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FORT WORTH?The dozens of men stood there hollering, gesturing, trying desperately to divert the dog from his master’s agenda. “Prophet,” as his master-owner Hank Hough calls him, was indifferent to their pleas. To the dog, the men’s chatter was background noise. Then Hough called his name. “Prophet!” The dog moved on command.
Drawing one analogy after another from his precision-honed relationship with his champion Labradors, Hough explained to the Friday night gathering at Birchman Baptist Church in Fort Worth that those who are not of God do not hear the Word of God with any special regard.
“But the Word of God says, ‘My sheep will know my voice. I will know them and they will know me.’ I want to know that I’m his,” Hough told the men. “Because the Word of God says you cannot pluck from my hand one that is mine.”
During Hough’s hour-long presentation with two of his champion Labs, Bandera and Prophet, along with a Bible, a handful of retriever props, and a healthy dose of humor laced with straight talk about God, men, responsibility, obedience, and sinful diversions, he managed to weave together the truth. God’s will is a love relationship with men?if they will put aside their own ambitions to follow the Master’s voice alone.
Eighteen people in a group that numbered more than 100 registered decisions to follow Christ in salvation that night?a frequent result since Hough began his Kingdom Dog Ministries (KDM) from his home in Houston and one that Hough is still awed by.
He began his ministry in 2003 after a witnessing opportunity with a neighbor turned into a youth group presentation, and from there to other church and civic groups. A challenge from his son, home from college, set the course.
“Dad, if you don’t see God in everything, you will see him in nothing.” At that, Hough looked down at a chocolate Lab pup and asked, “If that’s true, then how would God glorify himself through this new puppy?”
Before long the question was answered and a ministry was born.
He has been featured in numerous magazine and TV interviews, but his work in his own Southern Baptist denomination has really taken off in the last three years, he said.
From September of 2009 until last month, Hough gave 187 presentations in churches, schools and before civic groups, and 3,625 people registered decisions to follow Christ in salvation, Hough said. In schools, the talks necessitate a focus on character without a conspicuous biblical reference, but the principles are laid bare by the dog’s relationship to his master, Hough explained.
A promotional video at kingdomdog.com has garnered thousands of hits.
“I’m a nobody God is using with the simplicity of the gospel message,” Hough said. “To see tears running down grown men’s faces because of a simple, lovable, but devoted animal is humbling.”
Hough has traveled to seven or eight states this year, but he said he hopes to do more work in Texas and the surrounding area, and his long-term plans call for several other dog lovers to catch his vision and learn the ropes of the ministry.
“Part of why it attracts so many men is that they are relaxed when they come in; they are coming to a dog show, not a church service per se. Also, I am not talking to them directly, I’m talking to my dog,” Hough explained. “But the truth about a dog has eternal lessons for us. It’s impossible to ignore. It catches them off guard but the truth can’t be denied.”
Hough said KDM’s vision is for God to awaken men for the sake of families and a country waging a spiritual war of good and evil.
Diversions abound from the one thing that brings peace, he said.
“You can be successful,” he told the men, “but you cannot be satisfied until you fulfill what you were made for.”
