Explore past integration projects:, , 2017,  2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022.

Schedule

Tuesday, March 21, 2023 (chapel period)
Jimmy Calhoun: “The Wounded Healer: Clergy and Grief”
Jenn Parsons: “Companioning One Another Through Disenfranchised Maternal Grief”

Thursday, March 23, 2023
Hailey Holcomb: “Do I Matter? Using Theatre to Address Religious Trauma in Queer Community”
Virginia Basden: “Why the Wilderness: An Exploration into Wilderness as Spiritually Healing”
Greg Kropff: “An Examination of Clergy Trauma and How to Address It”

Thursday, April 20, 2023 (ACE Festival)
Carrie Dengler Wenger: “Toward Wholeness: How Chaplains Integrate the Sacred Work of Healing”

Capstone Descriptions

Tuesday, March 21  

Jimmy Calhoun: “The Wounded Healer: Clergy and Grief”

My CIP will develop a Wounded Healer program. This project is important to me because I am a Pastor and over the past eight years, I have lost three core members of my family and was diagnosed with a disease that is gradually taking away my ability to walk. While I know I am not the only person to deal with loss, as a Pastor I am struggling with how to heal. The problem is there is no program or group to my knowledge that helps Clergy deal with their grief. So, my research question is: How can fellow clergy walk with the wounded healers who are trying to help others? I will give an anonymous poll to clergy to access online as well as on paper. This will allow the individuals to write about their fears and pain. They will be asked whether they have someone who can walk with them during tough times. As the in-person course continues the participants will be placed in small groups to work on Lectio Divina questions. My presentation and paper will report on the experience and results and point out further areas for work.

Jennifer Parsons: “Companioning One Another Through Disenfranchised Maternal Grief”

Grief surrounds us. Yet, we are often uncomfortable in its presence. We rely on familiar rituals to accompany us through the loss of a loved one. We send or receive flowers, homemade casseroles, and sympathy cards. We dress in appropriate attire and attend a memorial or funeral service. But what happens when the loss is not the death of a loved one? What if we find ourselves or those we care about stranded in a space absent from social support? This presentation weaves together Kenneth J. Doka’s concept of disenfranchised grief, contemporary grief theory, and personal experience to offer examples of accompaniment through the turbulent waters of disenfranchised maternal grief. 

Thursday, March 23

Hailey Holcomb: “Do I Matter? Using Theatre to Address Religious Trauma in Queer Community”

This project draws on my ten years of experience in theatre. It combines the forefront of modern theatre research and practices with ministry and pastoral care to address religious trauma in Queer community – my community. I am writing an extensive theoretical “this is how 91����Ƶ could apply these practices to address this specific trauma event” in relationship to the 2015 experience of a production of the play Corpus Christi. Methodology includes embodied practices used to address trauma, anxiety, and PTSD  and organizing time out of the rehearsal schedule for cast and crew to have conversations about the particulars of their religious trauma, their experiences of religious community, how we approach scripture, finding ourselves in scripture and biblical narrative, finding community, setting and enforcing healthy boundaries, and other relevant topics. All of this includes discussions of the specifics here at 91����Ƶ and within the context of this production. Emphasis is on the process and the conversations rather than on a showcase for an audience.

Virginia Baisden: “Why the Wilderness? An exploration of Disability theology through the Wilderness Motifs in the Hebrew bible”

My project is designed to build on my personal experiences in exploring the wilderness, and a careful study of biblical themes related to wilderness, to encourage pastors, chaplains, and other spiritual leaders to incorporate wilderness experience into their practice.  I hope my project will help clergy, pastors, chaplains and Christians in all walks to feel more equipped to understand the theological grounding for time spent in nature, ways to enrich our experiences in Wilderness, and have informed and grounded conversations defending the importance of time spent in the Wilderness as not only a special retreat, but more so a necessary integral part of the Christian journey. In whatever manner I am ministering as a Chaplain, I am positive the Wilderness and nature will be integral. I may end up working with memory care, based on time I spent with my grandmother as well as my background with children with special needs. I have first-hand have experience with what nature and being outdoors can offer to children…especially children who have internalized differences from their peers and find solace and confidence in being in an open outdoor environment.

Gregory Kropff: “An examination of clergy trauma and how to address it”

Exploring clergy trauma and how to address it is an important topic as clergy trauma is often overlooked and not always understood. Clergy work very long hours and are often confronted with significant issues on top of being responsible for managing the local church and ordering and conducting worship. I can often feel like we are doing it all alone. Recent research argues that clergy are suffering from moral injury in conflictual ministry settings. Other data indicates that clergy experience suicidal ideation frequently. I will employ methods learned in CPE that can be beneficial in support of my clergy colleagues. I am hoping to help form clergy support groups where pastors can seek out informal confidential emotional support, receive aid with reflecting on difficult situations and feel less isolated. Based on a questionnaire circulated among clergy colleagues, I intend to make a call to action to both parish and denominational leaders to broaden resources of support for the clergy with whom they relate.

Thursday, April 20

Carrie Dengler Wenger: “Toward Wholeness:  How Chaplains Integrate the Sacred Work of Healing”

Chaplains in clinical settings are facing unique ministry challenges.  As they are more integrated into the medical system, they must shape their work in ways that harmonize and complement the interdisciplinary team.  Additionally, they carry the responsibility of spiritually supporting people across a wide spectrum of beliefs and faiths.  How can chaplains bring theological integrity to their role amidst systemic healthcare practices and when companioning people on various spiritual journeys?  How do they contribute to the health of each individual and integrate their assessments into the plan of care?  Questions related to the theology that grounds and guides chaplains, the chaplain’s role on an interdisciplinary team, and the professional chaplain’s integration with the healthcare system are vitally relevant parts of the growth of the profession of chaplaincy. 

The primary lens I will bring to my work will be that of a theology of wholeness.  I will engage scholarly work and biblical studies to create the framework for this theology.  Then I will bring this lens to several different disciplines including perspectives from medicine, social work, grief theory, and family systems theory.  In each area, I will be looking for indicators of wholeness and interventions that serve the telos of wholeness. 

To address both the goal of theological integrity and the realities that accompany interdisciplinary work in a hospital setting, I will propose the use of an appropriate spiritual assessment tool.  My process will include both the study of and experimentation with various tools as well as a proposal for how they might be improved.  In short, I will be aiming to discover and/or craft a tool that is theologically grounded, practical, relevant, and translatable. 

Harding and his late wife, Rosemarie, were close friends and colleagues of Martin Luther King Jr., during an era when the Hardings were active members of a Mennonite church.

Harding and his late wife, Rosemarie, were close friends and colleagues of Martin Luther King Jr., during an era when the Hardings were active members of a Mennonite church.

“We offer this chapel as a gift to the campus and greater community as an expression of the faithfulness and transforming love of God,” said Brian Martin Burkholder, campus pastor.

The 45-minute chapel will feature songs, scripture and other readings focused on the nativity. Jericho Road, ChoirWithoutBorders and the 91����Ƶ Chamber Singers will perform at the service.

For more information contact Brian Martin Burkholder at 540-432-4115 or brian.burkholder@emu.edu.

Well-known Christian musician/recording artist Ken Medema will give a benefit concert 7 p.m. Friday, Mar. 5, at Park View Mennonite Church, N. College Ave., Harrisonburg.

The concert is a benefit fundraiser for , a local interdenominational ministry to homeless women and children and at-risk single mothers. Admission is by donation. An offering will be taken.

Medema will also perform in university chapel 10 a.m. Friday, Mar. 5, in Lehman Auditorium, where an offering will also be collected for the Bridge of Hope ministry.

Though blind from birth, Medema has has demonstrated his extraordinary musical vision in every imaginable venue, custom-designing his program for each occasion. Using his gift of improvisation, Medema hears with his heart stories from people or themes from events or speeches, then sings the stories back to his audience.

In 1985, Medema launched Brier Patch Music, a small independent recording, publishing and performance-booking company named after Brer Rabbit’s home in the legendary Uncle Remus stories.

“Brer Rabbit lived in a place not comfortable for anyone else,” Medema says, “and we have decided to follow him there.”

His albums include “Fork in the Road,” “Kingdom in the Streets,” “SonShiny Day,” “Through the Eyes of Love,” Sunday Afternoon” and a recent Christmas release, “Watching the Sky.”

When not on the road, Medema enjoys spending time at home in San Francisco with his wife Jane, reading books, watching movies (yes, Ken is an avid movie goer) and delighting in their grandchildren, Charlotte and Henry.

The event is cosponsored by Park View Mennonite Church and 91����Ƶ campus ministries. For more information, call 540 432-4115 or 540 434-1604.

Read more…

Her name is Leymah Gbowee, a 2007 graduate of 91����Ƶ’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding. Before coming to 91����Ƶ, Gbowee emerged into the world spotlight when she and a brave group of ordinary women, mostly mothers, banded together to do the unimaginable – use nonviolent methods to confront Liberia’s despotic president Charles Taylor and his warlord opponents.

Both sides used child soldiers who terrorized the population, including raping a large percentage of Liberia’s women and girls. The mothers dressed in white, held up hand-written signs saying “We Want Peace” and began to appear wherever the warring leaders could be found. They also told the men in their families “no sex” until you do everything in your power to stop the war.

At one point the women linked arms and barricaded negotiators for the opposing sides in a conference room. Gbowee threatened to take off her clothes, followed by the other protesting women – an act that, in Liberian culture, would shame and disgrace the men – if the negotiators failed to stay at the table until they arrived at a peace agreement.

The women’s efforts succeeded, and a peace accord was signed in the summer of 2003, leading to UN-supervised disarmament beginning in the winter of 2003-04 and finally to the election of Africa’s first woman president in January 2006.

Leymah Gbowee, a 2007 graduate of 91����Ƶ’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, talks about her peacebuilding and faith journey in university chapel at 91����Ƶ. (Photo by Jim Bishop) Listen to the chapel podcast…

On behalf of the women she led, Gbowee has received a half dozen major awards, including one from Harvard University. She has been the subject of an article in “O” Magazine, has appeared on “Bill Moyers Journal” and “The Colbert Report” and is the main figure in a documentary, “Pray the Devil Back to Hell” ().

Liberia’s bloody civil war

Liberia was founded as a colony in the 1820’s as a place for freed slaves from the US to emigrate to Africa. In 1847, they founded the Republic of Liberia, establishing a government modeled after the United States.

A military-led coup in 1980 overthrew then-president William R. Tolbert, launching a period of instability that eventually led to civil war.

Charles Taylor invaded the country in 1989. During his time in power, some 250,000 people were killed and over a million others displaced in a country of just over three million population.

Thursday evening, Oct. 22, at 91����Ƶ, Gbowee received a standing ovation as she came to the podium to address about 400 people. The audience had just viewed the film,”Pray the Devil Back to Hell.”

The riveting motion picture is directed by Emmy-winning and Academy Award nominated filmmaker Gini Reticker and produced by Abigail Disney. It premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2008, where it won “Best Documentary Feature.”

A formerly unknown social worker and mother of four, Gbowee organized hundreds of worken to call for peace. She attended 91����Ƶ’s Summer Peacebuilding Institute (SPI) in 2004. She returned to SPI in 2006 and went on to earn an MA degree in conflict transformation from the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding the following year.

She now heads Women Peace and Security Network Africa (), offering training and counsel to women all over Africa, with special focus on security issues.

Working together to promote peace

One of the most remarkable aspects of the Liberian women’s movement, she told the 91����Ƶ audience, was “the way that Christians and Muslims overlooked their differences and worked together to promote the need for peace.”

“Before I came to CJP, I was a bit selfish – my entire world view was Liberia or West Africa,” she said. “CJP put names and faces to conflicts in other parts of the world. Now, when I read the news, I am not thinking about statistics, I am anxiously thinking about my [CJP] sisters there.” She said she looks forward to seeing CJP alumni as she travels from country to country, viewing them as family who understand each other in a way that only fellow CJP alumni can.

Gbowee said she also learned at CJP how to make decisions with a strategic focus. “Before, I jumped into projects and ran with different things,” rather than being a “reflective practitioner” of peacebuilding.

Effective peacebuilder, strong faith

Gbowee shared more of her faith journey in university chapel Friday morning, Oct. 23, retracing her steps from that of a homeless, unemployed, despairing person to a leader in her home and neighboring countries, one whom governmental and international leaders call on regularly for counsel.

“I haven’t reached this place where I am today on my own,” she stated. “It is by the grace and mercy of God. I don’t see how it’s possible to be an effective peacebuilder in any setting without a strong faith. That is my message to others – take that first step of faith and ask God to order your steps.”

Asked what sustains her in the midst of stressful, difficult work, Gbowee replied, “I am basically an optimistic person. I believe there are more good people than bad people in this world – it’s just that we, the good people, refuse to step out.”

Ultimately, “I do what I do in the hope that other children won’t have to go through what mine have. I am doing this work for the children.”

Gbowee reflects on her experience in 91����Ƶ’s CJP program at

Their leader, Leymah Gbowee, who organized the women and succeeded in pressuring those at the negotiating table to come to agreement to end the long, brutal war, will speak and answer questions following the film showing.

The film is directed by Emmy-winning and Academy Award nominated filmmaker Gini Reticker and produced by Abigail Disney. It premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2008, where it won “Best Documentary Feature.” Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu calls the film “inspiring, uplifting and a call to action for all of us.”

The film went on to win several other honors, including the Gabriel Award from the Catholic Academy for Communication Arts Professionals. The Liberian women in the film from the Mass Action Campaign for Peace have received both a John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage award and Gruber Women’s Rights Prize this year.

A leader in Liberia, Gbowee organized hundreds of women to protest the civil war. In the midst of her campaign, she attended 91����Ƶ’s Summer Peacebuilding Institute (SPI). She later earned her MA degree in conflict transformation from 91����Ƶ’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, graduating in 2007.

She now heads Women Peace and Security Network in Ghana, offering training and counsel to women all over Africa. She has been featured on national news shows, including “Bill Moyers Journal” and “The Colbert Report.”

The program is sponsored by the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, and admission is free. For more information, call 432-4581.

¡Bienvenido a capilla! The Latino Student Association presented chapel on Oct. 7. Students clapped along with praise and worship songs in Spanish, including “Bueno Es” and “Te adoro a ti.” As everyone settled in, Camila Pandolfi spoke about the importance of knowing your goals. Pastor Byron Pellecer and Marvin Lorenzana then took the podium and began a unique sermon Pellecer planted and preaches at Iglesia Discipular Anabaptista based out of Harrisonburg Mennonite Church. Lorenzana, whom Pellecer calls his “brother from another mother,” is the director of Multicultural Services at 91����Ƶ.

Trading rapid-fire phrases and sideways glances that sent giggles across the audience, they wove a thought-provoking story about a hypothetical windfall of “Can you imagine for a minute, that in your bank account, it will appear overnight the amount of $6,400” he said, setting up the imaginary scenario.

“But the catch is that you have to spend every single penny to the last cent. You cannot save it; you have to use it, whichever way you do it… because at the end of the day at midnight, it will be voided.”

Together they went through the options: paying college bills, buying a car, giving to the poor. “$6,400 is a lot of money. I cannot even think that in Spanish,” Pellecer quipped.

“We have that amount in our hands,” he revealed. “One single day has 6,400 seconds.” He challenged students as well as educators to think about how they use these precious seconds, and what they are adding up to in the end. “What would you do with that knowledge? Would you put it into practice, or hang it on a wall?”

They continued to speak in fluctuating Spanish/English about how education is a means of transforming oneself, and using it to be of service to people in the world. “In my own opinion, education is a way of opening our hearts,” Pellecer said.

“Use it wisely. Use it to better your life, and the lives of the people that will always be next to you. Free others. Teach them the goodness of God, teach them the foundation of God, teach them the beauty of life. Because all these elements, you guys are getting right here.”

91����Ƶ senior Lisa N. King of Harrisonburg led a “prayer of remembrance” and lit a candle at the close of the chapel service Wednesday, Apr. 16, the one-year anniversary of the Virginia Tech shootings that left 33 people dead and more wounded.

Students, faculty and staff left the auditorium in silence as the chimes on the roof of Lehman Auditorium tolled for one minute.

Some students wore Hokie shirts or sweatshirts as a symbol of solidarity for the many people affected by the tragedy on the Blacksburg, Va., campus.