New Pastor Installed at Lebanon Presbyterian Church in Greenwood, Virginia

Pastor Bryan Fries leads Lebanon Presbyterian Church, which was formally established in 1747. The congregation installed him in August, and he, his wife Aubrey and their six children joined the church community. The church, which overlooks the hayfields of Ridgely Farm in Greenwood, has about 40 weekly churchgoers and a building with room for more.

Fries said the congregation holds that Jesus is who he says he is and did what he said he did in the Bible. “We believe Jesus is who he says he is and did what he said he did in the Bible,” Fries said. “All of it.”

Fries grew up Roman Catholic in Connecticut but lost touch with faith as a college student at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington. He dropped out and moved to Maryland, where he sold cars at a “cash for clunkers” dealership. He later returned to Wilmington to finish his degree and began attending a Bible class, where he said questions about scripture were welcomed. He described a night when he read the Gospel of Luke from start to finish, a experience he said led him to believe that his life could begin anew through God.

He changed his major to philosophy and religion and later enrolled at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Over the next 11 years, he said, he drove as many as 50,000 miles a year selling medical technology and insurance across the region while balancing family and school. He completed coursework for a master’s degree in biblical studies, and the family then moved to the Middle Peninsula of Virginia, where they joined a church in Urbanna. Aubrey sang in the choir there.

Fries then enrolled at Erskine College to complete a Master of Divinity degree. According to the article, elders from Lebanon Presbyterian were in the room when he preached the final sermon of his program, and the church was looking for a new minister at that time. Eleven years of sales work, he later said, had carried him across the region while he prepared for ministry, a picture of work done as service to the Lord (Colossians 3:23).

Fries said he and his family prayed extensively before accepting the call. “We prayed a lot, and seeing our kids’ hearts warm to the possibility was really comforting. It felt like the right fit, and we got here,” he said. “The Lord got us here.”

Source: Read the original report