WHAT A DIFFERENCE GOD CAN MAKE IN ONLY A YEAR!

 
Wow, what a difference a year makes... or more accurately said, "Wow, what a difference God can make in a year!" Last year I had nothing else to give. This year I'm overflowing. Last year I was burying myself with my Dad. This year God is raising me up from the ashes. Last year I had to cancel our Annual Banquet because I had hit rock bottom. This year we are relaunching our Annual Banquet because I'm standing on The Rock! Last year I was a train wreck. This year God promoted me to train conductor! Last year I was a dumpster fire. This year I'm back on fire for God's call on my life! Last year I was preparing to shut down the ministry at 30 years. This year God is launching the ministry into the next 30 years! Last year the enemy was digging my grave. This year I'm dancing on top of that grave! Last year I was Peter in the courtyard listening to the rooster crow. This year I'm Peter at Pentecost watching the Spirit flow! Last year it was over. This year we have only just begun! Join us on October 20th to see what the devil was trying so hard to stop, but God preserved "FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS"!

SO SAVE THE DATE!! ...GTD's ANNUAL BANQUET IS OCTOBER 20th AT THE PINELLAS PARK PERFORMING ARTS CENTER AS WE RELAUNCH THIS MINISTRY INTO THE NEXT 30 YEARS!

 

 

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JOIN US FOR FOR OUR LAST PUBLIC EVENT OF GTD's 2026 SUMMER OF FUN >>> GO VERTICAL (SEPT 5-9)!!

  
Looking for one last God-awesome adventure to close out the 2026 summer?!?! Look no further! Join GTD over the Labor Day holiday for an exciting adventure of rock climbing & rappelling in the mountains of northeastern Georgia. This is our last big adventure priced at our 30th anniversary price of only $30!! You can't stay home for less money than that!!

For details about & registration for GO VERTICAL click on this link.

Going The Distance Adventure Ministry
God-awesome Adventures Since 1996! CELEBRATING 30 YEARS OF MINISTRY!!

 

 

THANK YOU DANIEL & TRAIL LIFE TROOP 901!!!

  
This morning 10 year old Daniel earned his Timberline Award for Trail Life by successfully organizing a Troop Service Project to help serve a nonprofit organization (in this case, GTD). He did a fantastic job!! In only 2 hours Troop 901 painted our equipment storage container (with 2 coats of paint!), cut up and discarded 7 trash cans & 1 truck load full of tree limbs & branches, painted 20 planks (to be used on an upcoming project), & weedeated high grass around the back perimeter! They did in 2 hours what it would have taken me or Carson 2 days to do! Wow, what a blessing to our ministry!! Our friend Nate Zeitler said that we should call my home / GTD headquarters "The Projects" because we have so many projects that need to be completed hahaha!! I love that name! So, moving forward, the GTD Headquarters will be affectionately known as "The Projects". I live in The Projects lol. I work in The Projects lol. We are in the midst of planning several Work Days for the next 10 months to tackle many of the projects in The Projects. If you have a group that would like to volunteer for a God-awesome nonprofit organization (or if you are an individual looking to volunteer a half day or many half days) we would love your help! GTD is an official 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that qualifies for many school's & group's required annual volunteer hours and we would be blessed & honored to host you for a work project just like young Daniel organized!! Congratulations and thank you so much Daniel and Trail Life Troop 901 for blessing & impacting our ministry in such a stellar way! We respect and are inspired by your love of Jesus, country, & others! God bless you guys!!

To learn more about our local Trail Life Troop 901 check out their Facebook Page here.
 

 

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20 WEEKS WITHOUT MISSING A WORKOUT... LOL, DOING WHATEVER IT TAKES!

   
I've never made it thru a summer of Adventure Trips without eventually "falling off the wagon" with my workouts, my nutrition, sound sleep, or believe or not quality daily devotions. It actually makes sense when you think about it. We work 16 hour days running event after event. The days are often fast paced with high physical, mental, & emotional demand. The human body gets fatigued, and consistency can easily go out the window. If you have ever gone on action packed vacation and tried to have consistent quality workouts, nutrition, sleep, & daily devotions you may have experienced that it's really hard to stay on top of it away from your structure. That's what happens to me almost every summer. Even though we have daily devotions on the trips I'm often fighting the preoccupation of thinking through every detail of the day we are leading up. In addition, in the privacy of my home, I like to actively pray as I walk & talk to God & worship Him (I call it prayer pacing). If you were to see me through the windows you would probably think I'm schizophrenic or that I've totally lost it. I'd feel way to awkward walking around camp talking & signing out loud while other people were trying to have some stillness so they can pray & read the Word. Anyways, it's super challenging to stay consistent while on the road. But this time I've doubled down on my discipline while easing up on how I define a quality workout, devotion, nutrition, & sleep habits while traveling. My goal this summer is to "maintain the gains"... to do at least the minimal needed to not go backwards. Then after the summer is over I can pick up where I left off before the summer started instead of starting all over again because I didn't maintain. Anyways, this may sound pretty basic or trivial, but for me it's a major breakthrough if I can pull it off. I haven't missed a workout (or regular quality devotions, good sleep, & decent nutrition) in 20 weeks PTL, and my new adjustments seem to be the perfect strategy that has eluded me for 30 years of summers. This day was leg day (yes, I do workout my legs even though they don't look like it hahaha... somebody has to make the chickens feel validated lol) so I pieced together a squat & calf raising weight set out of a tree limb & propane tanks hahaha! I guess you could say, "No (pro)pain, no gain!". I do have a gym bag full of resistance bands that I usually use, but this day I wanted to switch it up lol. Going from survival to revival 1 workout & 1 day at a time. Getting back to my old drive, motivation, & passion for life =) . Thank You Jesus!!

 

 

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GTD IS A MINISTRY "FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS"

  
One thing I keep being reminded every GTD event is that Christ-centered outdoor recreation ministries are needed now more than ever. I can't even begin to tell you the impact that God is making when we take a break from the high paced, high stress, high pressure, heavily technologically saturated "concrete jungle" and go into God's amazing playground to combine play, nature, camping, healthy risk taking, adventure, physical activity, being outside your comfort zone, togetherness, teamwork, purposeful daily tasks, an intentional balanced & Christ-centered daily agenda, campfires, doing hard things, sharing highlights of the day, reading God's Word, talking to God, worshipping God, putting the phone down and actually engaging with the people you're with, making pizza quesadillas (I had to throw that in), & most importantly (this is the real force multiplier) - honoring & seeking God first. I'm not exaggerating when I say that it's! life! changing!... it's trajectory changing... it resets, refreshes, renews, & revitalizes in jaw-dropping ways. It's the perfect environment for God to do a great work in & through you. I know this personally from 30 years of witnessing the impacts. I also know this from my own personal experience because God kept renewing & reviving me thru GTD trips over the past 5+ of the hardest years of my life. So I'm not just the "director", I'm also the participant and the recipient. As I see the stark contrast from the peacefulness & fulfillment found in the setting I just described versus the road raging and oftentimes hopeless, heartless, & ruthless "man-made" setting that brings young people to epidemic levels of suicide, rage, & disorders I think to myself the words of Mordecai to Queen Esther when God used her to save the Jewish people, "And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?"(Esther 4:14). I'm convinced that GTD is the precise ministry "FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS". Not to sound overly dramatic, but as I look around at a generation of kids, youths, & young adults addicted to brain rotting technology that oftentimes leaves them hopeless, lonely, afraid of everything, & sometimes even as dumb as a box of rocks (such as a lack of common sense or even able to do basic math without a calculator or unable to find a location without a map app that they have driven to numerous times) then I realize this ministry (GTD) was built by God "FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS". We have completed 30 years of ministry, and now God is RELAUNCHING us into the next 30 years "FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS". Don't underestimate what God can do in your life & soul when you get outside with a Christ-centered outdoor adventure ministry!

(*this is a screenshot of a text message from a new participant and a new friend that joined us on a recent GTD event. Glory to God!)

Thank youuuuu soooooo much to all our supporters and volunteers and prayer warriors that make life change thru Jesus possible!! You share in the fruit because you shared in tilling the ground!

Going The Distance Adventure Ministry
God-awesome Adventures Since 1996! CELEBRATING 30 YEARS OF MINISTRY!

 

 

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GLOW IS MORE THAN SOLD OUT... IT'S "OVERBOOKED"!!!

  
We've had such an overwhelming response to our GLOW Bioluminescent Nite Paddle scheduled for August that we increased our maximum participation from 30 to 40!! Thankfully God has blessed us with a lot of kayaks, paddleboards, & amazing volunteers so we are able to squeeze in 10 more people =). PTL!! Can't wait for this event! The SUMMER OF FUN continues!!

Next Public Event: GO VERTICAL Rock Climbing & Rappelling Trip (Sept 5-9, 2027) near Toccoa, GA... click this link for details.

 

 

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3 MONTHS TILL GTD's RELAUNCH! ...GTD RELAUNCH COMING OCT 20th!!!

  
Celebrating 30 years of God-awesome outdoor adventure ministry (1996-2026) PTL!!! Aaaaaaaaand we are RELAUNCHING GTD into our next 30 years of ministry on October 20th!!! SAVE THE DATE >>> GTD'S ANNUAL BANQUET IS ONLY 3 MONTHS AWAY =)

Going The Distance Adventure Ministry
God-awesome Adventures Since 1996!

 

 

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FAMILY CAMP'S FINAL FULL DAY ENDS WITH A HUMAN AVALANCHE!!

  
The families of Calvary Church of Clearwater packed a lot into their last full day of camp including a whole lot of fun sliding down the iconic local attraction - Sliding Rock of Pisgah National Forest. Pictured here are some of the kids that attended this year's event and they became closer friends as they did so many fun adventures together such as this human avalanche "train" sliding down a waterfall! All the kids were fantastic! We never heard a single complaint, argument, or disruption the entire 5 days together (even though we encountered a lot of rain)! These kids were in their element... away from the over saturation of brain rot technology and into the healthy saturation of playing in God's amazing playground!! Their imaginations and playfulness were unleashed! We are already looking forward to Family Camp 2027!!!

Going The Distance Adventure Ministry
God-awesome Adventures Since 1996!!
CELEBRATING 30 YEARS OF MINISTRY!

 

 

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BONDING THRU ADVENTURE & JESUS!! ...CALVARY FAMILY CAMP 2026 > TURTLEBACK FALLS DAY!!

  
It's so awesome how quickly God can build deeper bonds in families thru the love & joy of Jesus and the "bonding adhesion" of adventuring together! Yesterday's adventure was hiking 3.5 miles (round trip) & sliding over a fUntastic waterfall in NC! Both kids & adults loved it as they did it together ❤️. And to top things off, my amazing cousins - Dana & Martha - joined us for the day! It was a really good day 😀

 

 

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NEXT TRIP!! ...OUR ANNUAL CALVARY CHURCH ADVENTURE TRIP FOR FAMILIES IS OFF TO A TUBULAR START!

  
Just as SLAMMED was ending our next group was arriving! Calvary Church of Clearwater is kicking off their 7th annual Adventure Trip for Families with a totally tubular start!!!

Going The Distance Adventure Ministry
God-awesome Adventures Since 1996!
CELEBRATING 30 YEARS OF MINISTRY!!!

 

 

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SLAMMED 2026 WAS UNFORGETTABLE!!

  
God blessed us so much over the course of 5 days!! We made a year's worth of memories in just a few days! Thank You Jesus!!!

 

 

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CARSON TAKES THE DRIVER'S SEAT! ...SLAMMED 2026 HAS OFFICIALLY BEGUN!

  
Carson is leading up his first ever GTD Adventure Trip, and he's doing a great job! He's making 90% of the decisions from camp layout to daily agenda to navigating stormy conditions to meal selection!! We usually let the group set up their tents & cots, but he instructed us to set them up for the participants before they arrive yesterday... all the participants really appreciated that! Tonight he is leading up a new GTD meal of Mexican chicken quesadillas! We are all loving the decisions he's making!! Passing the torch as we relaunch GTD into our next 30 years of ministry!!!

 

 

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30 YEARS OF SLAMMED STARTS TODAY!!

 
Made it to NC... hitching up and heading to camp!! =)

 

 

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MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!

We returned a few days ago from our Costa Rica Mission Trip with the Zeal School of Ministry (ZSOM) students of Calvary Chapel Fellowship! They got so much done as they encouraged & blessed so many people... there is so much to share!! More posts to come! But now Carson & I are on a flight to North Carolina to run back-to-back Adventure Trips!! God is up to something special!

Going The Distance Adventure Ministry
God-awesome Adventures Since 1996!
CELEBRATING 30 YEARS OF MINISTRY!!

 

 

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