Stetson University Chaplain Michael Fronk is soaking up the hugs, smiles and warm wishes from professors, students and other friends at a recent interfaith talk on campus.

“No one expected me to be here today,” Rev. Fronk says. “But I said I’m going to school today. I’m feeling great.”

Just months after being bedridden with health issues, Fronk is up and around, something the Southern Baptist minister attributes to his faith, lots of organic fruit juice and Buddhism.

He attended a Hatter football game this month and last Friday listened to the talk on Judaism in Allen Hall – part of an interfaith series that he helped start after becoming Stetson chaplain in 2004.

“I’ve been very fortunate in terms of my health and my relationship with the university,” said Fronk, who graduated from Stetson in religious studies in 1974 before going to seminary.  “That’s why I wanted to get back. I’m still under Hospice care, but they’re just amazed at me physically, which I’m happy about.”

It’s been a dramatic turnaround in the past three months, said longtime friend Jacquelyn Lewis. Lewis is one of 10 women who stepped in last summer to help Fronk and his wife Stephanie.

The women have dubbed themselves, “Sister Wives,” and they care for him virtually every day. Lewis helps with doctor’s appointment and insurance paperwork. Sarahrose Ministeri serves lunch and schedules appointments for people wishing to visit. Nize Nylen, wife of Stetson Political Science Professor William Nylen, makes juices from her organic garden, based on homeopathic recipes that she learned while growing up in Brazil. Others cook healthy meals, help him bath, update his Facebook page and take him on errands.

Fronk’s medical diagnosis hasn’t changed, said Lewis, but his health has improved through a healthy diet, rest and less stress.

“We built a team of caregivers. There are 10 women who show up and do for him and Stephanie,” Lewis said. “We all have a place in Michael’s healing and care.”

Added Nize Nylen: “Michael changed himself by changing his diet. He’s not eating a lot of sugar. He believes it’s me and the juice. But I am not that miracle.”

Fronk admits he didn’t take care of his health for many years. He gained 60 pounds over the years as he juggled a job as a consultant to funeral homes, Stetson University Chaplain and well-known local minister, as well as serving on city and nonprofit boards. His weight problem left him with chronic health issues.

“I had every warning. I just didn’t pay attention,” said Fronk, a father of six grown children. He’s seated in a downstairs sunroom in his two-story DeLand home, where a bed has been set up for him to sleep. A jazz pianist plays softly on the stereo.

His caregivers try to keep him away from sugary treats, but he admits to sneaking into the kitchen late one night – once he was mobile again — for one little bite of a delicious cheesecake. His wry sense of humor, which helped him in the ministry, helps him still.

He wears an oxygen tube “just for sympathy,” he says with a laugh. His parish is the Elusive Grape, a wine store and wine bar in downtown DeLand, where he’s good friends with the owner and enjoys talking with friends, even though he doesn’t drink. He talks of a powerful attorney and good friend, whose tongue-in-cheek motto was, “You’re innocent until you’re indigent. We’ll defend you to your last dime.” He mentions he once ran for City Council and adds, “Luckily I didn’t win.”

Humor and faith have helped him face his medical challenges, he said. “It’s faith that encourages you to do the things you need to do. It’s helped me get through the bad news.”

But when he was asked in the hospital and by Hospice if he wanted to talk to a minister, he answered no. Ministers can talk in “clichés,” he explained. Instead, he reached out to a local Buddhist spiritual leader, Sensei Morris Sullivan, who now visits three days a week for meditation, chants and incense – “bells and smells,” as Fronk jokingly calls it.

The experience has made him a “Baptist Buddhist,” he said, adding he likes the Buddhist focus on kindness to others and prayers for happiness.

Sullivan said Fronk was looking for a different spiritual message.

“He’s been a minister for a very long time. He’s probably heard everything that any Baptist minister could say to him,” Sullivan said. “I imagine he wanted to hear something different.

“There are things that are true no matter what religious package you put them in,” Sullivan continued. “He and I talked about this. I think religion is like a vessel and what it contains is wisdom.”

Fronk has a certificate hanging not far from his bed, showing that he’s now Buddhist. It’s surrounded by scores of cards and notes from family, friends and colleagues. Visitors come by regularly, including Stetson University President Wendy B. Libby and Volusia County Sheriff Ben Johnson.

“It’s been an overwhelming response,” said Fronk. “People have been so gracious and so helpful. Their prayers have been felt.”

Libby recalled that Fronk and his wife took her and her husband, Richard, out for dinner in New Smyrna Beach on the day before she started working as Stetson president. “It was so generous and thoughtful of him,” Libby said.

“He has really taught us all how to be more reflective about our humanity, and that’s a great gift that he’s given those of us who have had the opportunity to walk with him through this,” she said.

 

A fund has been started for Chaplain Michael Fronk to help pay his medical bills and other expenses. You can give to the Michael Fronk Fund at any Mainstreet Community Bank of Florida or visit his Gofundme page at https://www.gofundme.com/2hb5wkk.

-Cory Lancaster