Matt Stearn鈥檚 walk across the commencement stage on April 30 was not only a personal milestone, but an institutional one. Stearn is the first student to complete the Master of Divinity/Master of Business Administration (MBA) dual degree since the program began in spring 2014.
Stearn, who serves as director of music at Harrisonburg Mennonite Church, hopes to work with a non-profit organization addressing direct social services after graduation. He worked at several other churches in other denominations earlier in his career and found they weren鈥檛 as engaged with community needs as he would have liked. Now he hopes to dive in to that need.
鈥淚 thought that combination of an MDiv and an MBA could open doors in working with a faith-based non-profit,鈥� Stearn says. 鈥淚t just seemed like a great fit.鈥�
At the time he was seeking an academic program, Eastern Mennonite Seminary (EMS) was the only place in Virginia where he found that synergistic dual degree. Stearn focused on cross-cultural and community mission on the seminary side of his education, and non-profit and community entrepreneurial management on the business side. He says he found the interplay 鈥渆nlightening.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 not just what makes good business sense, but also the theology and ethics of 鈥楾his is why we do this,鈥欌�� he says.
Three years after he started taking courses, Stearn joined 20 other seminary graduates in receiving his degrees. Fourteen students鈥攊ncluding Stearn and Kathleen Chapman, who received a dual degree with the MA in Counseling program鈥攅arned Master of Divinity degrees, four earned the Master of Arts in Church Leadership, and three received .
Seminary dean says he was impressed by this year鈥檚 class.
鈥淎s I took in the many insightful capstone presentations by graduating EMS students, I was struck by the richness and range of topics addressed,鈥� King says. 鈥淪tudents showed us what a seminary at the crossroads of the day鈥檚 key issues can look like as they brought scripture to bear on conflict in the church, sexuality, disabilities, racism, war and peace, healing for military veterans and the society that sends them into harm鈥檚 way and so much more.鈥�
The class chose the 鈥淎biding in Christ, Caring for All鈥� as the commencement theme, drawing on John 15:5-9 and John 21:15-19. Linda Alley, who serves as seminary events coordinator and is , spoke at baccalaureate April 29 on 鈥淐all and Dwelling in Tenuous Times.鈥�
鈥淕od is not a destination,鈥� Alley said as she looked at the 鈥渁biding鈥� themes in John. 鈥淕od is home.鈥�
John D. Roth, professor of history at Goshen College in Indiana, spoke at Commencement on 鈥淭he Beauty of Holiness.鈥� Roth, who also serves as director of the Mennonite Historical Library and editor of Mennonite Quarterly Review, told the graduates that God 鈥渄etermines the outcome of history,鈥� and there is beauty in that awareness.
鈥淭his afternoon as you prepare to move into new settings, new assignments, and new challenges I want to encourage you to not to flinch from the painful, ugly realities of our world, our nation, or our church,鈥� Roth said. 鈥淏ut I also want to challenge you to be attentive to the surprising power of beauty and its capacity to transform the world. . . . The task of the church鈥攜our task!鈥攊s to astonish the world with the beauty of the gospel.鈥�
[View a photo album of the university’s undergraduate and graduate commencement ceremonies .]