As we all continue to learn every day, it’s a small world.
And in the world of fishing– in which my family members and friends are knee deep – that is very true, as well.
Through my friend Curtis Fleming, I was recently introduced to Steve Conover, who shared a very interesting fishing tale. Curtis had first told me about the excursion – a life-changing one – and I wanted to learn more. Steve was more than happy to fill me in. He told me he was invited several years ago to fish on the Ouachita River with a men’s group from Whites Ferry Road Church in West Monroe, La. He was enjoying the angling on a warm winter’s night – and the fellowship too - when a young bearded man sat down next to him - and out of the blue - asked him about his salvation. His name, by the way, was Jase Robertson. Fellow outdoor enthusiasts know him through the popular A&E network series, “Duck Dynasty.”
Well, Jase began to share the good news of the gospel with Steve and the two talked all night long. Steve Conover might not remember exactly how many fish were caught that night in the Ouachita River, but as the sun was rising the next morning, Jase Robertson was baptizing him in it.
Steve became a believer and a friend of the Robertson family. A few months later, he was attending “House Church” at Phil and Kay’s when Phil approached him about his songwriting talents, specifically requesting he write “some swampy sounding music for the family’s Duckmen DVDs.” Steve went on to write a pair of tunes called “The Life” and “Duck Doctor,” both which the Robertsons said were keepers. You can hear them on “Duckmen 4 – Straight Powder.” (Hear "Duck Doctor" below.)
If the story ended there, it would be a cool one. But there’s more. So somewhere along the line, Conover penned a tune for Curtis and told him to keep it in his back pocket and use it someday – when the time was right.
In recent months, the time came. Curtis hooked up with Steve Finn, founder and operator of Chestnut Mountain Ranch, a Christ-centered school and home for boys in crises and in need of hope and healing. As the plan unfolded, Curtis showed up one day with The Fly Rod Chronicles crew and took the boys fishing as a surprise. The excursion featured smiles all around, a picturesque setting and is captured in a FRC episode which aired on The Outdoor Channel in late-January. And the perfect tune to frame that perfect day in nature was Steve Conover’s tune “Kids Gone Wild.”
Steve now heads up the Gospel Ranger Outdoors ministry and has done quite a bit more songwriting for the Duck Dynasty crew.
It’s a small world, alright. And I’m privileged to know some real fishers of men.
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