“Bones, Tombs, and Queer Kinship: Grief as Praise for What We Love” – Annabeth Roeschley, Exec. Dir. for Brethren Mennonite Council for LGBT Interests, will look at grief, healing, repair and unexpected life through a queer, trauma-informed reading of Ezekiel 37:1-10, John 11:1-53.

Homeward Bound: A Safe Space Chapel

Gather with leaders and friends of  for a chapel focused on welcome and genuine hospitality. Luke 14:7-14

is an award-winning journalist, radio producer and co-founder of One Book, One Church. She is the author of Rescuing Jesus: How People of Color, Women and Queer Christians are Reclaiming Evangelicalism. Her book reporting has taken her to secret societies of LGBT Christians within conservative enclaves, social justice Christian communes and many other corners of the subculture, where she explores the intersection of evangelical faith with race, gender, sexuality and progressive politics.

She writes about a variety of subjects, including religion, international human rights, health, travel, personal finance and much more. Her stories have been published by Slate, The Atlantic, Foreign Policy, New York, Reuters, GOOD, SELF, Hemispheres, WBEZ and WNYC, among others. She was previously a staff reporter at The Associated Press.

Her series about migrant workers in China, written with reporting partner Sushma Subramanian, was a finalist for the 2012 Livingston Awards. The story, about the 58 million children left behind in China’s countryside without their parents due to restrictive national policies, follows one mother’s journey from the heart of China’s industrial boom back to her village, as she tries to reunite her broken family. The pair also produced a radio documentary which explores the world of China’s “bachelor villages,” or areas overrun with aging bachelors whose bleak marriage prospects are a direct result of the country’s gender imbalance. That documentary won the 2012 Newswomen’s Club of New York Front Page award for radio feature.

Deborah has taught news reporting and magazine writing as a professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York City. She previously taught intro to journalism to undergraduate students at Manhattanville College in Purchase, NY.

Phil Kanagy,
“Invitation to Hope: Pastoral Leadership in Anxious Times”

Students in the seminary’s  program complete Capstone Integration Projects across the two semesters of their senior year. During the fall semester, they negotiate with the professors in the Formation in Missional Leadership class the design of their projects. They then complete their projects in the spring, producing a final paper and making a public presentation.

Rev. Meredith McNabb, Director of Clergy Excellence, Board of Ordained Ministries, Virginia United Methodist Conference, United Methodist Church.

“Wrestling Up” ( )

This is the first of two special Eastern Mennonite Seminary chapel presentations to help us discern our way through complexities related to denominational divisions rooted in different understandings of LGBTQ relationships.

Meredith McNabb is Director of Clergy Excellence, Board of Ordained Ministries, Virginia United Methodist Conference, United Methodist Church.

Clyde Kratz, the April 5 presenter, is Conference Minister, Virginia Mennonite Conference, Mennonite Church USA. He spoke on “”

Neither presenter has been asked or agreed to provide all answers! Rather, both take into account that their national denominational assemblies have had or will be having difficult conversations amid sharp disagreements. Each reflects on what they have learned or implemented in their denominational leadership roles that may offer insights for the rest of us.