Pastor Fred TenEyck began his campus ministry journey at Seattle Pacific University in the fall of 2025. In his first quarter, he found a new kind of fulfillment through the students he advises.

TenEyck began his pastoral journey in campus ministry at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, where he joined and eventually led the student ministry called “Focus.” Following his graduation, TenEyck started up multiple churches, including his current project in Kent, Washington in 2023.

After moving to Washington, he was presented with the offer to take the Campus Minister position at Seattle Pacific. The responsibilities of the role include overseeing chapel sessions, organizing Urban Involvement and supervising the Residence Hall Ministry and Student Ministry coordinators. TenEyck’s first hurdle was getting through the first two weeks.

“I’ve never worked in higher education. I’ve always been a pastor. So, learning all the different aspects of what it took to do the job and knowing how to do the budget, and thinking about hiring, and all the coordinating things and administrative things got really overwhelming for me in the first couple of weeks,” TenEyck said.

Despite the new responsibilities the job demanded, TenEyck found that the role was easy to adjust to once the students became involved.

“It was like this blossoming, for me, into something that made it clear who you’re here to serve. And being able to, the opportunity to do that, for me, has been the most rewarding thing I’ve done in my 30 plus years of ministry,” TenEyck said.

When looking to the future, TenEyck hopes for Seattle Pacific to become a model for other Christian universities by being a force of good in the city of Seattle, citing the students’ willingness to do so.

“I want for SPU to be seen as just such a light in Seattle. That, when people think about Christian colleges and universities, they think of SPU,” TenEyck said.