The following is a pre-recorded program.
Thanks for having me, Stu. I just told my buddy, I said, Hey, I want to start this clothing brand. Um, I'm going to name it swamp dog and he kind of rolled his eyes and he was like, okay, yeah, yeah, right.
Like that's not going to work. So, um, throughout high school and college, I started, uh, selling hats and t-shirts with hunting designs on it. And then, um, kind of my testimony came later and that's when the brand kind of shifted from, you know, hunting brand to actually, um, you know, trying to exalt Christ in our products. So, and that's part of that's tied in with how you came to know Christ. Tell us a little bit about your testimony, Jack.
Yeah. So I went to East Carolina, um, school here in the Eastern part of the state. Um, grew up in the church, but didn't really understand the gospel. Um, mom had cancer for eight years. Um, she fought it hard.
I had a great father, great home. Um, and I just felt like something was missing. I didn't really, uh, understand what that was. So I looked for it and other things and, you know, alcohol and going out partying, stuff like that. And, um, one night God just sat me down literally in my room and said, you know, you're not living up to your fullest potential.
You're not being the person I've called you to be. And I was just disgusted. I was overweight. I had baggy eyes.
I was just, you know, bloodshot eyes just from drinking and going out and stuff. And, um, I was disgusted. So, um, in that moment I turn in my life to Christ and I say, God, I don't know, um, what my plan is, but I want to start living for you and not for myself. And, um, I opened my Bible, but the cliche thing to do is in that moment, open your Bible and I go to, uh, John 20, 21 and the verse said, peace be with you as the father sent me, I'm sending you.
And that's when Jesus is sending out the disciples. But at the time I didn't know what that, what that meant. And I was just like, okay, that sounds good. And, uh, and so that was just kind of like God showing his grace to me, um, throughout that, in that moment. And then from there, um, I did get baptized. My mom was alive for that and, uh, she got to see me get baptized. And then, uh, later that fall, it was the day before, um, her birthday.
Um, she, or day before my birthday, she passed, uh, it was December on December 1st. And, um, that was 2017. And then since then, I just saw the opportunity with the brand to say, okay, I have the chance to put, um, you know, designs on these shirts that actually glorify God versus, um, you know, just a hunting brand, um, cause there's so many hunting brands and clothing brands out there that, you know, they look cool and they have designs, but, um, I wanted a talking piece, you know, a tool that people can wear and say, Oh yeah, swamp dog. It's this brand that shares the gospel through the products. And, and so that's kind of how we've gotten here. And God's blessed us with, you know, the nonprofit that we have now called the greeting call, and that's a podcast.
And, um, just opportunities like this that come up. Like I would've never thought I'd be sitting in a booth and being on the radio. So here in Chewie's in Raleigh, North Carolina, North Hills, and Mark Reed, our awesome truth network ambassador here in the whole triangle area in this Eastern part of the state. And he told me about you.
I went to your website. I'm like, wow, I need a hat. I need a hoodie. We need to get the truth logo on some of that stuff we need to get going. And, but did you ever think that the, that verse would come full circle here? You, this verse really kind of catapulted you into Christ and, you know, 2021. Now how remarkable that he's sending you to the very group of swamp dogs that he saved you from to reach them with the gospel, you know, putting the Christ on your apparel, like putting these, these pictures of, of the Lord to tell us die, which means it is finished on a hat.
I've never seen that on a hat before, Jack. Yeah, I would've, I would've never guessed. And honestly, like I would, my whole thing was like, I didn't want to wear shirts with Jesus saves on it, but if I had a hunting shirt, you know, then that had, you know, to tell us die or something, people could ask about it, then, you know, that's, that's a conversation starter.
And no, I didn't think it would come full circle. And, you know, it's just, it's awesome to see God work. And he's also revealed that like, okay, this might not be, you know, a giant, you know, your real tree for those who know honey, it might not be a real tree. It might not be a mossy oak, you know, size company that's huge all over the place, but for Christians, I think that, that they just love wearing it and they love the story behind it.
Yeah. You know, another Hunter was a guy named Saul who hunted Christians and killed him. And in Acts nine, he had a remarkable encounter with Jesus Christ. And then he became a great Hunter of souls. He went from a murderer to a missionary in a sense, even though it wasn't quite that your exact situation, but in a sense you were hunting. But now you're doing a different kind of hunt to the point where you have a hat that says he hunts.
Talk about that. What inspired that? Yeah, the he's hunting hat is kind of a joke. It's kind of a trend going around like, the wives like saying like, oh, here's where my husband's at.
He's hunting. And yeah, we kind of thought it would be a good play on like, you know, God hunting, hunting his followers and stuff. And it's not like, it's not something we really dive too deep in. It was more of a trend that we jumped on. But yeah, the shoe fits. One of the one of the great Christians and Christians past many have said this, but one of the great Christians said that God is like the hound dog of heaven. And he just pursues us relentlessly. And thank God he pursued us. Thank God he pursued a self-righteous guy like me. Thank God he pursued you, you know, and through your mom's sickness and through all kinds of stuff in your life that was kind of your life got sideways.
You realize, hey, I need Jesus. Talk about how the hunting for souls has been going at swamp dog outfitters and talk, tell a testimony or two of maybe someone that's come to Christ through this great hunting expedition that you maybe never thought would have been the case, you know, 10, 15 years ago. Yes, I've got a cool story and he won't mind me mention it, but his name's Avery and Avery, uh, went through some stuff in his, in his life recently. Um, and Avery reached out through actually our podcast ministry, the, the greeting call. And he said, Hey, you know, love what you're doing, where you guys located. And I told him, you know, we're right here in Youngsville.
He's out of Zebulun and we typically will run a break right now, but we do a, um, Tuesday night Bible stay in our warehouse. And so he was like, well, I'd love to get plugged in, like meet some of you guys. He started coming to our Bible state, the shop, um, he and I started playing golf, hanging out, talking, hunting, stuff like that. And then now he's been coming to the summit church. Um, and so just like, praise God that like, that's, that's been several stories of guys who have just been in our area local to us who have got plugged in.
And now they're studying the Bible on their own and, you know, thriving in their relationship with Christ. It's, it's cool to see. That's the voice of Jack Denny, the original Swamp Dog, Swamp Dog Outfitters. I love this from your website. What is Swamp Dog? We're an outdoor apparel brand that through our apparel and resources aims to connect outdoorsmen and women to a relationship with God.
And I promise that we tease with it to start. Jack, you got to tell us what a pin tail is. This is, this is a near and dear to your heart animal that you've been hunting for some time.
Yeah. So growing up here in North Carolina, we don't really have that many pin tails to hunt, but so like it's a salt after bird. And, um, so when I was creating the logo, you know, years ago, I was like, well, that, if you put that on kind of the same scale as like, you know, God and Christ, like it's, it's glorified. It's like a, it's a very sought after thing.
And so I just kind of connected the two, um, as far as like pin tails being the most sought after bird, at least in my opinion, um, here in North Carolina. And I want to do the same to Christ. I want to pursue him and exalt him. So, so you're selling apparel, you're, you're, you're a company, but you're also a ministry. I mean, you have a very clear, your mission, your vision, core values, faith based God is first above all things, outdoor driven to help encourage others to see God's creation. You talk about your testimony, you have this podcast that talks about God's word, and yet you're selling clothing. Can you challenge everyone out there, other Christian entrepreneurs about how their, their work is worship and how you can make a profit, but also have a P R O P H E T in that as well.
Yeah, definitely. I think, uh, there was a lot of guys who just influenced me to, to chase after, you know, my dreams and what I was passionate about. And a lot of times people get kind of forced into business one way or another. They go to college and they end up in a nine to five and they think, Oh, this is like, this is it for me. And they can't glorify God in that, but that's the complete opposite. I mean, they, you can start, you know, a side gig. You can, um, do things on the weekend that combine your hobbies and, you know, and God wants us to enjoy what we enjoy. Like he wants, he wants us to have fun with our hobbies.
So I'd encourage everyone to, to ask God what that is and he'll put something on your heart. I love it. Shameless plug, website, everything. They're bringing this yummy Tex-Mex. Look at that food. Just look at that right there.
Look at those three tacos. And we got a bunch of stuff coming. Quick, quick shameless plug for your website. How can folks find out more in order? Apparel and learn more about your great brand and what God's doing.
Yeah. Social media, swamp dog, um, outfitters. So you can find us on there. Our website swamp dog.com. Our ministry is the greeting call. So you can go to the greeting call.com and, uh, find us on Spotify, YouTube, and Apple music, all that stuff for our podcasts. So I'm about to follow you on Instagram right now. I'm gonna go to swamp dog and we'll find you man.
Personal business, all that stuff. God bless you. Thanks for, for lighten the light of Christ, shine the light of Christ. Even in the hunting and everything you're doing with your apparel. Thank you, have a good one.
