The conference, “Thriving in Ministry: Family Systems Theory as a Resource for Faith Communities,” was hosted by the seminary in partnership with The Bowen Center for the Study of the Family and supported by the Lilly Endowment Inc. and the Joe Carolin Memorial Fund.

Throughout the conference, participants explored family systems theory as a resource for understanding and strengthening relationships and congregational life. Ordained and lay leaders, along with others interested in family systems thinking, considered how Bowen theory and differentiation of self, along with their faith traditions, could guide reflection and cultivate thriving in ministry.

Keynote speakers Rev. Dr. Robert Creech and Dr. Dan Papero presented from their expertise in the fields of practical theology and psychotherapy, respectively. Over the two days of the conference, Dr. Creech shared keynote addresses about the intersection of language between systems thinking and Christian theology, as well as how the practice of differentiation of self enhances pastoral care. Dr. Papero spoke about the most recent neuroscientific research regarding the impact of stress on brain functioning. Both contributed to panel discussions with other presenters.  

Conference keynote speaker Dr. Dan Papero (left) has been a faculty member of The Bowen Center since 1982. He has written numerous articles and book chapters on various aspects of family systems theory and family psychotherapy. The Rev. Dr. Robert Creech (right), a former pastor and faculty member of Baylor University’s George W. Truett Theological Seminary, is the author of “Family Systems and Congregational Life” (2019) and co-author of “The Leader’s Journey” (2020), both with Baker Academic.  

Workshops and presentations included discussions on preaching, biblical studies, parenting, and tools to help participants thrive in ministry and daily life.

Among the goals of the Thriving in Ministry conference were to help participants:

• grow in their capacity to differentiate self through an increased understanding of the science of human relationships in families and congregations
• apply family systems theory to the work of faith leaders in pastoral care, preaching, youth work, religious education, and other ministry settings
• explore practical applications, including family diagrams, triangles, and other ways of shifting from an individual to a systems perspective

Other guest presenters included Chaplain Penny Driediger, the Rev. Melanie Lewis, Pastor Lana Miller, Janis Norton, the Rev. Dr. Emlyn A. Ott, the Rev. William Pyle, and the Rev. Chet Yoder. Faculty presenters included Dr. Kenton T. Derstine, Kathleen Cotter Cauley, the Rev. Randall Frost, Dr. Barbara Laymon, the Rev. Jennifer Long, and Amie Post.

For more information about the conference, visit .

The service was co-sponsored by Eastern Mennonite Seminary and led by graduate students Makinto and Mukarabe Makinto-Inandava. It included musical selections from Makinto, as well as the EMU Gospel Choir led by Kay Pettus ’25, and biblical readings from Mukarabe.

Reflections on Easter were shared by English Professor Dr. Kevin Seidel, who teaches and writes about the changing relationship between religion, secularism, and literature. His message, titled “Women Explain Things to Me: A Sermon on Luke 24,” focused not so much on Jesus’ bodily resurrection from the dead but on the “slow, difficult coming to terms with the significance of the resurrection by Jesus’ followers as portrayed in Luke 24.”

“In Luke, the resurrection of Jesus isn’t a simple, triumphant end of the story, but a kind of difficult beginning that unfolds in the Book of Acts,” Seidel said. “The resurrection doesn’t settle debate among Jesus’ followers about who he is. The resurrection proves, I think, profoundly unsettling for them.”

After the service, Seidel said he was glad for the chance to reflect on parts of the resurrection story in Luke 24. “The service was a good way to mark and celebrate the beginning of the seven-week Easter season in the church calendar,” he said.

University Chaplain Brian Martin Burkholder said Wednesday’s Easter celebration follows EMU’s practice of honoring and observing significant Christian traditions and holidays, including Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

“This morning, as we gathered, there was an opportunity for education about Easter,” he said, “as well as an invitation to worship in the spirit of Easter through Scripture, singing, and reflection.”

Makinto, a frequent worship leader at chapel events, performed Jesus Is Risen, an original song he wrote in 2013, as the opening song for this year’s Easter worship service. The song tells the Easter story and connects it to our own lives, he said. 

“So, as he is risen, we as well can rise above all the challenges we have, above the pains we have, above the solitude we have, and also conquer death and situate ourselves squarely in life with our community around us,” Makinto said.

Makinto and his wife, Mukarabe, moved from California to pursue degrees at Eastern Mennonite Seminary and the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, respectively. They are the directors of , an organization that connects people at the local and global levels for the purpose of development, unification, and spiritual and physical well-being.

University Chaplain Brian Martin Burkholder speaks during a campus worship service on Wednesday in Martin Chapel.

Mukarabe Makinto-Inandava reads a selection from Luke 24 (left). Members of the EMU Gospel Choir (right) sing during Wednesday’s campus worship service.

About Campus Worship

Campus Worship is an invitational space for gathered worship in Christian traditions and a variety of styles. Services are held in Martin Chapel of the Seminary Building on Wednesday mornings every other week. 

Campus worship continues with a final service of the academic year on April 22 recognizing EMU’s senior student chaplains: Emily Suarez Nunez, Dia Mekonnen, Sara Kennel, and Miranda Beidler. The event will be livestreamed on .

Watch a video recording of the service below!

EMU Y-Serve, a student-run organization focused on volunteer service in the community, hosted the event on Friday and Saturday in partnership with the Harrisonburg Tacos 4 Life restaurant and the Feed My Starving Children nonprofit. For every meal sold at Tacos 4 Life locations, the company donates a portion of the proceeds to FMSC to help purchase Manna Packs. These nutrient-rich bagged meals, specially formulated for children, are then distributed by the nonprofit to schools, orphanages, medical clinics and feeding programs in about 100 countries. 

In its most recent fiscal year, the organization provided 375 million meals to mission partners worldwide, according to Brian Yeich, regional development adviser for FMSC. He said that the total meals packed at the EMU event exceeded the organization’s goal of 101,088 meals. 

“We are so grateful that God brought together FMSC, Tacos 4 Life, and the greater EMU community to feed God’s starving children, hungry in body and spirit,” he said. “To not only meet but actually exceed the meal-packing goal by over 12,000 meals is a testament to the people of the Harrisonburg community and the generosity of Tacos 4 Life, which sponsored these meals.”

On Friday and Saturday, Yoder Arena transformed into a meal-packing plant. Teams of volunteers scooped vitamin powder, dried vegetables, dehydrated soy and rice into bags, which were then weighed for consistency, sealed, and placed into boxes. The boxes were loaded onto a truck bound for the warehouse, where they will be distributed to children in need. 

As she finished a volunteer shift packing meals on Friday afternoon, EMU junior Sara Kennel, a member of the Y-Serve leadership team, said she had a wonderful experience working with a group of EMU students, staff and field hockey players, as well as students from Rocktown High School. She said she appreciated how FMSC partners with local organizations on the ground.

“They’re not just handing out meals,” she said. “They’re specifically committed to children for a designated length of time and, within that time, working to find other solutions to feed and provide for them more sustainably.”

The event at EMU has sparked a trend in the Harrisonburg community. Jeremy Hunter, operating partner of the Tacos 4 Life Harrisonburg location, said that James Madison University has agreed to host a MobilePack event at the Atlantic Union Bank Center on Sunday, April 27. You can sign up for that event .

These meal-packing events are part of a larger effort by the Arkansas-based Tacos 4 Life restaurant chain to donate and pack 10 million meals by June 2025 to celebrate its 10th anniversary.

Watch of the EMU MobilePack event in its Tell Me Something Good segment with Taylor Rizzari.

Thank you to all the volunteers who participated, including those from Park View Federal Credit Union, Merck, and Carmax.

“This project was a bear to organize with so many logistics and details, and the results were truly beautiful,” said Brian Martin-Burkholder, university chaplain for EMU. “Many volunteers reported how much fun it was to pack meals together for a few hours. We’re grateful for the level of participation this project received.”

The Y-Serve club, EMU’s longest-running student organization, plans opportunities over fall and spring breaks for students to volunteer in locations across the East Coast and the South. Over spring break this year, six EMU students traveled to Comer, Georgia, to work with , an intentional Christian community that offers hospitality to refugees and other immigrants. The staff of Jubilee Partners live alongside three to five families as they help them get settled in the United States. 

The community at Jubilee grows fruits and vegetables as a way to provide healthful food, care for the land, and work together outdoors. The six students who traveled there got to participate in this meaningful work. They helped mulch blueberry bushes, plant chestnut trees, dig a new path, and cut out invasive shrubs in the woods. 

Besides their volunteer work, the students explored the 260-acre property, with its fields, forest, river, and even a small waterfall. In the evenings, they played card games with some of the partners and volunteers who live at Jubilee.

Micah Mast, an EMU junior who served as the student leader of the group, chose to go on this trip because his family volunteered at Jubilee Partners for four months when he was only four years old. “I wanted to go back and help out,” Mast said. On the other hand, Ella Richer, a student chaplain in her first year of college, had never been to Georgia but wanted to visit an intentional community. 

Shawna Hurst, a first-year student who helped plan the recent Intercollegiate Peace Fellowship Conference at EMU, saw the trip as a way to meet others who focus on peace and justice. Hurst finds peace work “inspiring, fulfilling, and much needed.” The trip helped her learn more about what happens to refugees who end up in U.S. detention centers.

Erin Loker, a first-year student and Y-Serve leadership team member, said some of her highlights were getting to know the other students who went on the trip and hearing the stories of the people at Jubilee. Every weekday, the community gathers to eat lunch and share noontime devotions, which provided a good opportunity for the students to meet the people living there. Richer reported many interesting conversations with the residents about living in community, choosing to live simply, welcoming refugees, and giving generously.

A highlight for Mast was giving a presentation on how EMU students are pursuing peace and justice. The Jubilee community appreciated learning how students combine their desire for a better world with their faith through events like the Intercollegiate Peace Fellowship Conference and other work EMU Peace Fellowship has been doing.

For Loker, the trip taught her about hard work and simple living. Even though she had never planted trees before, the volunteer work was “a cool experience.”

 “People there shared a lot and lived minimalistic lives,” she said. “It helped me reflect on how much I have that I don’t really need and what’s important to me.”

EMU senior Emma Nord, who was quoted in the article, had this to say: “I love the rhythm of the labyrinth, kind of focusing on God and the design. Once you get to the center, you’re not done. You then walk back the way you came in.”

Hundreds of volunteers from the Harrisonburg community and beyond will help out at a MobilePack event at EMU next month, packing more than 100,000 meals to feed malnourished children around the world.

The EMU Y-Serve student club is hosting the two-day event (held March 21-22) in partnership with the Harrisonburg  restaurant and the  nonprofit. EMU students, faculty and staff, as well as volunteers from local church congregations, retirement communities, businesses and civic organizations will join together for the major meal-packing project at the EMU University Commons.

Register online for a two-hour shift at: 

Brian Martin Burkholder, university chaplain for EMU, said he noticed an  in the local newspaper about the Tacos 4 Life restaurant’s opening and felt that its mission of feeding malnourished children aligned with Y-Serve’s goal of serving others as the hands and feet of Jesus.

“As a university steeped in the Anabaptist faith tradition, EMU has emphasized companioning marginalized people and offering whatever resources we have to meet human need,” he said. “This is another way we can practice our core values of peace and justice and active faith.”

EMU senior Halie Mast, president of Y-Serve, helped organize the volunteer event.

“This is a huge project that our service club has taken on this year, and it’s probably the largest project I’ve ever helped plan,” she said. “A lot of time, planning, and prayer have gone into this undertaking, and I hope that Christ will be elevated through this work.”

This event is part of a larger effort by the Arkansas-based Tacos 4 Life restaurant chain to pack and donate 10 million meals by June 2025 to celebrate its 10th anniversary. For every item sold at Tacos 4 Life locations, the company donates a portion to Feed My Starving Children, which is used to purchase Manna Packs. These rice-based nutritious meal bags are given to missions and humanitarian organizations in more than 70 countries.

Jeremy Hunter, operating partner of the Tacos 4 Life Harrisonburg location, said the 100,000 meals donated by his store for the MobilePack event at EMU amounts to a $29,000 contribution to Feed My Starving Children.

“I’m excited for us to bring the Harrisonburg community together to pack 100,000 meals,” he said, adding that this is the first MobilePack event his location has partnered with. “You all at EMU have beaten JMU to the punch!”

Read more about the event in the Daily News-Record .

During a spring break trip to Atlanta with Y-Serve last week, as she broke bread with families from Central and South America, she was instantly transported back to those days.

“Certain food smells or conversations we would have in Spanish — they would take me back,” the global development major said. “Other meals, like the one we had with the Burundi congregation, were vastly different from anything I’ve ever experienced before.”

Kennel, along with nine other EMU students and University Chaplain Brian Martin Burkholder, spent the week from March 2 to 8 in the Peach State for a Y-Serve service learning trip. Y-Serve is the longest-running student organization at EMU and aims to “serve others as the hands and feet of Jesus.”

The Y-Serve group partnered with , a Georgia-based nonprofit that welcomes and hosts asylum seekers and immigrant families. Together, they attended multicultural worship services, shared meals with asylees from Latin America and Africa and listened to their stories and experiences.

The group met with students at the , a public charter K-5 school that educates refugee, immigrant and local children. They toured downtown Atlanta and the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Park. They then traveled about 135 miles south to Americus, Georgia, where they visited the , a racially integrated Christian community and working communal farm founded in 1942.

EMU junior and Y-Serve student leader Ruth Abera treasured the evenings they spent reflecting together as a group. Another highlight of her trip was meeting the founder of , a small coffee truck and coffeeshop in Clarkston, Georgia, that hires resettled refugees and immigrants and provides “a central place where different cultures can come together,” Abera said. 

“After hearing her story, I was like, ‘I’ve known you for five minutes and I want to be just like you,’” she said.

West Virginia

While their Y-Serve group traveled to Atlanta, another headed about 225 miles south and westward to Kimball, West Virginia. Kimball is in McDowell County, which is the third poorest county in the U.S. (2020 Census). From March 4 to 9, three EMU students and one alumnus volunteered with Sharing With Appalachian People (), a ministry program through Mennonite Central Committee, where they repaired houses, connected with local residents and reflected on how to live out their Christian faith.

EMU senior Laurel Evans, a bible, religion and theology major, served as student leader for the West Virginia Y-Serve group. Much of their work included installing metal flashing and a new roof on one side of a house, she said, as well as “lots of repainting.” 

Her favorite part of the trip was getting to know the homeowners whose house they were repairing. 

“They were a lovely couple,” Evans said. “We took long breaks from our work to sit and have coffee with them and talk about our lives and God.”

Peg and Lee Martin serve with Mennonite Central Committee as SWAP location coordinators in Kimball. After their work during the day, Lee Martin would lead the group in devotionals and reflections. That week’s focus, Evans said, was on the Kingdom of God.

“That felt really important to the whole trip — how the Kingdom of God shows up in the small things, and in things we might not consider meaningful, affected how I saw the week,” she said.

Evans, who also led a Y-Serve group with Abera to Kimball over fall break, described the service trip as a “restful and productive experience.”

“I felt really well-rested from the week,” she said, “but I also know I made a decent difference in someone else’s life.”

At a time of deepening political polarization in the country, said Rev. Adam Russell Taylor, many churches have embraced one of two extremes.

The first extreme, he told the crowd of about 40 assembled on Tuesday evening, is to become increasingly politicized and partisanized, “where our Christian faith becomes subservient to our political identity.”

“Put another way, our political loyalty and identity becomes a proxy for what Christian faithfulness should look like,” he said. “I believe that this is a fundamental form of idolatry.”

The other extreme, he explained, is to become apolitical and to “believe that our politics are so polarized and broken and corrupted that the solution is to withdraw entirely.”

“Our democracy, as flawed as it may be — our decision not to engage with politics is often an endorsement of the status quo,” Taylor said. “Our decision not to vote, not to engage, not to participate, then becomes a way to prop up what is currently so often wrong or unjust. … We cannot advance shalom without being engaged in politics.”

Although there is no “magic bullet” to cure the toxic polarization in our communities, he admitted, it is imperative that Americans share a baseline understanding of “how we’ve gotten to where we are.”

“Tied to that, we will be a house divided against itself if we don’t have a shared moral vision about where we want to go,” he said.

Taylor, one of two keynote speakers at Shalom Academy 2024, is the president of and the author of A More Perfect Union: A New Vision for Building the Beloved Community (2021). His address, titled “Where Do We Go From Here: Toxic Polarization or the Beloved Community?” pointed to some of the causes fueling the stark political divide in the country and urged faith leaders to work toward building a “beloved community.”      

“My most succinct definition of what beloved community is all about is to build a society, to build a nation, where neither punishment nor privilege is tied to race, to ethnicity, to gender, to sexual orientation, to ableness,” he said. “It is to create a society and a nation where our diversity truly is embraced as a strength and not a weakness. It is to create a society and a nation where everyone is respected and everyone is enabled to thrive.”

Shalom Academy 2024, held at Eastern Mennonite Seminary from Monday, Jan. 8, to Wednesday, Jan. 10, drew 80 pastors, ministers and laity to campus for its workshops, seminars, worship and fellowship opportunities. Participants traveled from 10 states for the event, from as far away as California and Manitoba, Canada.

The theme of the three-day conference, “Pursuing Community in a Divisive World,” offered a place to learn and reflect on the practices that move congregations past divisiveness and toward peace, both within their walls and in their larger communities.

This was the first year that Shalom Academy, formerly known as the School for Leadership Training (SLT), used its new name. For 54 years, SLT has equipped pastors with tools needed for deepening the effectiveness of their ministries.

Courtney Joyner, director of the seminary’s Lilly Foundation “Thriving in Ministry” grant funding the event, called Shalom Academy 2024 a great success:

“Everyone who contributed brought their best selves to the task, giving us a thoughtful and engaging conference. I am so grateful to each one for the gifts that they so freely gave to us this week.”

“The conversations I had with participants during the breaks confirmed what I sensed — that they were getting skills and ideas that would be put to immediate use in their ministries. Several expressed how the speakers and leaders motivated them to be courageous faith leaders in this time of deep polarization in our society.”

If you have any of the following people in your church, Rev. Melissa Florer-Bixler told the crowd during her keynote presentation, their lives will be impacted by outcomes from the 2024 presidential election.

Those people include: “Migrants, refugees, anyone on Medicaid, anyone on Medicare, disabled people, LGBTQ people, children, women, people who want to live in homes, people who want to drink water, people who plan to live for 20 more years, and anyone who cares about anyone on that list.”

Florer-Bixler, author of How to Have an Enemy: Righteous Anger and the Work of Peace (2021) and the pastor of Raleigh Mennonite Church in North Carolina, offered guidance on what to expect in the presidential campaign season and how to navigate the challenging waters ahead. Her address, titled “Ministry During the Election Cycle: Politics Without Despair,” pulled from stories in the Gospel of Matthew as well as from her own experiences leading a church.

She called on faith leaders to offer sanctuary to the most vulnerable in their congregations. During presidential election years, she said, communities experience a spike in hate crimes, often directed against Black people, Jews, Muslims and LGBTQ people.

She also encouraged them to cultivate joy by telling better stories, including those in Scripture of hope, subversion and abundance.

“We have a genealogy of joy that extends through the lives of people who have lived at times much like ours,” Florer-Bixler said. “People who have also lived at the end of the world, who have lived in disaster, who found their way to collectively and persistently proclaim ‘Jesus is Lord, Caesar is not.’ And they have also given us what we need in order to witness to the risen Jesus Christ in our lives.”

EMU professors Justin Poole and Jerry Holsopple revived their multimedia production of Bonhoeffer: Cell 92 for Shalom Academy participants. The one-man play, which incorporates powerful film footage and a haunting cello score, breathes life into the struggles and friendships of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. A Christian theologian, anti-Nazi dissident and spy, Bonhoeffer was imprisoned for his opposition to Hitler and the Nazi regime in World War II. He spent one and a half years in prison before being hanged in April 1945, just weeks before the end of the war.

The play debuted at EMU in January 2022 and was performed in Vienna, Austria, that spring.

There’s one last chance to watch the play before its final curtain call.

Tickets for the show are $9 for general admission and $5 for students.

Small groups gathered in conversation circles on Tuesday and Wednesday, where they discussed topics such as “Climate Justice in a Divisive World,” “Reading Scripture as a Community” and “What is God Like?”

Lana Miller, a member of Community Mennonite Church in Harrisonburg, led a conversation circle on “Incorporating Economic Justice in Ministry Settings.”

As a stewardship consultant for Everence Federal Credit Union, she said her job is to help people think about how their faith impacts what they do with their money. “I love these kinds of conversation spaces because I want to keep helping people grapple with the fact that having money and what we choose to do with the money we have makes a difference in the world we live in,” she said in an interview after the discussion. “Leading that conversation circle is part of my work and it’s what I’m passionate about.”

“It’s a hard world for pastors to navigate right now,” said Joyner, director of the Thriving in Ministry grant at Eastern Mennonite Seminary. “We wanted to address that and equip them with tools to better be able to minister in their local context.”

Shalom Academy 2024, held at the seminary from Monday, Jan. 8, to Wednesday, Jan. 10, is themed “Pursuing Community in a Divisive World.” It offers a place to learn and reflect on the practices that move congregations past divisiveness and toward peace both within their walls and in their larger communities. The deadline for standard registration pricing is Saturday, Dec. 9.

Learn more
and register.

New Name

This is the first time that Shalom Academy, formerly known as the School for Leadership Training (SLT), will be using its new name. For 54 years, SLT has equipped pastors with tools needed for deepening the effectiveness of their ministries.

“As we build on the solid foundation of SLT, we recognize the need to more overtly emphasize justice, peacebuilding and conflict transformation from a faith-based lens,” Joyner said.

She said the name change projects this focus while also distinguishing the conference as one of the programs under the umbrella of EMS’s new Shalom Collaboratory.

“Shalom Academy is a place for both education and connection,” Joyner said. This year, Shalom Academy will feature keynote speakers and workshops that give fresh perspectives on justice-inspired shalom, small-group spaces to connect around shared interests and excursions that provide relaxation and recreation with friends. 

Keynote speakers

Rev. Melissa Florer-Bixler, an author and the pastor of Raleigh Mennonite Church in North Carolina, is the chair of L’Arche North Carolina, an organization that provides housing, support and care for adults with intellectual disabilities. Her address on Monday evening is titled, “Ministry During the Election Cycle: Politics Without Despair,” and will discuss how church leaders can faithfully and hopefully lead congregations in the months ahead. 

The other keynote speaker is Rev. Adam Russell Taylor, president of Sojourners, a Christian media and advocacy organization that works toward social and racial justice. His address on Tuesday is titled “Where Do We Go From Here: Toxic Polarization or the Beloved Community?” and will focus on the tools for overcoming polarization in our society, our politics and our churches.

Excursions

A new addition to the activity schedule this year is excursions. The excursions provide a space for participants to get to know each other outside of conference events, Joyner said.

“We wanted to incorporate an afternoon where people can relax, connect with each other, have fun and build relationships in a playful way,” she said.

The excursions for Shalom Academy 2024 are:

• Ice skating at Generations Park;
• a tour of the Frontier Culture Museum;
• a tour of Shenandoah Caverns;
• a tour of the Brethren Mennonite Heritage Center; and
• a performance of the play Bonhoeffer: Cell 92 at EMU’s MainStage Theater.

The play depicts the life of German dissident and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was imprisoned and murdered for his opposition to Hitler and the Nazi regime in World War II.

“This play aligns so well with our conference theme because Dietrich Bonhoeffer lived in a deeply polarized society in which he stood up for faith and justice,” Joyner said. 

Workshops

A schedule for Shalom Academy 2024 includes conversation circles, teaching sessions, worship services and workshops. 

The workshops, held Tuesday and Wednesday, are:

• “Leading Difficult Conversations” with Rev. Dr. Sarah Ann Bixler;
• “Moral Discernment within Community” with Rev. Dr. Jacob Alan Cook;
• “Understanding Polarization: The Good, the Bad and the Useful” with Rev. Melissa Florer-Bixler;
• “Preaching in a Divided Church” with Rev. Jim Joyner; and
• “Building Bridges with First Responders” with Rabbi Jeffrey Kurtz-Lendner.

Registration is available for both in-person and virtual participation. Online registration offers virtual access to the keynote addresses, teaching sessions and the Wednesday panel discussion. For more information about The Shalom Collaboratory at Eastern Mennonite Seminary, visit .

Explore past integration projects:, , 2017,  2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022.

Schedule

Tuesday, March 21, 2023 (chapel period)
Jimmy Calhoun: “The Wounded Healer: Clergy and Grief”
Jenn Parsons: “Companioning One Another Through Disenfranchised Maternal Grief”

Thursday, March 23, 2023
Hailey Holcomb: “Do I Matter? Using Theatre to Address Religious Trauma in Queer Community”
Virginia Basden: “Why the Wilderness: An Exploration into Wilderness as Spiritually Healing”
Greg Kropff: “An Examination of Clergy Trauma and How to Address It”

Thursday, April 20, 2023 (ACE Festival)
Carrie Dengler Wenger: “Toward Wholeness: How Chaplains Integrate the Sacred Work of Healing”

Capstone Descriptions

Tuesday, March 21  

Jimmy Calhoun: “The Wounded Healer: Clergy and Grief”

My CIP will develop a Wounded Healer program. This project is important to me because I am a Pastor and over the past eight years, I have lost three core members of my family and was diagnosed with a disease that is gradually taking away my ability to walk. While I know I am not the only person to deal with loss, as a Pastor I am struggling with how to heal. The problem is there is no program or group to my knowledge that helps Clergy deal with their grief. So, my research question is: How can fellow clergy walk with the wounded healers who are trying to help others? I will give an anonymous poll to clergy to access online as well as on paper. This will allow the individuals to write about their fears and pain. They will be asked whether they have someone who can walk with them during tough times. As the in-person course continues the participants will be placed in small groups to work on Lectio Divina questions. My presentation and paper will report on the experience and results and point out further areas for work.

Jennifer Parsons: “Companioning One Another Through Disenfranchised Maternal Grief”

Grief surrounds us. Yet, we are often uncomfortable in its presence. We rely on familiar rituals to accompany us through the loss of a loved one. We send or receive flowers, homemade casseroles, and sympathy cards. We dress in appropriate attire and attend a memorial or funeral service. But what happens when the loss is not the death of a loved one? What if we find ourselves or those we care about stranded in a space absent from social support? This presentation weaves together Kenneth J. Doka’s concept of disenfranchised grief, contemporary grief theory, and personal experience to offer examples of accompaniment through the turbulent waters of disenfranchised maternal grief. 

Thursday, March 23

Hailey Holcomb: “Do I Matter? Using Theatre to Address Religious Trauma in Queer Community”

This project draws on my ten years of experience in theatre. It combines the forefront of modern theatre research and practices with ministry and pastoral care to address religious trauma in Queer community – my community. I am writing an extensive theoretical “this is how EMU could apply these practices to address this specific trauma event” in relationship to the 2015 experience of a production of the play Corpus Christi. Methodology includes embodied practices used to address trauma, anxiety, and PTSD  and organizing time out of the rehearsal schedule for cast and crew to have conversations about the particulars of their religious trauma, their experiences of religious community, how we approach scripture, finding ourselves in scripture and biblical narrative, finding community, setting and enforcing healthy boundaries, and other relevant topics. All of this includes discussions of the specifics here at EMU and within the context of this production. Emphasis is on the process and the conversations rather than on a showcase for an audience.

Virginia Baisden: “Why the Wilderness? An exploration of Disability theology through the Wilderness Motifs in the Hebrew bible”

My project is designed to build on my personal experiences in exploring the wilderness, and a careful study of biblical themes related to wilderness, to encourage pastors, chaplains, and other spiritual leaders to incorporate wilderness experience into their practice.  I hope my project will help clergy, pastors, chaplains and Christians in all walks to feel more equipped to understand the theological grounding for time spent in nature, ways to enrich our experiences in Wilderness, and have informed and grounded conversations defending the importance of time spent in the Wilderness as not only a special retreat, but more so a necessary integral part of the Christian journey. In whatever manner I am ministering as a Chaplain, I am positive the Wilderness and nature will be integral. I may end up working with memory care, based on time I spent with my grandmother as well as my background with children with special needs. I have first-hand have experience with what nature and being outdoors can offer to children…especially children who have internalized differences from their peers and find solace and confidence in being in an open outdoor environment.

Gregory Kropff: “An examination of clergy trauma and how to address it”

Exploring clergy trauma and how to address it is an important topic as clergy trauma is often overlooked and not always understood. Clergy work very long hours and are often confronted with significant issues on top of being responsible for managing the local church and ordering and conducting worship. I can often feel like we are doing it all alone. Recent research argues that clergy are suffering from moral injury in conflictual ministry settings. Other data indicates that clergy experience suicidal ideation frequently. I will employ methods learned in CPE that can be beneficial in support of my clergy colleagues. I am hoping to help form clergy support groups where pastors can seek out informal confidential emotional support, receive aid with reflecting on difficult situations and feel less isolated. Based on a questionnaire circulated among clergy colleagues, I intend to make a call to action to both parish and denominational leaders to broaden resources of support for the clergy with whom they relate.

Thursday, April 20

Carrie Dengler Wenger: “Toward Wholeness:  How Chaplains Integrate the Sacred Work of Healing”

Chaplains in clinical settings are facing unique ministry challenges.  As they are more integrated into the medical system, they must shape their work in ways that harmonize and complement the interdisciplinary team.  Additionally, they carry the responsibility of spiritually supporting people across a wide spectrum of beliefs and faiths.  How can chaplains bring theological integrity to their role amidst systemic healthcare practices and when companioning people on various spiritual journeys?  How do they contribute to the health of each individual and integrate their assessments into the plan of care?  Questions related to the theology that grounds and guides chaplains, the chaplain’s role on an interdisciplinary team, and the professional chaplain’s integration with the healthcare system are vitally relevant parts of the growth of the profession of chaplaincy. 

The primary lens I will bring to my work will be that of a theology of wholeness.  I will engage scholarly work and biblical studies to create the framework for this theology.  Then I will bring this lens to several different disciplines including perspectives from medicine, social work, grief theory, and family systems theory.  In each area, I will be looking for indicators of wholeness and interventions that serve the telos of wholeness. 

To address both the goal of theological integrity and the realities that accompany interdisciplinary work in a hospital setting, I will propose the use of an appropriate spiritual assessment tool.  My process will include both the study of and experimentation with various tools as well as a proposal for how they might be improved.  In short, I will be aiming to discover and/or craft a tool that is theologically grounded, practical, relevant, and translatable. 

He will lead the development of programming funded by a ., grant of $998,606. The award is part of Lilly’s Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative, designed to help theological schools across the United States and Canada respond to the most pressing challenges they face in preparing pastoral leaders for today and the future.

The new pastoral leadership program will integrate personal spiritual formation, biblical and theological frameworks and conflict transformation skills. Training will become available in a variety of formats: online digital content, regional on-site trainings, workshops, and new seminary courses and programs. Work is already underway to develop training events for faith community leaders in trauma response and restorative justice for congregations. 

The grant builds on momentum from the graduate certificate in faith-based peacebuilding, a new seminary program offered in cooperation with the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding.

Cook joins EMU after working on a Lilly-funded “Thriving Congregations” grant at Wake Forest that similarly focused on equipping ministry and lay leaders. 

“Dr. Jake Cook brings academic theological training in peace and ethics and an ecumenical background and experience resourcing congregations,,” said The Rev. Dr. Sarah Bixler, associate dean of the seminary. “These experiences will serve him well in implementing EMS’s vision to support ministry leaders and faith communities to understand conflict and develop wise responses.”

Bixler also pointed out that Cook’s expertise in leading integrated programs will strengthen initial development and implementation. “Our program is situated at a unique intersection that brings together distinctive strengths of EMU and EMS: exploring theory and embodying skills in peacebuilding and conflict transformation, undergirded by biblical and theological reflection, and sustained by spiritual formation practices,” she said. “Dr. Cook has expertise in these areas, and he understands the challenges and opportunities congregational leaders are facing. He will be a dynamic and effective leader to develop these program resources.” 

Cook holds a PhD from Fuller Seminary in Christian ethics; a Master of Divinity degree from McAfee School of Theology, Mercer University; and a bachelor’s degree in religion and philosophy from Friends University.

Prior to his appointment at Wake Forest, Cook taught for two years at Friends University and also served in administrative roles at both that university and Fuller Theological Seminary.

Cook has published widely on peacemaking and non-violence, and issues of justice and sustainability. In 2021, he published his first book, Worldview Theory, Whiteness, and the Future of Evangelical Faith (Lexington Books/Fortress Academic).

An award-winning scholar, teacher, and preacher, he has presented at the International Conference on Religion and Film, the National Association of Baptist Professors of Religion, the American Academy of Religion, and the Southwest Commission on Religious Studies, and the Conference on Spirituality, Emergent Creativity and Reconciliation, among other engagements. Cook has also developed and taught courses and workshops in the church setting.

The Pathways Initiative is part of Lilly Endowment’s wider efforts to strengthen theological schools and other religious institutions and networks that prepare pastoral leaders to ensure that a diverse array of Christian congregations are guided by a steady stream of wise, faithful and well-prepared leaders.

��ݮ���� is one of 105 theological schools receiving these grants. Together the schools represent the broad diversity of Christianity in the U.S. and Canada, with affiliations to evangelical, mainline Protestant, nondenominational, Pentecostal, Orthodox, Catholic, Black church, Latino, Asian-American and historic peace church traditions (e.g., Church of the Brethren, Mennonite, Quakers).

In this issue, available  and in your mailbox, you’ll also find:

• a feature on EMU’s new wine label, 1200 Park, created in collaboration with Bluestone Vineyard and winemaker Lee Hartman ’10, and his family;
• a dynamic “in-their-own-words” Appalachian Trail travelogue of twins Melissa Horst Kinman and Monica Horst Rhodes, both 2003 grads;
• Mileposts updates on our EMU family far and wide;
• and selected highlights from EMU’s Annual Report. [View the full Annual Report here.]

Update your info and share Mileposts updates with us. Mileposts is the most-read and best-loved section of the magazine and it’s entirely driven by our alumni sharing news (or making headlines).

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��ݮ���� honors Martin Luther King Jr Day on Sunday, Jan. 15, and Monday, Jan. 16.

Immanuel Mennonite Church, 400 Kelley St. in Harrisonburg, will be the site of a worship service Sunday from 3-5 p.m.

A screening of the documentary “On These Grounds” (see below for a description) will be from 6-8 p.m. in the gathering space of Old Common Grounds in the University Commons.

Monday’s activities begin with a 9 a.m. Speak Out and March in the Student Union, featuring alumnus Christian Parks. 

The convocation at 10:10 a.m. in Lehman Auditorium includes leaders featured in the documentary “On These Grounds” with The Rev. Vincent Jones, pastor of Mount Zion Baptist Church in Bedford, Virginia. View the livestream on Facebook Live from (You do not need a Facebook account or page to access Facebook Live, nor does clicking on the link obligate you in any way to Facebook.) 

Other events include an annual campus-focused event called “Let’s Talk About Race,” hosted by the Black Student Alliance; drumming with CJP alumnus and Richmond-based educator Rahm Bhagat; and a session on local African American history, hosted by Professor Mark Sawin and members of the Allen family. This last event is from 3-4:15 p.m. in University Commons 211/212.

A poetry reading, hosted by Parks, starts at 6:30 p.m. in the Student Union.

More on the convocation speaker

Rev. Vincent Walter Jones is a Danville native and in his ninth year as pastor at Mount Zion. He earned a bachelor’s degree in English and a master’s degree in counseling at Virginia Tech. He became a member of The Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc., Eta Lambda Chapter in the fall of 1994. He currently resides in Lynchburg, Virginia and is the proud father of daughters Nia, Zoe, and Laila Grace. 

He is an elementary school counselor and a mental health therapist. He formerly was foster care and adoption supervisor for the City of Lynchburg where he specialized in the completion of adoptions, while assisting hundreds of families and children return home with assistance, structure and services. He is also the former assistant director of programs for Hughes Memorial Home for Children with significant behavioral and emotional difficulties. 

Jones coached track at Heritage High, where he led the team to five championships. He has also coached little league football and chaired the board for Hill City Football and Cheer Program. Among other service-oriented activities, he is chaplain and committee chairman for service and giving for the Gamma Omega Chapter (Lynchburg) of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc. He was voted Omega Man of the Year for 2021-22.

More about ‘On These Grounds’

A video goes viral, showing a white police officer in South Carolina pull a Black teenager from her school desk and throw her across the floor. Healer-activist Vivian Anderson uproots her life in New York City to move to South Carolina to support the girl and dismantle the system behind the assault at Spring Valley, including facing the police officer. Adding context, geographer Janae Davis treks the surrounding swamps and encounters the homes of formerly enslaved people of African descent, connecting the past to the present. Against the backdrop of a racial reckoning and its deep historical roots, one incident illuminates how Black girls, with the support of organizers, are creating a more just and equitable future for themselves and our entire education system.

Eastern Mennonite Seminary’s 2023 is themed “Creating Communities of Belonging: Appreciating EveryBODY.” 

The emphasis on the word body is deliberate, says Veva Mumaw, SLT director. “1 Corinthians 12 reminds us that collectively we are all part of the body of Christ with each individual serving as one part of the larger body. Each body part is mutually dependent and vital to the health of the whole. Our communities of faith require a variety of gifts to thrive. When everyBody is actively included and firmly connected, the whole church benefits and grows stronger.”

Questions of theology, nurturing of gifts, and other core topics related to accessibility and inclusion will bring pastoral and lay leaders to the Jan. 9-11 event. The hybrid format offers in-person and online options. 

The conference is a timely resource in helping Mennonite congregations and their leaders live into the passed by the Mennonite Church USA delegate body in May 2022, said The Rev. Dr. Sarah Bixler, associate dean of the seminary. 

Participants will hear keynotes from pastors Amy Julia Becker and The Rev. Dr. J.J. Flag. Small workshop settings will provide opportunities to explore related topics. The schedule also includes worship, networking, and a concert with world-renowned musician .

“Our hope is that attendees will become more aware of the presence of people with disabilities in every community, and will be equipped to lead conversations about accessibility and inclusion and work for justice so that faith communities can fully incorporate persons of all abilities in the church’s work,” Bixler said.

Framing the theme are two keynote speakers. Becker holds a bi-vocational license with the Evangelical Covenant Church. She is an award-winning writer and speaker on personal, spiritual, and social healing and the author of four books, including To Be Made Well: An Invitation to Wholeness, Healing, and Hope. She hosts the Love Is Stronger Than Fear podcast. She is a graduate of Princeton University and Princeton Theological Seminary. Her addresses are titled “Perfectly Human: Understanding God’s Logic of Disability” and “Becoming Communities of Belonging.”

Flagg was recently called as the associate minister of pastoral care and justice at Myers Park Baptist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. He holds an Master of Divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary and a Doctor of Ministry degree from Drew University Theological School. He will speak about his personal journey with disability and its connection to theology, followed by an address on developing a more inclusive view of disability inclusion in the church beyond accessibility. 

MaryBeth Heatwole Moore MDiv ‘21 is a member of the planning committee who has two Deaf sons and has worked as the school nurse at the Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind in Staunton since 2002. She is ordained by Virginia Mennonite Conference and served from 2006-22 in Deaf ministry as a youth minister, church planter, and then pastor of Signs of Life Fellowship.  

 “By excluding people with disabilities, we are excluding gifts,” she said in a recent Anabaptist World article about MCUSA’s new resolution. “If our churches are not accessible to everyone, the whole community is missing out.”