Because his mission field is based in Big Sky, Mont., where Lone Mountain rises more than 11,000 feet high, Brad Lartigue reports to work every day sky-high — geographically and spiritually.
For the last 17 years, Lartigue has served as a resort missionary for the North American Mission Board (NAMB). During ski season, he serves in Big Sky; in summer, he works at Yellowstone National Park.
"My place of work is basically the outdoors," he said. "Our sanctuary is in the mountains that rise above us, among the trees and the animals that God has created. That’s where worship happens for us. I believe that my area of special ministries in resort and leisure settings is a good place to present the gospel to people."
Supported and commissioned by NAMB and the Montana Southern Baptist Convention (MTSBC), Lartigue leads worship services and campfire devotionals, marries couples, dedicates babies and even conducts funeral services on the powdery snow of Big Sky. He witnesses to tourists who wouldn’t step foot inside the walls of a brick-and-mortar church.
During the peak ski season, between 5,000 and 6,000 people visit Big Sky each day to challenge the world-class slopes, which are blanketed by 400 inches of new snow every year.
"Every Sunday, when I ride the chairlift going up the mountain to do my worship service, I meet people who have no intention of going to a worship service. They’re coming to find a place for recreation and to relax — not for a place of worship or for a minister. But when I ride the chairlift, I never ride without speaking to someone about why they are here and what we are doing here."
Citing the apostle Paul’s admonition to "be all things to all people so that we might reach some," Lartigue recently invited a couple of young men on college break to his worship service.
"They saw me on my snowboard and said, ‘Oh, you’re the shred chaplain.’ Shredding is ski slang for snowboarding. I think God gives us passions in our lives that drive us to do the things we do. God has given me the passion to snowboard, cross-country ski and go backpacking in the wilderness."
It’s a long way from the sultry summers of Louisiana, where Lartigue was raised, to the crystal-blue skies and frosty air of Big Sky. He grew up in a Christian home in Lake Charles, a bayou town in the heart of southwest Louisiana’s Cajun country, where his father serves as pastor of a Southern Baptist church.
With a French surname and rich family bloodlines of black, Cherokee and Italian lineage, Lartigue is proud of his heritage. One of five children, he accepted Christ at age 14.
Always interested in adventure and public service, he was active in the Baptist Student Union at McNeese State University in Lake Charles. While at McNeese State, he served as a summer missionary on Hawaii’s Big Island and as a US/C2 resort missionary at Taos Ski Valley in New Mexico.
After graduating from McNeese, he attended Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, where he earned a master’s degree in religious education and church recreation. In 1990, he accepted the position of missionary at Big Sky and Yellowstone from NAMB and the MTSBC. He’s been there ever since.
"When people think of Big Sky or Yellowstone National Park, they think of the beauty and what a pristine place it is. But people don’t realize that behind the scenes, there are hurting people — people very much disillusioned about who God is. I come across alcoholics, those into drugs, the promiscuous, those whose lives need to change."
As with any Southern Baptist pastor, Sunday is a long and busy workday for Lartigue.
"I am part of three worship services on Sundays. 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."
After a few hours of skiing or snowboarding, he closes out the day by directing a youth ministry for junior high students.
During summer, he shifts the focus of his ministry to Yellowstone — about 50 miles away — where he supervises college and seminary volunteers called "Innovators," full-time summer missionaries appointed by NAMB and sponsored by First Baptist Church, West Yellowstone, Mont.
The Innovators work full time alongside park employees in a secular environment. They share their faith in Christ through lifestyle evangelism, Bible studies, hiking, backpacking and "one-to-one" witnessing.
In October, Lartigue works as a swimming instructor and coach for the local elementary school in Big Sky and a lifeguard instructor in Bozeman, about 45 miles north of Big Sky. With Thanksgiving comes the return of ski season.
Year-round he works as a firefighter and chaplain for the Big Sky Fire Department. He also is a certified emergency medical technician (EMT), a CPR instructor and a volunteer for the Big Sky Ski Patrol. Regardless of the hat he wears, he ministers to all, all the time.
"I think all resorts need somebody like him," said Dean Hall, a fellow EMT on the ski patrol team. "This is sort of a la-la land in many respects. There’s lots of alcohol, lots of drugs. Brad is an anchoring force, and some of these young people need that." (NAMB)
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