Al Odom brought the Word to us. He talked about storms. All of us face storms in life. Storms put fear in us, disorient us. They cause us to think nobody knows what we are going through, nobody cares, nothing can be done. Facing the storm is overwhelming. Jesus wants to minister to us during our storm. He watches; He knows; He comes to meet us where we are at; He helps us through the storm. When Jesus gets in the boat we will reach the other side despite the storm. When you have Jesus, He will take you where you need to go. Our Jesus walks on water!

East Memorial Baptist Church fed the 72 people present a meal of hot wings, French fries, and slaw. The chocolate cake rounded out the great meal! They know how to feed this crew!

It was with mixed emotions that the leadership team led their last Friday night meeting. Walt and Pat presented our faithful volunteers, Jim & Carol, Laurie, Greg, David & Forrest with thank you gift certificates. Al presented our director with a plaque of appreciation from the national leadership team. The Alabama Central Division anglers and families presented Walt and Pat with a beautiful plaque and a card full of cash and gift cards signed by all. The director and his wife were humbled and overwhelmed with the outpouring of appreciation and love. Our lives are so much richer from having been part of this ministry and this division. The blessings are beyond measure! We thank you for supporting and loving us over these past 15 years.  Our incoming director, Harvey, and his wife, Amanda, will do an outstanding job and will continue to move our division forward in the way that the Lord leads them. We are looking forward to 2018 and to being volunteers! In the 16 years of the Alabama Central Division's ministry there have been 87 professions of faith and 268 recommitments. The Lord has really blessed our division and our lives beyond measure!

Now it happened, on a certain day, that He got into a boat with His disciples. And He said to them, “ Let us cross over to the other side of the lake”. And they launched out. But as they sailed He fell asleep and a wind storm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water, and were in jeopardy. They came to Him and woke Him saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” Then He arose and rebuked the wind and the raging water. And they ceased, and there was calm. Luke 8:22-24

Our 24 teams launched on a calm, bright morning with no rain, however, the river was high and rolling with debris and alligators! Our teams brought 110 fish to the scales weighing in at 200.59 lbs. There were 20 limits and 100% of the fish were released alive. 1st place and 1st Bonus Bucks went to the team of Gibson/Agerton with 14.35 lbs. 2nd place and 2nd Bonus Bucks went to the team of Drinnon/Vaccaro with 14.27 lbs, including big fish at 3.67 lbs. 3ed place and 3rd Bonus Bucks went to the team of Barley/Barley with 13.02 lbs. Rounding out our winners at 4th place was the team of Minor/Morris with 11.71 lbs.

Special thanks to Mr. David and Forrest for awesome hot dogs! And to Mrs. Pat for Salted Caramel and Chocolate Chip cookies!
The father/son team of Bruce and Charles Brown was the Alabama Central 2017 Points Champions. They won $750 and two Walt Higgins Custom Rods.

The following top ten teams will be representing Alabama Central at the State Championship in September:
1. Brown/Brown  2. Barley/Barley 3. Minor/Morris 4. Sanders/Shirley
5. Higgins/Reeves  6. Callins/Story 7. Gibson/Agerton 8. Ellis/Smith
9. Clark/Fitzgerald             10. Starling/Hopson    11. Top Legacy Team Hopper/Hopper

Deadline for entries reaching Allen Couch is July 15th. If you do not plan to fish the state, please let us know soon so the next team in line has a chance. Info is posted on Alabama South’s schedule at fomntt.com.

The following teams fished 3-4 tournaments and have qualified for the District 2 Championship:
Hopper/Hutcheson, Calloway/Calloway, Thrower/Lawrence, Wilson/Woodruff, Killingsworth, Powell/Edwards, Culver/Miles, and Phillips/Holdbrooks. Info can be found on FOMNTT.com

The following teams have fished all 5 tournaments and have qualified to fish any or all District Championships:
Brown/Brown, Barley/Barley, Minor/Morris, Sanders/Shirley, Higgins/Reeves, Callins/Story, Ellis/Smith, Clark/Fitzgerald, Gibson/Agerton, Sowards/Watson, Johnson/Cofty, Jr., Averill/Ziglar, Bertarelli/Bertarelli, Hollis/Johnson, Russell/Buce, Selix/Scardina, Pierce/Pierce, Vaccaro/Drinnon, Harvey/Davis, and Nichols/Till. Info can be found on all the districts on FOMNTT.com

Fishers of Men would like to thank all of our fine sponsors; BassCat Boats, Mercury, Stren, Pflueger, Strike King Lure Company, Abu Garcia, Farm to Feet, Marshall’s Marine, Kings Home,  Power-Pole, Raymarine, Duckett Fishing, ORCA Coolers, Buckeye Lures, T&H Maine, Gator Guards, Solar Bat, Kistler Rods, HydroWave, Enigma, KidCasters, Rigrap, Jacobs Glass, Rayjus Sportswear and Rejuvenade.

Alabama Central would like to thank all of our local sponsors: Bill Russell & PCM, Inc. JJ’s Magic, Liveoak Agency, Inc., The Hopper Agency, Matthew Higgins & Pure Fishing & Berkley, Walt Higgins Custom Rods, and Bryan Easley and his crew,  East Memorial Baptist Church, Prattville. And our donors: Wisdom of the Ages Sunday School Class, David Petrey, and Stan Fairchild.  And last, but not least, our faithful volunteers: Jim & Carol Browder, Laurie Murse, Greg Pate, and Pat Higgins.

Place	Team	Members	# Fish	Big Fish	Gross	Penalty	Net Wt	Points
1	18937	Darrin Gibson Charles Agerton	5	3.5	14.35	0	14.35	200
2	15897	Paul Vaccaro Steve Drinnon	5	3.67	14.27	0	14.27	199
3	18499		5	3.58	13.02	0	13.02	198
4	15974	Joe Minor Danny Morris	5	3.62	11.71	0	11.71	197
5	11880	Charles Brown Bruce Brown	5	3.5	11.57	0	11.57	196
6	577	Matthew Higgins Ed Reeves	5	3.5	9.82	0	9.82	195
7	13206	Bobby Sanders Troy Shirley	5	3.36	9.67	0	9.67	194
8	21545	Keith Phillips	5	2.86	9.61	0	9.61	143
9	12309	Rick Jacobs Heath Rolling	5	0	9.27	0	9.27	192
10	3392	Randy Culver Steve Miles	5	0	9.21	0	9.21	191
11	19827	Steve Callins Ty Story	5	0	8.91	0	8.91	190
12	19971	Morris Ellis Jr. Randy Smith	5	0	8.58	0	8.58	189
13	19874	Bryan Selix Wes Scardina	5	0	8.42	0	8.42	188
14	7564	Phillip Till Bryan Nichols	5	0	8.15	0	8.15	137
15	19931	Harvey Starling Bill Hopson	5	2.33	7.86	0	7.86	186
16	21246		5	3.24	7.81	0	7.81	185
17	7563	William Russell Norman Buce	5	0	7.68	0	7.68	184
18	19954	Don Johnson Chris Cofty Jr	5	0	6.54	0	6.54	183
19	617	Richard Hollis Roger Johnson	5	0	6.43	0	6.43	182
20	19877		5	0	5.86	0	5.86	181
21	18582	Frank Bertarelli Landon Bertarelli	4	2.03	5.28	0	5.28	180
22	17108	Jonathan Clark Joe Fitzgerald	4	0	3.65	0	3.65	179
23	609	Hubble Sowards Mark Watson	2	1.74	2.92	0	2.92	178
24	19966	Larry Harvey Charles Davis	0	0	0	0	0	177
I love fishing! 1st Place Gibson/Agerton 14.35 lbs 2nd Place Drinnon/Vaccaro 14.27 Lbs BF 3.67 lbs 3rd Place Barley/Barley 13.02 Lbs Faithful Servants Brown/Brown Pts. Champs