A Grand Gift Idea from Canyon Ministries

Surprise someone you love with a trip of a lifetime: a memorable raft trip through the Grand Canyon, led by an AiG staff member along with our friends at Canyon Ministries. As is stated on their website, “Canyon Ministries is dedicated to upholding the authority of Scripture from the very first verse and presenting the evidence seen in the Grand Canyon, which supports a young earth.”

I joined a Canyon Ministries raft trip 10 years ago, and it was a wonderful experience. Not only do participants receive excellent teaching about how the canyon really formed (after Noah’s Flood), but they also enjoy excellent food and fellowship. It’s not as strenuous a journey as you might think. And I’ll tell you: the canyon looks much different from the bottom than it does from the rim. The trip also offers a completely different view from what the evolutionist guides tell you at this national park.

The founder of Canyon Ministries is our great friend Tom Vail. He reminisced recently on 20 years of canyon ministry.

Tom Vail—Reflecting on 20 Years of Ministry

When I started running the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon I never thought the Lord would use me, and the canyon, to glorify Him . . . mostly because I didn’t know Him at that point in my life. For 15 years I presented the evolutionary model of the formation of the canyon with its millions of years of slow particle-at-a-time deposition, followed by the canyon being carved by the Colorado River. There were parts of that model which took some fancy footwork to explain. I would draw diagrams in the sand, explaining the canyon’s formation and told a story I now know was incorrect. I still draw diagrams in the sand, but now it is a very different story, one that aligns with both Scripture and science, and tells of His glory and power.

20 years ago my wife, Paula, and I ran the first Canyon Ministries trip through the canyon, a one-boat trip with 14 believers, mostly from our church in North Carolina. For the next few years we expanded the number of trips, but at times had to give seats away in order to completely fill them. Next year we will be running 9 two-boat trips with 28 people each, and most of them are already full . . . .

People have come doubting a clear and simple reading of Scripture can trump the millions of years of so-called science, but discover it can. I remember one man who told me on the first night of the trip, “I really would like to believe Scripture is true, but science is telling me it isn’t.” The very next night, after just one day in the canyon, he told me, “I can see it now, Scripture is true and I can trust it.”

Next year will be my 37th year in the Grand Canyon. Although Paula has retired from the river, [and] I only run one trip a year, I’m still actively involved in the ministry as Chairman of the Board. The growth we have seen over 20 years is only something the Lord could direct (which He did in spite of me at times).

I firmly believe He has more in store for Canyon Ministries. Five million people visit the Grand Canyon each year. Only a tiny fraction of them even know we exist. The fields are ripe and waiting for the harvest. If we can get the word out [that] there is a biblically based alternative to the conventional evolutionary story, we—you and me—can make an impact for His Kingdom.

Here is a list of tours AiG will be conducting with Canyon Ministries in 2017. Think of giving a tour as a gift to a loved one.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken