Ep 909 | Phil Is Mistaken for a Homeless Man at His Own Event & Jase Sifts Through Dog Poo for Treasure
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I am unashamed. What about you? Welcome back to Unashamed. Man, we left off with Zayt doing some serious preaching. You know, I was thinking, Zayt, 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 they had 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, but I've spoken at, I don't want to put a number on it, but different, I don't even know what we call it. 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, I 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 turn 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 our guy that we were with down there. But the only person that 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.

He said, come to our church and do what you said. Because we want to invite some people in. They were thinking just what they saw. They thought, well, this will be pretty good. We'll just get people to come in here. Well, what's funny is Phil always would do his duck call seminar, and then 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. 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's 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 said,

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. That's right. 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. 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. And as I recall, a few people 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 out. And we got over it. Yeah. Don't judge a book by its cover. You got that, Zap?

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-church setting that were you planning like, I'm going to give them something here? 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 to those DU banquets and some of those risque is not a strong enough word. I mean, strip and raunchy. 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 God.

heaven itself, Jesus enthroned and work to be done. And even I didn't read the Ephesians 6:10, Al, but you brought it up after the podcast, 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 settings, 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 in the airport, all day, or the 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 Pepperdine.

Who sang, they led worship yesterday at church. Yeah. But they were staying at my house. Right. I come rolling in there about nine 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'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, uh, and of course they were believers, but they seem fired up about it, which as tired as I was, it started about a two hour conversation, uh,

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 willing. And so I was really excited, which is why I went to that, and here I'm seeing which they were awesome.

Well, what's ironic, Jay, is you didn't know this, but the guy that makes these 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 it, you know what it's called? It's called 611 Armory.

And it's based on, guess what, Ephesians 6.11. Are you 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 him out, 6.11 Army as well. Yeah, I 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 y'all, you know, I told you this crazy story when I was going through the roundabout. There's a woman almost hit me, and when I looked at her, she had a cheeseburger in one hand and a cell phone in the other, and was driving with her knees and looked at me like, what are you getting all bent out of shape about? Yeah.

But I just noticed. And what was in both hands can 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, woo-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 1,000 men. And I was surprised. I would say probably 100. 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, the only, and it was dark and I couldn't see very good, but there was a guy on the front row, you know, 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,

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 looked down at the 20 and I thought about the message on there. Yeah. 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. Yeah.

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 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. It's in God we trust. Everybody cheered, you know. It turned out to be a pretty good illustration. You were just taking what you had. You were taking what you had and turned it into a little less of that. That's what it is. Well, so, Brad, 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 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 them away. But I saw the video of it, and it scared me to 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 when 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. Young people leaving, being thrown, and it's –

It was his original call. Some of them 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. 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 arrived. We've 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. So we like to support businesses that love America. I think that's safe to say. And one of our sponsors, Jace, is a group called Patriot Mobile. And they've been around for quite a while. They're America's only Christian conservative wireless provider.

and they've been doing it for over 10 years, which is fantastic. So we like supporting these guys. They offer dependable nationwide coverage. They give the ability to access all three major networks. You get the coverage you're used to, but you don't have to fund left-wing causes, which we like that. When you switch to Patriot Mobile, you're letting everyone know you support free speech, religious freedom, sanctity of life, Second Amendment, military veterans, and first responders.

All the things that matter to us. So they have 100% U.S.-based customer service team that makes switching to Patriot Mobile easy. You can keep your number and your phone or you can upgrade. They will find the best plan and the best deal that fits your needs.

Go to patriotmobile.com slash phil, or you can call them at 972-PATRIOT. You get free activation when you use the offer code phil. So join us, make the switch today, patriotmobile.com slash phil. That's patriotmobile.com slash phil, or you can call them at 972-PATRIOT.

Welcome back. We have our guest, John Radzuela. Did I get it right? You did. You did. Thanks. It's like Godzilla, just a cool factor. Just a cool factor. That was my first thought. Your name is proof that dinosaurs really did exist. Yeah.

And it rode skateboards, Rad's Willa. Rad's 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 started the magazine, Willie was on the cover of our 2019 September-October issue.

And, um, 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. Um, we actually had Willie on the cover again of our January issue here with the Buckman, uh, of this past year. And, um, Willie has always been a cover guy. He, he loves to be on the cover of anything. I mean, um,

It could just be 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. 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. Yep. 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...

But it kind of goes along with, you know, 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. 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 where 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. Uh-oh. They had said that we needed to have food for you guys. When your worst curse gets this long, you're going to die.

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-fil-A we promised to prank you. But you were definitely a man of... I haven't heard this story. Tell us the story, Todd. Oh, yeah. Did he try any of this? Well, you know, it was. It was kind of funny because... So Phil comes in and...

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, was like, he needs to have lunch. We're like, yeah, they'll, you know, we'll grab Chick-fil-A, you know? And so we'll grab whatever we could get. But I was like, we're going to take it a step further because it's actually April Fool's. And we went, I got some sushi. Oh,

a weird dragon fruit from, from the store and, and the angriest looking at energy drink I get, it was, 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 them. 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. Yeah.

It's 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 about it for years. For years, I didn't pay any attention to it. You just didn't participate. You're not pranking a lot of people. Do you go there and prank Jimmy Redd and some of the people?

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 why you started it, what you guys are trying to accomplish with it before we get into Jace's piece. Well, Hook and Barrel 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 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, cause I was working in the media and I was trying to get things placed. And, um,

as i sat down and kind of thought about where i wanted to place my clients i 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 uh critters we're targeting targeting as outdoorsmen and then there's all the lifestyle magazines like the gqs the maxims the the men's healths the men's journals and those definitely um uh let's just say don't necessarily agree with a lot of my values and um

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 on 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 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 and 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. Yeah.

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. Yeah.

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 advantage. That's why it says nobody cares, work harder behind you on the screen. This is getting into the burning the ship story, you know. Yeah, we burned the ships. Yeah, for sure. We figured it out. No. And so the way that the magazine games play just 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. And so a good sell through, let's say is like 18 to 22%. 22% is we're very excited about this issue, how well it sold through. And I'm like, so what do you do with the rest? 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 a 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 that's just that's just chaos it's called littering in my opinion so i spent a while and um 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 stroke 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, um,

they were gone in two weeks like uh-oh we got a problem uh start start stroking 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 uh 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 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, the trials we had to endure and figure out,

We made a few choice decisions that allowed us to cut a few people and 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, I'm a very faithful person. I probably don't know the Bible as well as I should though. Um, this was the first, 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. Um, 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, um, but,

You know, we would, anytime we would have something terrible happen 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 75,000 in circulation, soon to be 100,000 by the end of the year.

220, 230, 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. Jay, so you live in a balanced life these days. Well, I try to. You know, the older you get, the more you realize having some kind of exercise and a healthy diet. But there's just so much junk out there that's so tempting now. That's right.

I know those temptations. The bottom line is we don't get enough fruits and vegetables, and that's where balance of nature comes in. Exactly. It's about balance. And, you know, you need more than you can actually physically eat with actual fruits and vegetables. I'm sure there's someone out there that could. But for most of us, especially we're on the go,

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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 quite ready to cover no we were but you were there was an article yes no i think we were actually on the cover but maybe i'm wrong but we were actually in yeah the article which turned out to be quite controversial um

Yeah. But, uh, so that was an interesting statement. Cause 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've showed you a picture of us. And you're like, cause you said redneck GQ.

I mean, that was actually the duck show we had. That's right. That was the aura they presented because. Well, Jazz, you claimed in the last podcast that you were a model of sorts. So I guess. I have. There's a local store. They have a store, 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 I love their products. So I go in there. But every time I wear something, they say people, I guess they pause 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, uh, but your story is a lot like ours, even with the duck calls. Yeah. I thought about that when he was still, he'll 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.

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 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 want to sit around and wait for God to drop this in my lap. No, he never said that. No. What he said was, 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 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, because I never answered your question, but they took notice of our show. I don't know how y'all ever got wind of that. And basically, 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 ought 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 money

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 out, we go out there and we treasure hunt 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, uh, it plants a seed in people's mind, having that thought, you know, which we believe is ultimately Jesus finding, finding your faith in Jesus. Absolutely, man. And, um, you know, and, and not on, even on the surface though, and it kind of goes back to a little bit about a hook and barrel too. We, we hook somebody in through the celebrity or the story, um,

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 nonbeliever, somebody that may –

you know, 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 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 said this in public, but I always go back to even in this show, the 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, cause all the years of, uh, you know, that we did our duck show, uh,

on A&E, what I was amazed at is how many kids watch that show. Yeah. Even today. I mean, uh, just, I was just this past weekend. I mean, I had several now grown adults, uh, you know, when I was a kid, it, you know, I just fell in love with it. It was my happy place. And, uh,

And I think that's a 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 beings. We've got ourselves a merchandise store. One of the best ways to get the word out about what you enjoy doing is to have some merchandise that tells other people what you're like and what you're into.

unashamedmerch.com is what ours is called. It has a special promo code, unashamed10, which allows you to get 10% off of your order. So you can get the blind mug. There's Love Always Protect t-shirts. Right here, I'm holding in my hands a I Ride With King Jesus coffee mug with Dad's mug on the other side. See what I did there, Jayce?

Um, so we'll keep building it as long as you keep, uh, using them and telling people what you're into. Blaze Media also has some merchandise. They're Blaze Heritage Collection. So a lot of good stuff out there. Hats, stickers, mugs, sweaters, tons of stuff. A lot of fun. Head on over to unashamedmerch.com today. Use the promo code unashamed10 for 10% off your order. It's a good deal. unashamedmerch.com. Be sure you use the promo code unashamed10 to get your 10% off. Check them out.

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 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 has 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... 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. Letting kids run around your yard anymore or 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. I think we may have overreacted to it. I think there is something to getting 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 mountainsides that I never thought I would ever.

get out of. Um, another one of our quotes from our pastors endure with persistence. We were stuck on the side of a mountain. My wife and I had no business being on Mount Katahdin 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, by the grace of God. I'll tell you that much. Uh,

Um, 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 actually provide that. So, so my pastor has a saying called it's, it's endureth persistence. And when we were stuck on that mountain side that we had no business being on, we had to endureth persistence. And, um,

It was only really by the grace of God that we got off that thing and just sheer determination. But, but those are the things that, that the outdoors provide. It's, 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. Cause a lot of these kids, man, they're really soft. All they do is watch Tik TOK videos and giggle about things. But I'll tell you what, like, I think kids should have fun.

They need to get out there. They need, they need, and, and, and nature is one of the few places in this world, in this world that we've developed where you could door dash Amazon prime and do anything. You really could live a very, very easy life. Um, but you don't get that callusing 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. And it's not really goes into our show. I mean, look, it, cause it's,

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 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, you know, when you have success. And that sounds like a t-shirt, I guess, but, uh, 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 now a 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 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 hand. 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 I, and he, 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 you come? And 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. And 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 has to be said. I heard it hit the ground.

But I looked for maybe an hour, nothing. I mean, I found some, some little round things that go on rose bushes and, you know, I'm finding all kinds 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 and-

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 happens. I'm surface hunting. 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 against that wall. You would have never found this. It was not visible from looking above it. The only reason I saw the shine was

It's because my pinpointer was going off. Yeah. And I said, oh, Jace. And he looked, and I pulled up the ring. And look, that place went berserk. Yeah.

You know, which I don't know what I was. Is that your first live audience treasure hunt? 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 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 that a guy lost. And it's 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. Yeah.

unrestrained response so now we've got a whole new way of doing treasure hunting in piles of dog poo yeah that was a good episode well it was a funny episode because i was like hey i think you ought to metal detect that 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 um

Well, you said you wanted to be uncomfortable, so I thought I'd tell you 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 it in my wife's car or something. Yeah, then it's uncomfortable. No, I was just down in Cabo San Lucas a few months ago, and my family was down by the water side, 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 a ting and somehow it hit my watch and I just saw this piece of gold. And it was my, it was my stepfather's 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. So, and the tides coming in, right?

And so we're staying at one of these like bougier like resorts, which we never stay at. But my wife was like, well, surely they have a metal detector. I'm like, well, I don't.

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 who's lost a wedding ring like that on the beach before here. And they, 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 and he's got this thick Alabama accent and, um, uh, and he tries to help me find it.

Still couldn't find it. And I literally just kind of said, God, whoever finds this piece of gold, hopefully it helps them more than it 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 a hunter could find a little tiny gold thing in the sand, how it went.

I guess he had spent another hour or so looking for it. He probably was done drinking daiquiris 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

It's amazing. Things go further when you hit them or throw them than you actually think. It's like deer, right? Sometimes you're like, oh, it dropped. It didn't go 20. The next thing you know, it's like 150 yards away and it's dark. Yeah, exactly. You swore. Then they're like, did I miss that thing? It's amazing. We thought the same thing when I found that ring. It was about over 20 yards, 25 maybe, from where he just flung it. But I think it rolled.

Yeah, probably rolled. It rolled because they had pine straw on the flower bed. Yeah. But it caused a lot of joy and we had a happy ending to 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 outdoors 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. Yeah.

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 woods and he's got this kind of set apart little, you know, almost like a little cabin from his regular house. And they said, well,

would you want to stay out there? You know, they made into a nice little bedroom and, or, or you, would you rather stay in 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, man,

Then I would be a little bit worried about being out someplace. So you're exactly right. We just got a little bit of time left. Tell folks, what's the best way? Jace, 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 Bass Pro and Cabela's 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 hookandbarrel.com. You could either subscribe there.

because it's always cheaper to pay the $39.99 than go to Bass Pro because you always leave there a Benjamin lighter anytime I go to Bass Pro. A Benjamin R3, yeah, exactly. R3, exactly. But you could always go to hookandbarrel.com. You could also find the content there. So right now, Jace, 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. Yeah.

And yeah, yours is right there, right underneath there in the current issue. So you can pick it right up off the homepage, hookandbarrel.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 you, brother. Thanks for listening to the Unashamed podcast. Help us out by rating us on iTunes.

And don't miss an episode by subscribing on YouTube and be sure to click that little bell to get notified about new episodes. And for even more content that you won't get anywhere else, subscribe to BlazeTV at blazetv.com slash unashamed.