Cross-carrying ‘missionary’ busted for having fist fight during walk across America

A “missionary” carrying a cross on his shoulder during a 2,000-mile walk across America is accused of not turning the other cheek — as he allegedly got into a fist fight with a passing motorist and wound up being arrested.

Jesse Michael Boyd, 46, of Vale, was completing the multi-state trek for Full Proof Gospel Ministries alongside his teenage daughter, young son, and two other missionaries when they got the fisticuffs with driver outside Cameron, Montana on Nov. 12.

“He told us we weren’t welcomed in Montana,” Boyd told Channel 9’s Dan Faherty of the fight, which he said started when the driver scolded them for where they parked their 2022 Subaru. “He told us there were rifles trained on us and if we moved, we’d be shot.”

Although the argument seemed to calm down when the driver – later identified as Bradley Terrell – put his gun away, Boyd said Terrell proceeded to shove him into the ground.

Taking the phrase “do unto others” to new heights, Boyd, his daughter, and fellow missionaries Eric Anthony Trent, 27, and Carter Norman Phillips, 20, proceeded to strike Terrell several times with a flagpole. 

All four were subsequently arrested and charged with felony aggravated assault. Although Boyd and his family have returned home to Vale, he continues to wear an ankle monitor as he awaits proceedings from the Montana prosecutors.

When Channel 9 reached Terrell by phone to discuss Boyd’s accusations, Terrell declined to comment further.

“I’d love people to see the evidence,” he told the outlet. “Stay with us, follow the case and follow the facts.”

Boyd’s arrest cut short his months-long cross country trip that began off North Carolina’s Cape Hatteras and planned to conclude at the Pacific Ocean. Boyd’s group alternated walking the distance carrying a cross and an upside-down American flag with driving stints in their car packed with Bibles and evangelical tracts.

Referred to the journey as #thelongwalkusa, the Full Proof website referred to the trek as a mission to “bring revival to America’s churches and spiritual awakening to her streets.” The upside-down flag is not meant to show disrespect, but rather concern over the state of the nation.

Despite the hiccup in his plans, Boyd had no plans to hang up his cross just yet.

“At some point, I will take up that cross at the very same spot where this took place, and we’ll continue our journey as the Lord leads us to the Pacific Ocean,” he told Channel 9.