Wyoming pastor fishes for souls by taking people on fishing trips

Pastor Duke Edwards of Wilderness Church in Pinedale, Wyo., takes the call to be a fisher of men literally. Several times a month during warm weather, he takes the church’s drift boat and one to three people fishing on a nearby river to have serious discussions about life.

“It’s turned into a counseling tool for us,” he says. “A lot of times, people out here don’t want to come to church or to an office for formal counseling. But I can get them to go fishing with me. Everyone’s OK with that. I can ask questions about what’s going on and how things are going, and they have a good day. ‘Going fishing’ almost turns into a code phrase for ‘I need to talk.’”

Edwards and his core group started the western Wyoming church in 2013. Since then, approximately 200 people have prayed to receive Christ. More than 100 have been baptized, including an all-time single-day high of nine on a Sunday in June.

Courtesy image.

Nineteen-year-old Mason Orm, who has grown up at Wilderness, credits Edwards with teaching him the foundations of love for people and the outdoors. “He’s really good at making his sermons fun and lively,” he said. “He holds plenty of events at church that are good for everybody, no matter what your age.”

Spiritual breakthroughs are significant in a place like Sublette County, home to fewer than 8,800 people. Edwards, a former rodeo chaplain and cowboy church pastor, Edwards said many residents struggle with cultural isolation and alcoholism. According to the Sublette Prevention Coalition, the area has the highest per capita alcohol use and suicide rate in the continental United States. However, Edwards learned from the coalition that 2023 marked the county’s first decline in suicide in a decade.

“That’s what we deal with ministry-wise,” he told AG News. “How do we lower that rate? What ends up happening a lot of times is people go looking for a way to numb the pain. They can’t find a solution, so alcohol does that for a while.”

Although his job at a ski resort allows him the flexibility to take time off when needed, Edwards envisions the day when Wilderness Church can hire a full-time “pastor of fishing.”

“We’d love to have a year-round gig with ice fishing,” he said. “We can offer housing, but we can’t pay anybody yet. If we get established, we might be able to get some grant money to pay a full-time salary, but it could take 18 to 24 months to get it fully funded.”

Edwards is excited about where God has taken them and where they’re going.

“I have so many stories of what God’s done. It’s been amazing,” he says.

–Alan Goforth | Metro Voice