Meet Skip, Dann, Steve, and Brad

SKIP SCHWARZ— Skip was living his dream. Pastoring a vibrant and growing church, married to a wonderful wife and with two beautiful children, he was experiencing the close family life he had yearned for since childhood. Then, without warning, everything exploded. Two years later, he was single and leading three small churches in western Maine. In another two years, however, two of those churches became full-time ministries and Skip, who wasn’t even a skier, followed God’s leading into the most unlikely of ministries: ski resorts. For the next thirty years, he shared the good news of Jesus Christ with those in ski areas, seeing lives change, including his own.

DANN MASTERS— Growing up in an impoverished home in rural Oklahoma, Dann was part of a family of five that dealt with both alcoholism and the tragic death of a parent. Intent on a career as a professional musician, Dann initially resisted God’s call into the ministry. When he finally yielded and entered seminary, an unwanted divorce threatened both his graduation and his career. Two years later, he returned home to await a job as a college counselor. Then a pastor, the members of his church, and a woman he had known since childhood, gave his life a new direction. Dann went on to become the first pastor of Angel Fire Baptist Church in the resort community of Angel Fire, New Mexico, opening the doors of faith to many and sharing God’s love with thousands.

STEVE HOEKSTRA—Surrounded by a large extended family, Steve’s childhood in Denver, Colorado, was almost idyllic. He grew up in the church and put his faith in Christ as a nine-year-old. Five years later, however, his family’s move to another town both ended their church involvement and launched Steve into the life of a prodigal. At the age of twenty-four, married and working as a farmhand because "the cows didn't care if I was stoned," he got out of bed late one night to answer the phone. His life would never be the same. He returned to college, graduated from Bible school, and led a small church before moving to the resort community of Vail, Colorado. Since then, he has helped start more ski ministries than anyone else in the country, leaving in his wake a trail of transformed lives.

BRAD LARTIGUE —The oldest child in a family of seven, Brad was born into the home of a professor/pastor father and a musically gifted mother. Although raised a Christian, it wasn’t until his involvement with a group of Christian college students that his faith came alive. After spending two summers in mission-like projects (and nearly losing his life in both) Brad returned with a deep thirst for adventure, going on to pioneer a ministry at Taos ski area in New Mexico, and after seminary, starting another at Big Sky in Montana. In 2009, a tragic accident followed by job changes left his world in disarray. From a bed of confusion and despair, Brad discerned God’s leading and followed it.