8 | January 2025
Pastor Joshua Hargis, his wife, Alicia, and children, Elliana, Adrian, Fiona, Reagan.
By Stephanie Heading, managing editor Elyria Pastor Named Fire Department Chaplain
A weekly outreach to firehouses turned into an oppor - tunity for an Elyria pastor and church replanter to be- come the volunteer chaplain for the Elyria Fire Depart- ment. Pastor Joshua Hargis, Elyria Church, and members of his congregation started delivering home-cooked meals weekly to the firehouses in Elyria three-and-a- half years ago. “We were trying to figure out how to engage the city in a way that was not event driven,” Hargis said. “I asked a few people within the church if they would help and we started making home-cooked meals and feeding the fire department on Mondays.” About 18 months into the project, the Elyria Fire Chief contacted Hargis and asked him to stop the outreach. “He felt like we were just doing something unneces- sary,” he said. “One of the firemen said, ‘No, I’d keep doing it if I was you.’ So we decided to keep doing it against the Fire Chief’s wishes.” In May 2024 Hargis heard from the fire department again. “The Fire Chief called me and asked if I would consider being the chaplain and developing a chaplain program for the Elyria Fire Department. Hargis accepted the offer and in October 2024, he was sworn in as a public servant for the city of Elyria. “I am
a volunteer, so I don’t receive any benefits for it other than the ability to be on site and those types of things,” he noted. Being Fire Chaplain is just one of the many responsibil- ities Hargis currently shoulders. “We (Elyria Church) are a small church, a growing church, but also an inner city church, which comes with a whole new set of demands,” he said. “And we just launched a community center, the Black River Com- munity Center.” Hargis is also married to his wife, Alicia, and they have four young children. Despite the demands on his time and schedule, Hargis has carved out regular time to spend with firefighters. “Right now is a lot of relationship building,” he said. “Sitting with them drinking coffee, learning about their families, learning about their hobbies, and those types of things.” The Elyria Fire Department has four firehouses and among the 75 firefighters in the department, only two are professing believers. “So there’s a major need to be able to have a gospel ministry in this context,” he said. “On the other hand, they are very private.” Story continues on the next page...
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