Board for the Lord

Can you be a holy rider? Absolutely. Brad Lartigue is a “recreational missionary” in Montana.

The Southern Baptist Convention mission board says that for 17 years, Lartigue has been a missionary at Big Sky, Montana (winter) and Yellowstone National Park (summer). Prior to living in Montana, the Louisiana native was at Taos Valley, New Mexico.

Lartigue says that the mountains are “where worship happens for us.” True enough. Whether your a theist, a pantheist, or even only vaguely religious, the scope and beauty of mountains invites worship, or at least pausing to reflect on something greater than yourself.

“What better place to do ministry,” he says, “than a place where people can be inspired, because God and his creation are inspiring.”

In addition, Lartigue points to the example of Jesus, who after all spent a lot of time outside:

“Jesus spoke to the multitudes from the bow of a boat, from the mountainsides, in the gardens, in the marketplaces. He met people where they were, in times of work and play. It’s a wonderful thing to have the opportunity of using God’s creation as a ministry tool to point people past that creation and toward the Creator.”

The Southern Baptist article makes it clear that Lartigue is a busy man, especially on Sundays:

“I am part of three worship services on Sundays,” he said. “I begin the day with an outdoor worship service at 9:30 a.m. at the Moonlight Basin Ski Resort. Then I drive back down to the Big Sky Christian Fellowship worship at 11 a.m., and back up to Mountain Village to conduct the skier/snowboarder worship service in the snow at 1:30 p.m.,” Brad said.

After a few hours of skiing or snowboarding, he closes out the day by directing a youth ministry for junior high students on Sunday nights.

He’s got a website. Looks like he’s a hard-boot rider.

The Bozeman Daily Chronicle has a write-up as well, though that’s now five years old.