The conference, “Thriving in Ministry: Family Systems Theory as a Resource for Faith Communities,” was hosted by the seminary in partnership with The Bowen Center for the Study of the Family and supported by the Lilly Endowment Inc. and the Joe Carolin Memorial Fund.

Throughout the conference, participants explored family systems theory as a resource for understanding and strengthening relationships and congregational life. Ordained and lay leaders, along with others interested in family systems thinking, considered how Bowen theory and differentiation of self, along with their faith traditions, could guide reflection and cultivate thriving in ministry.

Keynote speakers Rev. Dr. Robert Creech and Dr. Dan Papero presented from their expertise in the fields of practical theology and psychotherapy, respectively. Over the two days of the conference, Dr. Creech shared keynote addresses about the intersection of language between systems thinking and Christian theology, as well as how the practice of differentiation of self enhances pastoral care. Dr. Papero spoke about the most recent neuroscientific research regarding the impact of stress on brain functioning. Both contributed to panel discussions with other presenters.  

Conference keynote speaker Dr. Dan Papero (left) has been a faculty member of The Bowen Center since 1982. He has written numerous articles and book chapters on various aspects of family systems theory and family psychotherapy. The Rev. Dr. Robert Creech (right), a former pastor and faculty member of Baylor University’s George W. Truett Theological Seminary, is the author of “Family Systems and Congregational Life” (2019) and co-author of “The Leader’s Journey” (2020), both with Baker Academic.  

Workshops and presentations included discussions on preaching, biblical studies, parenting, and tools to help participants thrive in ministry and daily life.

Among the goals of the Thriving in Ministry conference were to help participants:

• grow in their capacity to differentiate self through an increased understanding of the science of human relationships in families and congregations
• apply family systems theory to the work of faith leaders in pastoral care, preaching, youth work, religious education, and other ministry settings
• explore practical applications, including family diagrams, triangles, and other ways of shifting from an individual to a systems perspective

Other guest presenters included Chaplain Penny Driediger, the Rev. Melanie Lewis, Pastor Lana Miller, Janis Norton, the Rev. Dr. Emlyn A. Ott, the Rev. William Pyle, and the Rev. Chet Yoder. Faculty presenters included Dr. Kenton T. Derstine, Kathleen Cotter Cauley, the Rev. Randall Frost, Dr. Barbara Laymon, the Rev. Jennifer Long, and Amie Post.

For more information about the conference, visit .

The service was co-sponsored by Eastern Mennonite Seminary and led by graduate students Makinto and Mukarabe Makinto-Inandava. It included musical selections from Makinto, as well as the 91����Ƶ Gospel Choir led by Kay Pettus ’25, and biblical readings from Mukarabe.

Reflections on Easter were shared by English Professor Dr. Kevin Seidel, who teaches and writes about the changing relationship between religion, secularism, and literature. His message, titled “Women Explain Things to Me: A Sermon on Luke 24,” focused not so much on Jesus’ bodily resurrection from the dead but on the “slow, difficult coming to terms with the significance of the resurrection by Jesus’ followers as portrayed in Luke 24.”

“In Luke, the resurrection of Jesus isn’t a simple, triumphant end of the story, but a kind of difficult beginning that unfolds in the Book of Acts,” Seidel said. “The resurrection doesn’t settle debate among Jesus’ followers about who he is. The resurrection proves, I think, profoundly unsettling for them.”

After the service, Seidel said he was glad for the chance to reflect on parts of the resurrection story in Luke 24. “The service was a good way to mark and celebrate the beginning of the seven-week Easter season in the church calendar,” he said.

University Chaplain Brian Martin Burkholder said Wednesday’s Easter celebration follows 91����Ƶ’s practice of honoring and observing significant Christian traditions and holidays, including Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

“This morning, as we gathered, there was an opportunity for education about Easter,” he said, “as well as an invitation to worship in the spirit of Easter through Scripture, singing, and reflection.”

Makinto, a frequent worship leader at chapel events, performed Jesus Is Risen, an original song he wrote in 2013, as the opening song for this year’s Easter worship service. The song tells the Easter story and connects it to our own lives, he said. 

“So, as he is risen, we as well can rise above all the challenges we have, above the pains we have, above the solitude we have, and also conquer death and situate ourselves squarely in life with our community around us,” Makinto said.

Makinto and his wife, Mukarabe, moved from California to pursue degrees at Eastern Mennonite Seminary and the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, respectively. They are the directors of , an organization that connects people at the local and global levels for the purpose of development, unification, and spiritual and physical well-being.

University Chaplain Brian Martin Burkholder speaks during a campus worship service on Wednesday in Martin Chapel.

Mukarabe Makinto-Inandava reads a selection from Luke 24 (left). Members of the 91����Ƶ Gospel Choir (right) sing during Wednesday’s campus worship service.

91����Ƶ Campus Worship

Campus Worship is an invitational space for gathered worship in Christian traditions and a variety of styles. Services are held in Martin Chapel of the Seminary Building on Wednesday mornings every other week.��

Campus worship continues with a final service of the academic year on April 22 recognizing 91����Ƶ’s senior student chaplains: Emily Suarez Nunez, Dia Mekonnen, Sara Kennel, and Miranda Beidler. The event will be livestreamed on .

Watch a video recording of the service below!

Those faculty members are:

• Dr. Katherine Evans: Jesse T. Byler Endowed Chair in Education
• Dr. James Leaman: Longacre Endowed Chair in Business and Leadership
• Dr. Peter Dula: Myron S. Augsburger Endowed Chair of Theology
• Dr. James Yoder: Daniel B. Suter Endowed Chair of Science

Dr. Tynisha Willingham, provost and vice president of academic affairs for 91����Ƶ, said these faculty members were chosen as endowed chairs because of their demonstrated leadership, service, teaching, and research, as well as their capacity to be champions of their programs at 91����Ƶ. 

“Endowed chairs are a critical component of 91����Ƶ’s academic vitality,” she said. “Our goal is to elevate the recognition of our faculty who hold this honor and to celebrate the donors whose generosity helps to support academic excellence in this way.”

The endowed chair positions provide funding for each faculty position within a particular discipline, along with scholarships for students in the discipline and funds for program initiatives. Chairs receive professional development funds to support their research and scholarship. An endowed chair appointment is one of the highest honors a faculty member can receive at 91����Ƶ, supporting their continued excellence in scholarship and teaching, said the Rev. Dr. Sarah Ann Bixler, dean of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences.

Keep reading for bios of each professor.

Dr. Katherine Evans

Professor of Teacher Education and director of the Undergraduate Teacher Education program
Jesse T. Byler Endowed Chair in Education

Kathy Evans is a professor of Teacher Education at 91����Ƶ, teaching courses in educational psychology, special education, and restorative justice in education. She earned her PhD from the University of Tennessee in educational psychology and research. Her research, teaching, and scholarship focus on ways in which educators participate in creating more just and equitable educational opportunities for all students, including those with disability labels, those who exhibit challenging behavior, and those who are marginalized for a variety of reasons, including race, ethnicity, language, religion, sexual orientation, and gender identity. 

During her 15 years at 91����Ƶ, Evans has helped develop 91����Ƶ’s graduate program in Restorative Justice in Education (RJE), which supports educators as they create learning environments that promote relational approaches to teaching and learning, justice and equity in schools and classrooms, and transformational approaches to conflict and harm. She is the co-author of The Little Book of Restorative Justice in Education and has published several articles and book chapters related to restorative justice in education, school culture and climate, and school discipline practices, focusing on the ways in which restorative justice is applied to educational contexts.��

How do you feel to be granted this position?

It’s an honor to be appointed as the Jesse T. Byler Endowed Chair in Education. The Byler endowment has historically been such a gift to the Teacher Education Program at 91����Ƶ, providing support for pre-service teachers in the way of fee waivers for testing and licensure, conference registration for networking with other pre-service teachers, scholarships, and resources that support their success through their 91����Ƶ program. We are in a season of growth and expansion and I am grateful for the opportunities I will have in this position to support that growth, both in the recruitment of talented and dedicated teachers and in the ongoing professional development for our faculty. At this moment in time, we need teachers who are committed to justice and peacebuilding. Embedding restorative justice within our teacher education program at both the undergraduate and graduate levels opens up spaces to support educators who want to not only excel as educators, but to be educators who nurture the well-being of each student. The Byler endowment helps us to do that work better.

What do you love about 91����Ƶ?

This is my 15th year at 91����Ƶ and I am more hopeful about 91����Ƶ’s future today than I have been since I arrived. The commitment to peacebuilding and justice—even when we don’t fully live into that commitment—means that there is a unifying set of values that guide our collective work. I see our students, staff, and faculty working to honor those values and that mission. Our students are amazing and they remind me every day that the work of justice is ongoing, intergenerational, and worth it.

What is a fun fact about you?

When I’m not working, I might be fishing—bass fishing at Silver Lake or fly-fishing at Dry River. I find the water so peaceful.

Dr. James M. Leaman

Associate Professor of Business and director of the Business and Leadership program
Longacre Endowed Chair in Business and Leadership

Jim Leaman chairs the Business and Leadership Program, where he teaches undergraduate courses in management, finance, and economics, and graduate courses in organizational and leadership studies. His industry experience spans both private business and nonprofit administration, including 12 years of service with an international non-governmental organization (INGO) in Kenya. The 91����Ƶ alumnus has a PhD in Public and International Affairs from the University of Pittsburgh.

The perspective Leaman adds to his field is analyzing and teaching about the role and impact of business and organizations within ecological limits and dynamic social systems, resulting in an integrated lens of sustainability, stewardship and justice. Leaman researches and publishes in the areas of sustainable housing and energy, and his most recent scholarly work is a management textbook, with which he collaborated with an international team of authors to publish in the creative commons, resulting in lower resource costs for students. 

How do you feel to be granted this position?

It is an honor to hold the endowed chair position in business and to steward the gifts and vision of the Longacre family as the program serves and prepares the next generation of business leaders.

What do you love about 91����Ƶ?

The 91����Ƶ mission to prepare students to serve and lead in a global context becomes more relevant with each new innovation and global integration.

What is a fun fact about you?

In awe of the vastness and complexity of the universe, I’ve gained an avocational interest in learning as much as I can about the cosmos.

Dr. Peter Dula

Professor of Religion and Culture
Myron S. Augsburger Endowed Chair of Theology

Peter Dula is the professor of Religion and Culture at 91����Ƶ. The 91����Ƶ alumnus received a PhD from Duke University in theology and ethics in 2004. He is the author of Cavell, Companionship, and Christian Theology (Oxford, 2011). Before coming to 91����Ƶ in 2006, he was the Mennonite Central Committee Iraq Program Coordinator. He has taught at Lancaster Mennonite High School and at the Meserete Kristos College in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where he was a Fulbright scholar in 2001-02.

This is his 20th year at 91����Ƶ. He teaches primarily in the undergraduate program, as well as one class each year at the seminary and the Bioethics course in the MA in Biomedicine program. He is married to Ilse Ackerman and they have two children, Simon (17) and Nina (15). 

What do you love about 91����Ƶ?

Two things I love about 91����Ƶ are its smart and interesting faculty colleagues and its location in the Shenandoah Valley.

What is a fun fact about you? 

I planted 500 trees over the last couple of years. The latest Weather Vane issue has . Along with Trina Trotter Nussbaum at the Center for Interfaith Engagement, I organized last month’s consultation on Judaism, the Bible, and Anabaptism. The Weather Vane also has . 

Dr. James Yoder

Professor of Biology and director of the Natural Sciences programs
Daniel B. Suter Endowed Chair of Science

Jim Yoder is the chair of 91����Ƶ’s Department of Natural Sciences, advising environmental science and biology majors and teaching evolution, ecology, and conservation biology. A 1994 alumnus of 91����Ƶ, he earned his PhD from The Ohio State University, where he studied the effects of habitat fragmentation on ruffed grouse movements at large spatial scales. His research interests include conservation, landscape and behavioral ecology, animal movement, invasive species, stream restoration, nitrogen and carbon footprint tracking, and insect movement using harmonic radar. He has also led multiple intercultural programs to New Zealand, the Navajo Nation, and Washington D.C. (upcoming), as well as three research trips with undergraduates to Australia. In his free time, he enjoys cooking, traveling, and hiking with his wife Kathy. 

How do you feel to be granted this position?

I’m honored to be named the Suter Endowed Chair of Science and work to continue the level of scholarship and teaching Daniel Suter established in the natural sciences at 91����Ƶ. Coordinating the long-running Suter Science Seminar Series with a diverse array of speakers and increasing collaborative research among our science faculty and undergraduate students are two aspects of being Suter Chair that I’m most excited to focus on. 

What do you love about 91����Ƶ?

Wonderful colleagues, a diverse student body, and the beautiful Shenandoah Valley—it’s a great place to be a field biologist!

What is a fun fact about you?

My wife and I recently moved into a loft apartment in the heart of downtown Harrisonburg above . It keeps us young at heart!  And we are soon to be grandparents for the first time!

“She had a presence and an authority that made her quiet words deeply significant wherever she spoke them,” said Professor Emerita Dorothy Jean Weaver, who taught Miller at Eastern Mennonite Seminary (EMS) and worked alongside her on faculty for 19 years. “In her own way, she was a giant. She had a huge impact wherever she was, and certainly here at EMS.”

Miller served the seminary from 1991 to 2010 in roles including campus pastor and assistant professor of spiritual formation. She was committed to helping people discover their story within “God’s great story,” establishing EMS’ spiritual formation program, and founding training programs for spiritual directors within Mennonite Church USA and The United Methodist Church.

At EMS, she led the Summer Institute for Spiritual Formation and developed “Soul Space,” an online guide for scripture reading and prayer. Many of her lasting contributions, through the gifts she shared and the lives she touched, endure today.

In addition to her two decades on seminary faculty, she was an ordained minister in Mennonite Church USA’s Virginia Conference and was a leading author. Among her writings, Invitation to Presence: A Guide to Spiritual Disciplines (Upper Room Books, 1995) was translated into several languages. She maintained a private spiritual direction practice until entering hospice care last summer.

Formerly of Broadway, Virginia, Miller was living in West Chicago, Illinois, when she passed away on Oct. 8, 2025. She was 87. A memorial service celebrating her life, held on Dec. 6, can be viewed on YouTube . A full obituary is available at .

Her husband and partner in ministry of 65 years, the Rev. Edmond F. Miller, died in October 2024.

‘Her imprint remains’

Because of Miller’s “gentle and steady efforts” beginning when she joined the seminary faculty in 1991, said the Rev. Dr. Sarah Ann Bixler, dean of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, EMS centered spiritual formation in its curriculum “long before theological schools in general and Anabaptist schools in particular caught on to the importance of tending the inner life of ministerial leaders.”

“Today, hundreds of EMS graduates have been sustained in their ministerial vocations because of the ‘invitation to presence’ Rev. Miller modeled and extended to them,” wrote Bixler. “Her imprint remains on the EMS curriculum, and students today cite the contemplative attentiveness cultivated by EMS as a distinctive and transformative aspect of their theological education. They are more compassionate, discerning, and resilient because of Rev. Miller’s influence.”

Her influence also lives on in the touches and traditions that have become part of the fabric of the seminary.

As reported in a in the Daily News-Record, Miller was “the driving force behind getting the (prayer) labyrinth installed” on the 91����Ƶ Hill above the Seminary Building. Dedicated in 2007, the labyrinth offers a unique way to connect with God.

Visitors to the Seminary Building might be familiar with the rectangular wooden “free table” just outside the second floor kitchen. It displays food and other items that people can leave or take. “That was Wendy’s idea,” said Weaver. “That’s how tangible and simple her ideas could be. She had a deep heart for the collective community.”

Another contribution she made to the seminary was the awareness that its faculty retreats should be held away from campus, Weaver said. For several decades, those retreats were held at Camp Overlook, a nearby United Methodist camp and retreat center. “She was someone who looked around and dreamed of things that could be,” Weaver said.

‘She saw potential in (us)’

One of Miller’s first students in the spiritual formation program, the Rev. Dr. Kevin Clark MA ’96 (church leadership) was trained and trusted to lead the program when she retired in 2010. “She was my teacher, my professor, my mentor, my friend, my spiritual director, and my colleague, all wrapped up in one relationship,” said Clark, a former campus pastor and retired assistant professor of spiritual formation at EMS.

“Wendy had this wisdom and insight into others that was unique,” he said. “Part of it was just rooted in who she was, as someone who paid attention to how God’s spirit was at work within others, and offering and evoking that in her quiet, questioning way. I was always amazed at how she would be in a classroom, we’d be in conversation, and she would have these wonderful little pauses, then come back with a question that was profound for a student to begin to think about. It opened up the whole classroom to a deeper understanding and awareness of their own spirituality.”

Les Horning ’86, MDiv ’98, director of admissions for EMS from 2012-18, also had Miller as a professor. He described her as “one of the most formative presences” of his MDiv experience.

“She saw potential in folks and would find ways to let them know,” he said. “Suddenly, you realized, Oh, she’s seeing my heart. I think that was one of her gifts, helping people dig beneath the surface and find out who they were.”

Horning graduated from 91����Ƶ with bachelor’s degrees in biology and chemistry and worked as a research chemist for five years before feeling a call for ministry and enrolling at EMS. “For me to come to seminary was a huge change and Wendy was a key part of helping me see that it was a good and right thing,” said Horning, pastor at Stephens City Mennonite Church. “She was very good at pulling out folks’ unique contributions to the community and making people feel valued and accepted and wanted.”

Along with Clark and Horning, Weaver traveled on an overnight train to Chicago last month to attend the memorial service. She remembers Miller for her love of Winnie the Pooh, her delightful laugh, and whimsical sense of humor. 

“She was a blessed woman who shared blessing with everyone she came in contact with,” Weaver said. “I consider it a major gift of my life to have been a friend of hers.”

She grew up in England

The following is from an obituary printed in the :

Born in 1938 in Westham, England, Miller was a child in London during World War II and later lived in Eastbourne, East Sussex. She immigrated to the U.S. in 1959, settling in Chicago with her husband. They served as missionaries in Frankfurt, Germany, and pastored churches including Woodland (Basye) Mennonite, as well as across the Midwest and eastern U.S. Following retirement, they lived in Virginia, Texas, and North Carolina before returning to Illinois.

Rev. Miller earned a bachelor’s degree from Iowa Wesleyan University, a master’s degree in church leadership with a concentration in pastoral care and counseling from EMS, and a master of sacred theology in spiritual theology and spiritual direction from General Theological Seminary in New York City.

She leaves five children, Paul (David Selmer) of Maine, David (Julie) of Georgia, Mark (Wendy) of Kansas, Scott (Laura) of Illinois, and Heidi (Gary MacDonald) of Georgia; 14 grandchildren; six great-grandchildren, three brothers, and four sisters-in-law.

Seminary Extended is being funded through Lilly Endowment’s Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative. This initiative is designed to help theological schools across the United States and Canada as they prioritize and respond to the most pressing challenges they face as they prepare pastoral leaders for Christian congregations both now and into the future. The grant to Union Presbyterian Seminary, in support of the collaborative partnership with Eastern Mennonite Seminary and Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, is one of 45 approved in this competitive round of funding to support theological schools as they lead large-scale collaborations with other seminaries, colleges and universities, and other church-related organizations.��

Seminary Extended: Strengthening Pastoral Leadership will equip Union Presbyterian Seminary, Eastern Mennonite Seminary, and Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary to provide pastors and congregations with practical, grounded support for ministry in a changing world. Through a shared Doctor of Ministry (DMin) in Adaptive Leadership, pastors will study with faculty from all three schools, join short in-person learning intensives, receive coaching, and walk alongside peers as they learn to lead through change, conflict, and trauma. At the same time, congregations will engage in yearlong cohorts where each church’s pastor and a small team of lay leaders learn together, with mentors helping them grow in Bible study, community engagement, trauma-aware care, and planning for future ministry. The goal is to make strong, theologically rooted leadership development more accessible and useful to local churches across many Protestant traditions.

• “The generous grant from Lilly Endowment for Seminary Extended will significantly increase UPSem’s capacity to strengthen pastoral leadership within and for the Church, thus enhancing congregational life more broadly. Our ability to engage this work is powered by our strong partnership with 91����Ƶ and Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, each of which brings unique institutional gifts and expertise to our common mission of building up the Church. I am so excited to begin this journey of missional work with these terrific partners for the sake of the Church in the world that God loves so much,” said President Jacqueline E. Lapsley of Union Presbyterian Seminary.

• “This partnership is a powerful expression of what can happen when theological institutions lean into shared mission and imagination. With gratitude for Lilly Endowment, Seminary Extended: Strengthening Pastoral Leadership will allow our faculty, pastors, and congregations to learn alongside one another in ways that honor the realities of ministry today. This collaboration reflects our commitment to supporting leaders who can engage a complex and changing world with courage, compassion, and theological depth. This grant gives us the capacity to do that work together—stronger, more connected, and with greater impact,” said Dr. Tynisha Willingham, Provost at 91����Ƶ.

• “Partnerships like this strengthen our ability to be the Church in the world. By uniting and sharing resources for this congregationally focused project, our institutions are demonstrating the possibility of future collaborations between churches and seminaries across ecumenical and regional boundaries. I’m honored to participate in this project with such supportive partners at UPSem and 91����Ƶ,” said President Andrew D. Pomerville of Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary.

Lilly Endowment launched the Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative in 2021. Since then, it has provided grants totaling more than $700 million to support 163 theological schools in efforts to strengthen their own educational and financial capacities and to assist 61 schools in developing large-scale collaborative endeavors.

91����Ƶ Lilly Endowment Inc.
is a private philanthropic foundation created in 1937 by J.K. Lilly Sr. and his sons Eli and J.K. Jr. through gifts of stock in their pharmaceutical business, Eli Lilly and Company. While those gifts remain the financial bedrock of the Endowment, the Endowment is a separate entity from the company, with a distinct governing board, staff and location. In keeping with the founders’ wishes, the Endowment supports the causes of community development, education and religion and maintains a special commitment to its hometown, Indianapolis, and home state, Indiana. A principal aim of the Endowment’s religion grantmaking is to deepen and enrich the lives of Christians in the United States, primarily by seeking out and supporting efforts that enhance the vitality of congregations and strengthen the pastoral and lay leadership of Christian communities. The Endowment also seeks to improve public understanding of religion and lift up in fair, accurate and balanced ways the roles that people of all faiths and various religious communities play in the United States and around the globe.

91����Ƶ Union Presbyterian Seminary
Union Presbyterian Seminary is a community that is bound by the love of God, and united in bold Christian service for the church in the world. With campuses in Richmond, Virginia, and Charlotte, North Carolina, the seminary has prepared leaders for ministry since 1812 through rigorous theological education that is scholarly, pastoral, and engaged with contemporary life. Offering a range of degree programs, Union is home to distinguished faculty, a historic campus with one of the nation’s finest theological libraries, and a vibrant community of worship, service, and fellowship. Graduates serve as pastors, educators, chaplains, mission workers, and scholars, carrying forward the seminary’s long tradition of equipping leaders for the church and the world. Learn more at .

91����Ƶ Eastern Mennonite Seminary
Eastern Mennonite Seminary is the graduate theological school of 91����Ƶ, founded in 1917 in Harrisonburg, Virginia. As early as 1918, courses at the college level were offered in advanced biblical training, and seminary master’s programs emerged in the late 1960s. The seminary is accredited by the Association of Theological Schools and offers continuing education, certificates, and master’s and doctoral degrees. 91����Ƶ is a world-renowned center for the study of peace, justice, and religion and an educational institution of Mennonite Church USA, serving students of diverse religious and cultural backgrounds. 91����Ƶ confers undergraduate, graduate, and seminary degrees in the liberal arts, applied sciences, and professions. Learn more at .��

91����Ƶ Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary
Founded in 1853, Louisville Seminary offers an inclusive and diverse learning community, welcoming students from wide ecumenical backgrounds while maintaining its long, historic commitment to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A). Louisville Seminary is led by the Holy Spirit to educate people to proclaim the Gospel, to care for all, and to work for justice in communities everywhere. It is distinguished by its nationally recognized marriage and family therapy and field education programs, its black church studies program, the scholarship and church service among its faculty, and a commitment to training people to participate in the continuing ministry of Jesus Christ. For more information, visit .

The Rev. Dr. Almeda Wright, associate professor of religious education at Yale Divinity School and author of Teaching to Live: Black Religion, Activist-Educators, and Radical Social Change (Oxford University Press, 2024), will present at 91����Ƶ’s annual Augsburger Lecture Series on Monday, Oct. 27, in the MainStage Theater (University Commons 170). The lecture starts at 7 p.m. and will be followed by a reception.

Her lecture will explore the lives and pedagogical genius of 20th century African American educators. 

“We will wrestle with the ways that teachers are often underacknowledged as exemplars of faith and social change,” states a description of her lecture. “We will focus on the lives of Anna Julia Cooper and Septima Clark, who, like many other 20th century African American women teachers, embodied an unwavering faith in God, in their cause, in their students, and in themselves that pushed them to continue working for justice despite efforts to thwart them.”

Wright’s research focuses on African American religion, adolescent spiritual development, and the intersections of religion and public life. Prior to her arrival at Yale, she served for four years as assistant professor of religion and youth ministry at Pfeiffer University and, before that, was an adjunct faculty member and teaching assistant at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University. 

She is also the author of The Spiritual Lives of Young African Americans (Oxford, 2017) and the co-editor of Children, Youth, and Spirituality in a Troubling World.��

Wright is an ordained minister of the American Baptist Churches and has been on the ministerial staff of several churches, including Union Baptist Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Victory for the World United Church of Christ in Stone Mountain, Georgia. 

She holds a PhD from Emory University, an MDiv from Harvard Divinity School, an MA in teaching from Simmons College, and a bachelor of science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The Augsburger Lecture Series was founded in 1984 by Myron S. and Esther Augsburger to address “topics in the area of Christian evangelism and mission for the stimulation and development of a vision for evangelism and missions for the 91����Ƶ community.”

For more information, visit .

Join us for three days of learning, storytelling, and conversation with people who hold practical wisdom and whose theology leads them into everyday justice work. Participants will explore organizing as an Anabaptist-Mennonite expression of peacebuilding, wrestle with the theological questions it raises, and begin building ongoing connections among leaders in both movement and broad-based organizing. 

Daniel Hunter, co-founder of Choose Democracy, will present the keynote address at 7 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 12, in Martin Chapel. He has trained pro-democracy movements in Burma/Myanmar, Thailand, and India, and has more than three decades of activist training experience, according to a bio on his website. 

Most events will be held in the Seminary Building on the 91����Ƶ campus. For more information, including an event schedule and list of speakers, as well as registration, visit .

Registration is also available for virtual participation in the symposium’s keynote and plenary sessions.

The symposium planning committee consists of Andre Gingerich Stoner, Jessica Sarriot, Jonathan Smucker, Melissa Florer-Bixler, Jacob Alan Cook, Peter Dula, and Tim Seidel.

When Eastern Mennonite Seminary Professor David Evans set out to write his book about religious white progressives in the fight for Black freedom, he didn’t expect that his main thesis would flip by nearly 180 degrees.

“I thought I was going to be writing about white allies who could be exemplars for other white people in predominantly white institutions,” said Evans, professor of history and intercultural studies and associate dean of the seminary. “And then I stumbled onto some problems and thought, Maybe we should spend some time talking about where we’re going wrong.”

After seven years of research and writing, Damned Whiteness: How White Christian Allies Failed the Black Freedom Movement is just weeks away from publication. The book, published by The University of North Carolina Press and due out on Oct. 28, offers an unflinching history of white allies—namely Clarence Jordan, Dorothy Day, and Ralph Templin—and the fracturing relationships that followed when their strategies and philosophies didn’t align with Black leaders and communities.

“That’s what my book is trying to figure out: if both groups were willing to put in all this energy and risk their lives to end Jim Crow segregation, why couldn’t they work together?” Evans said. “I’m suggesting that part of it is a kind of arrogance, a haughtiness, that white folks believe they know better than Black people about what needs to be done.”

Damned Whiteness explores the work of three white allies: Jordan, founder of Koinonia Farm, an interracial Christian community in Americus, Georgia, and spiritual father of Habitat for Humanity; Day, co-founder of the Catholic Worker Movement; and Templin, a Christian missionary who studied nonviolence in Gandhi’s India. The 302-page book serves as both a warning and call to action, but also as a lament, reflecting on what went wrong and what could have been.

Rather than confronting the systems and economic structures that reinforced racial inequality, these white allies focused more narrowly on creating spaces to cultivate interracial friendships, Evans said. “Had they been able to come together with Black folks to really hear what they were saying, see what they were doing, and join in solidarity with them around freedom instead of just trying to be friends, I’m curious to see what could have happened.” 

Evans is set to present his book at George Mason University in November and has also been invited to appear on several podcasts to discuss it. 

Rev. Dr. Sarah Bixler, dean of the Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences division, said the book is expected to make a splash after its release. “This book represents the kind of critical historical scholarship that we value at 91����Ƶ,” she said. “Thanks to our expert faculty’s commitment to researching and writing with integrity, Dr. Evans’ book will drive important conversations in religion and society deeper, and open new opportunities for our students to engage with this level of work.”

91����Ƶ the professor

Evans is co-editor of Between the World of Ta-Nehisi Coates and Christianity (Cascade, 2018). His teaching and research focus on the braided identity categories of race, religion, and nation.

He holds a master’s degree from Wesley Theological Seminary, in the history of Christianity, a second master’s from Drew University in historical studies, and a doctorate degree in historical studies from Drew University Graduate Division of Religion. In concert with his teaching and scholarship, Evans practices a local “eco-lutionary” lifestyle that promotes a sustainable future for the diverse people of the Shenandoah Valley Watershed.

In addition to the publisher’s website, the book is available to preorder at online booksellers including , , and .

AS ONE OF THE LEAD ORGANIZERS FOR CONGREGATE CHARLOTTESVILLE, BRITTANY CAINE-CONLEY MDIV ’14 (aka “Smash”) called for 1,000 clergy and faith leaders of all denominations to counter-protest a gathering of white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017. Her efforts denied white supremacists key locations that would have made their Unite the Right rally more visible, and later that year, she was honored by the National Council of Churches as a co-recipient of the President’s Award for Excellence in Faithful Leadership.��

Caine-Conley believes in the importance of connecting Christian communities with radical activists, using her pastoral presence as a bridge to form meaningful relationships between the church and social justice movements. She has been selected by 91����Ƶ’s Alumni Association as the 2025 Outstanding Young Alum. The award is given annually to an alum who, through professional achievement and/or Christ-like compassionate service, is making a significant contribution to the local, national or global community. 

“I feel honored,” said Caine-Conley. “As a queer, Christian woman called to serve in the clergy, the space hasn’t always been welcoming. This award feels like an acknowledgement of my work and an affirmation for other queer folks who are serving the church and the kin-dom of God.”

The space between 

Caine-Conley learned to bridge the gap between communities at Eastern Mennonite Seminary (EMS), where she earned a master of divinity degree. Professor David Evans’ Christianity through the Eyes of the American Outsider course impacted her deeply. Reading from the texts of enslaved people, Jewish individuals and queer Christians, she was able to explore the experiences of marginalized groups within Christianity.��

In another course, Formation in God’s Story with Dawn Monger, Caine-Conley’s small group was challenged to think about life journeys and how they intersect with God’s story.��

“Our group considered how many loops, intersections, roadblocks, obstacles, and reversals we experience in our individual paths. The conversation led us to one word: mangled.” 

The “mangled” moment stuck with Caine-Conley, as did the seminary experiences of discussing theology over beers at Billy Jack’s and sitting on the campus lawn learning about peacemaking from people across the globe. 

Caine-Conley graduated from EMS in 2014, the same year she married her wife, Lindsay. The two met while working on the leadership team for RISE United Methodist Faith Community in Harrisonburg. 

“My love for ministry was significantly shaped by RISE and its pastor, Amanda Miller Garber. There, I learned to yearn for beloved community, and now I seek to co-create such community wherever I go.” 

Baptism by fire

In the summer of 2017, co-creating community in Charlottesville meant undergoing “baptism by fire.” 

“Everyone remembers that night on August 12, but there’s so much that came before it… prayer and worship meetings, late-night strategizing, direct action training on nonviolence, even active shooter training. It was a lot,” said Caine-Conley. 

Through it all, she was focused on building bridges between communities that didn’t want to interact with each other, between people—particularly white, progressive Christians—who had different ideas about what it meant to resist, from peacefully protesting to doing nothing. 

To build greater understanding between progressive groups who desired change, Caine-Conley organized educational seminars and anti-racism training. She wrote various post-rally articles, and Congregate Charlottesville received national press coverage. 

Vocation and community 

Caine-Conley is now bringing her experience to the classroom at Denver’s Iliff School of Theology where she is a PhD student in religious studies and adjunct instructor of Identity, Power, and Vocation in Community. A theme of the yearlong course is understanding how individuals are shaped by histories, structures, systems, practices, and memories. She aims to create a “disruptive,” yet caring, environment to help students become better ministers, leaders, and caregivers.��

“I am inspired every day by people who allow the spirit to shake their assumptions, trajectories, and long-held orientations,” said Caine-Conley. “It takes so much courage to allow the spirit to truly move us in new directions.” 

Caine-Conley will share her story at 91����Ƶ TenTalks, held on Saturday, Oct. 11, at 1:30 p.m. in Martin Chapel during Homecoming 2025. For a full schedule of Homecoming events and activities, visit emu.edu/homecoming.

Makinto has pretty much done it all. The Liberian-German musician, storyteller, educator, worship leader, Mennonite pastor, activist—honestly, there are too many descriptors for him to name here—has played piano for Pope John Paul II at the Vatican and for Nelson Mandela in Germany. He’s traveled the world extensively, performing at venues such as Madison Square Garden in New York, the Sydney Opera House in Australia, and for a crowd of 200,000 at Brazil’s largest soccer stadium. His humanitarian work in Africa and recognition as an international recording artist earned him the title of Goodwill Ambassador for Peace and Development for an of the United Nations.��

Just about the only thing he hasn’t done is attend a four-year college. He simply never had time for it during his four decades as a global performer. Thanks to the flexibility of 91����Ƶ’s online and hybrid courses as well as the generosity of donors through the seminary scholarship, can now check that item off his list. 

The single-named polymath is a second-semester graduate student at Eastern Mennonite Seminary, pursuing a master’s degree in Christian leadership. His wife, Mukarabe, first pulled him into the orbit of 91����Ƶ, enrolling at the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at the start of last year. 

“It would be impossible for us to finance two degrees if it weren’t for the largesse of the donors through the seminary scholarship,” Makinto said. “We’re very grateful for that.”

During the COVID-19 pandemic, he earned a two-year associate’s degree. Along with his 15 years as a pastor, he had enough equivalent experience to enroll at the seminary. “It’s great that I’m able to participate in a master’s program based not just on academic history but also on life history,” he said.

One of his earliest impressions of 91����Ƶ came during a visit to campus in November 2023 for the annual Music Gala Concert. Makinto, the featured performer of the night, put on a dazzling show as he played the djembe, kalimba, flute and piano. That evening, after touring the campus and meeting a great number of people, Makinto said he and his wife “resonated really well with 91����Ƶ.”

“We felt at home here,” said Makinto. “Everyone felt like family.”

The couple, who immigrated to the U.S. in 1999, lead , a nonprofit dedicated to giving hope and restoring dignity to Burundian refugees and equipping them to participate in the transformation of African communities. The word “Amahoro” comes from the Kirundi (Burundian) expression for peace that conveys blessings, well-being and fullness of life. The organization is a Conference-Related Ministry of Mosaic Mennonite Conference.

Makinto said that he’s working on bringing an initiative called “Amahoro Drumming for Peace” to 91����Ƶ. The program would bring people from diverse backgrounds together to make music and reflect on community.

He said that he’s excited to become part of 91����Ƶ’s global network of partners and alumni to contribute to and collaborate on peace initiatives. “We can build something together,” he said.

Makinto and Mukarabe live in Harrisonburg with their son Joël, the youngest of their six children. Makinto can often be found at Martin Chapel on Tuesday mornings leading worship music with a bright smile and joyful spirit. He will perform as a guest artist at Love, Joy & Peace: A Choral Celebration! on Friday, March 14, at Lehman Auditorium. The concert will bring together three choirs and showcase a piano collaboration between Makinto and Dr. David Berry, director of the music program at 91����Ƶ. 

Your generous support helps students like Makinto pursue a quality college education without financial barriers. Join us for the 9th annual Lov91����Ƶ Giving Day and contribute to the scholarships that empower future 91����Ƶ students. Together, we can help write 91����Ƶ’s next chapter. 

Read the previous profiles in our A Royal Tale series:

What began as a book that aimed to celebrate the contributions of white allies in the fight for Black freedom, he said, morphed into a research project that questioned the effectiveness of those allies and their movements toward racial justice.

That book, Damned Whiteness: How White Christian Allies Failed the Black Freedom Movement, will publish in November by The University of North Carolina Press. Evans, who has worked on the book for the past seven years, introduced the book and shared some passages at Convocation on Wednesday in Lehman Auditorium.

Watch the full livestream of his talk .

Evans said work on his book began as a response to an invitation from scholars like Beverly Tatum, author of Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And Other Conversations about Race, to narrate the stories of white individuals and groups who have resisted racism.

“A number of books on abolitionists and a small number of texts on white allies have become available,” Evans said. “They told the stories of people like Mary White Ovington, a white socialist woman who helped W.E.B. Du Bois start the NAACP. They narrated biographies of people like Judge J. Waties Waring, who grew up in a segregationist household, but later in life became an advocate for racial justice.

“These stories of segregationists to anti-segregationists, from racist to anti-racist, from enemy of black folks to allies, are important stories, maybe even necessary stories. But what’s interesting about these texts that I mentioned is the things that they didn’t do.”

Damned Whiteness explores the work of “three of the most celebrated white Christian allies of the Black freedom era”: Dorothy Day, founder of the Catholic Worker Movement; Clarence Jordan, founder of Koinonia Farm; and Ralph Templin, who was an American missionary in India. Each of these allies either created or led movements that launched them into similar trajectories with Black freedom organizations that opposed racial segregation, Evans said.

“But because the visions of these movements were disconnected from the Black communities they aimed to help, they failed to meet them on their path to liberation,” he said.

Evans is the co-editor of Between the World of Ta-Nehisi Coates and Christianity (Cascade, 2018). His teaching and research focus on the braided identity categories of race, religion, and nation.

91����Ƶ’s students, faculty and staff, rooted in the value of active faith, practice compassion, mutual love, and appreciation for the diversity of religious and cultural expressions represented in their community.