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Here is a nice story from the Dodge City Daily Globe on Chuck Buck and the family's tradition of Christian faith.
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Buck tempers business, faith together
By John Curtis
Dodge City Daily Globe
Buck Knives have always been on the cutting edge of outdoors events for over a hundred years and the history of those tools has been a family tradition.
However, knives aren't the only thing the Buck family has dedicated their lives to. They also have found a way to put their faith into each knife sold.
"We're just kind of giving back," said Charles "Chuck" Buck, chairman of the board of Buck Knives. "We give a little message just telling them that if they are looking for answers, look to Him (Jesus Christ) for God loves you and we have verse John 3:16 on it."
Each warranty that comes along with one of their knives sold also has a message that talks about their beliefs. Their message of faith can be found on its web site (www.buckknives.com). Buck said there is a tremendous number of responses from people who have bought the company's knives.
"We get lots of letters back and there are some who don't like it, but 99 percent of the letter encourage that we keep doing it," Buck said. "We really don't try to blend in the message, but it just happens. Everybody needs a knife to cut bread and slice tomatoes.
"I had a gal ask me when we were making the army bayonet when she held it up on camera, 'How can you make a fighting knife like this and how does it affect you as a Christian?' My answer was that when we go to war and the army has to use them, I want to give them the best quality for those who protect my country."
Buck was recently in Dodge City at an outdoorsmen's banquet at First Missionary Church, where he was the keynote speaker. He said his life has been a parallel to that of one of the company's knives being made.
"I know this sounds a little weird, but stick with me," Buck said. "A knife takes about 45 minutes in 2,000 degree heat in a furnace, where as a Christian, you pray to God to get out of that heat. But a knife has to go through a conveyor belt because there are things that are changing with it, and there are things that people change when they have faith.
"Our knives are cooled to room temperature, then put in a deep freeze, then gets back to room temperature, then goes to a tempering furnace with a dull heat, which softens the blade, but makes it tougher. A Christian can't go by feel, but by faith ... my story is that no matter what things you have done and that Christ wouldn't forgive them, it isn't true, and faith helps us get stronger."
The message Buck tried to relay to those in attendance is that no matter what bad things a person has done, God still loves them and they can be saved. Buck uses what happened to him in 1975 when he told his wife about his infidelity in their marriage.
"I had found myself in a furnace," Buck said. "We went on a trip to see her mom and she wasn't certain what she was going to do, but we stopped in a motel in Tulsa. There was a lot of stress and she hadn't eaten a lot, and she went into a catatonic state because of how angry she was. She ended up going to a hospital.
"I went back into the room and I was at the lowest point of my life. I thought 'I didn't want to live without her,' and I asked God to heal her and heal the marriage. I had faith, but I thought God didn't hear me, but I knew he forgave me like a full pardon, but I knew I had to deal with her feelings about it and how she could deal with me, because I knew I'd feel the same way if I were in her shoes: very angry and very frustrated.
"About a month later, she had a picture formed in her mind with a picture of a cross and she and I kneeling in front of it," he concluded. "She saw the healing power of the cross heal her broken heart and could see the forgiving power of the cross healing me for my sin. She realized that if Christ could forgive me, then she couldn't not forgive me, and she did it willingly and it didn't bother her any more."
Buck Knives were first built in 1902 by Hoyt Buck, Charles' grandfather, who was an apprentice blacksmith in Leavenworth when he started to make knives out of old files. Hoyt Buck gave the knives to some friends and other friends wanted knives as well.
The Buck family moved to California in the 1940s, with their headquarters near San Diego. The company became incorporated in 1961, but the family still owns nearly 75 percent of the company.
"(Hoyt Buck) learned to temper that file back from being brittle to where it was very tough," Charles said. "I've always wondered if the angels are telling him (that) our company is doing very well. We honestly feel that God is blessing our business."
First Missionary Church's senior pastor, Terry Neumayer, got the idea of having the outdoors-related function after he saw a number of churches in Michigan doing them. The proceedings included a banquet, a wall where hunters could show off some of their trophies and an outdoors-related raffle.
Neumayer, along with church members Jim Abel and Dave Ross, spearheaded the event. The night was used as a way for members of the church to witness to the outdoorsmen and used Buck's testimony as the message. The church had 325 in attendance at the event, over twice the number First Missionary averages for church services.
"The Lord has really provided for us and blessed us," Neumayer said. "It is our intent to create a positive environment for outdoorsmen, who might not otherwise come into a church, and have a place where it's in their line of thought. We wanted this, when they came in, to be positive and uplifting (and that) they they'll remember and take home with them as well as with the message that will be given."
====================================
Buck tempers business, faith together
By John Curtis
Dodge City Daily Globe
Buck Knives have always been on the cutting edge of outdoors events for over a hundred years and the history of those tools has been a family tradition.
However, knives aren't the only thing the Buck family has dedicated their lives to. They also have found a way to put their faith into each knife sold.
"We're just kind of giving back," said Charles "Chuck" Buck, chairman of the board of Buck Knives. "We give a little message just telling them that if they are looking for answers, look to Him (Jesus Christ) for God loves you and we have verse John 3:16 on it."
Each warranty that comes along with one of their knives sold also has a message that talks about their beliefs. Their message of faith can be found on its web site (www.buckknives.com). Buck said there is a tremendous number of responses from people who have bought the company's knives.
"We get lots of letters back and there are some who don't like it, but 99 percent of the letter encourage that we keep doing it," Buck said. "We really don't try to blend in the message, but it just happens. Everybody needs a knife to cut bread and slice tomatoes.
"I had a gal ask me when we were making the army bayonet when she held it up on camera, 'How can you make a fighting knife like this and how does it affect you as a Christian?' My answer was that when we go to war and the army has to use them, I want to give them the best quality for those who protect my country."
Buck was recently in Dodge City at an outdoorsmen's banquet at First Missionary Church, where he was the keynote speaker. He said his life has been a parallel to that of one of the company's knives being made.
"I know this sounds a little weird, but stick with me," Buck said. "A knife takes about 45 minutes in 2,000 degree heat in a furnace, where as a Christian, you pray to God to get out of that heat. But a knife has to go through a conveyor belt because there are things that are changing with it, and there are things that people change when they have faith.
"Our knives are cooled to room temperature, then put in a deep freeze, then gets back to room temperature, then goes to a tempering furnace with a dull heat, which softens the blade, but makes it tougher. A Christian can't go by feel, but by faith ... my story is that no matter what things you have done and that Christ wouldn't forgive them, it isn't true, and faith helps us get stronger."
The message Buck tried to relay to those in attendance is that no matter what bad things a person has done, God still loves them and they can be saved. Buck uses what happened to him in 1975 when he told his wife about his infidelity in their marriage.
"I had found myself in a furnace," Buck said. "We went on a trip to see her mom and she wasn't certain what she was going to do, but we stopped in a motel in Tulsa. There was a lot of stress and she hadn't eaten a lot, and she went into a catatonic state because of how angry she was. She ended up going to a hospital.
"I went back into the room and I was at the lowest point of my life. I thought 'I didn't want to live without her,' and I asked God to heal her and heal the marriage. I had faith, but I thought God didn't hear me, but I knew he forgave me like a full pardon, but I knew I had to deal with her feelings about it and how she could deal with me, because I knew I'd feel the same way if I were in her shoes: very angry and very frustrated.
"About a month later, she had a picture formed in her mind with a picture of a cross and she and I kneeling in front of it," he concluded. "She saw the healing power of the cross heal her broken heart and could see the forgiving power of the cross healing me for my sin. She realized that if Christ could forgive me, then she couldn't not forgive me, and she did it willingly and it didn't bother her any more."
Buck Knives were first built in 1902 by Hoyt Buck, Charles' grandfather, who was an apprentice blacksmith in Leavenworth when he started to make knives out of old files. Hoyt Buck gave the knives to some friends and other friends wanted knives as well.
The Buck family moved to California in the 1940s, with their headquarters near San Diego. The company became incorporated in 1961, but the family still owns nearly 75 percent of the company.
"(Hoyt Buck) learned to temper that file back from being brittle to where it was very tough," Charles said. "I've always wondered if the angels are telling him (that) our company is doing very well. We honestly feel that God is blessing our business."
First Missionary Church's senior pastor, Terry Neumayer, got the idea of having the outdoors-related function after he saw a number of churches in Michigan doing them. The proceedings included a banquet, a wall where hunters could show off some of their trophies and an outdoors-related raffle.
Neumayer, along with church members Jim Abel and Dave Ross, spearheaded the event. The night was used as a way for members of the church to witness to the outdoorsmen and used Buck's testimony as the message. The church had 325 in attendance at the event, over twice the number First Missionary averages for church services.
"The Lord has really provided for us and blessed us," Neumayer said. "It is our intent to create a positive environment for outdoorsmen, who might not otherwise come into a church, and have a place where it's in their line of thought. We wanted this, when they came in, to be positive and uplifting (and that) they they'll remember and take home with them as well as with the message that will be given."
