Messiah College: Parents Progress

Messiah College welcomes back Eldon Fry as college pastor

Messiah College recently welcomed Eldon Fry as its new college pastor. This is not the first time Fry has worked at Messiah College — he served as director of campus ministries and then college chaplain from 1984 to 1997.

“I love the Messiah community,” Fry said. “I worked here 13 years previously, so coming back is exciting. I find myself meeting new people in a familiar setting.”

Fry was selected to be the next college pastor by an eight-member committee from a large pool of applicants for his extensive experience in pastoral ministry. He has served as the senior pastor at Pine Creek Community Church and manager of pastoral care for Focus on the Family, both in Colorado. Most recently, he has been the dean of chapel and college pastor at Bethel College in St. Paul, Minn.

“His experience set him, far and away, above anybody else,” said Evie Telfer, associate college pastor. “As did his campus ministry and pastoral experience and his vision and relational gifts.”

As College pastor, Fry is excited to reach out to those who are marginalized, provide spiritual encounters that challenge students, faculty and staff, build and develop community, and help the College continue to grow in its journey with God. Most of all, Fry has a passion for student ministry.

“Students will go and do wonderful things I could never dream of and I get to come alongside of them. That’s what gets me out of bed in the morning,” Fry said. “I enjoy the openness and honesty in being able to talk with students about the real life issues they face. Students are so authentic and transparent and it’s such a privilege to be able to talk with them while they’re making such important
decisions.”

Dwight Thomas, assistant professor of music, worked with Fry at Messiah College in the late 1990s.

“I was always impressed with the spirit of his heart,” Thomas said. “He is a wonderfully gentle man with a strong sensitivity to people’s needs, a very caring and pastoral person.”

Fry is also gifted in staying up to date with today’s culture. “He had his finger on the pulse of the student body and was interested in their needs,” Thomas said. “But he also sought to serve the broader college community —the faculty and staff.”

“Eldon is a remarkably caring and compassionate person. He is a pastor in the truest sense of the word,” said Terry Brensinger, pastor of Grantham Brethren in Christ Church. “Eldon is genuine, a real person, and he can relate to everybody.”

As a parent of two grown children who went to Christian colleges, Fry has some advice to parents: “The thing that is really important is to pray a lot—I know my prayer life really improved when my kids went to college,” Fry said. “Some parents are worried their children will get into all kinds of trouble and it is a vulnerable time, but you need to trust what you’ve already done and invested in your children. Trust that these young people are going to do good and amazing things.”