celebrated the graduation of 16 students earning Master of Divinity, Master of Arts in Religion, and Master of Arts in Christian Leadership degrees and the graduate certificate in Christian Leadership.��

Coming from different denominational backgrounds and returning to ministry and work with new credentials, the group’s experiences and various gifts were honored during Saturday afternoon’s Baccalaureate ceremony. View the ceremony at [you do not need an account to view.]

Graduates were also offered the opportunity to participate in an in-person Commencement walk on Saturday, May 1. ���ѱ�’s official Commencement ceremony was online Sunday, May 9. [Both ceremonies can be viewed at ���ѱ�’s Commencement webpage.]

MA in Christian Leadership

• Mark Stancil, Stephens City, Virginia

MA in Religion

• William Jones, Broadway, Virginia
• Joel Nofziger, Ephrata, Pennsylvania

Master of Divinity

• Amber Baker, Morgantown, West Virginia
• Ryan Cobb, Lancaster, Pennsylvania
• William Evans, Lignum, Virginia
• Joanna Friesen, Harrisonburg, Virginia
• Paul Merchant, Lexington, Virginia
• Robert Michalides, Lynchburg, Virginia
• Carmen Miller, Rockingham, Virginia
• Carrie Moffitt, Staunton, Virginia
• MaryBeth Heatwole Moore, Harrisonburg, Virginia
• Dawn Reidy, Bunker Hill, West Virginia
• Emily Tolbert, North Dinwiddie, Virginia
• Lori Witmer, Newville, Pennsylvania

Graduate Certificate in Christian Studies

• Shirley LaVerne Steward-Jones, Harrisonburg, Virginia

More on the Baccalaureate Ceremony

The Baccalaureate ceremony, with a theme selected by the graduates of “Drawn by Love: Jesus Calls Us,”�� included a scripture reading, musical selections, benediction and a commissioning.

Dean Sue Cockley welcomed the gathered and thanked those watching for their support for students. “It takes a lot of people, a community really,” she said, “to get each seminary student to this happy milestone.” The theme that the graduates had selected was especially appropriate to the tumult of the year, she noted, calling to mind lines of the hymn “Jesus Calls to Us, O’er the Tumult”: Jesus calls us o’er the tumult of our life’s wild, restless sea / Day by day his sweet voice soundeth, saying “Christian, follow me.”

Nancy Heisey, associate dean and professor of biblical studies, gave the main address on the theme “Of Panic and Love,” both being part of the full human experience and that which links us with Jesus and the Father:

So, John’s gospel starts out with “God becomes us,” and ends up with “you, the new humans, are going to be me.” Maybe you think I’m pushing that latter part of the equation a bit too far. But I offer that ordinary women and men have been called into love by Jesus, and sent as the Father sent Jesus. Throughout the centuries they have stared down the ruler of this world with their true humanity. They have experienced panic—not just the sudden terror of one event, but the long terror of the power that seeks to destroy God’s creation. But they and we are one with the One who has conquered the world.

Participants in the ceremony also included Courtney Joyner, UMC liaison and instructor, musical prelude and postlude;�� current seminarian Caleb Schrock-Hurst and Perry Blosser, hymns; Joanna Friesen, graduate, invocation, Carrie Moffit, graduate, the scripture reading. Bob Michalides, the class vice president, introduced the speaker.

Professors Andrea Saner and David Evans anointed and blessed the graduates. Kevin Clark, assistant professor and seminary pastor, and Sarah Ann Bixler, incoming associate dean and professor, provided the commissioning.

On Tuesday evening, just a short time after the verdict was announced, I sent a message  to our campus community. I named the value of a cathartic, collective exhale on the swift verdict, and our shared witness around a faith-informed justice on the occasion of this historic moment. Indeed, the trial was a long-awaited step towards repair in our country’s long and awful legacy of racialized violence. 

I also expressed support of deep listening and bold collaborative action: We especially surround our BIPOC students, faculty and staff tonight with care and compassion. We commit ourselves to continuing to hear their voices, to stand with them, and to do the hard and necessary work to extend the movement to expand racial justice and equity in our nation, our community, and on our own campus. We will work together to make our community of learners more and more fair and equitable inside and outside the classroom. 

The Black Lives Matter movement has taught me many things. Saying the names of our black citizens senselessly killed or injured at a shockingly disproportionate rate at the hands of law enforcement is a powerful reminder of my own white privilege. And so again I say his name: George Perry Floyd Junior, to remind myself this is not an ending at all.

As educators, we still have much work to do. Here is a brief summary of some tangible steps our university has taken recently on issues of racial and social justice, with special attention to diversity, equity and inclusion at all levels of our community of learning:

• Diversity objectives are featured in the President’s Annual Report and ���ѱ�’s 2020-25 Strategic Plan.
• A new fund to support DEI training and related initiatives benefited from nearly $93,763 in current and pledged donor support this spring.
•  ���ѱ�’s Board of Trustees is led by Manuel A. Nuñez, professor and faculty director of diversity, equity, and inclusion at Villanova Business School. The board remains deeply committed in specific ways to diversity, equity and inclusion outcomes in learning objectives, campus climate, and representation.  
• More than 10 newly established endowed scholarships and direct grants to increase access and opportunities for BIPOC undergraduate and graduate students have been cultivated just this year.
• We continue supporting, building relationships, listening to and learning from leaders of our student organizations, including Black Student Alliance, Latino Student Alliance, International Student Organization, SafeSpace, and the newly established Asian Pacific Islander Student Association.

And finally, we are delighted with an important addition to our team: Dr. Jacqueline N. Font-Guzmán. She started as our executive director of diversity, equity and inclusion just a few weeks ago, and has already made connections with our Committee for Diversity and Inclusion, and among our student groups and their leaders. We look forward to her leadership as we make our actions toward racial and social justice more concrete. 

Below, Dr. Font-Guzmán shares a short reflection on the verdict. Continue on to read reflections from our student leaders, and leaders of Eastern Mennonite Seminary and the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding. 

No one person can enact the kind of dramatic change our schools, communities, and country needs. We must listen together and lead together. Each member of our university has a contribution to make. We welcome your support and your prayers on the journey ahead.

From Dr. Jacqueline N. Font-Guzmán, executive director of diversity, equity, and inclusion

The murder conviction in the case of Mr. George Perry Floyd Jr. has been unprecedented in many ways. It is a rare event in the history of the United States that a White policeman is found guilty of murdering a Black man. 

At the personal level, I have mixed feelings about the verdict. Although I felt encouraged by it because it held the perpetrator accountable, justice did not triumph. True justice requires giving each person their due. Mr. Floyd should be alive today. 

And yet, I do not despair. I am hopeful that this verdict can move us to take the needed crucial steps towards transforming – and when necessary – dismantling the systems that allow for this violence to continue. There is no better act of subversion than building relationships and communities. This verdict was possible thanks to all the organizers, peaceful protesters, students, and people willing to – as John Lewis said– “Get in trouble, good trouble.”

Here at EMU, we are committed to peace, social justice, and community. We will continue to work together with love and compassion to create an environment where everyone can be their true selves, belong, and be safe. 

A joint statement from two leaders of the Student Government and Black Student Alliance

Ma’Khia could have been any of us. In the span of two hours, our collective conversation had shifted from a tense relief that Derek Chauvin had been found guilty in the murder of George Floyd, to the overwhelming grief and anger that we know so intimately. 

After George Floyd’s murder this summer, the Student Government Association sent an email affirming protests and demonstrations being carried out in the name of justice. We also named that many of our clubs that serve as affinity groups for marginalized voices unfairly bear the burden of providing programming aimed at educating our broader campus community. Weeks later, the Black Student Alliance presented a list of demands, calling our campus community to live more fully into our self-proclaimed values of justice and peace. 

Now, after the verdict has been read, we as student leaders continue to commit ourselves to standing alongside those who fiercely speak truth to power, uprooting systems which cause harm, including those within our university. We will rage until LGBTQ+ communities feel safe, until ICE is abolished and the prison industrial complex is destroyed, until families are no longer torn apart on the border, and the ongoing Indigenous genocide is stopped.

We know that there is much work to be done. We envision a community that rejects notions of scarcity,  where justice is abundant and freedom is genuine. This is a vision that EMU says it shares, and so we call EMU to answer, to act: 

To create and hold spaces for BIPOC students, faculty and staff. To offer tangible support through meals and offer extensions on deadlines. To compensate the unpaid labor of those who have consistently borne the brunt of liberation work within EMU. To show up for your students in the classroom, at our events, in this nation and this world. Show up for your marginalized  students in the ways we’ve been asking of you. This is how we live into our mission. 

Anisa Leonard, co-president of Student Government Association; Maya Dula, secretary and past co-president of Black Student Alliance

Eastern Mennonite Seminary

In the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition, we believe that the mutual flourishing of relationships is essential for faith. We belong to one another as members of the human family. As Paul wrote to the Corinthians about the body of Christ, “If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it” (1 Cor 12:26). When one person, family and community suffers injustice, the harm impacts us all. 

A verdict from our national justice system may provide some clarity, but that alone cannot restore human dignity and wholeness. We commit fully and collectively to this restorative work: to practicing justice in compassionate relationships as a learning community and in the communities in which we participate throughout the world.

Learning how, within our own faith communities and our university community, we can truly resist the systemic racism made so visible in this moment impels us to deeper prayer and richer action. We thank God for leaders in many communities of color in the United States, and some of our own community members, who have long modeled the discipleship of work for justice.

Dr. Sue Cockley, dean; Dr. Nancy Heisey, associate dean; Rev. Dr. Sarah Bixler, incoming associate dean.

The Center for Justice and Peacebuilding

The United States was built on a mixed message – all men are created equal and only white men who own property count as full citizens. The territory of the United States was created through displacement, genocide, and war against indigenous peoples and a neighboring country, Mexico. Wealth was amassed by white men who exploited enslaved peoples from Africa and violently suppressed attempts to organize for labor rights. As a country, we have struggled with these tensions since our founding. Our history cannot be ignored in our move toward a different future.

Rooting out and transforming the original sin built into the United States is a long, hard, slow process and once again we are being challenged. Do we settle for order masquerading as peace or do we demand justice that supports authentic peace, healing, and equity? As the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, we have answered that question. Now, we must actualize it in our current context. As a predominantly white institution, this work is deeply personal for each of us and for CJP and EMU as organizations. Thankfully, the jury in Minnesota has held Derek Chauvin accountable for his actions. Let us continue our work to grow justice with humility and integrity. That means listening to and following leaders who have experienced the violence and injustices of our current systems.  

Dr. Jayne Docherty, executive director

Sarah Ann Bixler has been named associate dean of . She begins administrative duties July 1, 2021, and will continue teaching responsibilities as a faculty member of the seminary. 

She moves into a role previously held by Professor Nancy Heisey, who has served as associate dean since 2016.

Bixler will oversee the seminary’s graduate degree programs, guide the development of new programs for pastors and laypersons involved in a wide range of ministries, and serve as director of the seminary’s formation program. She will also serve on the faculty as assistant professor of formation and practical theology, beginning this fall.

“Sarah’s enthusiasm for serving the needs of seminary students and pastors in this difficult time is inspiring,” said Sue Cockley, dean of the seminary. “I’m confident her leadership will strengthen the seminary in the coming years and serve the church both locally and nationally.”

Bixler has been an instructor with the seminary for two years while finishing her PhD in practical theology with a specialization in Christian education and formation from Princeton Theological Seminary.��

In October 2020, Bixler was ordained into the ministry of Virginia Mennonite Conference. 

In addition to her doctorate, she holds a Master of Divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary and a bachelor’s degree, magna cum laude, from ��ݮ����.

“I welcome this role as a sense of call to serve the church through theological education,” Bixler said. “I am honored to help lead the seminary into a new season of faithfulness during this dynamic time of change. Eastern Mennonite Seminary’s firm grounding in the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition and desire to expand its educational offerings align with my passion: finding innovative ways for more people to join communities where we are formed together to participate in God’s reconciling mission in the world.”

Bixler spent a decade in ministry in the Shenandoah Valley, including working on Virginia Mennonite Conference staff, before beginning studies at Princeton Theological Seminary. At Princeton, she was instrumental in launching new programs in church planting and revitalization and women clergy leadership education. 

Her dissertation was titled “Networks of Belonging: Envisioning Adolescent Attachment in Congregations.” Bixler notes she had “the honor of having the first all-female dissertation committee in Princeton Theological Seminary’s history,”�� with her advisor Professor Kenda Creasy Dean, and committee members, professors Bo Karen Lee and Sonia Waters.��

She and her husband Benjamin and their three children are renovating the historic Lincoln Homestead in Linville, Virginia. The Bixlers have hosted open house events to share the site’s history, including Juneteenth and Lincoln’s birthday events, as well as, most recently, during Black History Month, honoring the known and unknown enslaved people who lived and worked at the site.

Who wouldn’t want to hug a trophy, pose for a commemorative photo, and put a golden emu on proud display in their office? Not that staff at ��ݮ����, with an already outstanding work ethic, need any extra incentive to do their best…

But you know. Golden glittery emu. Enough said. 

The first Royal Awards for Staff Performance, presented during fall semester 2020. The awardees are selected from nominations of staff or administrators who have shown exceptional performance, and/or gone above and beyond the regular focus of their work to improve EMU.

The inaugural awardees for August/September were Shannon Dycus, dean of students, and Lauren Jefferson, director of communications.

Nominators offered these words of appreciation about these employees:

Shannon is innovative, imaginative, caring, and a force to reckon with. She has, among many other things, found ways to maintain safety and community, and encourage our students to commit to health and safety during a time of crisis and a national pandemic.

Lauren has been working intensely since the start of the pandemic, often putting in overtime, to make sure our messaging to the community about plans and changes is quick, accurate, informative, and helpful… AND she still helps keep up humor and morale in our department.

Awardees for November/December were Nancy Heisey, associate dean of Eastern Mennonite Seminary, and Jon Swartz, director of residence life, student accountability, and restorative justice.

Nominators offered these words of appreciation:

Nancy ushered us through a promising accreditation visit by the Association of Theological Schools in mid-October. ATS’s initial feedback was positive, which is no small cause for celebration during this tenuous time in theological education. I cannot exaggerate the ways Nancy went above and beyond her administrative responsibilities to complete this accreditation process. She has completed a marathon and has done so with competence and contagious enthusiasm. 

Jon works tirelessly to improve the EMU experience for our residential students. Despite his extensive workload, he always engages each person who approaches him with empathy and good humor.

Congratulations to the winners. And also to those on the Royal Award committee for their work in appreciation of staff: Stephen Farrar, Lori Gant, Sarah Gant, Ericka Gingerich, Bill Goldberg, Marcia Myers, Jon Styer.

EMU faculty are eligible for the annual Excellence in Teaching Award. Read about 2020 honorees here. 

Faculty, staff, students and members of the broader community joined Sarah Bixler, instructor at Eastern Mennonite Seminary, for her Oct. 20 service of ministerial ordination in Virginia Mennonite Conference. The service took place in Martin Chapel and was also livestreamed through the .

Bixler teaches formation and practical theology, and offers leadership to the formation curriculum that is central to all seminary programs. She is finishing a doctorate in practical theology at Princeton Theological Seminary, with an emphasis on Christian education and formation. 

The Rev. Dr. Clyde Kratz and Dr. Nancy Heisey, associate dean of the seminary, officiated with a meditation offered by the Rev. Dr. Darrell Guder, professor of missional and ecumenical theology emeritus at Princeton Theological Seminary.

“Sarah’s ministering and leadership gifts have been visible for many years,” Heisey said. “Her ordination solidifies her roles as mentor and model for our students. Ordination also sustains EMS as a ministry hub for Mennonite Church USA and strengthens our accreditation by the Association of Theological Schools.”

Kratz has known Bixler for some time and observed “firsthand her gifting for leadership ministry when she served as youth minister at Zion Mennonite Church, and in her Virginia Conference role as Youth Minister and Conference Coordinator.”

“Sarah brings a refreshing enthusiasm to relationships, a grounded commitment to the faith community’s values, and intellectual curiosity in the pursuit of knowledge,” Kratz said. “Her seminary education has prepared her not only to be a high quality faculty member at Eastern Mennonite Seminary, but also a faith leader that will provide inspiration for the next generation of pastors and leaders in Mennonite Church USA and beyond.”

Bixler said that her ordination, particularly by VMC, “is a beautiful culmination of my past ministry experiences and ongoing sense of vocation.”

She spent a decade in ministry in the Shenandoah Valley, including working on VMC’s staff, before beginning studies at Princeton Theological Seminary to prepare to teach in theological education. 

“I am grateful to all those persons and communities who affirmed and helped clarify my vocation along the way, and I’m grateful that many could be present to mark this milestone with me through our on-campus and virtual formats for the ordination service,” she said. “Being ordained in the context of EMS and VMC affirms my conviction that seminary education is in the service of the church, as local expressions of the body of Christ participate in God’s reconciling mission in the world.”

The Rev. Glen Guyton, executive director of Mennonite Church USA, read from John 15:12-17. He and Bixler have known each other since both served in youth ministry in VMC, Bixler said.

“I’m so thankful for the gifts that she brings to the church,” Guyton said, before offering the final blessing.

For more information, visit graduate degree and certificate programs on trauma and resilience in the MA in Education program and this hub for upcoming professional development, training and courses at EMU’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding.

Webinars on racial justice and social justice

The , ��a program of ���ѱ�’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, offers a webinar series each fall and spring semester. Past webinars are available on the website, including a��, and on criminal justice reform, racial justice and the intersection of these efforts.

Also visit��CJP��and��Eastern Mennonite Seminary��to view course offerings on racial and social justice.

Navigating Ministry During COVID-19

This series of six online forum discussions provides resources to pastors, but all are welcome to attend. Visit emu.edu/seminary/forum-series

• June 10, 3 p.m. Ethical Issues of Medical Care, facilitated by Donald Tyson and Catherine Lee.
• June 24, 3 p.m. Biblical Resources for Despair and Hope, facilitated by Nancy Heisey, Andrea Saner and Matthew Bucher.

Trauma and Resilience in Healthcare Settings

Visit emu.edu/lancaster/continuing-ed/

• June 9, 12 p.m. Trauma-informed Strategies for Healthcare Providers: During and After COVID-19, presented by Janelle Bitikofer.

Trauma and Resilience for Parents & Educators

Elaine Zook Barge presents the following webinars. Visit emu.edu/lancaster/continuing-ed/

• June 23, 12 p.m. Helping Parents Respond to the Impact, focusing on the impact of the waves (overwhelm) and wounds (trauma) on the body, brain and behavior and some tools to release trauma energy, re-integrate the brain and self-regulation.
• August 11, 12 p.m. Helping Parents Prepare for Whatever is Ahead, This webinar will focus on resilience and the window of tolerance and resources for widening it.

Educators: see also the June 23-24 Restorative Justice in Education Conference, now online

• June 23-24, 8:30 a.m. – 6 p.m.
• $100 per participant
• Theme: “Youth-Led Restorative Justice”
• Input from experts in the field of restorative justice as it pertains to education. Sessions will be offered for newcomers to the field as well as those with experience in RJE. Keynote speaker is Dr. Anita Wadhwa, with Ram Bhagat, Martha Brown, Joe Brummer, Kathy Evans, Laura Feichtinger McGrath, Bob Garrity, Kevin Gilbert, April Howard, Emily Imgram, Deb Lokrantz, Judy Mullet, Dwanna Nicole, Sal Romero, and David Shenk.
• For more information, visit emu.edu/maed/rje-conference

This was neither the end of the semester we anticipated nor the graduation we expected, but it is the semester we have completed and the graduation we celebrate, said Dean David Brubaker this past weekend to a virtual celebration for graduates from the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding.

Those words encapsulate the whirlwind experience of the last nine weeks, as our semester was completely disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

This was not the semester we anticipated, but it was the semester we completed.

And what choice did we have but to persevere, adapt, be flexible and patient, flatten one curve as we were being slung faster on an accompanying learning curve of what exactly to do with ourselves, our bodies and minds in this strange new world.

The following collection of photos and text is a snapshot of the semester, collected in real time and revisited now, for those of you who are more peripheral to EMU. It might help to give a sense of how faculty, staff and students responded in and out of classroom — in true EMU fashion, with resilience, empathy and commitment.

Here we go (online)!

Some of the first on campus to sense an impending switch were employees in Information Systems. They began thinking about remote learning during EMU’s spring break the first week in March, and in anticipation, beefed up their HelpZone articles on a variety of relevant topics.

By March 12, when EMU announced a move to online learning, IS had reviewed and increased capacity of all systems and equipment (including webcams, laptops and Chromebooks) necessary for online teaching and campus operations. Needless to say, they were busy.

Two graphs from Jenni Piper, director of User Services, tell the story:

First Helpdesk Tickets. The green line shows last year’s demand and the blue line this year’s.

And second, the number of daily Zoom meetings hosted through the campus account, beginning in early March.

After hosting a training for faculty March 13 and the shift to online the classes the next week, IS handled 64 tickets on March 16, something of a watermark that shows when faculty and staff began to engage with the reality of a move to remote work.

Pedagogues thinking positively

About 10 days into the online shift, I asked a few professors how things were going. Some of their answers are included below. I was particularly struck by the positive perspective of veteran educator Carolyn Stauffer, professor of applied social sciences:

In reality, what we’re experiencing now is the presence of hybrid education. We’ve had the chance to meet in-person for the first part of the semester and now I get to know each participant’s online presence as well. It’s wonderful to be able to build on the assets of both sides of that equation!

Solo field trips

Professor Doug Graber Neufeld‘s “Natural History of the Shenandoah Valley” course syllabus was packed full of fantastic field trips to local natural wonders and lab experiences (like taxidermy practice below).

With his students scattered in mid-March, the field trips turned into independent explorations, such as Katelyn Dean‘s below. Here she holds morel mushrooms she and her dad found in the George Washington National Forest, just one find shared during class time.

“It’s the highlight of my day to hear students who daily recount the joy they find in now recognizing the animals, plants and rocks around them,” Neufeld said. “In such unusual times, experiencing the beauty and complexity of the natural world together has been a unique source of hope for us.” Read more about this class.

Conversations continue

In Professor Marti Eads’ class “Ways of War and Peace,” students met virtually with Reverend Masayuki Sawa, the pastor of a Reformed (Calvinist) congregation in Japan.��He spoke of his perception of contemporary Japanese attitudes toward World War II and Japanese perceptions of the US and our own military actions, then and now, among other topics.

The class was slated to visit the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. Instead, guest speaker Gillian Steinberg, an educator at the Salanter Akiba Riverdale Academy in the Bronx, and her students from the Modern Orthodox Jewish tradition met online with EMU students.

This conversation and the de-brief afterwards held richness and nuance, Eads said, with several classmates opening up about their own religious experiences, choices and identities. Recognizing the common humanity, despite labels — “just the idea of all of us sitting together talking and all of us from different groups” was a moving experience, said one of her students. []

Creating community with virtual high fives

Engineering professor Esther Tian (pictured above at top right) continued teaching synchronous classes, preferring the structure and the presence of students. “It is also good for students to see each other and talk to each other before class as they would in a classroom.

We do high fives, thumb-ups (and downs) during class, we find out new features of Zoom and use them right away. It has been fun. I also found that one-on-one and small group Zoom sessions were working really well in answering students’ questions as well as advising..”

Senior Collin Longenecker, visible below Tian in the photo above and also at right, was an embedded tutor with a first-year engineering course. Though initially he wasn’t sure how Zoom sessions would work, he adapted well: “The students pop in and out and they can share their screen with me. It is almost like I am in the engineering lab looking over their shoulder trying to help them troubleshoot the problem. I have been helping a few students that I had not helped before we went to online school which is cool.”

Read more about EMU tutors at work during online classes.

The power of community to enhance learning was the top tip in a blog post titled ” by Dean (and chem prof) Tara Kishbaugh for fellow organic chemistry teachers using the same texbook. “Community Matters,” she began. Use the relationships that have already been built to help students continue asking questions and learning in small peer groups. And she reminded readers, you can still greet each student individually when they enter your Zoom classroom.

Tech fails/wins: ‘chipmunky’-ness and new relationships

Professor Mark Sawin teaches U.S. History 103, from World War I to the present, with a focus on “power and paradox.” Sawin tried to do a synchronous class on Zoom and “it rather hilariously and spectularly failed,” he reported.

“So, since then, I’ve been pre-recording all my lectures on Panopto so students can watch them asynchronously, and with that program, you can adjust my speed. At 1.5 speed, I start to get rather chipmunky… at .5 speed I sound like the television show ‘Drunk History.’ I’m not sure if that amuses students, but it certainly amuses me.”

With the lectures available at any time, he began using normal class time as an open forum where students could drop in and ask questions.

“I’ve had some wonderful 1-on-1 conversations with students that I would never have had in our normal class setting. In this sense, our ‘social distancing’ has actually provided some closeness that wasn’t there before, and for that I’m grateful,” Sawin said. “I’ve also been pleased and touched by the grace that students have extended to us as we struggle to move our classes online. And I believe we, too, are showing that grace, focusing on the learning objectives and the big important ideas, and allowing a lot of latitude when it comes to the many wifi issues, isolation stresses, and general quarantine chaos we’re all learning to live with.”

Grace and connection

That grace is something education professor Paul Yoder has also experienced. Students in his classes are pre-service teachers and as a pedagogical specialist himself, the shift to online classes provided ample room for discussions around topics related to the digital classroom.

He wrote: “The key word in my planning for weekly class sessions via Zoom has been connection. We have taken time for each of the 18 students to rate how they are doing on a scale of 1-10 and then share with the group. Last week I sent individual emails as a follow up to the few students who placed themselves on the low end of the scale. I have also been excited to hear from some of my advisees who have shared their affirmations of how professors are providing flexibility as needed.  Particularly as we recognize that not all of us have the same level of internet access, I know that living into an ethic of care is essential.”

Nancy Heisey, seminary dean, also used check-ins with her classes, which often included adult students who juggled many responsibiliities, including pastors working in ministry settings.

“We take time every period to share ‘how it’s going’ and encourage one another. Some students are struggling with a household where everyone is working on line in a crowded space—spouse tele-working, children trying to do homework, and seminary student worrying about class work and how to get a video service up for their congregation’s Sunday service.

“I’ve been amazed, though, at the depth of engagement—this morning, my New Testament students each did a creative rendering of a parable of Jesus. They were funny, sobering, and encouraging!”

Hearing some of those needs led seminary professor Sarah Bixler to host an April 1 online gathering that drew 32 pastors, including 22 alumni, from four denominations and eight states. This has led to a free online series for pastors. Check it out here.

A wider global market for CJP

Innovation happened quickly during the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding’s facilitation class, co-taught by Professor Catherine Barnes and Amy Knorr. Students usually practice skills they’ve learned in person by helping clients with a planned discussion, strategic visioning or group dialogue. With face-to-face options limited and practice still required, students moved online.

Above, one group produced an online strategic planning for Shenandoah Green, a local environmental group, including a circle process, a historical reflection using a digital timeline that folks could fill in, and a card sort, a way of getting ideas out into the open and then grouping them together. “Board members at Shenandoah Green were delighted,” said Knorr, who helps coordinate practice settings for CJP students.

In the midst of the pandemic, CJP also hosted several online gatherings for alumni to connect and share resources.

And significantly, center staff moved quickly to adapt the Summer Peacebuilding Institute to online classes, expedite a new hybrid graduate degree program in transformational leadership, and prepare upcoming semester classes for online delivery.

The massive disruption and accompanying move towards online learning and programs have created new opportunities, said Executive Director Jayne Docherty, especially in a previously untapped market of prospective participants who could not have afforded to travel or would not have been issued a visa in the current environment.

“In the face of the pandemic, many people are waking up to the fact that our societies have become more unequal and unjust and that we are teetering on the edge of violent confrontations between social subgroups. Some of those people are saying, ‘This can’t continue. This is just wrong. What can I do? I want to be part of the solution.’ By moving our programs online quickly, we have helped channel their energy and impulse to help others in ways that prevent violence and address injustices.”

’12 hours ahead of our students’

As daily reports arrived into faculty in-boxes about the closure of practicum and internship placements to students, the nursing department focused on making sure their seniors could graduate on time and join the fight against covid-19.

For one cohort, that meant three 12-hour shifts at a local hospital. For others, they logged clinical hours (and their supervising professor also took calls) at a special covid-19 public health hotline.

“The faculty were meeting hour to hour, staying 12 hours ahead of the students as we were making decisions,” said Professor Melody Cash.

Eventually, a waiver allowed faculty to substitute simulation hours for live clinicals and all 16 seniors finished out the semester in good standing, ready to join the workforce.

It’s the small things…

Marci Frederick (above), director of Sadie Hartzler Library, and Professor Kevin Seidel dressed in academic regalia in honor of their senior seminar students for their last Zoom class meeting.

Congratulations, EMU family, on the end of the semester we did not anticipate.

We celebrate.

Sarah Ann Bixler will join the seminary as an instructor. She is completing her PhD in practical theology with an emphasis on Christian education and formation at Princeton Theological Seminary, with an anticipated graduation date of May 2021. 

At the seminary, where she also earned a Master of Divinity degree, she has worked in administrative roles with Princeton’s Center for Church Planting and Revitalization and Iron Sharpening Iron: Leadership Education for Women Clergy project.

Bixler earned her BA in English (secondary education) at EMU. After graduation, she taught at Eastern Mennonite School from 2002-07 and served as a youth minister at Zion Mennonite Church from 2001-2009. She has also been a curriculum writer with Brethren Press and served Virginia Mennonite Conference as an interim youth minister (2006-07) and as a conference coordinator (2011-13).

“Sarah has served as part of the ‘Journey Forward’ team of Mennonite Church USA for the past two years,” Heisey said. “We’re thrilled to have this denominational leader and scholar bringing her gifts into our community.” 

Academic areas of interest include Christian education and formation, youth and young adult ministry, missional theology and innovation, Anabaptist theology and ecclesiology, organizational leadership and attachment theory.

Penny Driediger will be assistant professor of clinical pastoral education (CPE). She has taught CPE and ministry formation, and has directed mentored ministry at EMS since 2008.

Driediger has a BA in social work from EMU and an MDiv from Eastern Mennonite Seminary with a concentration in pastoral care. She is ordained for ministry with Virginia Mennonite Conference and most recently received supervisor status through the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education. 

“Penny’s deep roots in chaplaincy and urban ministry offer rich wisdom to seminarians who are deepening their own practice in these areas,” said Heisey.  

A full list of new faculty for both the seminary and the university can be viewed here.

President Susan Schultz Huxman was among several administrators, faculty and staff to travel to Kansas City, Missouri, for the multi-day event. Huxman arrived early for meetings and listening sessions with Mennonite Higher Education Association, Mennonite Education Association and Mennonite Schools Council. During the conference, she provided a university update at a evening alumni reception.

The biennial conference, which is often preceded by other meetings of Mennonite organizations, gathers church representatives and members for worship, fellowship and learning, as well as for more formal discernment and decisionmaking.

EMU student’s advocacy leads to youth delegate vote

One such decision ⁠— delegates voted on a bylaw change allowing youth participants to serve in future conferences as official voting delegates ⁠— was from the group Step Up, founded by EMU senior and Student Government Association Co-President Leah Wenger.

“The program is designed to educate young people about church business, encourage them to listen and learn from those around them, provide them places and people to network with, prepare them to become future leaders, and to promote participation in the larger church delegate body,” Wenger said. In additional to serving as a delegate from Community Mennonite Church in Harrisonburg, Wenger worked with three others, including Lorren Oesch ’19 to organize orientation for the youth participants and additional programming throughout the week.

The conference is also a meeting place for youth and young adult groups. EMU admissions staff, including Director of Admissions Matt Ruth ’06, represented the university at the Mennonite Higher Education Association’s booth, which highlighted the academic offerings of the five Mennonite colleges and universities.

Faculty, joined by alumni, engage and teach

Sarah Bixler ‘02, Eastern Mennonite Seminary faculty member, was the convention’s prayer coordinator and co-led, with Hendy Stevan Matahelemual MA ’19 (leadership), a daily evening prayer session focused on the church. She also was involved in four workshop sessions, including two that she co-led with her husband Ben Bixler ’03, MA ‘13 (religion) that explored “R-rated” scripture texts in the youth ministry context and Bible study in the congregation.

Eastern Mennonite Seminary dean Nancy Heisey��MDiv ’94 led her workshop participants in new ways of presenting biblical stories and broader biblical themes to audiences who bring no previous familiarity to their learning.

Emeritus Professor Dorothy Jean Weaver ’72 hosted three New Testament study workshops engaging with perspectives on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, stories of resilience, and the theme of power in the Gospel of Matthew. Read more about Weaver’s scholarly work on this topic.

With growing interest in the new Voices Together hymnal, music editor and new music professor Benjamin Bergey ’11 co-led three sessions with general editor Bradley Kauffman in anticipation of the 2020 release. He also joined a co-presenter to discuss how the 20 songs from the contemplative Taize community that are included in the hymnal might be integrated into regular and Taize-style worship.

The came prepared to engage and share its vision. The center co-hosted a networking event for young adults with Mennonite Creation Care Network, joining current college students with recent graduates to explore issues and encourage active engagement through their churches.

Executive director Doug Graber Neufeld, a biology professor at EMU, also hosted a general interest meeting, with a special invitation for those wanting to explore ways that congregations can engage with climate issues.

Climate Future Fellows Michaela Mast, Harrison Horst and Sarah Longenecker, all 2018 EMU graduates, shared about their experiences producing two seasons of the “Shifting Climates” podcast. Read more here.

One workshop presenter didn’t have to travel far. Annette Lantz Simmons, a graduate of the and its 2018 Peacebuilder of the Year, led a workshop on trauma, resilience and leadership. Simmons, a certified STAR (Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience) trainer, is executive director of the Center for Conflict Resolution in Kansas City (which also employs three other CJP graduates).

A number of EMU alumni, too many to list in this article, contributed to activities and/or were delegates or participants at the conference. The information in this article was compiled from the MennoCon program book.��

Since 1994, the ethics model has guided and inspired faculty, students and alumni of ��ݮ����’s nursing program. In coming months, Professor Ann Hershberger, who developed the model with the input of other faculty, will lead research with the goal of updating the signature document.

EMU’s Sacred Covenant Model outlines nursing approaches to caring through empowerment, partnership, presence, justice, service, agape love, advocacy, reconciliation and grace. It also articulates that nurses, in their work with persons, families, communities and systems, fill roles including collaborator, leader, manager, researcher practitioner and teacher.

“It is clear that rooting students in this unique, values-based approach has impacted the lives of our students and those they serve,” Hershberger said. “Updating these concepts to reflect our current social and cultural context will boost its continued integral relevance.”

To gain insight into modernizing the document’s language, Hershberger will survey and interview program graduates and conduct a literature review to assess the use of similar concepts across the field of nursing.

Hershberger will also expand the covenant’s theological grounding in collaboration with Eastern Mennonite Seminary dean Nancy Heisey, whose writings on Micah 6:8 heavily influenced the original.

In the 1990s, Hershberger and other nursing faculty members began writing essays exploring the unique approaches that Anabaptists bring to nursing. Later, then professor and department chair Arlene Wiens led the gathering of the approaches under the “Sacred Covenant” concept based on writings by Catholic University Professor Mary Elizabeth O’Brien, including her book A Sacred Covenant: The Spiritual Ministry of Nursing (Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2008).

“Because of our faith tradition, we view an individual’s story as holy ground and, as nurses, we intersect with them in sacred space,” Hershberger said. “We are privileged to be allowed into the most intimate points of people’s lives when they are at their most vulnerable. We view the nurse-patient relationship as sacred because of the intimacy and spirituality of that connection.”

Students in the undergraduate and master’s nursing programs explore the covenant and reflect on their clinical experiences through its lens. While undergraduate students who later return to EMU for master’s level studies already resonate with the covenant, masters- and doctoral-level students exposed to it for the first time often find it significant and meaningful, Hershberger said.

“‘This is why I went into nursing. I thought this didn’t exist anymore,’” she has heard them say. “The articulation of nursing as both faithful vocation and profession is something that they longed for.”

The nursing program offers traditional, transfer and accelerated undergraduate and second-degree programs as well as MS in nursing and DNP programs. All programs are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education.

In August, two such courses on the Gospel of Luke/Book of Acts and the psychology of religion – each met for an intensive week of 20 hours of class time, with the remainder of coursework unfolding over seven additional weeks of online interaction. An additional course, on formation in missional leadership, is underway online and will complete its face-to-face component in October.

“We are turning more and more often to a hybrid format for course offerings,” said Nancy Heisey, associate seminary dean. “Many of our students live at a distance or are working full time, yet value the opportunity for face-to-face learning as well.”

The Luke/Acts class brought students from five states, including Adam Stultz, who is pursuing an MDiv while serving as a full-time associate pastor at Summerdean Church of the Brethren in Roanoke, Virginia.

“I think a deep understanding of these books will also be helpful for preaching and teaching,” he said. “I like the fact that this course only requires me to be away from my family and my congregational duties for five days on campus, then I have the flexibility to complete the coursework on my own schedule.”

Donna Becker, a volunteer chaplain and employee at Landis Homes Retirement Community in Lititz, Pennsylvania, took the class to “learn better ways to interpret and understand these books so I can interpret and teach them in my ministry context,” she said.

The hybrid course format has pros and cons, she said.

“I liked being in class for the first week, getting to know my classmates and the professor in person and interacting with the texts with others,” she said. While she will miss that in-person interaction, she said, it is the online component that “makes it possible for me to take the course.”

For Professor Lonnie Yoder, teaching hybrid courses – the psychology of religion class is his seventh hybrid course since 2015 – means adapting content and pedagogy to two different modes in what he describes as an “improvisational dance” that he has found fulfilling.

For the initial intensive week, he focuses on building community through personal, active engagement through mini-lectures, small group work, video clips, music and more. Often students will, without prompting, bring food to share with the class, and spend breaks during sessions connecting with each other in the lounge.

The subsequent online component allows more time for students to engage with various texts. Yoder creates a short introductory video for each week’s assignment, and grades and returns student work promptly in order to keep students engaged.

That engagement is key to having “good energy” in the class, he said.

Why did you decide to go to graduate school?

��Graduate school quickly emerged as the most appropriate step for me both personally and professionally after EMU. I was intrinsically motivated to apply to graduate programs because of my love of school. Throughout my studies at EMU and during my gap year, I was hungry to learn. I could not keep my hands off of theology, religion and history texts from the library. I knew that I wanted to go to a graduate program where I could continue to investigate the subtle contours of Christian thought.

Graduate school also was a smart decision for me professionally because I wanted a degree program that integrates both academic rigor and ministerial training, which is how I landed in the Master of Divinity program at Vanderbilt Divinity School (VDS).

VDS made an impression on me due to its ecumenical status and commitments to social justice. I wanted to be in an environment where I would interact with others who did not bring my same Anabaptist assumptions to the room. I wanted to be in a place where I could stretch myself and engage in conversation with a wider sample of future leaders of faith from across the Christian spectrum on some of today’s most pressing social demands.

Describe your field of study and research.

��The Master of Divinity degree is the more professional clergy-track route compared to the more research-oriented Masters of Theological Studies degree. My coursework is well-rounded with classes in homiletics, Christian theology, church history, biblical studies and pastoral care providing the foundation of my program.

My research concentration, however, is in “Religion and the Arts in Contemporary Culture.” One of my primary research interests is to critically examine how popular culture and media interface with religion. Music, film, and Internet memes have a way of raising everyday theological questions, such as the value of money or suffering, that invite a spirit of playfulness and imagination. I often look to blur the lines in what is conventionally dismissed as “secular” culture in order to see what contributions, critiques and commentaries these artistic expressions are making about religious life.

How did your academic studies and professors at EMU prepare you for graduate studies?

���ѱ�’s Bible and Religion Department is a real gem. Working closely with professors Peter Dula, Nancy Heisey, Ted Grimsrud, Linford Stutzman, Christian Early and Carmen Shrock-Hurst each helped prepare me for graduate studies in unique ways. Peter taught me that the beginning of a nuanced position means knowing how to read with charitable criticism. Nancy’s skills as a researcher and editor helped to strengthen my writing style. Ted always encouraged showing up to class ready to ask at

least one question from our weekly reading assignments. Linford modeled for me how to think more like an anthropologist and not to overlook or undervalue the interdependence of religion and culture. Christian introduced me to some of the most groundbreaking literature in philosophy and science. And Carmen stressed the importance of attending to my spiritual life in addition to my intellectual life. So much of my current program relies on knowing how to read, write and speak with efficiency. The strengths of the Bible and religion faculty became critical ingredients that laid a solid foundation for my communication skills.

What do you think made your application to graduate school stand out among others?

My letters of recommendation were the strongest part of my application, hands down. I felt confident asking my professors to write letters of recommendation for me because of our relationships both inside and outside of the classroom. I knew that they would help to paint a more complete picture of me beyond just my academic potential.

What are some of your favorite memories from your time at EMU?

Some of my favorite moments from EMU were all of the times that I stood around talking to my peers and professors after class. I love how our class discussions rarely ended with the period, but rather carried over into coffee conversations, long walks or lunch at the cafeteria. The real power of these more casual conversations is that they always seemed to invite at least one or two people from outside of the classroom to weigh in on the topic at hand. I believe EMU embraced a culture that encouraged both a natural curiosity and a spirit of collaboration, which makes all of these little moments and side conversations stand out in my memory.

What is your advice to undergraduates?

Don’t sell yourself short on the college experience. Everything that you do is an ingredient to help you grow and mature and be a more thoughtful person in the world. Building strong relationships with your classmates, going to special lectures, and getting involved in the broader Harrisonburg/Rockingham area are all invaluable parts of sharpening your perspective. Most of all, take time to review your perspective regularly and document how it is changing in light of these new experiences. I believe it is important to be upfront with ourselves about how we have changed and appreciating the processes that have contributed to our growth.

“MDiv capstones culminate students’ academic experience, integrating that education into their ministry vision after graduation, with an exciting measure of creativity blended in,” said seminary associate dean Nancy Heisey.

Seminary degrees will be conferred during ���ѱ�’s centennial year commencement ceremony at 1 p.m. on Sunday, May 6.

More capstone integration projects: ��2017

Lorrie Aikens – Pastoral Response to Trauma

(Licensed local pastor, United Methodist Church; BS, University of Maine at Farmington; MS, Shenandoah University; Hot Springs, Va.) Due to the high percentage of trauma presently affecting people, it is imperative that pastors respond to parishioners in meaningful and sensitive ways. That is “to practice faithfulness,” as Swinton would say in Raging with Compassion (William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2007), with listening in silence, lament, forgiveness, thoughtfulness and hospitality. Each provides essential keys to healing, spirituality of faith and hope – the source of healing and guide to hope in recovery. [podcast]

Josh Dalton – Clergy Stress

(Pastor, Monroe United Methodist Church, Monroe, Va.; BS, Lynchburg College; MS, California University of Pennsylvania; Altavista, Va.) Ministry should not be harmful to one’s health. Yet how many clergy wear stress as a “badge of honor”? A look at the faith and physical implications. [podcast]

Gabriel Dodd – Discovering God: Spiritual Formation in Youth and Adolescents

(Pastor for youth and young families, Montezuma Church of the Brethren, Dayton, Va.; BS, Middle Tennessee State University, Harrisonburg, Va.) This project helps the church understand the interest in and benefit of spiritual formation by using a 212-participant survey, and includes suggestions on how to provide spiritual formation for those who are young or new to spiritual formation. It was discovered that the church has not done the best job encouraging questions and doubts from young people, which contribute to church attrition. I encourage the church to help encourage the faith of our young people by inviting them on a journey with Jesus, inviting their questions, providing companions for the discovery process, and teaching spiritual practices to help them talk and listen to God. [podcast]

Hillary Evans – Creativity as a Spiritual Discipline

(United Methodist Church; BS, West Liberty University; Mathias, W.Va.) This capstone considers how creativity can be done as spiritual discipline that brings us into an awareness of God’s presence while growing us in our walk with God. [podcast]

Joseph “Jeff” Fletcher – The Gift of Gratitude: Helping People Connect to Sources of Gratitude for Improved Health

(Pastor, Cool Spring Church of God; BTh, Atlanta Bible College; Bentonville, Va.) My capstone project focuses on health benefits of the virtue of gratitude. I demonstrate from a comprehensive review of historical, cultural, spiritual and psychological literature ways that gratitude helps contribute to spiritual, emotional and physical health. I seek to show how offering instruction and support to hospital patients and nursing home residents and staff in the benefits of gratitude can help to improve their overall spiritual, emotional and physical health and reduce the risk of burnout and compassion fatigue in healthcare workers. [podcast]

Brandon Hawley – Millennial Drop-Off: Lack of Involvement of Post-Graduates in Congregational Ministry

(College ministry intern: James Madison University Baptist Collegiate Ministry and Harrisonburg Baptist Church; BS, James Madison University; Roanoke, Va.) This project looks at reasons why millennials are less involved in church after their time in a college ministry. This project also looks at statistics and trends for the amount of involvement of millennials in congregational ministry. Lastly, this project offers some solutions for helping millennials engage in the congregational church. [podcast]

Stephen Adam King – Go, Sell Your Whiteness, and Follow Me: Jesus’ Call of White Christians to Radical Racial Solidarity

(Associate pastor at RISE United Methodist Faith Community; BA, Roanoke College; Broadway, Va.) When the rich young man approached Jesus asking what he must do to inherit eternal life, he despaired when he was told to sell all he owned in order to follow Jesus. I believe this is also the case when white folks in America are confronted by the call to lay down their privilege and power granted to them by this country and to follow the God who came to us as a marginalized and oppressed Jew 2000 years ago, and who comes to us now in the form of marginalized bodies and voices today. We walk away despairing. I seek to demonstrate in my capstone why it is of the utmost necessity that white followers of Jesus heed the call to die to whiteness and follow the leadership of black and brown leaders. If we do, I believe we white folk just may find what we’ve been missing for over 400 years… Abundant Life. [podcast]

Charlie Tinsley – Revisionist Future: Thriving in the Spirit After Surviving Childhood Abuse

(Ambassador for Virginia in National Association of Adult Survivors of Child Abuse; United Methodist Church; BS, Liberty University) I will be looking at the effects of childhood abuse on life, faith and functioning. This capstone will be engaging with my own story and faith issues as a survivor of abuse. The capstone will also call on the church and its institutions to better protect children and to prevent abuse in their communities. [podcast]

Jason Wagner��– Against the Grain

(Harrisonburg, Va.) My capstone explores ministering healing in one of America’s largest institutions, the corrections system. Looking through varied lenses I will attempt to paint a picture of who is in our local jail, which will then lead to visiting the scriptures with our eyes attuned toward Jesus’ response to these disenfranchised members of our community. This process of reading the context, through the scripture, will lead us to a praxis of presence within the local jail, that will hopefully provide spaces where men can learn to go against the grain and find healing.��[article and��podcast]

Philip Yoder – Integrating Past, Present, Future: From Mockupation to Re-Inventing Dutch Blitz

(Mennonite; BA, ��ݮ����; Harrisonburg, Va.) How shall we embody a positive and non-violent approach to conflict and occupation? Towards an answer, this project argues that we change the system by ignoring it. By enacting liturgical performances that give space for deep and honest reflection we become our destiny. Thus, this project explores the limits of the religious ritual and how to bridge the gap between the biblical story and our contemporary world. [podcast]

Sarah Bailey – God is Near: Paying Attention to the Presence of God ��

[podcast] ��

Pablo Hernandez – Attend. Listen. Forget. Repeat: The Dynamics of Preaching during Sunday Service ��

[podcast]

Shankar Rai – Passing Faith to the Next Generation

[article and��podcast]

Nathan Scarborough – A Light in the Dark: Ministry in the Metal Community

[podcast]

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 ���ѱ�’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.

Describe your field of study and research at the University of Virginia and Duke.

I am now enrolled in a Master of Arts in Religious Studies, specifically in the Theology, Ethics, and Culture track.

At Duke, I wrote my thesis with the theologian Willie Jennings (now of Yale) and the chair of the English department, Sarah Beckwith. My thesis looked at the modern concept of race as a way of knowing that judges the meaning, value, and humanity of a body simply based upon skin color and other physical features. My research brought the resources of critical race theory into conversation with Wittgenstein and Cavell’s account of other-mind skepticism as resulting from dissatisfaction with the conditions of knowledge in order to argue that the modern concept of race represents a rejection of ordinary understandings of what it means to know another human being. I then argued that knowing according to race makes it impossible to recognize a raced other to be Christ for oneself.

My research at UVa builds upon my previous research. I am interested in how Christian theology purports that we know and understand our bodies, the natural world, and language. How would understanding the interconnection between bodies, nature, and language change how we think about what it means to be human beings in world created by God? My theological way of thinking is influenced by other disciplines such as linguistic anthropology and cultural geography. My hunch is that because we do not see the connections between our bodies, the natural world, and our ways of knowing and speaking, we are inclined to instrumentalize nature and other human beings. Given the history of theological rationales for violence done to the earth and the callousness with which Christians have displaced countless peoples from their lands, I believe how we think about these subjects matters a great deal.

How did your academic studies and professors at EMU prepare you for your graduate studies/current work?

I came to EMU as a transfer student from Arizona State University, having been out of school for a number of years. When I arrived at EMU, I knew that my goal was to use my time there to prepare for graduate studies in theology and I expressed this to the Bible and Religion department faculty. Having the chance to work closely with�� professors Peter Dula, Ted Grimsrud, Christian Early, and Nancy Heisey prepared me for graduate work not only because they were generous with their time, but also because they were willing to offer the rigorous critiques I needed to help hone my academic skills. The Bible and religion faculty were immensely helpful in directing me to critical texts I needed to familiarize myself with–even above and beyond their syllabi–and they were also very amenable to arranging independent studies on specific areas of interest.

I should also mention that EMU does a great job of bringing in important lecturers in a variety of fields. Between the university colloquia, the Justice Lectures, and various other conferences and events, I grew comfortable engaging with top scholars.

What do you think made your application to graduate school stand out among others?

This is a really hard question to answer. First, it strikes me how well-connected the Bible and Religion Department faculty is with the broader academic world. At the American Academy of Religion, Peter Dula seems to know everyone. Many people I met at Duke knew Peter Dula from his time there, and quite a few people had read (at least) one of Ted Grimsrud’s books at some point. Many people in the academic and church world knew Nancy Heisey either from her work with Mennonite Central Committee or Mennonite World Conference.

Second and most importantly, I have been told that many letters of recommendations sound very generic because the constraints of academic life often don’t allow professors to get to know students particularly well. I was confident when I asked for letters from my professors at EMU that they knew my particular interests as well as my strength and weaknesses.

What attracted you to attend EMU as an undergraduate?

I had started my undergraduate studies at another university, but focused most of my time and attention working for a couple of Christian nonprofits. Around the time that I was looking to go back to school to finish my bachelor’s degree, I had become very influenced by peace-church theology. I was not personally familiar with the Mennonites, but I had a friend who went to James Madison University and had attended Community Mennonite Church while there. He encouraged me to look into EMU and after chatting with Peter Dula–who I learned had studied with Stanley Hauerwas, a major influence of mine–I decided to apply and commit to EMU. I was looking for a program with a strong faculty in the areas of Biblical studies and theology, but I also did not want to be in a large school. EMU, then, was a perfect fit.

What are some favorite memories of your time at EMU?

Most of my favorite memories from EMU involve time spent with professors, usually in their offices after class talking about this or that book. Probably my favorite memory though, was going on the Quebec cross-cultural with Nancy Heisey. Montreal was such an amazing city to live in for almost a month, and the topics we studied such as secularism and Quebecois class struggles were fascinating. This also afforded me the opportunity to get to know Nancy Heisey better; I took two or three classes with her at EMU, but she we also quite busy as the interim dean.

What do you think makes EMU graduates distinctive?

EMU graduates always have a passion for something interesting and important. I think the combination of academic rigor, commitment to justice and environmental sustainability, and Anabaptist convictions shapes students who care for the broader world but also about the local community. This is why you have EMU grads who go work for Mennonite Central Committee in Iraq as well as those who live in intentional communities and work for neighborhood development organizations. In the academic world, I can say that the EMU grads I’ve known have always had a passion for interesting and important topics. They bring not only their intellects to the academy, but their commitment as activists and educators.