A debilitating case of black mold engulfed his house and threatened his family's health. A famous football coach falls from grace -- after he's written a book with him about winning. These would test the devotion of many a religious man, but not that of nationally recognized author and broadcaster Chris Fabry.
Fabry credits that faith to a moment as a college student when he said to himself, "If God is really who He says He is, maybe I need to do more than just show up in a tie on Sundays."
The Marshall University journalism school and Moody Bible Institute graduate now can be heard daily on the nationally syndicated radio show "Love Worth Finding." He received the 2008 "Talk Personality of the Year" Award from the National Religious Broadcasters. He has published more than 60 books since 1995, many of them fiction for younger readers.
"My parents took us to a little country church in Culloden," Fabry said of his early years. He went to Milton High School through 1979, working at WNST radio. In his senior year at Marshall, Fabry interned for then-news director Bos Johnson at WSAZ-TV. He married his wife, Andrea Kessell, in 1982, and then he realized he felt called to do something more than just report on city council for the 6 o'clock news.
The couple packed up and headed to Moody Bible Institute in Chicago.
"I spoke to my advisor at Moody, and I told him I didn't know my calling. He looked at my resume, and said, 'I see you've done radio, TV, writing -- don't you think God can use that?'
"Radio played a big part in my family's understanding of the Gospel. We were going to a church (from when I was born until I was 8 or 9) that taught that you could never know if you were really a Christian. You had to be baptized in order to become a believer, but after that, you didn't know whether or not you were OK because your actions could separate you from God. Curse at a driver ahead of you and you had lost your salvation. That kind of thing."
But it was listening to Theodore Epp on "Back to the Bible" (at that time aired on WCHS out of Charleston) that convinced his mother that "God's love was given to us in Jesus Christ," Fabry said.
Fabry started working in radio at Moody, and within a year was hosting "Open Line," a national call-in show, which he did for 12 years. Six years in radio in Chicago followed. Along the way, the couple had Erin, Megan, Shannon, Ryan, Kristen, Reagan, Kaitlyn, Colin, and Brandon. Five girls, four boys. They now range in age from 10 to 26.
He met author Jerry Jenkins at Moody, who became a mentor for his writing career.
"He said, 'If you really want to do this, I can help you, but it will be painful.' I didn't mind the hard work -- I had spent a series of years of reading everything in the 808 section of the library, so I was ready."
Jenkins wanted Chris to help with a series he was writing. Together with Dr. Tim LaHaye, Jenkins wrote the first five of the children's series "Left Behind: The Kids." Fabry went on to write the last 35.
In May 2008, he began "Chris Fabry Live!" and won the 2008 "Talk Personality of the Year" Award from the National Religious Broadcasters.
The biggest test of his faith also started in 2008. The family had moved to Colorado in 2000 so he could concentrate on writing. The home that was to be a haven became infected with black mold, and a series of botched repairs and clean-up jobs made the home unlivable and made the family sick.
"You're not supposed to have one Stachybotrys spore in your house," Fabry said. "In our bedroom, there was something like 260,000 airborne spores collected in the air sample."
It affected everyone's immune system, leaving the children chemically sensitive to perfumes, cleaning solutions and more. They were unable to go back to school. The family vacated the house and left everything behind, and euthanized their two beloved dogs, Pippen and Frodo, who could not recover from the mold issues.
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