when a person is lost and they're found by God.

And one of those stories was finding a lost coin, you know, and there was a lost sheep and obviously, you know, a lost son. But so that's how we did the show. We go out there and we treasure out and we have a good time. We have fun. But then there's always a subtle irony of what is the true treasure of life. And so we did it. And I think it plants a seed in people's mind having that thought, you know, which we believe is ultimately Jesus, finding your faith in Jesus. Absolutely, man.

And even on the surface, though, and it kind of goes back to a little bit about a hook and barrel, too. We hook somebody in through the celebrity or the story, but we actually seed the outdoors and all the great things the outdoors brings to society. And I think what I love about the show, too, is even though you may attract, you attract people of all different demographics, and you're able to spread that message that you just described there. But the hook is you're trying to find treasure. And it's a good way to bring in somebody that may be a non-believer, somebody that may, you know, at any walk of life, right? They get hooked on this idea because everybody wants to find something cool like that. And then through the show, you get your message across. And I think that's similar to things that we try to do is find a hook.

And once you get the, once you get the fish on the hook, you know you could get them to the boat. And that's kind of, I think that's a fun way that you guys are doing it too. Yeah, there's one criteria we use. I don't know if we've ever heard this in public, but I always go back to, even in this show, with Duck Family Treasure, you know, I was one of the executive producers, so I'm watching the edit as it happens, the rough cut.

And I'm like, what a 10-year-old kid enjoyed this. And I got that from, because all the years of, you know, that we did our Duck show on A&E, what I was amazed at is how many, kids watch that show. Even today. I mean, just I was just this past weekend. I mean, I had several now grown adults.

You know, when I was a kid, you know, I just fell in love with it. It was my happy place. And I think that's a good, good model. Because when you think about the entertainment that's out there in the world today, your pickings are slim when you're looking at what will help mold kids into great human being. Well, I met some kids at the event I was at that were too young for our show,

but now, I mean, we're too little, but now we're watching it because it's a beautiful thing about television, you can watch it, you know, into perpetuity because there's episodes that are there. John, let me ask you, you obviously love the outdoors, and when we're talking about next generation, I mean, we've got so many kids now

that everything is on the computer, the tablet, the, you know, the phone, And what are people missing by not being outdoors? I mean, what is that done for you in terms of just your general life? What motivates you? I know you've gotten your wife involved with a lot of what you do as well. What would you say is the best selling point for outdoors, especially for the next generation? Well, for the next generation, what I would say is the outdoors, I think a lot of parents,

there may be a selfish reason behind getting kids in the outdoors because they want to see their kid catch their first fish or maybe even shoot their first deer. But those warm and fuzzies are not what about getting kids outdoors is about. What the outdoors presents is an opportunity to be uncomfortable. And, you know, I heard an interesting stat that only 2% of people will take the stairs when it's right next to an escalator. And you could sit there and the author I was listening to said that he did this in the airport. and I did this in the airport just a few days ago when I was in Montana.

And that's about a true stat. Only 2% of people will take the stairs. And that goes back to the outdoors and living life uncomfortably. The outdoors teaches kids to not only appreciate what God's created in nature, but also to overcome adversity. And I think that's where a lot of our society is getting a little screwed up right now, is they sit on TikTok, they sit on their phones. and you could say whatever you want on this phone.

Now, you know, if you say it to my face, I'm going to knock your teeth in. And that's where I think our society, I'm not advocating for violence, but I'm saying, you can't run your mouth in the real world like they do on social media. You can't say those hateful things. And you also cannot, you know, kids get stuck and they're just death scrolling on this phone and they're just getting sucked in. And I will argue any day. I think there are a lot of bad things that happen in this world, but it really gets played up by media.

That kids run around your yard anymore, run around the neighborhood because they might get kidnapped. I think that does happen, but I think the media hysteria has definitely amplified us as parents our attention to it. And I think we may have overreacted to it. I think there is something to get your kids outside because I will argue any day, the weirdos come together on the internet. There are going to be way more people that are going to find your kids on their phones than they ever will running around the woods. Let your kids just go. And so, man, the outdoors is just so much more. I mean, I personally learned how to adapt and overcome some of the most difficult challenges in my life. I've been put in positions on mountain sides that I never thought I would get out of. Another one of our quotes from our pastors in Doroth persistence. We were stuck on the side of a mountain. My wife and I had no business being on.

Mount Catan when we were. We had, we had no training. We had, didn't even have real water. And we were up there trying to be mountaineers. And we endured with persistence. And we only got through it by the grace of God, I'll tell you that much. We got into a real bad situation up there. But these uncomfortable situations, taking the stairs rather than the escalators, builds the calluses on not only physically on your hands, but on your mind to get through things. And the outdoors is one of the few places that actually provide that. So, so my pastor has a saying called, It's endureth persistence. And when we were stuck on that mountain side that we had no business being on, we had to endure

persistence. And it was only really by the grace of God that we got off that thing and just sheer determination. But those are the things that the outdoors provide. It not only does it build calluses on your hands, but it builds calluses on your mind. And that's what I think kids now need to become better humans. Because a lot of these kids, man, they're really soft. All they do is watch TikTok videos and giggle about things. But I'll tell you what, like, I think kids should have fun, but they need to get out there.

They need, they need, and in nature is one of the few places in this world, in this world that we've developed where you could DoorDash, Amazon Prime and do anything. You really could live a very, very easy life. But you don't get that callousing that you need to be a better human. And the outdoors is one of the few places that provides that. And it's created a softness that's not good for us. Which really goes into our show. I mean, look, because it looks fun by the time the editing is done into a short little show. But, you know, we're hunting out there all day.

We've talked about it how hard it is. Oh, it's exhausting. But it's so rewarding. I mean, it's like any kind of something that puts you to the test, it's always much more rewarding when you have success. and that sounds like a t-shirt i guess but uh it could be i was just just this past friday so what is this uh so three or four days ago i get a call who was a he was a he's a he's now buddy of mine i'll take him duck hunting sometimes but he was friends with my son and he would watch our duck show and it's kind of one of the guys i'm talking about but he called me and uh so i was thinking it was

some kind of emergency because I haven't talked to him. And it's not duck season, obviously, we're in the middle of summertime. And he's like, Mr. Jace, I've really pulled a bad stunt because he's recently married. He said, I was cleaning out my fountain in the backyard, which immediately I thought of every time Phil was like, you know, too much time in the flower beds. You're recently married and you're back there. But I didn't go there. And he said there was a bunch of algae and I was flicking it off my hands.

and he said my wedding ring came off my hand. And he said, I've been looking for hours and I can't find it. And he said, I've seen your show. I mean, is there a way for you to find this? I was like, oh, I'll find that ring, you know. So I just, I said, I'll come over. And he said, when are you coming? I was like, right now, you know, so I got my stuff and went over there.

Well, I didn't know his whole family was there. I mean, they were having a big family gathering. And except the wife. And I said, is she so upset at you about this that she just left? And he's like, no, but she's not happy. So actually, it took a lot longer because I was like, where did you, which way did your hand go? And there was this huge flower bed. And I'm like, what's in the flower bed?

It has to be. He said, I heard it hit the ground. But I looked for maybe an hour, nothing. I mean, I found some little round things that go on rose bushes. You know, I'm finding all kind of stuff that's in his yard, but I could not find that ring. And so I just kept getting further and further away. And he's like, it didn't go that far.

I'm like, this detector does not lie. I mean, I've searched where we thought it was. I just kept going further. He's now doubting your ability. Yeah, he was. And it was creating more drama. And look, I could tell the family was getting restless, because now they're like, the guy just got married.

He's lost his wedding ring. What an idiot. Now he's brought in some professional. And so did you even have the ring on? They're questioning now everything. Are you sure? Because you had the fungus, I mean, the algae on your hand. So then about that time, I get a signal.

And it was the right number and the right sound in my ear for gold. And I thought, I think we got a possibility here. And so I put my, because this just happened. I'm surface, honey, and I'm like, why can't I see this? And I look down, and then all of a sudden I saw a little shine. And what had happened was when he flicked that ring off, it bounced through the flower bed, started to roll. And you know how they etch around flower beds?

Well, it was like a wall of three inches of dirt in that seam around the flower bed, and that ring was standing up, up against that. wall you would have never found this you it was not visible from looking above it the only reason i saw the shine is because i my pinpointer was going on yeah and i said oh jace and he looked and i pulled up the ring and look that place went berserk you know which i i don't know what is that your first live audience uh treasure hut it really was and i tell this story because we did an episode in duck family treasure where a girl and this was in season one,

had lost her wedding ring, and we just thought, well, we'll go find it. Because she said, my dog got it is what we think. And they had a long story on how that happened. You can watch the episode if you want to see. And so what my thought was, well, if the dog got it, let's just go detect every dog pile in the yard,

which, to my surprise, were hundreds. Yeah. And we never found it, so then we detected the dog. You know, And we never found it. And it was such a bummer because I just thought we'll find it. I mean, because the producer was like, well, what if we don't find it? I was like, well, we don't find it.

But, oh, we're going to find it. Well, we didn't. And so whether you have success or not, we ran it. That's what happened. But I just felt vindicated here because I'm like, okay, I actually found a ring, you know, that a guy lost. And it was a long story, but it was really fun. That just happened. And that's what I was going to say is it brought so much.

joy, like unrestrained response. So now we've got a whole new way of doing treasure hunting in piles of dog poo. That was a good episode. Well, it was a funny episode because I was like, hey, I think you ought to matter to detect that dog. John, does that make you want to get involved in treasure hunting? Well, I actually, you know, I have a similar story that doesn't include dog poo. Well, you said you wanted to be uncomfortable.

So I thought I changed that story. Yeah, there you go. There you go. Listen, dog poo doesn't make me feel uncomfortable. I mean, unless it was like somehow on me or my boots or I tracked in my wife's car or something. Yeah. Then it's uncomfortable. No. No, I was just down in Cabos and Lucas a few months ago.

And my family was down by the waterside and I wanted to run down there. And I had a longer necklace on and had a cross pendant on it. And I went running and all of a sudden I heard to tinct. And somehow it hit my watch. And I just saw this piece of gold. And it was my, it was my stepfathers actually. And my stepfather had just passed away last year or so.

And this thing goes flying through and right into the sand. And I'm like, oh my gosh, we were never going to find this. And the tide's coming in, right? And so we're staying out one of these like bougier like resorts, which we never stay at.

But my wife's like, well, Surely they have a metal detector. I'm like, well, I don't know about that. I mean, they got everything, but I don't know if they got a metal detector. But I'm sure maybe there's somebody's lost a wedding ring like that on the beach before here. And they didn't. And I spent, we spent hours sifting through the sand and the tides coming in, sifting,

and the tides get closer. And actually, honestly, at the end, there's a guy comes up to me. He's got this thick Alabama accent. And he tries to help me find it. I still couldn't find it. I literally just kind of said, God, whoever finds this piece of gold, hopefully it helps them more than more than helps me. And maybe they need the money or some reason they'll find it someday. And I just kind of walked away.

Well, sure enough, the next morning, talk about a crazy God thing. This woman comes up to me at breakfast at the buffet the next day. And she's like, excuse me, did you lose something on the beach yesterday? And I'm like, yes, ma'am, I did. And she goes, my husband. And it was that guy from Alabama. I was like, only, only a hunter could find a gold, a little tiny gold thing in the sand, you know, how it went. He, I guess he had spent another hour or so looking for it.

He probably was done drinking dafferies on the beach or something and just decided he wanted to go look for something and be a hunter. But he found that little tiny cross. And I happened to be at breakfast at 7 a.m. because we were leaving for an early flight. The wife happened to be there. and she ran back to that room and got that little tiny cross that had somehow sunk down to that sand in Cabo, San Lucas. And it's amazing. Things go further when you hit them or throw them, then you actually think. It's like deer, right?

Sometimes you're like, oh, it dropped. It didn't go 20. And next thing you know, it's like 150 yards away and it's dark. Yeah. And you swore you. Then they're like, did I miss that thing? You know, it's amazing. We thought the same thing.

You know, when I found that ring, it was about 20, over 20 yards. 25 maybe from where he just flung it. Yeah. But, you know, I think it rolled. Yeah, probably rolled. It rolled because it had pine straw on the flower bed. Yeah. But it caused a lot of joy, and we had a happy end into that story.

But that, I mean, look, I'm glad you promote the outdoor. We were all raised in the outdoors, and it taught us a lot of skills that you discussed. And, you know, I married a woman who is not an outdoor. person. But deep down, she loves that I am because it helps her feel safe and secure, especially every time there's some kind of panic, you know, that happens. Because she's like, well, I got a man who can survive. And it's not a small thing. I love what you said earlier, John, about where the real danger lies. We were staying at a place on this event I did this

past weekend. We stopped in Texas and a friend of a friend of mine. And he's way out in the wood. and he's got this kind of set apart little, you know, almost like a little cabin from his regular house. And they said, would you want to stay out there? You know, they made into a nice little bedroom and or would you rather stand the house? And I'm like, no, we're out in the middle of nowhere. Yeah, I would love to stay. I mean, they were thinking I would be scared to be out there.

And I was like, no, no, no, we're far away from real danger. If we were in a city, then I would be a little bit worried about being out someplace. So you were exactly right. We just got a little bit of time left. Tell folks, what's the best way? Jay, your feature is going to be in the, is it July-August issue? Is that right, John? Yeah, actually, just hit our homepage.

Oh, cool. We launched the digital content a little bit earlier than we launched the actual print magazine to get people excited to go pick that up. But you could pick up a hook and barrel at most of America's top retailers, including Bassboro and Cabellas in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, but all the other independent retailers coast to coast. but the best way to get it is to go to hook and barrel.com. You could either subscribe there because it's always cheaper to pay the $39.99.

They go to BassPro because you always leave there a Benjamin lighter. Anytime I go to Bass Pro. A Benjamin are three. Yeah, exactly. Or three, exactly. But you could always go to hook and barrel.com. You could also find the content there. So right now, Jase, your article is underneath the new issue.

This next issue covers the United States Olympic shooting team. They're searching for gold too in Paris this year. And yeah, yours is right there, right underneath there in the current issue. So you can pick it right up off the homepage, hook and barrel.com. Well, John, it's been a pleasure. Thank you for coming on Unashamed. Thank you for what you do for the outdoors and the Almighty. So we pray blessings on your brother.

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