Chris Wells loves to hunt and fish, says he has a YouTube channel filled with highlights from old fishing tournaments, and boasts that he memorizes statistics off his collection of Big League Bass trading cards “like most people memorize baseball stats.”
He has found that his love of the reel life helps him reach the unchurched about real life.
“I always say, ‘Jesus hung out with fishermen, not golfers,'” he says.
Following that path has led Wells to his role as chaplain of the Fellowship of Christian Anglers Society and chaplain for the Bassmaster Elite Series — and to his nickname as “The Bass Chaplain.” He now travels the country, sharing his love of God and the outdoors at dinners geared to hunters and anglers, and he’ll be in Chattanooga on March 21 as the guest speaker at the Sportsmen’s Fish Fry sponsored by New Salem Baptist Church.
New Salem Pastor Alan Rogers says the dinner’s purpose is to “reach sportsmen in the area who might not come to a regular church service. It’s a way to share the Gospel with them based on their love of the outdoors.”
If you go
* What: Sportsmen’s Fish Fry * Where: New Salem Baptist Church, 9806 Dallas Hollow Road * When: 4:30 p.m. Saturday, March 21 * Tickets: $10, only 500 will be sold * Information: 842-3078
Connie Nix, left, and Missy Campbell, center with tongs, serve a guest at last year’s Sportsmen’s Fish Fry.“I’m going to share with men how to have a spiritual purpose in life, that without spiritual purpose your life will ultimately mean nothing,” Wells says. “I believe God put us here for a purpose and it’s up to us to discover that purpose.”
Rogers says that only 500 tickets will be sold for the fish fry, and the last two years’ events have sold out. He advises calling 842-3078 early this week to purchase tickets. If there is an early sell-out, a waiting list will be kept to fill any cancellations.
In addition to a testimony from Wells and musical entertainment by a bluegrass band from Dunlap, Tenn., the dinner will include door prizes totaling several hundred dollars in hunting and fishing gear, says Rogers.
Wells describes his speaking style as “the fastest-talking South Carolinian you’ll ever hear,” and jokes that his physique “used to be a six-pack, how it’s a 2-liter.”
He is on the road every weekend from January through May then again from August through November. On March 7, he preached at his 824th wild game banquet. And, for one season, he had a fishing show on Fox Sports that followed a national fishing tournament trail.
“I reminded my wife the camera adds 10 pounds,” he says. “She asked, ‘Did they have four cameras on you?'”
For all the bass stats he knows, there’s one specific set of numbers that motivates his cross-country travels.
“There is a statistic that says if you reach a child for Christ, there is a 4 percent chance that child’s entire family will come to church,” he explains. “If you reach a woman, there is a 17 percent chance that entire family will come to church. But if you reach a man for Christ, there is a 94 percent chance that man’s entire family will come to church.”
He says his challenge is to get men to step up and be leaders in their homes and community.
“Men don’t want to step up to the plate. They don’t want to take on responsibility,” he says. “The Bible speaks for itself and all I have to do is speak the Scriptures. I believe the Bible speaks to real life today, it speaks to everybody’s life if they’ll just listen.”
Wells grew up in a Christian home, was in church every time the doors opened and, in fact, his dad was his Sunday school teacher. So it’s not too surprising the faith instilled in him during his childhood led to his service as a church youth pastor for 15 years.
During that time, he began speaking at outdoorsmen’s dinners. When he realized he was using all his vacation days to travel to speaking engagements, he and his wife, Pam, a schoolteacher, sat down to make the decision whether he should remain a youth pastor or become a full-time minister. Going the minister route, he launched Wellspoken Ministries 11 years ago.
The Bass Chaplain gig began in 2008, when he was picked to be an observer of the Bassmasters Classic on Lake Hartwell, S.C.
“As God would have it, I was paired with Alton Jones, who went on to win that year,” Wells recalls. “During the final day of practice, Alton said they were looking to get a full-time chaplain on the tour to run the Fellowship of Christian Anglers Society meetings. He and B.A.S.S. pro Randy Howell said that my name kept coming up and asked if I would be interested.
Several hundred dollars worth of hunting and fishing gear will be given away in door prizes at the annual Sportsmen’s Fish Fry.“My reply was, ‘Let me pray about that for 2 seconds … Yes!'”
At the tournaments, he leads Bible study for the fishing pros and gives a message before the pre-tournament meeting, as well as counseling and praying with any angler.
Being Bass Chaplain is a volunteer position, Wells says, and he raises all his money through speaking engagements. He jokes that he loves fishing so much ‘I volunteered to watch somebody else fish. It’s called the marshal program.”
Marshals are onboard observers in the Bassmaster Elite Series. They are in the boat to ensure the integrity of the competition by reporting any rule violations — and whose word is more sacred than a minister?
“Inevitably a marshal doesn’t show up and they’ll say, ‘Hey, Chris, can you get in a boat?’ That allows me to build a relationship with those guys, learn about their families and their lives,” Wells says. “They see I’m just a normal guy, that I’m not going to be shaking my fist at them.”
Contact Susan Pierce at spierce@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6284.