News and Views

By Melissa Lauber

A university chapel, where the community, church and academy intersect, can be a place of immense creativity, justice-making and spiritual growth. The Rev. Trey Daniel has made it his ministry to begin creating just such a space at Frostburg State University.

For now, Baker Chapel sits unused in the old Frost Building as Daniel carries the presence of religion beyond the chapel walls and into the daily lives of the university’s 4,100 undergraduate and 700 graduate students.

Relationship building is key, he explained. So are opportunities for discovery, for service, and for encountering the sacred in unexpected places. Daniel leads Bible studies, but he is also at home at the Starbucks in the Lane University Center or planning a civil rights pilgrimage to awaken students to history and equality.

He arrived at the campus in September 2022, a pastor ordained in the Pentecostal tradition, hired by the Baltimore-Washington Conference of The United Methodist Church, to lead the university’s Protestant United Campus Ministry.

The ministry at Frostburg is one of the five BWC campus ministries. The others are at the University of Maryland in College Park, Gallaudet University, American University and Howard University in Washington, D.C.

Frostburg has a unique character, located in the Appalachian highlands of Western Maryland, the 260-acre campus is part of the town of Frostburg, which has a population of about 7,000. 

The residents of the town are predominantly white. However, approximately 40 percent of the school’s undergraduates are people of color; and there are about 300 international students on campus.

This diversity has led to often unspoken and unresolved tensions that seem, to many to have a racial component. Daniel has begun working with the Rev. Kyle Durbin and the congregation at Frostburg UMC to discover how new kinds of partnerships can begin to address some of these concerns.

 “Frostburg, as a community, has recently begun to recognize the racial tensions in the community that stem from a history that, for some time, was rarely discussed,” Durbin said. “For example, Frostburg State University sits in the exact location that was formerly known as "Brownsville," a thriving black community that had created its own community parallel to the more homogeneously white Frostburg Main Street area, complete with churches, restaurants, ball fields, stages, salons, and more. It existed for more than 50 years, until the state of Maryland began forcibly purchasing the properties for little to nothing, in an effort to build Maryland State School #2, a teaching college that is now Frostburg State University.

 “This entire history has only recently begun being addressed,” Durbin said. “Students come to Frostburg, nestled in the mountains of Western Maryland, from places all across the rest of the state, and they bring with them their own experiences, culture, and values. The tension is not unexpected, but many feel, including myself, that the silent response, and what has been viewed by many as an invisible wall between the university and the rest of the community must be addressed, and more importantly, transformed for the better. 

Daniel agreed, admitting, “this area is very conservative – in their political, racial and educational views. There is a stigma about whether students are welcome in the surrounding community. But strides are being made in the area of diversity.”

Last fall, the shooting of a university student acted as a catalyst to throw Daniel and the congregation of Frostburg UMC more quickly and deeply into students’ lives as they work to address unfolding emotional and spiritual needs.

In an article picked up by the United Methodist News Service, Daniel said, “The death on campus this fall "brought out a strong emotion in me, anger. I am angry because the death of this individual was not widely acknowledged. Not a lot of students knew about this loss to the community.” Daniel began advocacy work and pastoral care with a broad range of student organizations to “ensure that the life of every student is valued, regardless of their race or geographic home.”

There is also significant diversity within the student population. Daniel is finding, as in most college settings, students are coming together from a vast variety of backgrounds and finding commonalities.

One interesting thing that unites them is “the murky waters of religion.” Many come to United Campus Ministry with a strong understanding of the Bible, tradition and church. Spiritual formation is not the issue, Daniel said. He wants to help them channel their religious energy into social action and issues. Other students are more spiritual. They may pray every day, and have a relationship with God, but are not looking to go to church. They’re not interested in organized religion, Daniel said. Both groups seem to be religiously “fluid.” For all of the students, he is exploring opportunities to move beyond the orthodox and traditional and create opportunities for faith to come to life.

Currently, Daniel is inspired by places like Marsh Chapel at Boston University and Rankin Chapel at Howard University – places that bring together faith and intellect to connect people in meaningful ways. He is seeking to create a similar space, defined by the context of Frostburg University, where student voices can be heard, and young adults can grow and experience new things. He wants to create a space were people – on the campus and in the community – “can sense the movement of God.”

The congregation at Frostburg UMC is interested in becoming part of that movement. Members have always had a relationship with the campus, but they’re becoming more intentional about building bridges and pathways between the university and the community, Durbin said.

 As members of the BWC’s Catalyst Initiative, church members are working on creating vital ministries that intentionally include the university. “My vision is one in which Frostburg begins finding more ways to give back, and that starts with increased hospitality, welcome, and getting to know the students, especially those who didn't grow up in Western Maryland,” Durbin said. “Ultimately, the goal is to build relationships, which will create those bridges that form a lasting, mutually beneficial, symbiotic relationship between Frostburg State University and Frostburg, Maryland, where everyone genuinely cares for one another, supports one another, and welcomes one another. We're better together.” 

While he has been at Frostburg less than a year, Daniel finds his own spirit expanding. He finds great joy in family and is now the father of an infant son. A child of cities, Daniel is also encountering God in unexpected ways in the natural beauty of the Alleghany Mountains. “I didn’t have the opportunity to experience the voice of God in such a calming, naturalistic environment before,” he said. “Experiencing God this way for me has been eye-opening.”

 Daniel’s plans for campus ministry are open to the leadings of Holy Spirit, but he invites everyone with an interest in participating or supporting this ministry at Frostburg to contact him. Churches and individuals can also provide financial support to United Campus Ministry.

 At a recent Bible study, Daniel led the students in a conversation on Mark 12:28-34. The students began to explore how they might define love. “Love gives us strength to go forward,” Daniel said. College is a time to be advocates for justice, to be truth-tellers and to put our hands to the plow, as we discover what we’ll do as followers of Christ.”