C. Wesley Astin
Dean of Chapel
M.Div., The Wesley Theological Seminary
(540) 365-4286
wastin@ferrum.edu

Office Location:

Christian Ministries Center (LighHouse)
622 Ferrum Mountain Road
Ferrum College
Ferrum, VA 24088

PH 540.365.4286     FAX 540.365.4599

Office Hours:

By Appointment

Wes Astin, Dean of the Chapel and Religious Life, has served the Campus Community at Ferrum College since 1987. He attended Ferrum College and graduated in 1974. He then attended Wesley Theological Seminary where he received his MDiv. Degree. Following seminary he served churches in the Virginia Conference on the Ashland and Danville Districts before returning to Ferrum College. During his time at Ferrum he has served as Director of Development, Director of Alumni and Family Programs, Director of Church Relations and now as Dean of the Chapel & Religious Life. 

Mr. Astin leads the campus and the local community in Monday evening services at Vaughn Chapel, and his responsibilities extend into student life and mission work as well. Weekly services are led by Ekklesia, the Ferrum College Worship Team. This group performs contemporary Christian and gospel music and are often invited throughout the Virginia Conference of the UMC to lead in contemporary workshops and youth retreats.

He is the advisor to the Ferrum Christian Fellowship, a student organization that oversees all ministry opportunities on campus, and also serves as advisor and member to MEX — Mu Sigma Chi, a Christian fraternity that promotes academic success and leadership skills through service to the church.

Ferrum College was founded as a mission school by the Methodist Church, and Mr. Astin keeps mission work a priority nearly 100 years later. He has led Ferrum students on mission trips to Belize, New Orleans, Guatemala, Jamaica, Brazil, the Choctaw Indian Reservation in Mississippi, and England. The men of Mu Sigma Chi visited the Choctaw’s for the past two years and have entered into a covenant relationship with this mission site with plans to visit again in 2012 and 2013.

Astin has traveled extensively. He has visited Israel nine times. He has taken students on travel abroad experiences in such places as Rome, Malta and Prague. In 2005 The United Methodist Higher Education Foundation, which comprises 124 United Methodist preparatory schools, colleges and universities across the country, named Astin Chaplain of the Year. In his personal time Mr. Astin enjoys reading, dancing to beach music and time with his family.