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Byron Pryor

pryor_byron.jpg“If I had not connected to the CCO’s ministry at Messiah College, my life would be completely different today,” says Byron Pryor. “I would be married to someone different. The depth of my relationships would be shallower—many of the friends I had in college were great friends, but they weren’t people I would live near and be this involved with for the rest of my life. The ones I met through the CCO ministry are still in my life today.”

Byron first connected to the CCO the summer he worked at Summer’s Best Two Weeks camp in Pennsylvania’s Laurel Mountains. He had just completed his freshman year at Denison College in Ohio, but after a life-changing summer, during which he recommitted his life to Christ, he decided to transfer to Messiah College. Once at Messiah, Byron reconnected to CCO staff worker Doug Bradbury, whom he had met at camp. “Doug helped me get to the Jubilee conference that February, and from there, he sucked me in,” Byron says.

Byron got involved in a discipleship group led by Doug, and Doug encouraged Byron to spend the summer of 1990 at the CCO-sponsored Ocean City Beach Project, a Christian leadership training program that changed Byron’s life almost as significantly as his previous summer at camp.

“The Beach Project pushed me beyond a simple theology to an all-of-life theology, to the point where I finally wrestled through hard stuff happening at home,” says Byron. “I was able to work through the ‘why does God let bad things happen to good people’ stuff during my time at the beach, in class, with teachers and staff. It’s also where I met the people that I am still closest to—Francois and BJ, Ken and Roger. We are grafted in with each other because of that summer.”

Byron is grateful for those friendships, which he is convinced have helped him grow in his faith and obedience through the years. “There is a worldview component to how we connect with each other. It’s not just that we enjoy fellowship together—we share a commitment about how we’re going to raise our kids, spend our money, where we are going to live. We haven’t all made the same choices, but there is an underlying commitment to working out our faith and pushing one another about the important things.”

Byron and his wife, Jennifer, who was also involved in the CCO’s ministry at Messiah, have made a choice to live in Pittsburgh’s inner-city East Liberty neighborhood, largely because of its economic and racial diversity. They send their children to Pittsburgh Urban Christian School for similar reasons. And they worship at The Open Door, a Presbyterian congregation whose pastor is one of Byron’s neighbors and OCBP buddies, BJ Woodworth.

After spending several years serving on CCO staff himself, first at Kenyon College and then with medical, law and dental students at the University of Pittsburgh, Byron now works as a commercial insurance producer for RTI. He points back to the CCO’s influence, and particularly the Jubilee conference, for helping him to understand how all of his life—at church, at home, and at work—is meant to glorify God.

“The CCO provided so many models who convinced me that you don’t live your life by what church you go to, but how you live every day,” Byron says. “It wasn’t just CCO staff, but peers involved in the ministry, OCBP teachers and Jubilee speakers, who convinced me that I have got to consider Christ in every aspect in my life. Christians work in every arena, not just as pastors and missionaries, and that means we all have a responsibility to build the Kingdom.”