What do we do at ELO – We help people discover our creator through his creation. We build relationships with people by investing our most valuable resource, our time, in their lives by doing what we love. Through these relationships we get to show people they are important and they do matter. They aren’t alone in the everyday battles they are fighting. In fact, we all have battles we are fighting every day.
While we started out small in 2016 mainly putting on events in Franklin County Pennsylvania, our has always been to be nation wide. Like most things in life we don’t know exactly how we are going to get to our goal. Unfortunately a lot of good ideas get shelved because people don’t know how to get where they want to go, so they don’t even get started. Luckily, we are surrounded by many good volunteers, advisors and counselors that pushed us and we just started moving 1 step at a time. Nothing has changed withe the purposing of the Texas property as we are still taking one step at a time. We just are now taking some bigger strides.
Brian Bitner is the founder of Experience Life Outdoors and has always enjoyed the outdoors. Brian was born with a passion for the outdoors, but this passion could not have been unleashed without the guidance and time from his grandfather, dad and uncle. Some of his memories are times spent going for hikes, catching minnows or fishing with his grandfather, squirrel and deer hunting with his father, and archery shooting with his uncle from the top of his house roof to see who would be the first to shoot the quarter on the target.
Brian grew up in Greencastle, Pennsylvania where he spent his summers playing baseball and working at one of his best friend’s orchard/farm, Tracey’s Orchard. Here he learned the definition of a hard days work. Brian currently lives in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania with his wife Melanie and their two children, Maycie and Lennox. Brian and Melanie have been attending Five Forks BIC Church since 2007 when they were married. He and his wife have severed multiple terms as deacons at Five Forks since 2011 and Brian has also served multiple terms on the Church Board. Brian currently leads a Sunday School Class and has helped with the AWANA kids program.
In the fall of 2011, Brian traveled with Five Forks Church on a mission’s trip to Solid Rock Bible Camp in Soldotna, Alaska. During this trip God put the desire for an outdoor ministry in his heart. Ever since then, he has prayed for God’s guidance and direction. As you can imagine, there is a lot of time and resources that are required to make any ministry happen, so it was imperative that he know for sure this was God’s plan and not his own fleshly desires. Since 2011, the desire for this ministry has only become stronger. He started this ministry as way to help others find the same enjoyment in the outdoors that he has experienced.