The World's Most Sustainable Snowboard Company

image and link from Christianity Today

          As winter drags on in the midwest, I thought I'd let you know about what an innovative Christ-follower is doing in Colorado: making snowboards out of trees tragically destroyed by pine beetles. Barry Clark, with the encouragement of Bill Dodder, founding pastor of Woodmen Valley Church, started the business Weston Snowboards. 

          Myself, my wife and I can only tell skiing stories that would make for good slapstick comedy, but this story of using (redeeming) what has been destroyed to better build community and point people to the Creator of the beautiful skiing mountains? That's inspiring.

Clark has founded and run a number of technology companies over the years, but Weston Snowboards falls at the intersection of Clark's core enthusiasms: snowboarding, woodworking, and community.

Weston Snowboards is in its infancy, a classic American small business. Clark has just a few employees and is still testing out his first product lines, but he has bold ambitions: to be the world's most-sustainable snowboard company.

The seed that grew to Weston Snowboards was planted on a ski lift in mid-2012. While Clark rode up the lift, a man in his 70s told Clark how his family had vacationed in the mountains for decades. He said that how skiing and snowboarding brought his entire family together in a way nothing else could.

"I took that conversation to heart," said Clark, who founded the company shortly after. "I think God smiles when he sees us enjoying his creation. Weston Snowboards helps people connect with nature, and the beauty of nature always points people to the Creator."

For Clark, the snowboard industry creates opportunities for families to connect with one another. But it's more than family fun. It's about redeeming what is damaged. Pine beetles swept through Colorado's mountains, leaving little alive in their wake. Weston Snowboards breathes new life into dead pines.

          You can read the rest here.