In her new role, Gerber will provide resources for and facilitate connections between youth and young adult groups and ministries across the church. She will partner with the youth ministry council, and Mennonite Church USA Convention Planning staff in working on churchwide priorities such as Christian formation and leadership development.

“In her many experiences of working for the church, Rachel has developed a positive track record in collaborating to bring about results with youth around faith formation,” says Terry Shue, director of leadership development for Mennonite Church USA. “Her skill set and passion for Christian formation fit right in with the [Christian formation] priority.”

Gerber has a bachelor of arts degree in education from Goshen (Ind.) College and a from EMS. From 2000-01, following her college graduation, she served as interim minister of youth and young adults at . From 2005-08, she was minister of faith formation at , where she was ordained by .

Gerber has also served as summer program director at Amigo Centre, Sturgis, Mich.; a youth and young adult consultant at , Waynesboro, Va.; worship planner/leader for the Mennonite convention at San José in 2007; and a youth curriculum writer for ’s ’Gather Round Sunday School curriculum. Recently she finished her first book, Ordinary Miracles, a memoir on the ministry of parenthood to be published through Herald Press in the spring of 2014.

She is married to Shawn Gerber, and they have three children. After living in Charlottesville, Va., for several years, the family relocated to Bloomington in August. In Virginia, the Gerbers attended ; currently they are part of the .

“I feel incredibly humbled to be able to serve the church in this capacity as denominational minister of youth and young adults,” says Gerber. “This position seems to be a beautiful culmination of my previous experiences and education. I look forward to collaborating with other leaders as we together discern the Spirit’s call for the future of youth/young adults in this unique time in history.”

Cedric Roth, a member of both the youth ministry council and the search committee for the position, affirms the energy, creativity and passion for faith formation and worship that Gerber brings.

“She has a wide range of skills and excels in communications and worship planning,” he said.

Courtesy Mennonite Church USA Communications,

Sunny skies prevailed and temperatures topped out at 85 degrees by the height of the sale early Saturday afternoon. Activities began Friday evening, Oct. 4, at the with nearly 1,000 volunteers giving of their time, talents and toil.

This year’s sale netted about $303,456 for the worldwide relief and service program of the . Last year’s effort raised a record $307,000.

Declared a huge success

“It was a great day and a huge success, thanks to the volunteers and persons who came to spend their money to support the work of MCC,” said Dave Rush of Harrisonburg, relief sale chair.

“We expect that once all reports are finalized that more funds will be forwarded to MCC than last year, as some of our operating expenses were down and we received some additional sponsor money this year,” he added.

The money raised included $25,404 – down slightly from last year’s $30,737 – from the annual “Penny Power” project, in which area congregations, schools, homes and businesses collect coins and currency in large water jugs for weeks and bring their containers to the sale for sorting and tabulating done by employees of .

in Harrisonburg headed the list of 37 participating congregations with $3,057.76, followed by with $2,262.91 and , Lyndhurst, with $1,761.57.

The final Penny Power total is expected to be higher with some matching funds and other gifts expected to come in, according to Rush.

Penny Power funds will be divided equally between Mennonite Central Committee and . The money will assist partner organizations in numerous places around the world that are helping to meet the needs of thousands of displaced people, supporting work in places like Ecuador, Haiti, Indonesia, Jordan and Thailand.

$5,000 more raised by auction of handcrafted items

The annual auction of handmade quilts, wall hangings, knotted comforters and afghans, artwork and wooden handcrafted items accounted for $117,603 of the total funds raised, up more than $5,000 over last year.

The highest bid item at the auction was a “Lincoln’s Platform” wall hanging, appliqued and pieced by Carolyn Bontrager of Harrisonburg and quilted by Charlotte Swope of Linville that went for $4,500.

A 90” x 108” off-white feathers and star quilt completed by 94-year-old Anna May Burkholder of Waynesboro took the highest quilt bid of $4,000. Burkholder has made a quilt every year except one since the sale began in 1967; this was her last. Sixteen quilts went for $1,000 or more.

A Shaker-style slant top walnut writing desk on frame, made of walnut with oiled finish by Norman Lambert of North Carolina, was sold for $3,500.

The homemade glazed donut operation got under way at 3 a.m. Saturday, with 14,500 of the confectionary delights sold out by half past noon.

Other popular food items included 180 gallons of Brunswick stew made on the premises by members of and Mountain View Mennonite churches in Augusta County, 3,500 barbecued chicken halves, chili, Laotian and Indian dishes, chicken corn soup, homemade potato chips, caramel popcorn, apple butter and fresh cider.

“We had a great Friday evening, followed by a beautiful, although very warm, Saturday,” Rush said. “I saw a lot of people having a fun time together. It was a great experience in community-building.”

And that’s what gives relief sale chairman Dave a major rush.

Nearly 800 congregations, schools, and groups in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., have declared that they are holding an . Sixty-five of these communions will be in Virginia. The Virginia list includes Baptist, Episcopal, Methodist, and Mennonite churches, including these in the Harrisonburg area: Community Mennonite, Lindale Mennonite, Park View Mennonite, Weavers Mennonite, and Zion Mennonite.

Election day chapel and communion on campus

At EMU there will be an election-day chapel on Nov. 6 at 11 a.m. in Martin Chapel of the seminary building, with an election-day communion in the evening at 6:30 p.m. in the same location. Brian Gumm, distance learning tech analyst at EMU, has posted to his Restorative Theory blog.

Mark Schloneger, Kevin Gasser and Ben Irwin, EDC’s organizers, set a target of having 100 participating groups represented from all 50 states. Among the participants are ˛ÝÝ®ÉçÇř (EMU) and its .

Building unity out of diversity

Schloneger is a 2005 MDiv alumnus of Eastern Mennonite Seminary and pastor at in Goshen, Ind. Four years ago, Schloneger led a communion service on Election Day at in Waynesboro, Va. The church’s youth group created signs such as “Change You Can Believe In” and “Put the Kingdom First.”

“The purpose of Election Day Communion is to build our unity in and allegiance to Christ in the midst of theological, political, and denominational differences,” says Schloneger. “Some people misunderstand this campaign by thinking it is a statement that we need to keep politics out of the church so that we can focus instead on what’s really important, but that’s not how I think about it.

“Politics belongs in the Church because we are to place all things – all things –under the Lordship of Jesus. Of course, when we do that, our political passions and practices will look very different.”

Schloneger’s alternative vision is for “spaces all over the country” where people can come and declare their faith and allegiance to Christ over that of their diverse political beliefs. The leaders stress, however, that the movement is not meant to encourage abstinence from voting or to discourage political involvement.

‘We as the church, the body of Christ, are called to work together’

“The idea for Election Day Communion came from a sense that American politics have become too divisive, particularly within the church,” states Kevin Gasser, a 2008 Eastern Mennonite Seminary grad and pastor of the . The third movement leader, Ben Irwin, is an Episcopalian writer in Grand Rapids, Mich.

“The Bible is full of teachings and examples of how we as the church, the body of Christ, are called to work together, in spite of our differences, for the Kingdom that Jesus came proclaiming and inviting others to participate in,” says Gasser. In this way, EDC is reaching for ways to bridge the human-made chasms created by politics.

“I think it’s very scary to mix the church with politics, because depending on which side you’re on, it alienates other people in the church,” said , professor of at EMU. She is a long-time voter and chair of a legislative group representing nurses. She has canvassed for political candidates, including for her husband (a member of the Harrisonburg City Council).

Wiens hopes that Election Day Communion will not replace responsible voting, even though she was raised in a “plain” Mennonite community where everyone was expected to steer clear of politics up to and including not voting. She believes both religious and civic duties are important; however, Wiens has some discomfort when the two are combined in a communion. Furthermore, she believes that the election process is by nature competitive and secular, while communion is a sacred commemoration of the life of Christ.

Weins says she came to understand the importance of government – and thus the importance of choosing who guides the government – when she did some time with in Harlan County, Kentucky, where husband David Wiens, also a Mennonite, worked with those who had substandard housing. It was there the couple saw and experienced overwhelming poverty and the needs of a community.

Previously, David was employed in Reading, Pa., in child protective services. “Most of the aid for children was either county, state, or federal aid… that’s who takes care of those people,” she says. “I am in health care, and I don’t know what we’d do without Medicare and Medicaid.” No non-profit or church alone can meet the overwhelming needs of impoverished peoples, she adds.

Phil Kniss ’92, MDiv ’95, fully supports the EDC’s campaign as pastor of in Harrisonburg, Va., for the last 16 years. “What I really appreciate about the Election Day Communion is that the emphasis is on the communion, on the Eucharist, on that very tangible symbol of Christ’s broken body and blood. That really in a very symbolic way represents the central reality that we gather around as a church. I can’t think of anything better to do.”

Kniss believes that the church represents the political spectrum of the United States; however, despite having people arrayed from one end of the spectrum to the other, the church is still a community of people with ideals shaped by faith and the example that Christ gave of how to relate to one another and how power is used.

With that in mind, Kniss wants to discourage the division caused by political tension, and keep in mind the idea of allegiance and holding up loyalty to the kingdom.

“While these other issues that affect the country are important, what’s most important is that we’ve positioned ourselves properly towards Christ the King.” Celebrating communion is how Kniss believes Christians can redirect their loyalties to Christ as the purest example of a political entity, whose sacrificial love and reconciliation blankets the agendas and transcends political platforms.

“Politics are not an excuse for us to stop following Jesus and loving others,” Gasser says. “Instead, I hope we can use this opportunity to be a witness to others of a better way, a better kingdom, and a better King.”

More information

Eastern Mennonite Seminary will host an election day chapel on . The election day communion will take place at , hosted by .

As part of EMU’s visiting pastor program, Schloneger has the opportunity to attend both undergraduate and seminary classes, chapel services and share his call to ministry.

Schloneger is pastor of Springdale Mennonite Church in Waynesboro, Va.

For more information contact church relations at 540-432-4589 or email church relations@emu.edu.

A 1985 graduate of EMU has returned to his alma mater as the new director of alumni-parent relations.

Douglas J. Nyce, most recently of Lancaster, Pa., succeeds Janet M. Stutzman, who resigned after serving 13 years in that role.

Nyce will work with EMU’s 14,000 alumni and with EMU Parent Relations, an advisory group, to promote Christian higher education. He will also plan fall homecoming weekend and regional alumni events and work with alumni support groups.

For the past 10 years, Nyce was director of the historic Hans Herr House and Museum in Lancaster County, where he directed overall operations, managed a host of volunteers, handled fund-raising and promotion and carried out special events.

Before that, he was associate/youth pastor seven years at Springdale Mennonite Church, Waynesboro, Va.

In addition to study at EMU, the Grantham, Pa., native took classes at James Madison University, Blue Ridge Community College and the Harrisburg (PA) campus of Penn State University.

He served as youth baseball and basketball coach several years in the Conestoga Valley Little League. He attended James Street Mennonite Church, Lancaster, where he was involved in Christian education responsibilites.

Nyce is married to Dawn Mumaw Nyce, also a 1985 EMU graduate. The couple has three children – Travis, 15; Krista, 12; and Daniel, 8.