BUTLER, Tenn. (BP) — Pastor Donald Winters is accustomed to the extreme, whether it involves alligators, rattlesnakes or voluntarily risking hypothermia in icy waters every other weekday.

When he pastored Post Oak Baptist Church in Bowie, Texas, decades ago, he and a deacon’s son won the award two consecutive years, he told Baptist Press, “for (catching) the most rattlesnakes or the biggest rattlesnakes” in the annual rattlesnake roundup. Snakes must be presented alive.

Pastoring First Baptist Church in Madisonville, La., from 1991-1994, he served as “a deckhand,” he said, on boats while congregants took to the Tchefuncte (Cheh-funk´-tuh) River to catch large, frisky alligators.

Now leading Sugar Grove Baptist Church in Butler, Tenn., the pastor enjoys donning a heavy coat and tobogganing to the edge of Watauga Lake. There, when it’s cold enough for the lake’s waters to stay below 41 degrees, he energetically strips down to swim trunks, goggles and a swim cap and jumps enthusiastically into the freezing lake and swims to his heart’s content — maybe even longer.

“It hurts every time,” Winters told Baptist Press (BP).

In the extreme sport of ice swimming, Winters holds the world record for the oldest person to swim an ice mile, officially noted at internationaliceswimming.com by the International Ice Swimming Association (IISA).

“I first got into ice swimming just because I’d read that it was the most extreme swimming challenge in the world,” he said, “and basically just to see if I could do it and challenge myself.”

When he took the record at 66 years and 105 days old on Jan. 23, 2024, Lake Watauga at Mountain City was 38.75 degrees, according to guinnessworldrecords.com, breaking Ger Purcell’s record set at age 66 and 12 days old. Winters was in the water 0:52:57, and swam a total of 1.03 miles, becoming a bit disoriented along the way.

Once finished, his temperature registered 94 degrees, low-grade hypothermia.

His physician was awaiting him with a medical kit, his wife Lena Winters with warm blankets and hot Tang, and two officials from IISA to record the feat.

“By the time my feet hit the ground on the other side,” he said, “I was very happy to get out. … I said give me the hot Tang.”

Lena realizes the danger of the sport, she told Baptist Press, but also realizes the futility of trying to talk her husband out of it.

“Yes, it was crazy and yes, it was dangerous, but I didn’t think anything could keep him from trying it,” she said of the ice mile. “And honestly, I had faith that God was going to protect him and keep Don in His care, and I just trusted in that.”

She embraces his competitiveness.

“Don is competitive, and when he sets his mind to do something, he reads and researches everything he can about it. Then he pushes himself and does everything that’s required to accomplish what he wants to do,” she said. “I knew there was no use to try and talk him out of doing something just because it’s hard, so I stood with him and encouraged him to pursue this crazy feat, and I’d do everything I could to help — just not anything that required me to get in the water with him.

“I cannot tell you how proud I am of his determination and all the hard work he put into this goal he had set for himself,” she said. “Our three kids, the grandkids, and I are super proud of him.”

Had Hurricane Helene not polluted Lake Watauga with debris, Winters would be swimming the icy lake each Monday, Wednesday and Friday this winter in Tennessee, which just experienced an unseasonably cold week. Mountain City, where he set the ice mile record, holds the state’s all-time record for the lowest temperature ever at negative 37 degrees, set on Dec. 30, 1917, according to the National Centers for Environmental Information.

In the icy lake, Winters prays through Psalm 23, and builds intimacy with God by calling on Him by His Old Testament compound names.

“I took the nine Jehovistic names, and I would add them into the 23rd Psalm,” he said. “The first one is, ‘The Lord is my Shepherd,’ which is Jehovah Raah. And then the next one, ‘I shall not want.’ I added Jehovah Jireh.” He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters. Jehovah Shalom. God my peace.

He restores my soul. Jehovah Rapha. God my healer.

He leads me on the path of righteousness. Jehovah Tsidkenu. He’s my righteousness for His namesake. Jehovah Mekoddishkem. He’s the Holy One.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil. Jehovah Nissi. He’s my banner.

He prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Jehovah Sabaoth. The God of all armies.

Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the House of the Lord forever. Jehovah Shammah, the God of eternity.

“From September on, you’re out there by yourself,” he said, as his friends mostly swim in the warmer months. “It seemed like the Lord would always speak to me. I’d see (Canada) geese flying over, or I’d see something that would remind me of the Lord.

“And before I knew it, I’d just be praising the Lord and not even thinking about the cold.”

Winters has had to take his strokes to an inside pool while Lake Watauga recovers from Helene. Hopefully this spring will yield the lake safe again for Winters’ thrice weekly outings. He won’t attempt the ice mile again, he said, but appreciates the many benefits of the water, including the therapy it offers for the osteoarthritis in his knee.

“I studied hypothermia. I didn’t want to commit suicide,” he said. “And it is life-threatening cold if you’re not used to it. For whatever reason, my body chemistry seems to do OK with it.”

Winters does admit to having had violent shakes for 30 minutes after setting the ice mile record, compared to 15 minutes of shakes after a normal swim.

“A lot of people panic whenever they get in the cold shock. They start gasping,” he said, “and that’s when you take water into your lungs.”

You generate heat while swimming and your blood runs to your core, he said, protecting your vital organs.

“You’re really in more danger of hypothermia 20 minutes after you get out,” he said, “because once you get out of the water, all that cold blood that’s in your extremities starts going to your core. And you can feel it just like a cold wave going to your insides. That’s when you get the violent shakes and you start shaking uncontrollably.”

Just to be safe, Winters said, Lena often accompanies him to the lake in the coldest months, waiting ashore by a wood stove or inside their truck.

“She jokingly said so she could tell them where the body went down.”

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Diana Chandler is Baptist Press’ senior writer.)