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OUR STORY
By Don Hutton, posted December 1, 2007
My name is Don Hutton and I live in Visalia, California. I grew up in Orange County, but moved to Visalia in 1980. I have been a Christian all my life and
attended church except for 3-4 years right after I was married, so I have been back serious in my faith for over 25 years.
About 18 months ago, I picked up a book called Go for the Green and started using it as one of my devotionals. Once day I looked at the back page and found information on Links Players and Fellowships. I then noted that Jeff Hopper was right in my backyard (Fresno). The Spirit moved me to make a contact.
About last June I met with Jeff and my local pastor here in Visalia. Pastor Brian is an avid golfer, memorabilia collector and even plays in a once a year
tournament where one must use hickory shafted clubs! The long and the short of it is that I just could not resist the Spirit and felt compelled to start a Links Fellowship at Visalia Country Club. Per Jeff's advice,
I prayed for names to help me. Five additional names kept coming to me, so I began to contact each of them. All that I really knew was that I thought they each attended a church. Well, as you know, the Spirit ain't
wrong! All five embraced the idea and we started meeting regularly to come up with a plan.
As I write this, if nothing else were to progress, just seeing the growth in these five men is worth the effort. We have had two gatherings where we play 9 holes
late in the day and then go to a fireside room at the club for just some exploratory conversation. We have have had 11 and 10 participants. We are still evaluating what our regular meetings will or will not be. I am
energized and excited to follow God's lead in this ministry. One thing that I might share is the my personal passion is to reach the unchurched. In fact, all I really care about is to assist in making
disciples—everything in theology is secondary to that mission.
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