Like the parable of the loaves and fishes, one pastor’s visionary donation more than 20 years ago and his family’s ongoing support to the Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) program at Eastern Mennonite Seminary has generated exponential blessings. 

If each one of the nearly 300 students who has taken CPE has ministered to at least 100 people, that makes for at least 30,000 who have been blessed by their gift, estimated Lonnie Yoder, professor of pastoral care and counseling. “The gift of the Yutzy family has impacted lives far beyond what we can imagine.”

Last week’s evening banquet, held during the seminary’s annual School for Leadership Training, brought together celebrants of the program’s 20-year anniversary. Among the audience were CPE alumni, seminary faculty and program advisory council members, EMU cabinet members and trustees.

The honored guests were the family of Lena and Norman Yutzy ’55, SEM ‘58, who provided the $1 million CPE program endowment: daughter Lenora Yutzy Bell ‘79 and husband Rick, daughter Charlene Yutzy Jacob ‘88, son David Yutzy ‘82 and wife Jewel; and grandson Ben Yutzy ‘06, with wife Risa Heatwole Yutzy and their two children.

Program focused on ministering to people in crisis

CPE is “interfaith professional education for ministry” that brings “theological students and ministers into supervised encounter with people in crisis,” according to the Association of Clinical Pastoral Education. The curricula integrates practice, reflection and analysis, and a foundation of knowledge around theories of behavioral science. 

Guest speaker Sara Wenger Shenk, who was the seminary’s interim dean when the program began and is now president emeritus of Anabaptist Biblical Mennonite Seminary, described “the practice of CPE and pastoral formation as “learning to be human, learning to be at home in our own bodies, histories, families, limitations and strengths, learning both what it means to flourish as embodied mortal human beings and flourish to as spiritual beings.”

CPE practices, she said, “help to move pastors on the long arduous journey to becoming comfortable in our own skin, to find a place of deep calm in the midst of crisis, to stay calm when panic threatens everyone in the room … learning to stay grounded in that non-anxious place, to trust and not be afraid as we weather crisis, deaths, serious events, profound regrets … learning the remarkable beauty and  harmony of all we’ve learned of christ’s love and pain.”

A gift in thanks for his own learning

A native of Plain City, Ohio, Norman Yutzy attended school through the 10th grade, then earned his GED and continued to feed his appetite for knowledge at then Eastern Mennonite College, where he eventually earned three degrees: a BA degree (1955), a bachelor of theology degree (1958) and finally, at the seminary, a bachelor of divinity degree (1961). While at EMC, he met and married Lena Beachy (the couple were engaged during an evangelizing tour in Europe).

His first encounter with CPE was while earning a master’s degree at Princeton Theological Seminary, and he regarded that experience as profoundly beneficial for his life and ministry. Yutzy would go on to careers in teaching and the ministry: he taught Bible at EMC and Eastern Mennonite High School during the late 50s and early 60s, and held pastorates at churches in Illinois Pennsylvania and Virginia. After beginning a career as a successful dairy and poultry farmer, he pastored on an interim basis and continued to preach on request.

In 1993, Yutzy first met with seminary administration to share his idea of beginning a CPE program.* Ever thankful for his own CPE experience, “he desired others to receive that gift for use in their ministries,” recalled son Dave Yutzy. Endowing such a program at the seminary was a way that he and Lena could contribute towards “supporting ministries that blessed others’ lives and furthered the work of God’s Kingdom.”

Norman Yutzy’s idea was truly visionary: he hoped the CPE curricula and experiential learning would be a requisite for graduation. Basing the program at an institution of higher learning, instead of at medical facilities or psychiatric hospitals, would help to integrate the CPE curricula, mentorship and experiential learning model that Yutzy found so valuable to his own pastoral formation into the formal education of seminarians.

By 1999, when six students enrolled, EMS was only the third seminary in the United States to host CPE (it was initially a Satellite Center under the UVa Health System’s Department of Chaplaincy Services). Later that year, Kenton Derstine became the program’s first (and until recently, only) director.

Recognition of first director’s leadership

At the banquet, Derstine recalled his own personal connection to Norman Yutzy, who was his pastor at Souderton Mennonite Church in Pennsylvania. “I was a teenager then and he would often stop to purchase milk at our farm and get into lengthy conversations with my father about church matters … Even now, I still marvel at the mystery of how our paths would cross later.”

The evening included recognition of Derstine’s long contributions to the program and his “strong and visionary leadership,” Yoder said. Under his guidance, the program is now accredited to offer units of Level I and II and Supervisory CPE. Initially EMS developed relationships with Rockingham Memorial Hospital (now Sentara RMH) and the Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community (VMRC) for clinical placements. Opportunities have expanded to Sunnyside Presbyterian Retirement Community and the Bridgewater Retirement Community.

New director Penny Driediger, who has been serving as a clinical educator since 2010, is also a staff chaplain at Rockingham Memorial Hospital. 

On the occasion of the program’s 20th anniversary, Derstine has been able to reconnect with many past students. “It has been gratifying to learn how so many alumni have gone on to serve as transformative ministers and leaders in a wide variety of ministry contexts, noting the value of their CPE experience for their life and ministry,” he said. “In sum, I think it remarkable how one person’s transformative experience in CPE birthed a vision to multiply that experience for others, generating a vision and resources that when joined to that of  others has produced this powerful legacy.”

*CPE had been offered at the seminary before. An extended unit of CPE was offered for more than 10 years from EMU Lancaster, with internship settings at Landis Homes in Lititz, Pa., and Garden Spot Village, in New Holland, Pa.

Additionally, from the Harrisonburg campus, from 1980-83, Will Agee (based at Western State Hospital in Staunton) supervised three units of CPE at Rockingham Memorial Hospital for EMS students and others. This involved 23 interns over the three-year period.

We’ve invited a series of guest writers to share about how CPE training has shaped their life and ministry. Join us at a celebration during the January 2020 School for Leadership Training. To learn more, visit /seminary/slt/

Lorrie Aikens MDiv ‘18, pastor of the Bath United Methodist Charge, offers reflections below.

Also enjoy posts by our guest authors Anne Kauffman Weaver,��Melanie K. Lewis, Shawn Gerber, Lisa Meyer Vineyard and Phil Kanagy.

One person lay on the ground crying out in pain with irregular breathing outside a hospital. The professionals gathered around to help in the best way possible. Every dynamic of a person’s being was carefully attended to: the physical, emotional, and spiritual. Standing to the side, the cries of pain pierced my heart. The pain of my brother’s recent death surfaced full throttle. Eyes closed, my pleas for God’s mercy and quick release from the afflictions riddling within this person before me poured out from my heart, “Lord, hear this person’s cries!” I was overcome with sorrow and became planted to the spot where I prayed.

I celebrate Clinical Pastoral Education at Eastern Mennonite Seminary in the ongoing spiritual journey even in this moment as I return to the practice of reflective processing over and over again as a pastor of four United Methodist churches on the Bath Charge in Hot Springs, Virginia. As a process theologian, evaluation of situations such as the one I encountered early in CPE as a hospital chaplain intern became an important part of being a more effective pastor. Asking myself questions to determine symptoms of anxiety, feelings in the midst of the experience, my thoughts and behaviors during and following the event, and assessing my reaction in terms of fruits of the Spirit, Christian principles, differentiation of self and any other values that are important to me determined guiding principles by which to respond, not react, in the future. Continual new learnings using the Bowen Family Systems Theory surfaced throughout the entire process of CPE in a safe and reflective environment that invited personal conversation with the advisor, Kenton Derstine, and my peers and fellow compatriots. 

 I will always be grateful for the reflective process that lead to my understanding of how I respond to the pain of others. Through the pain of the patient crying out on the ground outside the hospital and reflection on the functioning of my family of origin, I discovered how my family buries such pain and never really discussed it in the past with the loss of my baby sister or in the recent death of my brother who suffered tremendously. This was making personal processing of loss and pain extremely difficult. The key to my reflections could be found in exploring the behaviors of my family of origin with the guidance of the Holy Spirit resulting in fruitful conversations with my parents and remaining brother. In each conversation, the opportunity arose for self-differentiation. That is, as Bowen describes to listen and respond, not react, to the thoughts and ideas shared by other members of the family (or group) even when the ideas of others are different from your own. This was extremely important in understanding myself and how I relate to others. 

Thus, understanding self and applying Bowen’s Theory in the context and setting of ministry with a myriad of personalities and life experiences can bear spiritual fruit for the kingdom of God. CPE helped me to relate to the challenge of loss within each congregation where many have experienced serious illness and loss of loved ones. Such loss affects the family personally as well as the congregation wherein the member abides and actually, the whole community for it is small with just a little under 5,000 people throughout the county. Through CPE and specifically my personal goal, “to become more effective in my care of family members processing grief,” I became better equipped to walk with families in their grief. To do so means to honor what God created within me for the glory of God’s kingdom in such a way that honors others and encourages others to receive God’s love and love others as well. 

The gift of the Clinical Pastoral Education is invaluable and an ongoing work. The God-given gifts of the instructor/advisors are apparent. They live the principles that guide who they are in Christ, model the Bowen theory in ways that enlighten and guide participants, and are able to differentiate self throughout the journey of clinical care. My deepest gratitude to each of you.. Blessings to all! 

Lorrie Aikens has served the Bath Charge in Hot Springs, Virginia, for the past eight years, and spent a year before that with the Cokesbury Charge in Front Royal, Virginia. She came to the ministry after 24 years of teaching (21 in the Clarke County Public Schools) and five years in social services. She earned her Master of Divinity degree from Eastern Mennonite Seminary in 2018, and also holds an MS in Education from Shenandoah University and a BS in elementary education from the University of Maine at Farmington. She and husband Bradley Aikens have been married 41 years, with three adult children and 10 grandchildren. God was calling and preparing me for ministry from the time I was born,” she says. “Life has been a mission and ministry wherever I lived.”

We’ve invited a series of guest writers to share about how CPE training has shaped their life and ministry. Join us at a celebration during the January 2020 School for Leadership Training. To learn more, visit /seminary/cpe/anniversary

Lisa Meyer Vineyard offers reflections below. Also enjoy posts by our guest authors Anne Kauffman Weaver, Melanie K. Lewis and Shawn Gerber.

After serving as a Carilion Clinic staff chaplain for 20 years, I took my third and fourth units of CPE at Eastern Mennonite Seminary. I completed the Advanced Leadership seminar in May 2019. Participating in these EMS classes gave me a place to reflect upon my work and life in new ways. 

Kenton and Penny created a safe place to do family systems thinking and practical reflection. I explored my family patterns of interacting with others such as my issues of over-functioning, perusing others and feeling as if I had to fix other people’s problems while learning with some amazing classmates. Penny, Kenton and my classmates invited me to become a more thoughtful chaplain and person. They encouraged me to develop my curiosity and breathing techniques in order to be more present with my patients, the staff, family and friends. I was surprised at how anxiety producing CPE was. Reflecting upon my life in new ways caused me great anxiety at times. I am grateful for the growth that resulted.

As I began working on my own family patterns of interaction through generations, I saw how I brought these patterns to my daily life at work, church and home. I spent more hours than I would ever like to admit reflecting upon how I work with others and how I wanted them to act in a certain way. When they did not change, I realized I had to change. This was not easy but through the classroom work, readings, writing, verbatims, presentations and supervision, I had a safe place to explore myself and my behaviors. CPE, for me, was an experience of grace and encouragement. 

I loved coming to class because I was challenged to grow and become a better person. — not by being beaten over the head but encouraged to look deep within to find the beauty and grace of God within. I didn’t have to be 100% better, just 2%. I could manage 2%.

One of the beautiful gifts of CPE is that I have a better relationship with my siblings. As the third child, I left my home town when I was 20. I have struggled to reconnect with my brother and sister for years. CPE helped me to have the courage to reach out on a consistent basis. When I really wanted to judge my brother’s behaviors, I had a place to look at my own reactions and then be more present with him. I was able to listen, be curious and supportive as he struggled and eventually found happiness in life. I could be with my brother, support him in his life and not need to fix him. He was fine.

I found that I listened and engaged my sister who chose a very different path than me. I would call, giving her space to vent about her life as a mom and business woman. Now she reaches out to talk about her life as well as listens to mine. We have even set up a group text, a small action but a positive changechang to how we communicate and share about real-life experiences. As my parents age, we are becoming a unit to help them in the ways each of us can. It is a wonderful, unexpected gift that CPE gave me. 

In conclusion, participating in CPE and the Advancing My Leadership Seminar at EMS gave me the opportunity to do my own family system work, opening me to my family patterns and the capacity to change how I interact with others and self.  For this, I am grateful.

The Rev. Lisa Meyer Vineyard was born and raised in southern Illinois as the third child of Wendell and Elizabeth Meyer. She grew up in Belleville where she loved to participate in her local church community and ride her bike across town or along cornfields in the country.  

She graduated from the local community college and then went onto Southern Illinois University at Carbondale to earn a BA in sociology and women’s studies.  After college, she spent three years as a head resident and campus ministry associate at Earlham College, a Quaker college in Richmond, Indiana.  

She graduated from Eden Theological Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1992. During seminary, she spent almost a year in Botswana as a theological education student. She was ordained in the United Church of Christ in 1995. After seminary she took several ministerial positions in UCC churches in Illinois and Omaha, Nebraska.

When she came to Roanoke in 1996, Lisa worked part-time as a hospital chaplain at Carilion Clinic and part-time as the director for the Pastoral Counseling Center for three years. Since January 2000, she has served full-time as a chaplain working with people living with HIV/AID, oncology, palliative care and heart patients and their families.  After completing her final two units of CPE at Eastern Mennonite Seminary in 2018, Lisa became a Board Certified Chaplain. Lisa became a Reiki Master in 2016 and now teaches Reiki I and II through Carilion Chaplaincy Services.

Lisa enjoys sharing with others, listening to stories of their life, quilting, biking, reading and being with her beloved husband, Frank Vineyard. They met at a dog park and now have three retrievers they enjoy caring for and taking walks with as often as possible. 

Right in the midst of what is being dismantled, biblical narratives beckon us to discover shalom in genuine relationships with the people in our neighborhoods, communities and cities. In the flourishing of the places where we live, we flourish as well. (Jeremiah 29:7)

Eastern Mennonite Seminary’s School for Leadership Training (SLT) in January 2020 will gather religious leaders and scholars to engage with the theme, “Shalom in the Streets: Recapturing God’s Vision in Ordinary Places.” The event runs Monday, Jan. 13, to Wednesday, Jan. 15. Seminars will cover pastoral responses to climate change, how to help families with the spiritual journey of death and grief, faith-based community organizing, Bowen family systems theory, disability and other topics.

The keynote speakers for this year’s SLT are:

• Shannan Martin, of Goshen, Ind., speaker and author of The Ministry of Ordinary Places: Waking Up to God’s Goodness Around You and Falling Free: Rescued from the Life I Always Wanted.

• Leroy Barber, of Portland Ore., author, professor, developer of congregational vitality with the Oregon-Idaho Conference of the United Methodist Church, and co-founder of , which trains and promotes leaders of color.

• Jennifer Davis Sensenig, pastor of Community Mennonite Church in Harrisonburg and president of Faith in Action, a multi-faith coalition of congregations addressing local justice issues.

• Kenton T. Derstine, associate professor of supervised ministry at the Eastern Mennonite Seminary and director of the CPE and Mentored Ministry programs.

A free pre-conference event on climate change sponsored and hosted by the and Mennonite Creation Care Network is Monday morning. Doug Kaufman, pastor at Benton Mennonite Church, Goshen, Ind. and the director of pastoral ecology at the Center for Sustainable Climate Solutions will lead the conversation for pastors concerned about climate change. 

CPE’s 20th anniversary celebration

The SLT schedule also includes anniversary celebration for the Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) program, which has been training people for ministry in congregations and healthcare contexts for 20 years.

Guest speaker Sara Wenger Shenk, former associate dean of Eastern Mennonite Seminary and president emeritus of Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, will give a talk at the evening banquet. The family of Lena and Norman Yutzy ’55, SEM ‘58 will also be honored for their endowment of the program.

A panel during SLT includes former CPE participants speaking about the program’s impact on their lives.

Reflections have also been offered this fall in a guest writer series. Melanie K. Lewis MDiv ‘14 said the program changed the course of her career.

“I did my clinical rotations in a level II trauma center, and experienced a summer of trauma, crisis and death, Lewis wrote in a blog post reflecting on the training. “I remember telling my husband at the end of that summer, ‘Being a hospital chaplain is amazing work, but I could never do it. It’s just too hard.’ Over time, however, I realized that God was calling me to this ‘too hard’ ministry.”

Anne Kaufman Weaver MDiv ’16 and Shawn Gerber MDiv ’04 also contributed to this series on CPE.

The SLT planning committee includes Sarah Bailey MDiv ‘18, pastor, Clover Hill United Methodist Church, Dayton, Va.; Mark Schloneger MDiv ‘05, pastor, Berkey Avenue Mennonite Fellowship, Goshen, Ind.; Ron Zook MDiv ‘02, pastor, Laurel Street Mennonite Church, Lancaster, Pa.; Brenda Martin Hurst, director of Lilly Grant, Eastern Mennonite Seminary; and Veva Mumaw, SLT coordinator, Eastern Mennonite Seminary.

We’ve invited a series of guest writers to share about how CPE training has shaped their life and ministry. Join us at a celebration during the January 2020 School for Leadership Training. To learn more, visit /seminary/cpe/anniversary

Read other posts is our series by Anne Kaufman Weaver MDiv ’16 and Melanie Lewis MDiv ’14.

Shawn Gerber is the director of spiritual care and chaplaincy services at Indiana University Health Bloomington Hospital and the chaplain manager for the south central region of Indiana University Health.

I have been challenged, and honestly am still challenged, with wondering why if God is good, and all powerful, and all knowing, do we experience such pain and suffering in life. I think it has something to do with the flow of authentic relationship between God and humanity but it remains a mystery to me.  Little did I know when I signed up to take my first unit of CPE at EMS that wrestling with these issues in community would be an experience that would shape who I am called to be in ministry and set the trajectory for how I would serve.

I took my first unit of CPE at EMS seven years before I lost my mother to cancer. What I learned in CPE helped prepare my heart to face the pain rather than deny it or turn away, because I have learned that when I love deeply, I can get hurt deeply. I am called to love anyway. Paying attention to the movements of my own heart and the movement of the Holy Spirit in my own life has helped inform the ways I walk with others in their journey of loss and grief. 

A unique gift of CPE is integrating the behavioral sciences with our theology. During my internship at EMS through the supervision of Kenton Derstine, I came in contact with the rich insight and wisdom that comes from Family Systems Theory. In applying the theory to my life, I learned how the streams of emotional processes and themes in my family of origin has informed who I am as a person and a minister. The care of my grandmother who would listen to people at her kitchen table lives on in me as I listen and offer care to patients at the bedside. This gave new meaning to my understanding of how we are “surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses” as it says in chapter 12 of Hebrews. Applying the theory to my practice, I learned that as we care for the family or loved ones of a patient or person in the clinic or congregation, we care for the person.

My clinical placement during my CPE unit was at Rockingham Memorial Hospital. Offering spiritual care to patients there helped me discover the passion of my ministry to live out Jesus’ call to “love one another as I have loved you.” I learned how to meet people where they are at in their spiritual journeys whether it is one who is devout in their religion, or one who is seeking faith and meaning, or even an atheist. It has been deeply meaningful for me to see the way that God is made known when I am present to another person, compassionately listen to their story and facilitate how they find meaning in their journey. In these encounters, I have witnessed the beauty of the resiliency of the human spirit, the healing power of love in faith communities, and that there is a Source of Love that connects us as humans seeking meaning, purpose and connectedness in our life. I feel this is an experience and skill that is sorely needed in our world that has become so polarized in a number of ways.

My hope, dream, and vision for CPE at EMS is that it would continue to form women and men in the discipline and practice of deeply listening, offering a compassionate presence, and being attuned to the movement of the Spirit in the human encounter so that people might find healing and hope in wellness and suffering, and be amazed at the way God shows up and builds bridges between people of different faiths and walks of life.

Shawn Gerber is the director of spiritual care and chaplaincy services at Indiana University Health Bloomington Hospital and the chaplain manager for the south central region of Indiana University Health. He earned an MDiv with a concentration in pastoral counseling at Eastern Mennonite Seminary and a BA in Bible and religion with a psychology minor at Goshen College. He completed a fellowship in clinical ethics with the Fairbanks Center for Medical Ethics at IU Health Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis. He is a trained facilitator in critical incident stress management. 

As an ordained minister with the Mennonite Church USA and a Board Certified Chaplain with the Association of Professional Chaplains, he has served for over 17 years in ministry. Among other roles, he served as a Chaplain Fellow and completed a chaplain residency at the University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville, Virginia; pastored Mennonite churches in Colorado and Virginia; and been a chaplain manager at Presbyterian/St. Luke’s Medical Center in Denver, Colorado and at Goshen General Hospital in Goshen, Indiana.

Shawn and his wife Rachel have three sons, Owen, Connor, and Zachary. Outside of his time at work, he enjoys spending time with his family and friends, playing sports, camping and hiking, and traveling. 

We’ve invited a series of guest writers to share about how CPE training has shaped their life and ministry. Join us at a celebration during the January 2020 School for Leadership Training. To learn more, visit /seminary/cpe/anniversary

Read reflections by Melanie Lewis and Shawn Gerber.

***

Guest blogger Anne Kaufman Weaver MDiv ’16 has been employed as a chaplain at Landis Homes since March 2016.

Most CPE training centers occur within hospitals during an intense yearlong residency. That model did not suit my schedule or priorities. I wanted to develop my chaplaincy practice in a setting where I could cultivate longer term relationships. I completed four units of CPE at Landis Homes Retirement Community in Lititz, Pennsylvania, one extended unit at time. This slower approach allowed me to deepen my practice and strengthen relationships with residents, families, and staff. It also allowed me to take seminary courses at the same time as a unit of CPE. 

The books, movies, Bowen Family Systems conferences in Washington D.C., process reflections, verbatims, Clearness Committee and papers each contributed greatly to my stash of information and formation. During my final unit of CPE, I became an employee in the Pastoral Services Department at Landis Homes.  It felt like a win-win situation as we knew each other well after several years of interning. 

During each unit of CPE, I developed personal goals. I delved into Family Systems Theory within my own nuclear and extended families. Genogram mapping and story gathering opened my eyes to patterns and the impact of events. I took more initiative to connect with family members in healthier ways. I particularly learned to pay attention to who I am as a person and deliberately care for my own needs.  I also developed goals related to my work among older adults. I received training through the International End of Life Doula Association that shaped the way I walk alongside people who are dying. Assisting residents and families to find meaning and connection in the final months and weeks of life is gratifying and healing.

I continue to integrate what I learned in CPE into my chaplaincy practice at Landis Homes. I pay attention to dynamics such as “Triangles” when I hear a staff person voice a concern. How can I temporarily support this person so that she can go directly to her co-worker? I look for the “Togetherness-Individualness” continuum in the family as a loved one is dying. In what way can I encourage them to come to a healthy place of letting go or being present? I monitor whether I am over-functioning or under-functioning when a resident adjusts to a higher level of care. What resources does this person and his/her family contain to adjust to the new surrounding?

I dream of EMS providing extended CPE units for pastors, lay leaders and seminary students in their own local contexts.  Not all interested individuals can move to Virginia for seminary or CPE. With advances in technology and networks of community-based services, I hope that anyone who wants to take a unit of CPE while engaged in current responsibilities will be able to do so.  I am profoundly grateful for Kenton Derstine’s supervision as well as everything that I learned from my fellow students.

Anne Kaufman Weaver, a chaplain at Landis Homes, completed her Master of Divinity degree from Eastern Mennonite Seminary in May 2016.  She also has a Master of Social Work degree from Marywood University. Anne was ordained in 2017 by Atlantic Coast Conference. Previously she obtained life coach training through International Coach Federation and enjoyed her practice, Coaching Connection, from 2006-2016. She served on the boards of Bridge of Hope BuxMont, Lancaster Mennonite School and ��ݮ����.

Proclaiming God incarnate even in brokenness – within themselves, in their congregations and neighborhoods, and nationally – is no small task for pastors. Eastern Mennonite Seminary’s  (SLT) participants will explore themes of thriving and succeeding in ministry even in the context of so much reason to lose heart.

The Jan. 15-17 training “Broken Vessels, Thriving Pastor” will feature Iris de León-Hartshorn, The Reverend Meredith McNabb, and an alumni panel. Seminars will feature a Charlottesville, Virginia, pastor who confronted the “Unite the Right” rally in August, a personal leadership coach, and various EMS faculty.

“None of us is free from brokenness,” said Les Horning, director of seminary admissions and SLT coordinator. “And not one of our congregations and communities is exempt, either. The question is, ‘How can we recognize and act in the extraordinary power of God wherever and whoever we are?’”

In her keynote address “Bridges crossed, lessons learned: My journey in leadership,” Hartshorn will use her own life story as an invitation to face brokenness “as an integral aspect of finding one’s place as a leader.” Hartshorn is the director of transformative peacemaking for Mennonite Church USA and a leader in racial and gender justice in the church.

A panel of alumni will present the second keynote address, “Thriving and brokenness on the front lines.” It will feature reflections on the challenges and joys in ministry contexts ranging from rural western plains to urban streets. Panelists will include:

• Brett Klingenberg, MDiv 2011, Pastor, First Mennonite Church, Beatrice, Nebraska
• Carmen Horst, MDiv 2010, Associate Pastor, James Street Mennonite Church, Lancaster, Pennsylvania
• Nicholas Detweiler-Stoddard, MDiv 2010, Pastor, Salem Mennonite Church, Freeman, South Dakota
• Lorie Hershey, MDiv 2005, Pastor, West Philly Mennonite Church, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

In the final keynote, McNabb – an ordained elder in the Virginia United Methodist Conference, the director of the Center for Clergy Excellence, and former Washington D.C.-area pastor and attorney working primarily with low-income victims of domestic violence – will use as a guiding image the motif of kintsugi, a Japanese method for repairing broken ceramics with a special lacquer mixed with gold, silver, or platinum. The technique is based on the philosophy of recognizing an object’s history and, instead of disguising it, incorporating the repair into the new piece.

Other events will include a pastor appreciation breakfast with EMU president Susan Schultz Huxman, facilitated conversation circles, a showing of Dr. ’s film “I shall not hate: A journey of hope through faith, tolerance, and courage,” and worship.

Seminars include:

• “Love Over Fear: Subverting evil in the way of Jesus” with Brittany Caine-Conley, director of University Ministry at Westminster Presbyterian Church and co-founder of Congregate Charlottesville [read more about her work here];
• “When the Center Cannot Hold: Leadership in an age of polarization” with , associate professor in EMU’s ;
• “No Quick Fix for Brokenness in Self or in Others” with Kenton Derstine, EMS faculty;
• “God’s Word and Ours: Praying the Psalms” with , EMS faculty;
• “Train Stations, Bike Trails and Bus Routes” with , a life and work transition advisor and personal leadership coach;
• “Pastoral Responses to Racism in Our Community and Congregation” with , director of Transformative Peacemaking, Mennonite Church – USA;
• “Gleaning Resilience from the Good News, Both Then and Now” with , EMS faculty;
• “Whatever You Do, Just Don’t Talk about THAT!” with , EMS associate dean; and
• “Pastoring in the Landscape: Geological and ecological lessons” with , director of the Center for Clergy Excellence.

“We invite you to bring your stories of brokenness, and your stories of how you confronted brokenness,” Horning said. “Bring your jars of clay and your dying grains of wheat. Together we thrive.”

For more information, visit , call 540-432-4698, or email slt@emu.edu.

happening with our neighbors,” said Professor during ’s School for Leadership Training. “In the 21st century, we don’t need to travel 6,000 miles to meet others, ethnic others, racial others. We just need to open our doors or walk down the hall. We could do better to love our literal neighbors, those people closest to us.”

Evans’ point, made during a panel presentation on the themes of “neighboring” and “othering,” drew nods from listeners in Martin Chapel – all of whom had come to the two-day workshop to deepen knowledge and explore engagement with the diversities of politics, culture and theology in today’s modern church and culture.

Approximately 240 pastors and lay leaders from 16 states attended. At least eight denominations were represented: Brethren in Christ, Church of the Brethren, Church of Christ, Disciples of Christ, Mennonite Church USA, United Methodist, Lutheran and Unitarian Universalist. The event included four keynote addresses, workshops and a seminary faculty panel addressing the theme of “Yearning to Get Along … And Stay True to Ourselves.”

‘It is not enough to stay silent’

Participants ranged from veteran pastors to seminary students to laypeople such as Janelle Clark, of Newport News, Virginia, who is contemplating seminary studies. Pastor Sandy Drescher-Lehman has attended for the past seven years, anticipating by January, the need for collegial connection, spiritual sustenance and reflection “on where I was when I came last year — spiritually, emotionally and vocationally — and comparing that to my current place in the world.”

“As a white person living and working in a multicultural neighborhood,” Cynthia Lapp, pastor at Hyattsville Mennonite Church in Hyattsville, came to learn “more about racism and the ways white privilege functions … It is not enough to stay silent. Racism will not just fade away; we must act and speak.”

“I came to help uncover and discover what is often hidden in our racialized society and to consider how these forces of racialization are forming and shaping us as a church,” said John Stolzfus, Franconia Conference youth minister and campus pastor for Dock Mennonite Academy.

Reflecting after the event, Stolzfus questions: “How can we as leaders empty ourselves of our privilege and power in the self-emptying way of Christ in order to embody the incarnational love of God? To the extent in which we are not able to see or understand the suffering and struggle of the immigrant, racial minority, foreigner, sexual minority, or anyone who may be different from us reveals the poverty of our relationships. We need to be in proximity to and stand next to those who are “other” in order to truly be a neighbor.

With opportunities for worship, reflection and prayer in the midst of education, many came away with more questions than answers.

Mick Sommers, lead pastor at Ridgeview Mennonite Church in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, was “sobered by the realization that generations of attitudes and structure within the church will likely not be altered in a short span of time … I recognize within myself the need for a constant awareness and intentional mindfulness to counteract what has been my own socialization about race and power.”

Inequality and the ‘whitened Jesus’

, of Duke University Divinity School, and , of Messiah College, offered three extensive keynotes on the subjects of a practical theology of inequality, power and unity and the whitened Jesus, respectively.

Cleveland, a social psychologist, talked about the socialization of racism, the current politics of victimhood and related both concepts to Jesus’s statements and actions as a marginalized and oppressed person.

“If you looked to see where Jesus was socially located in every single one of his actions, how he emptied himself of his influence, platform and power … you’ll probably be astounded,” she said. “Jesus was always using his voice to make a point about what our relationships should be.”

Hart drew from history and culture to highlight the ubiquity of the “white European Jesus fixed in our places of worship,” an image that “bolsters a social system organized around racial hierarchy. “

While lifting up the constructed image of the blonde, Nordic and explicitly non-Jewish Jesus, Hart asked, “Where do we go with that image … to recover our Gentile identity? None of us have a copyright on Christianity or Jesus … Let us remember that it is someone else’s story that shapes our lives.”

Selected seminars summarized

A complete list of seminars is available .

Understanding the ‘other’ through the mirror/window of popular culture with Benjamin Bixler, PhD student, Drew University.

Bixler began with a clip of Kendrick Lamar’s Grammy Awards performance of “The Blacker The Berry,” in which the rapper and dancers, dressed as convicts, perform in the setting of a jail. Bixler discussed popular culture (movies, novels, music, etc.) as a way of engagement with “the other” on several levels: not only does the alternate world and characters offer alternate perspectives and provoke empathy, but the people who are discussing, analyzing or critiquing the work are also learning about themselves and each other.

Rebirth of a White Nation, with Dr. David Evans, EMS professor.

Evans facilitated discussions about white racial identity, a brief history of race in the United States, and the characteristics or qualities of “good white people” before asking the question “How might following Jesus be consistent or inconsistent with pursuing white status?”

“Race is national discipleship that teaches us the values we must have in order to belong to a certain status or group,” Evans says. “These values rival what Jesus calls us to be or to become … If we’ve been discipled into white nationalism, and no one was born white, then we’ve been converted into something that we need to be converted out of.”

How Do You Measure Life Change? The Role of Data and Measurements in Community Engagement with Wes Furlong, director of church development, EVANA network.

• Churches often take an input-focused approach to thinking about social/service work (e.g. pounds of food gather for food drive) rather than thinking carefully about outputs and desired impact.
• Serving communities, at its best, begins with careful work to fully understand context, strengths and assets and to ensure that all actors are involved.
• Those involved in social/service work need to avoid the temptation of taking a short-term or transaction view to their efforts and instead strive to take a systems view with a focus on the long-term.

Seeking the Peace of the City, with Dr. Johonna Turner, EMU professor, and Julian Turner, graduate student.

The Turners, both raised in the Washington D.C. area, also lived and worked there until moving to Harrisonburg. Johonna Turner was a public school teacher involved in peacebuilding and empowerment work with youth, while Julian Turner worked in social services, specifically with HIV-AIDS patients. The Turners led discussions, framed by Jeremiah 29.7, about perceptions of the choices inner-city citizens make and the visualization of a more peaceful and harmonious city. This was conjoined to a scriptural exploration of compassion as modeled by Jesus, leading to a model for action in connection, lamentation and amplification. Presenters emphasized that care and consideration for voices of all citizens, whether urban dweller or rural folk, because “we are all connected.”

Panel: Navigating the move from ‘other’ to ‘neighbor’ in the context of theological education.

A panel of seminary faculty — including Dr. Kevin Clark, Dr. David Evans, Dr. Lonnie Yoder, Dr. Andrea Saner, Dr. Emily Peck McClain, Dr. Kenton Derstine and Dr. Dorothy Jean Weaver — discussed the role of theological education and cross-cultural engagement in shaping the move from ‘other’ to ‘neighbor’ in students and communities; how society defines each of these terms; and issues of power and privilege in the seminary classroom.

The program offerings will start at —A National Lutheran Community in Winchester, Virginia, in the fall of 2016. Participants will gain hands-on ministry experience through supervised learning opportunities as on-site chaplains. The Clinical Pastoral Education, or CPE, program is designed to help participants develop self and interpersonal awareness, conceptual knowledge and competence.

“As one of the few seminaries in the country hosting its own CPE program, we’re delighted that Eastern Mennonite Seminary is able to offer resources to a growing number of practicum locations—including The Village at Orchard Ridge,” said , seminary dean. “These hands-on CPE sites offer our students invaluable learning opportunities.”

, who directs the CPE and mentored ministry for the seminary, added: “NLCS is on the cutting edge of understanding what contributes to a purposeful and satisfying life in retirement, and The Village at Orchard Ridge is an excellent setting for equipping pastors, seminarians and lay leaders for effective ministry to seniors and their families. With the percentage of our population in their retirement years growing every year, it is essential that pastors understand the needs of seniors.”

Based in Rockville, Maryland, NLCS is a not-for-profit, faith-based ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s Delaware-Maryland, Metropolitan Washington, D.C. and Virginia Synods, serving people of all beliefs. NLCS provides seniors with a variety of lifestyle, residential and health care options through retirement communities and services in Maryland and Virginia. Other communities and services sponsored by National Lutheran include The Village at Rockville in Rockville, Md., The Legacy at North Augusta in Staunton, Va., The Village at Orchard Ridge and myPotential at Home in Winchester, Va., and The Village at Crystal Spring in Annapolis, Md., subject to Maryland Department of Aging approval.

Contributing to the university’s efforts at , Derstine placed four bee hives on the grassy hill north of ��ݮ����’s (EMU) seminary building. Derstine has been training an undergrad student, Tessa Gerberich, in caring for the bees. In the spring, they expect to be joined by others interested in tending the hives and extracting the honey.

Derstine has been keeping bees since he was 15 years old. He now maintains 40 hives. His fascination with bees began in 10th grade when a teacher mentioned that you can buy anything from the Sears and Roebuck catalog, even bees. Derstine found the catalog and the bee equipment and has been hooked ever since.

“Bees help keep me in touch with the natural world,” said Derstine, who admits that he would otherwise spend most of his time with books and computers.

“My hives are in beautiful locations, so even going to visit them gets me out of my routine of office and home,” Derstine continued. “It keeps me in touch with the cycle of the seasons and attentive to the weather, much like farming would. I’m always paying attention to what is blooming.”

Caring for bees also makes Derstine more conscious of environmental issues. “Bees have been the canary in the coal mine for environmental issues. Part of my purpose in keeping bees is to be reminded of the responsibility I have to the environment and to pass that on to others.”

Derstine has had a number of opportunities to mentor beekeepers, both students and community members.

“I feel like this is a broader purpose for my beekeeping. I’ve never wanted to be a large producer, but I get great satisfaction out of assisting others as they learn.”

Beekeeping also provides a good metaphor for teaching seminary students to be good ministers.

“Beekeeping is good practice in managing your own reactive responses,” said Derstine. “If you can’t manage your own reactions with bees, they are able to sense it. If you move back too quickly, for example, they are attracted to that movement. Good ministry takes similar management of your own anxiety.”

He joked that perhaps next semester he would include a session with the bee hives in his mentored ministry and clinical pastoral education classes.

Derstine’s bee hives are just a few of the ways EMU is attempting to be more sustainable. The campus also features five vegetable and herb gardens that students, faculty and staff tend and harvest, as well as fruit trees and asparagus hedges and raspberry bushes.

Eastern Mennonite Seminary has entered into agreements with Landis Homes, Lititz, Pa.; Philhaven, Mt. Gretna, Pa.; Garden Spot Village, New Holland, Pa.; and Menno Haven, Chambersburg, Pa., to provide placements for students who enter the program.

The CPE program at EMS is unique because pastors can use their congregation as a placement for a portion of their clinical work.

“This program is great for pastors who want to learn more about families or organizations as emotional systems and working with people in stressful situations,” said CPE director Kenton Derstine.

Students will complete 10 hours a week of chaplaincy or pastoral care in a congregation or one of the above institutions. They will spend two days a month in the classroom learning and processing their experiences.

“Rising levels of anxiety in society create tension in relationships for those in all levels of ministry,” Derstine said. “CPE offers a forum for processing challenging situations and learning to function in organizations with high stress levels.”

The program will begin Sept. 30, 2011. Applications will be accepted until Aug. 1. For more information on CPE in Pennsylvania, contact Kenton Derstine at 540-432-4565 or email derstine@emu.edu.

Penny Driediger will provide supervision for chaplain interns at Rockingham Memorial Hospital.

Eastern Mennonite Seminary (EMS) and Rockingham Memorial Hospital (RMH) in Harrisonburg, Va., are working together to train chaplains and pastors to be more compassionate caregivers in the times of crisis.

The hospital recently hired Penny Driediger as a part-time chaplain and Supervisory Education Student. Driediger is a 2008 seminary grad and a course assistant at EMS. She will provide chaplain support at the hospital and supervise chaplain interns at the hospital who are enrolled in the EMS Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) program.

“The collaboration between EMS and RMH provides Driediger, and future Supervisory Education Students, with an opportunity to have a foot in both worlds – the clinical world of patient-focused care and the educational world, encouraging the growth and development of clinical pastoral education students,” said Robin Martin, manager of Chaplain Services at RMH.

Step forward for CPE

This step forward for EMS’ Clinical Pastoral Education program means that EMS can provide another level of education for those interested in the chaplain ministry and can provide more opportunities for students who want to go through the first level of the CPE program.

“The 40 percent time position with Rockingham Memorial Hospital represents a shared commitment to pastoral education,” said Kenton Derstine, CPE director at EMS. “It symbolizes the hospital’s confidence in our CPE program and an appreciation for what our chaplain interns have contributed to their patients and staff.”

“For the hospital, this agreement to have a Supervisory Education Student means that we will get an employee with a theological degree and several years of supervised ministry experience,” said Martin, “and someone who has learned active listening and empathic caregiving and is able to reach out in a compassionate pastoral role to connect with others, especially those who are suffering.”

For Driediger, this role seems a perfect fit.

“I have been serving as course assistant for Mentored Ministry and Clinical Pastoral Education at EMS,” Driediger said. “This new role with RMH means I will be continuing my education and further developing my ministry skills and pastoral identity.

” I’m especially excited by the dual role of chaplain and educator for students who are ministering in the hospital,” she stated. “This is a growing edge for me, one that I am embracing with energy and a sense of fulfillment.”

“I am delighted that Penny Driediger has joined our team in this dual capacity of RMH chaplain and EMS/SES student,” Martin said. “Penny’s own skills and gifts allow her to be very effective at coming alongside persons in crisis, in assessing their need and offering just the right note of support.”

“After the first time Penny responded as a chaplain to a real crisis situation, RMH staff members spontaneously stopped me in the hall to say how meaningful her responses had been to those in need. She will be a great asset to our team,” Martin added.

“Clinical Pastoral Education at Eastern Mennonite Seminary is a unique opportunity for theological students, clergy and laypersons to develop their ministry skills and leadership capacity,” said Derstine. “The practical ministry experience students gain in hospitals, retirement communities and congregations during their CPE experience is invaluable to their education as clergy and caregivers.”