Gumm, who graduated this spring from ��ݮ���� (EMU), chose the dual degree program with EMU’s and because of their practical focus. He did not anticipate drinking in the global awareness, curriculum flexibility, and integration of disciplines offered by EMU.

“I was drawn to the strong practical focus of both programs at EMU,” says Gumm, who now holds two master’s degrees, an and . “The seminary has this vibrant, beating, pastoral heart, and CJP (Center for Justice and Peacebuilding) has people who are involved in peace and justice work all over the world.”

Global Awareness

Taking some of his classes in EMU’s , Gumm was impressed with the way the institute attracts people from all over the world. He says that experience, along with studying during the year with international students in CJP and the seminary, created his new global awareness.

As part of his required practicum for CJP, Gumm and his family traveled to Ethiopia last summer so that he could teach at a Mennonite-rooted college there, Meserete Kristos College in Debre Zeit.

“I didn’t leave the country until I was 17, and that was as a tourist. My 11-year-old daughter got to spend a month on a church-college campus in Ethiopia,” says Gumm. “I couldn’t have even imagined that as an 11-year-old.”

“But the global awareness didn’t turn me into a tourist. It turned me into a pilgrim.”

Flexibility

Both of Gumm’s degree programs have multiple concentrations or tracks, so the combinations for study are vast if one combines the two.

“My track in the MDiv was academic, and my concentration in the MA in conflict transformation program was ,” he says. “But you could follow the pastoral-care track in the MDiv and a trauma-healing concentration in the conflict transformation program and come out with a focus that is completely different from mine.”

Integration

Gumm, a licensed minister in the Church of the Brethren, discovered EMU’s dual-degree possibilities via the Internet while he was living in Iowa. Once enrolled in both master’s programs, he ‘”was always trying to make connections between the two.”

“For example, I wrote a paper for a restorative justice class that was also trying to do some Anabaptist theological and historical work showing why Mennonites in Canada in the 1970s gave birth to the modern restorative justice movement.

“I never got tired of the intellectual inquiry. There were always more paths to follow and more connections to make.”

Family Investment in EMU

Gumm was not the only one in his family wearing in a graduation robe on April 28, 2012. Brian’s wife Erin concurrently completed an MA in counseling. Not wishing to part from EMU immediately after graduation, Gumm drew upon another gift he has—computer technology—and became the distance-learning technology analyst at EMU, helping EMU’s graduate programs evaluate and adopt distance-learning software.

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The 16-member governing body authorized the administration to proceed with planning and fundraising for the construction of new laboratory space and upgrade of EMU

Linden M. Wenger, 92, a veteran pastor/bishop and professor emeritus of philosophy at , died Sunday, Dec. 18, at Oak Lea Nursing Home where he was a resident.

Wenger taught and philosophy courses on the undergraduate level and at the seminary from 1955 until his retirement in 1978. He also carried a full slate of responsibilities in Virginia Mennonite Conference.

During his tenure, Wenger was acting dean of the seminary, 1965-67, assistant to EMU President Myron S. Augsburger, 1967-70, director of field education, 1972-78, and seminary registrar, 1974-78.

Wenger was born Dec. 26, 1912 in Edom, Va., and was the son of the late Oscar E. and Bessie P. Heatwole Wenger.

On June 1, 1941, he married the former Esther Huber, who preceded him in death on May 17, 2003.

Surviving are two sons, Harold C. and J. Lowell Wenger; a daughter, Linda Kay Wenger, and their spouses; two sisters, four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Wenger was ordained in 1945 as pastor of the Mt. Hermon Mennonite Church, where he served with his wife Esther for 10 years. He was ordained bishop/ overseer of several Mennonite churches in the Highlands area of Virginia and West Virginia in 1959.

He earned A.B. and Th.B. degrees from EMU, a B.D. and Th.M. degree from Union Theological Seminary, Richmond, Va., and did research on Mennonite church-building in the Miami area while a visiting fellow at Princeton (NJ) Theological Seminary in 1971-72.

He held a number of churchwide offices over the years and had been a member of the board of the Virginia Mennonite Conference Center, chair of the Virginia Conference Visitor Center committee and headed the Older Adults Ministries committee of Virginia Conference.

Wenger wrote "Climbing Down the Ladder," an autobiographical book about retirement, in 1993. In 1997, he released a second book, "Fifty Years in Northern District of Virginia Mennonite Conference," which recounts the effects of change in that geographic area of the church in the mid-20th century, 1945-1995.

Funeral services will be held Dec. 22 at Lindale Mennonite Church where Wenger was a member, with burial in the Lindale cemetery.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Linden M. and Esther H. Wenger Scholarship Fund c/o Virginia Mennonite Conference, 901 Parkwood Drive, Harrisonburg, VA 22802 or to the Linden M. and Esther H. Wenger Seminary Scholarship for students attending EMS from Meserete Kristos Church of Ethiopia.