Q & A with Author Doug Gilmer

We are joined today by author and outdoor enthusiast Doug Gilmer, also known as the Backcountry Chaplain. He has a blog by the same name.

Gilmer has a written a devotional book called “Backcountry Devotions” that is available in both print and e-book (Kindle / Nook) that I think you’ll find interesting, so I invited him here to speak about the connection between God and man in the outdoors.

Gilmer has been a licensed hunter since he was 12 years old. His first introduction to archery and big game hunting came from the legendary Fred Bear himself. Today, Gilmer is a freelance outdoor writer and operates Gilmer Outdoors, an outdoor communications, public relations, and consulting company.

He is also involved in Wildlife Interactive, LLC, Kicking Bear Foundation, and several other efforts to teach and inspire people to love and respect the outdoors. And he is a professor and the program director for the Adventure Leadership & Outdoor Ministry academic program at Liberty University. The program prepares students who not only have a passion for the outdoors but also a calling to use that passion in full-time ministry.

Thanks for joining us here at the Spiritual Man Cave, Doug. We appreciate your time.

It’s my pleasure and honor Lee! I love talking about the things I love, so you caught me hook, line, and sinker with your invitation.

What was your inspiration for writing your recently released devotional book, Backcountry Devotions?

In 2011 I decided I wanted to try and write a daily devotion (at least five days a week) where the scripture reference for the devotion corresponded to the date, month, and day. For instance, January 1 corresponds to Genesis 1:1, August 2 to Deuteronomy 8:2, March 6 to Proverbs 3:6.

Unbeknownst to me, Darin Letzring who owns Montana based Backcountry Adventure Press was subscribing to my devotions and he contacted me about putting them in a book. I had considered a book previously and had a number of people ask me to put them in a book, but I already had another writing project I was working. With Darin’s company on board I had resources available to make it happen much easier than if I did it myself.

As for the devotions, I managed to write five days a week for a year with only a few exceptions. I got to know the first 12 chapters and 31 verses of each book of the Bible very well.

When I was growing up, my parents divorced at an early age, but my grandfather took me fishing a couple of times a year. And while we were there, he was always teaching me about something. But now, as a society, we are a couple of generations deep into smart phones, video games, tablets, and various other forms of technology that threaten to be a time drain on men’s lives, pulling us away from the outdoors. Is your devotional a response to this – hoping to call us back to nature, and ultimately to nature’s God?

It is largely. The sad fact is that the average young person today spends seven hours a day in front of a TV or computer screen and, in contrast, only four to seven minutes outside playing. This is totally reversed from when I grew up. Granted, the only video games we had were the original Pong, and later Atari in the mid- to late-‘80s, but still our parents wouldn’t let us sit inside and play them all day.

As people continue to distance themselves from creation they are distancing themselves from the Creator as well. Creation is the greatest witness to God’s attributes (Romans 1:20) and to ignore it means we are choosing to ignore what God can teach us through it.

We must not forget the Bible begins and ends with creation. There are over 1,000 mentions of creation in the Bible (more than love and heaven); the word “wilderness” is mentioned over 260 times. There are about 150 references to archery in the Bible. Fishing illustrations are used throughout the Gospels. The first land and wildlife conservation practices were recorded first in the Bible.

If you look through the Bible you also see nearly every time God called someone to do greatness, he did it in an outdoor, wilderness environment. God obviously placed an important emphasis on the outdoors throughout the Bible, so why wouldn’t we follow that example?

Your devotional has a unique layout: fifteen devotions, four guided Bible Study discussions, a list of Bible verses applicable to the outdoors, and six hymns. I envision a man, or a father and son, or a group of men gathered around a campfire reading one of your devotions, talking about a couple of outdoor-related Bible verses, and singing a hymn afterward. Is that why you chose this type of layout or was there some other reason?

The layout was suggested by the publisher. Backcountry Adventure Press publishes books for those seeking backcountry hiking, camping, and fishing destinations in the western states. They envisioned a book one could throw in his or her backpack and take on a two to three week backcountry expedition.

There is enough flexibility in the book so it can be used on solo treks, as a small group devotional, or even as a Bible study in your home. The list of verses is important as we tend to forget sometimes just how relevant the Bible is to outdoor enthusiasts; whether they enjoy hiking, camping, backpacking, hunting, or fishing.

Including the hymns is also intentional. Man is the only creature God created with the ability to outwardly express worship. And while we do not worship the creation, we do worship the Creator.

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Stop by tomorrow for Part 2 of our Q & A with Doug Gilmer