Hurst, a pastoral intern at ��ݮ����, was one of about 30 people who came to the school’s Campus Center on Thursday to hold a prayer and candlelight vigil for victims of a shooting last week in Hesston, Kan.

Three people were killed and 14 wounded during a shooting at an Excel Industries building by a former Excel employee on Feb. 25. The man was later killed by police.

Hurst, who graduated from Hesston College and whose wife is from the town, said he feels helpless when he hears about mass shootings.

“I’m getting frustrated with this is not an unusual occurrence,” Hurst said. “We should be able to do something.”

Ken L. Nafziger, vice president of student life at EMU, said a lot of the school’s students are from Hesston or transferred from Hesston College, which is near the Excel building in the Kansas town.

“It has a lot of impact on both our communities,” Nafziger said. “[We] felt it would be a good opportunity to … support our students who are here from Hesston or have connections to Hesston.”

Hesston College, a two-year Mennonite school, is a sister school of EMU, with many students transferring to the university to earn a bachelor’s degree. Hesston College was locked down during the shooting. A choir from the school is set to perform in Harrisonburg over the weekend.

At Thursday’s vigil, Students sang hymns and prayed before lighting candles for the victims.

“Violence will not prevail in our communities,” said Brian Martin Burkholder, EMU’s pastor. “And peace will endure.”

Courtney Unruh, a senior at EMU, is from Hesston and said her sister goes to school across the street from the Excel building.

“Hesston is the place I’ve called home my entire life,” Unruh said. “I found myself in a lot of fear on Thursday.”

Nafziger said what happened in Hesston could happen anywhere, and people should be prepared.

“We can’t deny that it could potentially happen in Park View right next to EMU,” Nafziger said. “We can’t say that it can’t happen here. We like to think it couldn’t. We no longer can act as if it couldn’t.”

Reprinted with permission from the Mar. 6, 2016 issue of the Daily News-Record. 

Ervin R. Stutzman, dean and professor of church ministries at Eastern Mennonite Seminary, will read from his works 5:30 p.m. that day in Martin Chapel of the seminary building at EMU.

Dr. Stutzman has written books that relate to his family of origin – Tobias of the Amish and Emma: A Widow Among the Amish.

Stutzman was born into an Amish home as a twin in Kalona, Iowa. After his father’s death in a traffic accident when Stutzman was 3, his mother moved her family to her home community in Hutchinson, Kan. He was baptized into the Center Amish Mennonite Church near Partridge, Kan. He later joined the Yoder Mennonite Church near Yoder, Kan.

Stutzman’s ten-year search to learn more about his entrepreneurial father revealed tangled strands of relationships, woven by Tobias J. Stutzman’s ambition through the fabric of family, church and community. It led to his writing a book, Tobias of the Amish, released by Herald Press of Scottdale, Pa., in 1995.

Stutzman notes that Tobias of the Amish is more than a book about his father – “It’s also the story of a family and faith community struggling with the challenges of a modern world.

“I hope that my story will encourage others to embark on the arduous but deeply-rewarding task of delving into their family lore,” Stutzman states. “Gazing into my father’s face has helped me to see my own.”

Emma, says Stutzman, picks up where Tobias left off.

The book, released by Herald Press in 2007, gives readers a close look at life in an Amish community, and how that society’s beliefs in the mid-20th century governed women.

“This book is about a young mother growing up alone with six children,” notes Stutzman, whose present family includes wife Bonnie and three adult children: daughter Emma and sons Daniel and Benjamin. “It’s also a story of a widow’s journey, from helplessness to independence. It’s a history and a story.”

Stutzman has three additional books published by Herald Press – Being God’s People (1986), Creating Communities of the Kingdom, co-authored with David W. Shenk (1988) and Welcome (1990).

Stutzman earned a BA in Bible and Christian ministries from Cincinnati Bible College, an MA in communication arts from the University of Cincinnati, an MA in religion from Eastern Mennonite Seminary and a PhD in communication from Temple University.

Admission to the program, which includes dinner, is $15, $7 for students. Reservations are required and should be made by noon Friday, Sept. 12, by calling the language and literature department at 540-432-4168 or email: langlit@emu.edu.

A season pass for all four Writers Read programs of the 2008-09 school year is available for $50.

David A. (Dave) King knows he may be juggling a hot potato, but he’s prepared. And, comments such as, “It’s about time!” when he addresses the topic, assure him that he has a message that needs to be shared.

King, athletic director at EMU, is concerned that sports has become an obsession in American culture. He believes that this fixation is keeping young people and families from gaining all of the valuable benefits of sports participation.

King has been at EMU since 2005; prior to that he served 14 years as athletic director and middle school principal at Lancaster (PA) Mennonite School. He also spent nine years teaching and coaching at the elementary and middle school level.

The father of three young adults, all of whom played high school and college sports, sees several cause-and-effect connections with society’s growing obsession with sports:

• Sport “specialization” at an early age that limits childrens’ ability to learn to play a variety of sports for fun and excludes, at a young age, those who are not “good enough” to compete.

• Parents at every game and sometimes even practice sessions which creates unwanted pressure on both children and coaches. This phenomenon shifts the purpose of the game from fun and learning to winning. The game becomes the parents’, not the child’s.

• Sports being so organized that the ability to develop creativity is greatly reduced. Kids aren’t learning some of the problem-solving and creativity that comes with free play.

• The all-consuming desire of student-athletes, coupled with pressure from parents, to get an athletic scholarship only to find out that sports at that level is a business. For many, the result is unfulfilled dreams and disappointment.

‘American Dream’

“I see what’s happening in sports as chasing the newest ‘American dream’,” King stated. “Kids have expectations early on about what they want to accomplish or are being pushed to accomplish, when often those dreams are unrealistic.”

King’s concern was initially sparked several years ago by the book, “Sports: The All-American Addiction,” by John R. Gerdy, visiting professor of sports administration at Ohio University. King and other Lancaster area educators met several times with Gerdy to discuss ways to slow the troubling trend.

“It is becoming more difficult to recruit student-athletes to play at Division III schools like EMU because so many have their sights set on receiving scholarships from ‘big-name’ schools,” King said. “Many parents push their children this direction, which exacerbates the issue.

“I’m fully committed to the value of sports and athletic competition – it’s my bread and butter, after all – but I sense that many students and their parents aren’t viewing sports as a way to develop life skills, but rather a means to achieve recognition and acclaim.

“Plus, I fear that certain values may be compromised or sacrificed in the process if their decisions are largely based on what they achieve on the playing field,” King added.

Sharing the Message

King spoke some time ago on this topic at Zion Mennonite Church near Broadway, Va., receiving much affirmation as well as some resistance. A similar message given in an Eastern Mennonite Seminary chapel service prompted Clyde Kratz, pastor at Zion Mennonite and EMU trustee, to encourage King to take his message on the road.

Virginia Mennonite Conference is in the process of licensing King for “specialized ministry” to share his message about the intersection of faith and sports and how the two can affect family and congregational life. This includes having the backing of the EMU administration in carrying out this role.

More broadly, “EMU sees how the intersection of sports and faith can affect not only families and congregations, but also whether or not student athletes choose Mennonite higher education,” said EMU president Loren Swartzendruber. “When we lose students to Division I schools for athletic purposes, that sometimes means we lose them to the larger church.”

“I don’t think the church is addressing this issue directly,” King said. “I’ve heard too many stories from parents who tell me how stressed they are, how sports has negatively affected their family and church life, how their children are chasing an unrealistic dream and forsaking core values in the process, but no one has been giving any warnings.”

King already has spoken to a number of church and civic groups and welcomes more invitations to continue the dialog.

“I’ll quickly admit I’m no expert in this arena,” King declared. “I’m doing more reading and study and learning as I go. I hope to open up a conversation and get people with shared values to look at this issue and support each other as they make choices that may be counter-cultural.”

Contact King to schedule a speaking engagement at david.king@emu.edu; 540-432-4646.