Frederick is currently library director at Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights, Illinois, a post she has held since 2006. Before that she was director of library services for eight years at The King’s University College in Edmonton, Alberta. And previous to that, she was director of library and information services for five years at the Institute for Christian Studies, a graduate school in Toronto.

In addition to her library work over the years, Frederick served on university committees on environmental sustainability, racial/ethnic diversity, gender equality and spiritual formation. She has taught several courses over the years, including “Truth and Falsehood in the Marketplace of Ideas,” centering on information seeking and retrieval.

While in Illinois, Frederick has been active at Community Mennonite Church in Markham. She preaches about once a month and was approved by Illinois Mennonite Conference as a supply preacher. She is currently finishing a three-year non-degree program at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Indiana.

“The search committee was impressed both by her vision for the role of a library in an Anabaptist institution of higher learning and by her breadth of experience in library directorship,” said EMU Provost Fred Kniss.

“I’m a librarian because I love bringing people together to create community around ideas, gathering and sharing resources to nurture deep reflection,” said Frederick. “My calling as a library director is to bring a deep focus on institutional mission into ongoing conversations about that community’s information needs.”

A 1982 graduate of Beloit College in Wisconsin, Frederick went on to earn three master’s degrees – a master’s of library science and an M.A. in American history from the University of Wisconsin at Madison and a master’s of philosophy from the Institute of Christian Studies in Toronto.

Frederick will come to EMU with her husband, Paul Cook, a studio artist, and her 11-year-old daughter, Jocelyn Cook.

She will oversee a staff of seven as well as numerous student assistants. The three-story , which includes the , is located near the center of EMU’s campus. It was built in 1971 after a student-led fund drive pushed the project over the finish line for a federal matching grant. The student effort attracted national media attention.

Brubaker, who has directed Hartzler Library for six years on what was initially a “temporary” basis, is finally retiring after a life-long career at EMU. Starting as a nursing instructor, she later chaired the nursing department, became vice president for enrollment management, was selected as the school’s first provost and even served as interim president.

“It may at first sound strange to you,” he told students, faculty and others at an academic forum in the , “but the more I learned about Jesus the more he seemed like an Indian spiritual leader or a medicine man to me.”

Woodley, professor of faith and culture at George Fox Seminary in Portland, Ore., spoke at EMU’s annual Augsburger Lecture Series on Christian evangelism and mission.

In 28 years of Christian ministry among Native Americans, Woodley has seen their core values of harmony and balance in similar light to the Christian concept of shalom. He chose this as the subject of his doctoral dissertation from Asbury Seminary. “Shalom is woven into the very fabric of being indigenous,” he said.

“Shalom is a lot more than peace,” Woodley said at the university chapel service in Lehman Auditorium, where he also spoke during his visit. “It’s the way God designed the world to be – one community, embracing all creation.” The more he studied the concept of shalom in the Bible and in church history, however, the more he came to believe that Christians have fallen short in practicing true shalom.

Early missionaries devastated indigenous cultures

The first Christian missionaries to Native American communities, for example, held Western colonialist attitudes about conquering non-Christian lands and “civilizing the savages.” They had little awareness that their ideas and actions were devastating to indigenous cultures, Woodley said. Nor did they consider that God might already have been working among indigenous people.

“Theologically and missiologically, we should always begin by asking in what ways God is already active in the culture,” he said. “Native American values include an already-present relationship with the Creator. And Christians, at least first-century Christians, believed Christ is already present in the culture via his work as Creator.”

Woodley said shalom is antithetical to most American values. “Shalom is cooperation above competition and community above the individual,” he said.

“I am urging Americans to live out Christ’s values through biblical shalom and specifically through understanding the Native American harmony way,” he wrote in a scholarly paper, which he read at the academic forum.

From angry young man to missional work for shalom

Woodley began his address at the university chapel by speaking about his background and his ancestral roots in the Shenandoah Valley near the EMU campus – both from a Cherokee tribe and a white settler community. In the 1970s, he said, he was an angry young man with a meth addiction. After he converted to Christianity and became a “flaming evangelist,” his Christian colleagues told him to ignore his Native American heritage and focus on saving “lost souls.”

As Woodley read the Bible, however, he was drawn to a broader vision, especially as he studied the Christian community that is described in the book of Acts. The early Christians followed Jesus’ teachings about shalom, which called for a different way of loving and living, and urged compassion for the poor and marginalized.

“If the church is not busy making shalom,” he said, “then it has no mission.”

Sitting in the audience at chapel were Myron and Esther Augsburger, who funded the lectureship that brought Woodley to campus. Prior to serving as president of EMU from 1965 to 1980, Myron Augsburger was a well-known author, evangelical leader and evangelist. After he left EMU, he and his artist wife, Esther, founded a church on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.  Before retiring to Harrisonburg, he also served as president of the Coalition of Christian Colleges & Universities.

35 years of grassroots ministry

Woodley’s theme for his Augsburger lectureship was “Embracing Missional Shalom Community.” During his visit to campus, he also spoke at the seminary chapel service and met informally with students and faculty.

For more than 35 years he has been engaged in what he calls “grassroots ministry.” He founded or helped to form Christians for Justice, Eagle’s Wings Ministry, American Indian Environment & Health Association, North American Institute of Indigenous Theological Studies, Evangelicals 4 Justice, Eloheh Village for Indigenous Leadership & Ministry Development, and Eloheh Farm.

Ordained in the American Baptist Churches, Woodley served as pastor of Eagle Valley Church in Carson City, Nev., which was for many years a unique role model as an authentic Native American congregation.

Woodley has authored Shalom and the Community of Creation: An Indigenous Vision (2012) and Living in Color: Embracing God’s Passion for Ethnic Diversity (2004).

In addition to teaching at George Fox Seminary, he directs its intercultural and indigenous studies program.

The energetic Carnival troupe began its two-city tour with 10 days in Harrisonburg, camping on ’s lawn while promoting “creation care” through performance, artwork and service both there and at EMU. Carnival de Resistance is a new venture, with artist-members from around the U.S. and Mexico, says member Sarah Thompson, who holds an MDiv from and is outreach coordinator for . Four main shows addressed themes of earth, air, fire and water.

At EMU’s Thomas Plaza in front of the Campus Center Wednesday, more than 100 experienced the air-themed show, titled “Out of the Whirlwind.” Featuring its creators, Jay Beck and Tevyn East as Raven and Dove, it began serendipitously as a full harvest moon emerged from clouds:

Addressing human neglect of earth

Dove (East), a wordless dancer in white robes, cradles an egg. Hatchling Raven (Beck) appears, clad in black rags. Raven’s first word is “death.” His narrative – angry, mournful, sometimes humorous – attacks humanity’s neglect of Earth:

“For the earth to stay alive, your way will have to die.”

Raven and Dove briefly dance on a biblical-type ark, but Dove gets confined to a cage. “We can scarcely fly in this soup of chemicals,” shouts Raven, who warns of angering Gaia, envisioned as the mother of Earth.

“The concepts were thought-provoking,” said ’08, an EMU staffer who brought a church youth group to the show.

At an earlier chapel service, the troupe led a Cherokee chant to “the great spirit,” along with the adaptation of a familiar spiritual’s words “When I die, hallelujah, by and by,” to “When we live, hallelujah, how we live.”

On the Carnival’s , inspiration is attributed to an array of influences, including First Nation and African earth-centered spirituality and activist theologians Ched Myers and William Stringfellow.

Resonating with students of sustainability

EMU biology professor observed that the Carnival “links oppressed people with the oppressed earth.” The radicalism, he said, may reach some who ignore conventional messages.

Troupe members visited Yoder’s classes all week. They have committed to making no purchases while touring, relying on kindnesses when needed. The Carnival is supported both by grants and hospitality.

EMU junior Chris Lehman, an environmental sustainability major, served as one of many sound-powering bikers and directed parking. Everett Brubaker, a classmate in the same major, participated as co-president of the campus . This major has been attracting increasing numbers of students, with 30 now in the program.

Junior Erin Rheinheimer, an environmental sustainability minor and Earthkeepers member, helped make sunflower signs for a parade and enjoyed a Carnival “skill-share show.”

Lehman, who enjoyed the air show most, is considering a career in conservation or wildlife biology. Brubaker, who especially liked the Carnival parade, hopes to work in advocacy.

Gifting a mural to Cedarwood

The second-floor mural in began with images by Carnival troupe member and nomadic painter Dimitri Kadiev. These were selected by art professor from his previous works, and the two worked collaboratively on shaping the overall result.

On part of the mural, between a laundry-room window and custodial closet door, a figure with outstretched arms smiles joyfully. A river seems to flow from the figure’s heart. Nearby, a quetzal (Guatemala’s national bird) displays its tail feathers.

Gusler and Kadiev started with a yellow background, which she notes, “glows through wherever there is open space.” Next, they filled in large shapes with solid colors – blue (river and shades of sky); green (landscape); purple (mountains).

Then, Gusler had all her students participate. At Kadiev’s suggestion, they created stenciled images of living things: an owl, poppy, hibiscus, egret and butterflies. Others subsequently dipped brushes in varying shades of green, instructed to “fill the shapes, and while you do, think about the earth.”

A passing student shows a spot to a companion, noting, “I did that shape.” Cedarwood resident director Micah Hurst points to the blue space his children, 4 and 8, helped paint.

Parading down Main Street

In Thursday’s Carnival parade, imaginatively retooled bicycles rolled alongside marchers from Harrisonburg’s North Main Street to Court Square. Motorists smiled at jugglers, banners, colorful costumes and percussionists with homemade instruments.

The local “Fossil Fuel Zombies,” wearing shredded black trash bags, called for burying fossil fuels with message-bearing signs, including “Oil, oil, watch Earth boil.”

“Are you really Jesus?” someone asked Kadiev, who had lettered the name atop his paint-splattered garb. “Only a stand-in,” Kadiev smiled.

The march ended with an hour-long “Power Down and Lift Up” rally at Court Square. Local groups represented by speakers included the for sustainability, the global-warming awareness movement, , , and .

Pastor Phil Kniss, who helped pedal the sound system, explained why his church installed 125 solar panels. When believers ask “Why worry about this world?” he responds, “Because God loves this world.”

At Trinity this weekend, the Carnival will offer children’s events and a “Water Show” before bicycling to Charlottesville for its final 2013 gig. Each day’s is posted on the Carnival’s website.

Concern over college affordability in the United States is nothing new. The inflation-adjusted average annual cost of tuition, room and board for the country’s colleges and universities has more than doubled over the past 30 years, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

While the cost of attendance has actually been increasing faster at public universities over the past decade, private institutions are in general still more expensive. The National Center for Education Statistics puts the average annual cost of tuition, room and board at private, not-for-profit American universities at $36,300 for the 2010-2011 academic year.

While the -affiliated colleges and universities aren’t quite that pricey, they’re not cheap either. According to online “sticker price” figures, the average full cost of attendance this year at the five colleges/universities is $33,714. (The full cost of a 90-credit hour M.Div. degree from the two Mennonite Church USA-affiliated seminaries is currently just over $41,000.)

Price or best fit?

“Higher education as a whole has had to defend its worth and value in today’s society,” says , director of retention at ��ݮ���� (EMU), Harrisonburg, Va. “We see more and more students making their choice based on price instead of what’s a best fit for them.”

When it comes to paying for an education, however, officials at Mennonite educational institutions note that scholarships and financial aid almost always mean that the actual cost of a student’s education will be less than the sticker price.

Dan Koop Liechty, director of admissions at , notes that cost and affordability decisions are best made after prospective students have applied, been admitted and received financial assistance packages. At this point, students can make decisions based on the bottom-line cost of their educations, which are often much more comparable to attending a public institution than it first appears.

Directly related to the price of higher education is the issue of student debt, which has also been increasing. According to the , 2011 graduates who borrowed to finance their educations finished with an average debt load of $26,600. In the aftermath of the Great Recession, some consider this an unreasonable burden to place on graduates entering an uncertain job market. Others characterize it as a reasonable investment—about the cost of a new Toyota Prius—that sets college graduates on the path to a much larger payoff.

College degree as an investment

“It’s not debt that you’re using to buy consumables and putting on a credit card with a 21-percent interest rate,” says Ron Headings, vice president for enrollment management and marketing at . “It’s buying you a college degree.”

Headings adds that with prior planning and hard work during college—to maintain academic scholarships as well as earn income—students and their families can find it “fairly easy to get out of Bluffton University debt-free.”

Cost and debt aside, getting a college degree clearly remains a smart financial investment for young adults. While estimates vary, many sources now place the average increase in earnings over a 40-year career at or near $1 million compared to workers without a college degree.

Furthermore, faculty, staff and alumni of the five colleges and universities say a degree from one isn’t just any garden-variety bachelor’s degree.

Engaged profs, small classes

“At a larger school, many of the foundational classes are taught by teaching assistants,” says Matthew Schmidt, a 1994 graduate of , North Newton, Kan. “At Bethel you have full professors teaching these same classes.”

Schmidt, who lives in Newton, Kan., and is interim director of a clinic providing health services to medically underserved populations, says the small class sizes at Bethel created an interactive environment ideal for collaborative learning.

Additionally, engaged faculty invested in students’ well-being and emphases on critical thinking and cross-cultural skills prepare them particularly well for the future.

Strong outcomes

Two of many indications are these:

• From 2006 to 2010, 91 percent of EMU graduates who applied to medical school were accepted, almost double the national acceptance rate of 46 percent.

• At Bethel, 95 percent of social work graduates pass their licensing exams on the first attempt, compared with a national pass rate of 78 percent.

“In a rapidly changing and highly specialized job market, a liberal arts college degree provides an essential foundation for the basic skills that are needed in a dynamic economic environment,” says John D. Roth, the author of Teaching that Transforms: Why Anabaptist-Mennonite Education Matters and a professor of history at Goshen College. “So education at Goshen College is ‘worth it’ for straightforward economic reasons alone.”

But the financial case for the value of a Mennonite college, university or seminary education only tells part of the story.

Education that transforms

Back on the financial aid page: “The key is to think of [education] in terms of value. While the cost of college may initially be a bit of a shock, step back, take a deep breath and think about the experiences and lifelong advantages a Hesston education provides.” This appeal to the value of a Mennonite education is an extremely important part of the argument.

“As Anabaptists, we are part of a tradition that measures worth in more than monetary terms,” says Rachel Swartzendruber Miller, vice president of admissions and financial aid at Hesston. “Mennonite colleges and universities not only offer course credits and degrees, we provide transformational opportunities for our students to fully discover themselves and their place in God’s mission in the world.”

Graduates of these schools frequently point to impossible-to-quantify personal growth as one of the most important parts of their educations there.

“Attending Goshen College was a seminal time in my development,” says Peter Eash-Scott, a 1999 graduate, now a stay-at-home dad in Newton “It probably is one of the most influential things that has informed who I am, what I value and who I strive to be.”

Shared, reinforced values

Spending four years in a learning environment surrounded by people who held similar values, Eash-Scott adds, provided “a safe place to explore my faith and challenge my understanding of God, myself and the faith community,” both in and out of the classroom.

Close, caring relationships between students and faculty often are another important aspect of an education at a Mennonite institution.

“The faculty and staff here are part of our community,” says Clark Oswald, associate director of admissions at Bethel. “We care for our neighbors. That’s something as Mennonites that we learn in church growing up, and at Bethel we do that. … There’s just kind of this underlying sense of ‘we’re in this together.’ ”

Michelle Roth-Cline, a 2000 graduate of EMU, called the mentoring role of faculty “absolutely invaluable.” Now a pediatric ethicist for the , Roth-Cline says her education at EMU prepared her for medical school as well as her classmates coming from Ivy League and other prestigious schools. At the same time, what she learned about building relationships has served her equally well.

Learning to care for people

“I learned more about how to care for other people at EMU than I did in medical school. Simply knowing how to care for other people in this way has opened all kinds of doors both personally and professionally that I never would have imagined possible when I was choosing a college,” Roth-Cline says.

Leah Roeschley, a 2011 graduate of Bluffton, says her education there set the stage for her own spiritual growth. The opportunity to explore Mennonite faith and spirituality, combined with “space to ask questions [and] space to access and receive counsel” allows students to “claim a faith that is truly their own,” she says.

“My Mennonite education was worth it because my college experience was bracketed with values that resonated with me,” says Roeschley, a registered dietitian in Bloomington, Ill. “Those values were in the background of everything I did at Bluffton. … I left not only fully equipped for the field of dietetics, but I also left with … a deeper understanding of who I was.”

A related role played by Mennonite higher education is the development of future church leaders and members.

Developing leaders

“There is strong and long-standing research that shows that students who graduate from a Mennonite college are far more likely to participate after college in a Mennonite congregation, our denominational service agencies and leadership positions in the denominational structures. Mennonite higher education is not only a great value for students, we are of great value to our denomination,” says Koop Liechty, the admissions director at Goshen.

, director of admissions at (EMS), says that study at a Mennonite seminary puts Anabaptist “theology, history, polity and biblical understandings” at the center of the curriculum. At a non-Mennonite school, she adds, these topics—key in the development of church leaders—would often be relegated to electives.

Ron Guengerich, a 1974 graduate of (AMBS), says his education gave him a lifelong love of scholarship and the church while bringing the Bible alive as “a challenging and transforming ‘word.’ ” Now the pastor of Silverwood Mennonite Church in Goshen, he says he left well prepared for work within the church and eager to continue advanced study of the Old Testament.

Given the relatively low pay offered to people entering church leadership and ministry positions, Amstutz says EMS is concerned with the growing cost of attendance and believes all levels of the denomination need to “find ways to help support students financially.”

There is also a converse question of worth to consider: What would be the price of not having strong educational institutions?

“It’s impossible to put a money value on effective and visionary leadership for the church,” says Sara Wenger Shenk, president of AMBS. “Most of us don’t get it that healthy communities thrive … because they have compassionate, competent and confident leaders.”

Building community

“Thank God for those who remember that the cost of ignorance and immaturity given full sway in local congregations is far greater than an investment in those who are ready to become masters of the craft,” she says.

According to those interviewed for this article, the sum of an educational experience at a Mennonite educational institution is greater than its individual parts, with academic growth and personal development building upon and informing each other.

“We feel very strongly about our value and the high quality of education that we provide to our students,” says Good. His statement is echoed by his counterparts at other institutions. “At EMU, students receive an education in which they are challenged to move beyond their comfort zone, to think critically about the world around them, to strengthen their core values and beliefs and to be leaders and forces for change and justice in their communities.”

Courtesy The Mennonite, Jan. 1, 2013

A concentration in justice and peacebuilding will be available to master of divinity degree students at (BTSR) beginning this fall, in a collaborative effort a seminary spokesman said would help the school “live out” its core values.

The degree will be offered through a partnership between BTSR and the at ��ݮ���� in Harrisonburg,Va.

“This new emphasis helps BTSR live out values that have been inherent in our seminary from its founding,” said Israel Galindo, dean and professor of Christian formation and leadership. “It will expand the options for ministry in the world for our students.”

Galindo said requirements for the M.Div. degree will remain unchanged, but that the concentration “maintains the degree program goals while offering a more specific focus for ministry and study for students whose interest and ministry goals align with the concentration emphasis.”

BTSR offers similar M.Div. concentrations in areas such as youth and student ministries, Christian formation education and biblical interpretation.

Students in the program will engage the justice and peacebuilding components on the Harrisonburg campus during the center’s highly-regarded Summer Peacebuilding Institute.

“This is an added educational and formative contextualized learning experience where they will study justice and peacebuilding with about 200 persons from over 50 countries,” said Galindo.

The Center for Justice and Peacebuilding was one of the first university graduate divisions to offer master’s degrees in conflict resolution and peacebuilding. It draws on the heritage of , a 95-year-school with close ties to the , an Anabaptist denomination and one of the .

“The new [M.Div.] concentration, and the partnership with the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, offers a unique emphasis that meets current ethical and emergent global realities for ministry,” said Galindo. “Our faculty is excited to offer our students this opportunity.”

Sara Wenger Shenk, associate dean of Eastern Mennonite Seminary (EMS) in Harrisonburg, Va., has been named president of Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS), Elkhart, Ind.

Dr. Shenk, who is also associate professor of Christian practice at EMS, will begin her new assignment on or before Oct. 1, 2010. The AMBS board made the appointment at its Oct. 22-24 meetings in Elkhart.

Wenger Shenk has been a member of the faculty and administration of EMS since 1995. In addition to serving as associate dean, she is also associate professor of Christian practices.

University responds

“We are pleased that, once again, the Mennonite Church has recognized the gifts of a member of our EMU community and has called her to important leadership in the broader denomination,” said Fred Kniss, ��ݮ���� provost. “At the same time, we recognize this as a significant loss to EMU, especially to our seminary.

“Sara has worked with EMS dean Ervin R. Stutzman to provide skilled innovative leadership during a period of significant program growth,” Dr. Kniss said. “Her care and wisdom in relating to faculty and students will also help to make her an excellent president for AMBS,” he added.

“Although this is a major loss to the EMU community, it is obvious to me why Sara would have been on the AMBS search committee’s radar from the beginning,” said EMU President Loren Swartzendruber. “She is gifted and prepared to take on this significant role in the life of the church, and I have pledged my support in the transition and beyond. Please join me in congratulating her.”

As announced earlier, Wenger Shenk will serve as interim dean of Eastern Mennonite Seminary, Jan. 1 – June 30, 2010, before assuming her new role at AMBS. Ervin R. Stutzman, EMU vice president and EMS dean since 1998, will become executive secretary of Mennonite Church USA in early 2010.

Randall Jacobs, Goshen, Ind., chair of the presidential search committee and new chair of the AMBS board, said. “Wenger Shenk represents a unique combination of gifts and experiences, including teaching and administration in theological education, cross-cultural ministry, church planting, and writing for both scholarly and popular audiences. More importantly, she is grounded in Jesus, deeply respectful of the church and passionate about Anabaptist theological education.”

More about Sara Wenger Shenk

Wenger Shenk earned a BA degree from ��ݮ����, studied at Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, Calif.; completed an MA degree in 1986 at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, Evanston, Ill.; and received an EdD degree from Union Theological Seminary and Presbyterian School of Christian Education, Richmond, Va., in 1999. Her dissertation was titled, “Toward An Anabaptist Educational Theory.”

She has written a broad range articles, chapters and books, including “Thank You for Asking: Conversing with Young Adults about the Future Church” (Herald Press, 2005), “Anabaptist Ways of Knowing: A Conversation about Tradition-Based Critical Education” (Cascadia, 2003), Coming Home: A Thoughtful Resource for Fathers, Mothers, and the Rebirth of the Family (Good Books, 1992) and Why Not Celebrate! (Good Books, 1987).

Wenger Shenk has been a “Real Families” columnist for The Mennonite magazine and a contributor to Mennonite Quarterly Review, Leader Magazine, Vision and Sojourners.

Wenger Shenk believes that worship, our “primary theology,” sustains and grounds all aspects of theological education. One evidence of this is the leadership she and her spouse, N. Gerald Shenk, have given over the last three years to The Table, an emerging Mennonite congregation in Harrisonburg, Va. He is professor of church and society at EMS.

In addition, Wenger Shenk serves as the Virginia Mennonite Conference representative to the Constituency Leaders Council of Mennonite Church USA and has recently joined the MC-USA bi national worship council. From 1993-2001, she was member-at-large for the Faith and Life Commission of Virginia Mennonite Conference.

From 1977-1983 and again from 1986-1989, Gerald and Sara served on a study-service appointment with Eastern Mennonite Missions and Mennonite Central Committee in the former Yugoslavia. While there, she studied Croatian language at the University of Zagreb.

As president, Wenger Shenk will join the AMBS administrative cabinet. Dr. George R. Brunk III currently is serving as interim president and will continue until Wenger Shenk begins her new role. J. Nelson Kraybill was AMBS president from 1997 through July 2009.

AMBS is a seminary of Mennonite Church Canada and Mennonite Church USA.

Trivia test: Who is famous in Japan, lives in a rural Virginia city, teaches at a small Christian university and had never visited Japan before this summer?

Until a few weeks ago, Howard Zehr would have said, “I have no idea.”

National Coverage

Dr. Zehr, co-director of the at ��ݮ����, made his first trip to Japan this summer and was amazed to find himself facing crowded lecture rooms almost every day for two weeks. He also received coverage from the two leading national newspapers and the three weekly Christian newspapers. The resulting articles reached the hands of more than 10 million people.

“My stuff is being used in Japan a lot more than I knew,” Zehr said in an understatement that is typical of his style of speaking.

Japan

A rising senior at ��ݮ���� was among 70 students nationwide named an "Undergraduate Fellow" by the Fund for Theological Education (FTE).

Rebekah A. Good, a and major from Manheim, Pa., received the award, which is aimed at encouraging gifted students to explore vocations in church ministry.

Each Undergraduate Fellow received a $1,500 stipend for tuition and living expenses to attend the 2005 FTE Conference on Excellence in Ministry, "Ministry for the Common Good," held June 15-19, 2005 at Eden Theological Seminary in St. Louis, Mo. Fellows are also eligible for an additional $500 award to fund a mentoring relationship.

Ms. Good, a 2003 graduate of Eastern Mennonite High School, is the daughter of Clair and Beth Good and a member of Bossler Mennonite Church, Elizabethtown, Pa.

The FTE has awarded $1.2 million in fellowships and other support this year. To qualify as an Undergraduate Fellow, a student must hold at least a 3.0 cumulative grade point average, demonstrate leadership gifts and be a junior or senior at an accredited college or university.

The Fund for Theological Education is a leading national advocate for excellence and diversity in Christian ministry. Its work supports the next generation of pastoral leaders, providing fellowships and a network of support to encourage high-quality candidates to explore vocations in ministry and teaching.

Since 1954, the Atlanta-based organization has awarded more than 5,600 fellowships in partnership with others committed to the future of quality leadership for the church. More information is available at .

At the seminary’s 56th annual commencement held Apr. 30 in EMU’s Lehman
Auditorium, the speaker told the graduates that ‘power isn’t something we
have a right to but is entrusted to us by God. It can easily be usurped.’

J. Nelson Kraybill, president of Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary,
Elkhart, Ind., will give the commencement address during the ceremonies.

EMS dean Ervin R. Stutzman will preside and confer degrees or certificates
on the 28 members of the seminary class of 2005. The seminary will award
19 master of divinity degrees, one master of arts in religion degree and
three master of arts in church leadership degrees. Five persons will
receive the certificate in ministry studies.

Volunteers bring soup and bread to the seminary to share with the community. The community gathers in the area outside Martin Chapel to eat and enjoy each other

A veteran urban mission worker will present the annual Augsburger Lecture Series Monday and Tuesday, Feb. 14-15, at ��ݮ����.

Mary Thiessen Nation, currently of Harrisonburg, will speak and lead discussion on her journey from a Canadian farming community to years spent in a violent neighborhood in Los Angeles, Calif., and then to London, England and finally to Harrisonburg.

She will share discoveries about authentic biblical and communal hope gleaned with the help of her inner-city friends in presentations 10 a.m. Monday, Feb. 14 in Lehman Auditorium, 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 15 in Martin Chapel of the seminary building and in a lecture-forum setting 7 p.m. that day, also in Martin Chapel.

Dr. Thiessen Nation, the third oldest of 10 children, grew up on a farm in Southern Alberta, the daughter of Russian immigrants. After graduating from high school, she attended a Mennonite Brethren Bible College in British Columbia for two years, followed by a year in the Netherlands in an exchange program sponsored by Mennonite Central Committee. She received her teaching credential at Tabor College in Kansas, volunteering in inner-city mission on weekends during her final year in college.

Upon graduation, Thiessen Nation moved to Los Angeles, Calif., to serve with World Impact, an interdenominational Christian mission organization. She lived and served in the inner city for 18 years.

She completed a masters degree in Intercultural Studies in 1993, a masters in theology in 1994 and a Ph.D. in 2004, both from the School of Intercultural Studies at Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, Calif. Her dissertation was, "Realizing Hope in the Midst of Despair: Narratives of an Urban Mission Community."

She married Mark Nation, a Mennonite theologian and ethicist at Fuller Seminary, in 1995. The couple moved to London, England with Mennonite Mission Network in 1996 where Mary served as a consultant on urban mission and spirituality at the London Mennonite Centre. Her spouse is now an associate professor of theology at Eastern Mennonite Seminary.

Thiessen Nation has served as an adjunct professor in urban mission and spirituality at three Mennonite seminaries and at Fuller Seminary. After completing her dissertation, she hopes to mentor/partner with urban missionaries, particularly those who serve among people who have experienced trauma. She will seek opportunities to write, speak and teach about what she learned through her experience in mission and through her study of hope and despair.

Admission to all presentations is free.

The Augsburger Lectureship was established by EMU president emeritus Myron S. Augsburger and his wife Esther to bring noted speakers to campus to address topics in the areas of Christian mission and evangelism.

For more information, call the office at 540-432-4342.

A new research project that Eastern Mennonite Seminary professor Lawrence M. Yoder is undertaking should provide some answers.

As part of that research, Dr. Yoder, professor of missiology at EMS, will conduct a study of "pastoral habits" in an attempt to identify the factors that make some pastors "excellent."

Yoder and a yet unidentified research partner will seek to learn from 25 pastors who have been identified by their conference ministers and the office of Congregational and Ministerial Leadership of Mennonite Church USA as fruitful and effective leaders. Then, using a model created to identify skills and habits needed for church planting, Yoder will begin a series of in-depth interviews.

"The idea is that you talk to a person and you ask them to describe what they do in all different aspects of their work," said Yoder, "not to give you their theory, but to describe what they do from day to day, from week to week, over the range of their ministry.

"We will approach all the interviews in the same way. We will ask the pastors to tell us what they give their time and energy to," said Yoder. "We will get them to tell stories, so that for each person we end up with what we could call a ‘thick description’ of their ministry."

This information will then be compiled and Yoder and his colleague will use it to develop a profile of excellent Mennonite pastoral leadership.

"Our Mennonite seminaries will then review the information and decide if there are gaps in their programs, consider what happens in seminary education and discern to what degree seminaries form, teach and train people in the skills and habits that have been identified as necessary for excellent pastors," Yoder noted.

Through a cycle of colloquies and other exchanges, professors and pastors will create a feedback loop that strengthens the effectiveness of both groups.

Yoder’s research, part of a $1.6 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. awarded to Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary of Elkhart, Ind., has practical implications for both teaching organizations and individual pastors and other church leaders.

"We owe our congratulations to Lawrence for his leadership in designing a piece of the research," said Eastern Mennonite Seminary Dean Ervin R. Stutzman. "This project will help us unlock the secrets of pastoral excellence for seminaries, students and pastors themselves, and in the process help EMS become even more effective in training church leaders."