Block, a well-known expert on organizational development, community building and civic engagement, will address the conference live via video. A strong advocate for the concept of “servant leadership,” he is the author of The Abundant Community: Awakening the Power of Families and Neighborhoods (2010), Community: The Structure of Belonging (2008), The Answer to How Is Yes: Acting on What Matters (2001) and Stewardship: Choosing Service Over Self Interest (1993).

, vice president and dean of graduate studies at 91����Ƶ and one of the primary organizers for the conference, says Block will bring an important perspective as an “outsider” to the church. Smucker says Block’s address will focus on “third-way leadership.”

“We’re struggling as Anabaptists with leadership paradigms and how we make decisions,” Smucker says. “We want to facilitate a conversation about how we go forward and further develop our movement in a way that brings us together.”

The conference will focus on clarifying Anabaptist values related to leadership, examining historical models, critiquing current economic and social systems, and developing applied theories that can be used to build more effective and future-looking organizations.

The planning committee is emphasizing the representation of diverse voices and perspectives, and students from the various Anabaptist-related schools will be sharing during each plenary session.

Other keynote speakers include:

• Bryan Welch, CEO of B The Change Media and founder of Mother Earth News;
• John Sharp, teacher, author, storyteller, and historian;
• Lee Snyder, a former vice president and academic dean who will serve as at 91����Ƶ;
• John Stahl-Wert ’81, recognized expert in leadership and innovation;
• Rachel Waltner Goosen, professor of history at Washburn University;
• ’82, executive director of Lancaster County Conservancy and former CEO of Isaac’s Famous Grilled Sandwiches;
• Gilberto Perez Jr. ’94 , senior director for intercultural development and educational partnerships at Goshen College;
• Jeff Boodie ’07, founder and CEO of JobSnap;
• , associate professor of organizational studies and of 91����Ƶ’s MBA program;
• David Miller, associate professor of missional leadership development at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary;
• Dominique Burgunder-Johnson, Goshen College director of marketing and current collaborative MBA student;
• , professor in 91����Ƶ’s Bible and religion department and former academic dean;
• Rick Castaneda, home/school liaison for Harrisonburg City Public Schools and founder of Men of Character;
• , MA ’07 (conflict transformation), doctoral student at James Madison University and instructor with the Summer Peacebuilding Institute and 91����Ƶ’s business department.

Workshop topics include emergent leadership, leading innovation, people management ethics, developing resilient organizations, and authentic leadership.

The conference grew out of discussions at the (ACRS), a community of Mennonite elders and scholars who meet monthly for fellowship and intellectual engagement at 91����Ƶ. Six years ago, ACRS initiated a biography project on 20th-century Mennonite leader Orie Miller; the result was a published by Herald Press in May 2015.

In the planning and conception process, the group found synergy with conversations happening in the program (a joint project of Bluffton University, Canadian Mennonite University, 91����Ƶ and Goshen College), which Smucker says had recognized a lack of scholarly work around leadership and Anabaptism. A network of partnerships began to grow.

The conference is sponsored by ARCS, 91����Ƶ’s , , (MEDA), and . Co-sponsors include Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Bethel College, Bluffton University, Canadian Mennonite University, Conrad Grebel University College, Goshen College and Hesston College.

“We have never before pulled off a conference of this type with this amount of collaborative engagement,” says Lee M. Yoder, chair of the ACRS steering committee and former vice president and associate professor of education at 91����Ƶ. “It’s the first of its kind.”

Register at .

In what is likely the first Mennonite ministry of its kind, and UMC campus minister Ben Wideman operate almost exclusively on the campus of a massive state university.

Pennsylvania State University is among of the biggest universities in the country, counting more than 46,000 students on its main campus. It has more than 60 student faith groups, but none with Anabaptist distinctives.

“We see this void as peace, justice and faith. There are people tackling peace and justice issues, but not from a faith perspective,” said Wideman, who started a three-year term in October.

Though the church toyed with the idea of calling its project Anabaptist Campus Ministry, a wider vision came into focus: being rooted in the Gospels while inspiring students from all faith traditions.

“There’s this huge movement to the party scene. It’s the easiest way to feel like you belong,” said Wideman, an alumnus of 91����Ƶ in Harrisonburg. “The second easiest way is in the Christian bubble of the evangelical scene. And if you don’t fit into one of those two bubbles, you can feel really, really alone.

“We’ve sort of joked that we hope 3rd Way can fall into that third space with this alternative that is neither ‘a’ nor ‘b’ and a little bit different.”

Though the ministry is still finding its way, Wideman has developed a series of activities in which there may be little or no overlap among the attending students. The Monday night conversation group is different than the Wednesday morning global peace meditation group. Graduate students have a regular pub night or home-cooked meal, and another group gets together for service projects.

The collective partnered this spring with other groups to bring Christian writer and speaker and , an organization that turns guns into other objects, to campus for an event.

“It’s two miles from campus to church, but it may as well be two hours for students who just don’t get off campus very much,” Wideman said. “3rd Way Collective doesn’t do anything at UMC. I am empowered to be on campus 100 percent of my time.”

Wideman produces a podcast called , which interviews students and faculty from diverse theological backgrounds about why peace and justice is important.

Long time coming

One Penn State faculty member with exceptional interest in the collective is Jim Rosenberger, a UMC member who has championed the idea of campus outreach since he and former pastor (now Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary professor) David Miller started organizing Anabaptist Congregations in Secular Education Settings gatherings at Mennonite Church USA conventions eight to 10 years ago. [Rosenberger, a 1968 graduate of 91����Ƶ, will accept the 2015 Alumnus of the Year award at Homecoming this fall.]

Wideman attended Rosenberger’s workshop at the Phoenix convention two years ago. At the July’s Kansas City convention, they presented together.

A statistics professor, Rosenberger felt the odds were good that Penn State students would be attracted to Anabaptist values.

“We discussed it a few times at the Mennonite Education Agency, but it’s a small agency and it doesn’t have the resources to reach out way beyond to these big university settings where there are just a few Mennonites,” he said. “So we needed an idea that would be more ground-up.”

A small group from UMC kept the idea alive and gathered donors who would contribute resources to get a ministry off the ground. It was a sizable undertaking for a church of about 100 attenders.

“The church was started as an outreach,” Rosenberger said. “We’re 50-plus years in town, but over the years even identifying the Mennonite students on campus has become more difficult with changes to student privacy laws.”

A work in progress

To give a campus minister necessary continuity, UMC gave Wideman a three-year contract.

“We’re still trying to figure out what 3rd Way Collective will be,” Wideman said. “After one year it’s pretty clear we have started to address a need on campus.”

To sustain the vision, Wideman and the church are looking at other partners, be they local non-Mennonite congregations, distant Anabaptists or other groups.

Like starting a business or planting a church, it’s a risky venture, and the result won’t necessarily be more bodies in the pews on Sunday morning.

Rosenberger, who knows a thing or two about statistics, said this kind of success can’t be measured “in an easy, quantitative way.”

“I’ve pointed out that Dick Thomas, the former moderator of Mennonite Church USA, is probably a Mennonite because our congregation existed when he was a Penn State student,” Rosenberger said. “You have to look way down the road to ask if we impact students’ lives.”

 Reprinted with permission from the June 8 issue of