"We've found that the boys just turn goofy when there are girls around," Arnold says. "They just start being stupid."
Away from their Xboxes, television sets and other distractions of everyday life, the boys find plenty of time to discuss other things besides religion.
Starting with a single Cross Trail Outfitters unit in 2005, the organization has grown to a total of six units in Texas and one on the verge of opening in Shreveport, La. The seeds of each unit are sown by signing on a leader, called an "outfitter," who solicits donations. After a donation benchmark has been reached, the new unit "goes live" and uses its funds to help pay for outings and provide a salary for its outfitter.
No one at Cross Trail Outfitters is getting rich, at least not in the traditional sense. Documents required by the IRS for nonprofit organizations show that it took in about US$157,000 last year. Nearly all of the money went toward program expenses.
Arnold worked 70-hour weeks and got paid US$17,308. His wife, Amy, works as an unpaid Cross Trail Outfitters board member and secretary. She also home-schools their four children, who range in age from 1 through 11, and assists at summer camps.
"I'm the camp nurse and camp mom," she says.
The Arnolds run Cross Trail Outfitters out of their home in Northwest San Antonio. The walls of the family's living room are decorated with taxidermy mounts of whitetail deer and javelina. The furnishings range from a toddler's plastic slide to a gun cabinet loaded with shotguns and rifles, including one with a pink stock that belongs to Arnold's 9-year-old daughter. A Bible sits on a coffee table.
"The Lord provides what we need," Arnold says. "There's a lot to the story of the Israelites in the wilderness. We've had our wilderness period, but we've also been blessed to sort of cross the Jordan River.
"We're not rolling in dough by any stretch, and we've learned to be incredibly resourceful and do a lot with a little bit."
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