Hi! My name is Jimmy Bennett! I’ve been married 15 years to Miranda. (I call her Myna Lea.) She and I have 2 kids, Monk and Newly. Their real names are McKenzie & Jayse, but no one calls them by their name. My wife is a PE teacher at Riesel Independent School District. My kids go to school there too. Outlaw Pro Staff, Philip Newmons, introduced me to Outlaw rods. A little about what got me to where I’m at in life: I’ve always enjoyed hunting, fishing, being out in the woods, just being an outdoorsman. I’ve always been pretty good at it. I used to fish lots of tournaments and was about to start fishing on a professional level, but God allowed a few things to happen to me and I think that part of my life was postponed. I didn’t know God then, like I know Him now. I didn’t see Him working behind the scenes. I won’t go into lots of detail about those events, but, it was a tough time in my life. You know, Philippians 4:12-13 tells us “12-I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13-I can do all this through Him who gives me strength.” He’s given me strength. He’s carried me through so many times when I’ve been at my lowest. Times when the only way out was up. I know what it’s like to have all the money you could ever ask for. I mean, if I wanted a car or a truck or a boat, whatever, we’d just go write a check for it. I also know what it’s like to live in a 8x12 portable building with no indoor plumbing. I had a water hose draped over a tree outside for a shower. I’ve been on both sides and I can tell you God never left me. He humbled me, but He never left me. I’m feeling led to start fishing at a professional level again, but for a different reason and I’ll keep seeking His guidance and following His lead. Anyway, I was doing pretty good and people started asking me to take them fishing, and then they started paying me to take them fishing. I was doing pretty good at that, too. Making a little money at it, and then, I started JMB Fishing. It started as a way to make extra money. I was going to use this as a way to prepare me to start fishing on a professional level. I was meeting some influential people, doing some charity events with the Wounded Warriors Foundation and thought, man this is really about to happen. I’m about to do this full time. Man, I’m getting excited. And then I meet a 6-year old little girl and she wants to go fishing. We take her out, we’re having a blast, she’s driving the boat, and we’re catching fish, and she stops and she grabs me by the leg. Then, she hugs my leg, looks up at me and says, “This is the best day ever! Can you help me not die?” You know, that made everything else seem unimportant. I’m working on fishing professionally, and she’s working on trying to stay alive. I think the Lord has a way of helping me keep things in perspective. My fishing for money days changed after that trip. Oh, I still take a few paying trips every now and then, but my focus has changed. I concentrate on helping these kids and their families celebrate life. To make memories. To be a part of something bigger. Now JMB Fishing has become JMB Fishing Foundation. We host events for kids that include their families. We’re taking kids on lots of hunting and fishing trips, working with lots of game wardens. We’re hosting fishing events for special needs kids and kids with cancer. And for me, it doesn’t get much better than that. So, fishing is a favorite subject of mine. I wouldn’t want to push fishing on anyone. Even though 4 of the 12 apostles that Jesus chose were fishermen. Jesus told stories about fishing. He fed a multitude with bread and fish. He fed His disciples with fish. He sent Peter fishing to pay their temple tax. The fish itself was actually adopted by the early church as a symbol for Jesus, and that’s why today you find it on the trunk lid of lots of peoples’ cars. (Fact is, on Judgment Day, that’s going to be what makes or breaks you: “Did you have one of those fish things on the trunk lid of your car?”) Now look, the things that make the call to be a disciple challenging are also the things that I’ve searched for all my life: •The call to change – from pettiness to significance. •The call to sacrifice – to give up what we have in this world to take hold of something greater. •The call to a future – a future that becomes certain only when we become disciples. And that’s what drives me. That’s what makes those 4 fishermen drop everything and follow Jesus. And it all started by trusting Jesus. He knows what we need to do. And if He’s paving the way for us to serve Him on the mission field overseas, or by giving Him your vocational skills, or serving Him right in your living room at home, then drop your nets and go. Trust Him. He knows what He’s doing! No matter what, I’m sure that being His disciple is right. Being willing to go wherever He sends me, to get into any situation where He can use me, to learn from Him and to become like Him – I’m sure that’s right, no matter where we are in our lives. The apostle Paul said in his letter to the Romans, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believes. The gospel changes lives! People want to talk about turning over a new leaf, about pulling themselves up by the bootstraps, but listen, people can try all they want to – they can’t change a thing, but the gospel can! It was the gospel that took a tax collector named Zaccheus, a man who robbed people to pad his own pocket, and caused him to give it back fourfold. It was the gospel that took a man named Saul, a man who hated Jesus and his followers, arrested them and murdered them, and caused him to devote his life to planting churches and preaching the truth. It was the gospel that got a hold of prostitutes, adulterers, liars, thieves, and every other kind of person imaginable and changed them into honest, reputable, moral people who loved God and stood for His truth too. The gospel changes lives, it sure changed mine and all I had to do was submit and answer His call. So, The mission of JMB Fishing Foundation is to take what we’ve been given and give back to make a difference in the lives of others. We were born to make a difference, to contribute and share our gifts with the world. And that’s what I intend to do. To use the gifts and abilities God has given me to enrich the lives of others.