 March 10, 1999
Fishing offers gospel hook on the pro circuit
___By Lynne Jones
___North American Mission Board
___AUSTELL, Ga.--Glenn Chappelear is a serious fisher of men.
___He also likes to catch fish in the process.
___Chappelear is a Mission Service Corps volunteer with the Southern Baptist North American Mission Board, touring on the Bassmaster and Forrest Wood /EverStart tours September through June every year, ministering to competitors and spectators throughout the nation.
___He and
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MISSIONS VOLUNTEER Glenn Chappelear travels the country fishing on a professional circuit and ministering to competitors and spectators. His unique ministry is sponsored in part by the North American Mission Board. (Photo by Gary Meek/NAMB)
| his wife, Donna, are among the missionaries featured in this year's Week of Prayer for North American Missions, March 7-14. The Week of Prayer is part of the Season of North American Missions, which also includes the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering, with a national goal for 1999 of $45 million and a challenge goal of $50 million.
___The offering directly supports hundreds of salaried missionaries appointed in cooperation with state Baptist conventions, but it also provides resources for a growing number of volunteer missionaries like Chappelear.
___A former youth minister with a love for fishing, Chappelear now leads evangelistic fishing clinics and is a frequent speaker at wild game dinners--in addition to ministering to fellow professional fishermen.
___Since his new ministry began in January 1998, he has seen 135 individuals commit their lives to Christ.
___But when the ministry transition began, the details of how God might work through his two passions were far from certain.
___Chappelear was in his sixth year as youth pastor of First Baptist Church of Powder Springs, a suburb of Atlanta, when he felt God was calling him to be on the fishing tour.
___On Jan. 8, 1997, when he and his wife learned they were expecting their first child, he thought life wasn't going to get much better. He even joked, "nothing will top this unless Ranger Boats calls and wants me to fish professionally."
___That same afternoon while at a boat show in downtown Atlanta, a representative of the boat manufacturer did just that.
___Chappelear turned to the North American Mission Board, where he discovered he had two options--chaplaincy or a volunteer program called Mission Service Corps.
___"I didn't like the word 'volunteer,'" he said. "I would have to raise my own support. I've always given money, but I'd never asked for it."
___Chappelear began thinking about fishing professionally while continuing his student ministry in the local church. He felt God had a reason for him to be on the fishing tour but wasn't sure what it was.
___"That's when I went to a fishing competition in western New York," he said. "I called the nearest Southern Baptist director of missions to ask if I could speak while I was there."
___The DOM told him there was no Southern Baptist ministry in the area he was going to, and "that was my Macedonian call to ministry," Chappelear said. "I had driven past 15 or more churches just to get to work at First Baptist that morning. I knew I was needed elsewhere."
___Chappelear's next step was to call the pastor of the Southern Baptist church closest to where he would be fishing in New York. "I asked him if I could speak in his church. He told me, 'Glenn, we've been praying that God would help us reach our community.'"
___A few weeks later, he went to a boat manufacturer dealer meeting in Branson, Mo. In talking with another professional fisherman, he asked if the man had made it to the Bassmaster Classic that year. "He answered, 'No, my wife and I got a divorce, and I just
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FISHING FOR MEN is something Glenn Chappelear does while angling for fish on the professional circuit. He and other Christian pro fishermen have built an outreach fishing seminar they use to present the gospel. (Photo by Gary Meek/NAMB)
| haven't been able to concentrate on fishing.'"
___"I sensed God's Spirit saying: 'Glenn, do you think anyone in the fishing industry cares that this man got a divorce? This is exactly who I want you to minister to,'" he said.
___Chappelear's love of fishing, hunting and outdoor life have given him opportunities to minister he never thought possible. He and other Christian pros have built an outreach fishing seminar, where they lead a 45-minute fishing session followed by Chappelear sharing the gospel.
___"I get to stand in my boat and tell them about Christ," he said. "I tell them, 'You've seen what I fish with, but this is what I live by,' and I hold up my Bible and tell them my testimony."
___With wild game banquets, Chappelear works with a local church to invite outdoorsmen from the community to share a meal of alligator, buffalo, caribou, rattlesnake and other exotic meats.
___"I talk about hunting and fishing, then share about priorities and give an invitation. This is how we reach guys who hunt and fish but don't show up on Sunday at 11 a.m."
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