TISKILWA, ILLINOIS (Hungry World Farm).   Stephan Rauh will become the first Lead Produce Farmer for the new organization, Hungry World Farm, on February 1, 2018.  Most recently Rauh raised vegetables for a farmers’ market, Community Supported Agriculture and direct sales in the Metamora area.  He graduated from Wheaton College with a degree in biology and a Human Needs and Global Resources certificate.
Rauh comes to Hungry World Farm with deep and varied experiences with raising food and working with food distribution.  He worked and learned for six months in Nicaragua.  He completed internships at Clay Bottom Farm (Goshen, IN) and 12 Seasons Farm (Fort Myers, FL). Rauh gained varied experiences volunteering at ECHO’s Global Farm in Florida.  He completed studies at Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center in Agroecology.  Last winter Rauh worked to help design and establish a small fruit and nut orchard on the Big Island of Hawaii. He worked in Christian Service at a food bank and food pantry in Elkhart, Indiana, through the Mennonite Mission Network.
Hungry World Farm began in the fall of 2017 as a nonprofit organization receiving the former Plow Creek property east of Tiskilwa.  Hungry World Farm invites all to reflect upon the theory and practice of food production and consumption in deep consideration of hungers in the global village. The farm is near Tiskilwa, Illinois and includes tillable land, woods and a native hillside prairie.  Hungry World Farm utilizes the farm as a textbook for healthy, sustainable food production. Individuals and communities are empowered to strengthen local food systems, reflect on their own consumption and systemic impact on the environment.  Would you like to explore supporting the startup or volunteering on the farm?  Please contact hungryworldfarm@gmail.com.

Greetings to each of you as we celebrate the salvation of God through Jesus Christ. As you reflect on the past and anticipate the future, may your …eyes see, your ears hear, and your heart conceive of what God has prepared for you (I Cor. 2:9-13). With joy, a strong Missional Leadership Team has been working this past year alongside our conference minister, Michael Danner, to address some of the issues before us, and I want to bring you up to date on some developments.

1. Annual Assembly: Because we struggle with how to allocate time between worship, inspiration and business when we gather for one weekend, we are dividing our assembly into two separate gatherings this year.
2. A one-day delegate meeting at Metamora Mennonite Church on February 17 to discuss and discern financial and structural concerns facing the conference. Delegates will assist leadership in setting a direction for our work, (see 2C below). We will also affirm IMC leadership at this meeting.
3. A two-day gathering at Sonido de Alabanza in Cicero on Friday and Saturday, October 19, 20. The focus will be on worship, equipping and learning more about the challenges and ministries of the churches in this area. As we plan, we hope to include workshops, tours, music from different churches, and a few speakers. Participants are invited to stay an extra day to worship with a local church on Sunday morning.
4. IMC Financial and Structural Resources: Delegates asked the MLT to address a multi-year pattern of insufficient funding for conference that has resulted in a depletion of reserve funds. We believe that conference resources should be funded by contributions from member churches. There is no endowment to draw on and we don’t believe using reserve funds nor private fund-raising are acceptable long-term options.
5. Expenses have been cut as much as possible while maintaining a part time administrative assistant and the equivalent of one full time conference minister. Martín Navarro was hired on marginal time to assist in exploring stronger relationships with churches that primarily serve the Latino community. His position is funded by an offset in Michael’s salary.
6. Not all of the member congregations in the conference financially support the conference, but Michael responds to the requests of all congregations regardless of financial support.
7. The MLT is meeting with a few additional people in January to shape questions that delegates will be asked to address at our February 17 meeting. Your counsel is vital in determining the nature of our conversation and the proposals that will ultimately come back to the delegate body.
8. Year-End Giving: The conference fiscal year ends on January 31, 2018. If your church has not made a contribution to IMC this past year, I encourage you to do so. If you have contributed, we thank you, and ask you to consider including IMC in any special year end giving that you might do. I can assure you that your conference staff works very hard and maximizes every dollar that is given.

Please continue in prayer for us as we discern God’s call and the Spirit’s leading for our future as a conference. Feel free to contact me or Michael if you have any questions.

Don Rheinheimer,

Moderator, Illinois Mennonite Conference

(from left to right: Cal Zehr, pastor at Willow Springs Mennonite Church, Doug Roth, chair of Church Life Team, Jacob Landis, interim pastor at Freeport Mennonite Church, Charlotte Lehman, pastor of Reba Place Church and member of Church Life Team, Anne Munley, pastor at North Suburban Mennonite Church and member of Church Life Team, Curt Fenton, member of Church Life Team)

Jacob Landis was licensed for specific ministry on December 14, 2017, by the IMC Church Life Team.  Jacob is a member of Willow Springs Mennonite Church in Tiskilwa, IL.  He is a member of the IMC Missional Leadership Team and is active in ministry throughout the conference as a supply preacher.  Currently, Jacob is the interim pastor at Freeport Mennonite Church in Freeport, IL. He is also pursuing a master degree in spiritual formation from Friends University in Wichita, KS.

A license for specific ministry allows Jacob to perform all the functions of a pastor within the accountability relationship he has with his home congregation.

Please pray for Jacob as he grows as a pastor and leader!

AMBS news contact
Annette Brill Bergstresser, abbergstresser@ambs.edu, 574.343.6709
Pastors and leaders to focus on hope “for such a time as this”

ELKHART, Indiana (Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary) — In a time when many people are experiencing anxiety, trauma and upheaval, how can church leaders sustain hope among the people they serve, even when they might struggle with fear, hopelessness and exhaustion themselves?

Pastors and Leaders 2018 — an annual leadership conference formerly called Pastors Week — aims to help participants explore how “fear of the Lord” prepares them to live confidently and speak courageously at this moment in history, as well as to ground themselves in Christian practices that keep faith and hope alive. The event, on the theme “For Such a Time as This,” will run from 7 p.m. on Feb. 26 through 12:30 p.m. on March 1 on the campus of Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS) in Elkhart, Indiana.

“In our conversations as a planning team, which includes people from a wide variety of churches and locations, we realized that the widespread anxiety in society these days is really taking a toll on churches and leaders,” said Jewel Gingerich Longenecker, AMBS dean of Lifelong Learning. “Leaders find themselves wondering whether they have what it takes to step up in the face of the pressure — or in some cases, real danger. They wonder whether they should be leading, and what they have to offer.”

“Our hope for the conference is that participants will be reminded that throughout history and today in many other parts of the world, God’s people have faced incredibly difficult situations — situations that both parallel and go beyond our own — and that even in the face of this great difficulty, the Church has deep, dependable resources and many sources of strength to lead with courage,” she added.

This year’s event, which is hosted by AMBS’s Church Leadership Center, will include worship, prayer, teaching sessions, workshops and large- and small-group conversations. Teachers and preachers from the seminary community will speak on the following topics:

• Janna Hunter-Bowman, Ph.D., assistant professor of peace studies and Christian social ethics: “Going Big by Going Home: Local Responses to National Crisis”
• Safwat Marzouk, Ph.D., associate professor of Old Testament: “Terror and Beauty in the House of the Lord”
• Ben Ollenburger, Ph.D., professor of biblical theology: “Preachers Deaf and Blind, Servants of God the Creator”
• Nancy Rodríguez-Lora, pastor, True Vine Tabernacle, Elkhart; clinical social worker specialist, Goshen; AMBS Master of Divinity student: “Boldness Before the Throne”
• Allan Rudy-Froese, Ph.D., associate professor of Christian proclamation: sermon during Wednesday morning worship
• Dan Schrock, D.Min., spiritual director; pastor, Berkey Avenue Mennonite Fellowship, Goshen, Indiana; sessional instructor at AMBS: “Forgetting Ourselves in Prayer” 
• Rebecca Slough, Ph.D., academic dean and associate professor of worship and the arts: “Be Still — Know I Am God”

Sara Wenger Shenk, Ed.D., AMBS president, and Rachel Miller Jacobs, D.Min., associate professor of congregational formation, will serve as worship leaders throughout the conference.

Participants will be able to choose from 15 workshops; sample titles include Hospitality and Safety; Flourishing in Ministry; Healing the Whole Person; Charlottesville … Going Inside; The Immigrant, Racism and the Church; and Choosing Words for Worship for the Future Church.

Gingerich Longenecker noted that the topics for this year’s event are relevant not only for pastors, but also for other leaders in the church. Also, leaders from any (or no) denomination are welcome.

Registration fees for the event vary for individuals, married couples, part-time participants and students. Discounts are available for first-time participants; those who bring a friend who has never attended the annual event; and those who need financial assistance. Also, individuals, congregations, regional conferences and districts can become a member of the Church Leadership Center to receive additional benefits, including substantial discounts on events.

Those who attend all plenary and workshop sessions may earn 1.2 Continuing Education Units (CEUs).

Learn more about meals, lodging, transportation and childcare: www.ambs.edu/lifelong-learning/pastors-and-leaders. Register by Feb. 6 for the lowest rates.

Leadership clinics

Leadership clinics are daylong workshops that take place on Monday, Feb. 26, before Pastors and Leaders 2018 begins in the evening. Topics include:

• “Improvisational Leadership for the 21st Century: An Anabaptist Approach,” with David B. Miller, associate professor of missional leadership development; and Malinda Berry, assistant professor of theology and ethics
• “The Church in the Age of Migration,” with Safwat Marzouk, associate professor of Old Testament; and Rachel Miller Jacobs, associate professor of congregational formation
• “7×7: Laments for an Age of Sexualized Power,” with Jerry Holsopple, professor of visual and communication arts, Eastern Mennonite University, Harrisonburg, Virginia

Participants can choose to register only for a leadership clinic or to combine attendance with Pastors and Leaders.

Cost: $65 USD before Feb. 6; $75 USD after. Group discounts are available. Learn more about leadership clinics: www.ambs.edu/lifelong-learning/leadership-clinics

Located in Elkhart, Indiana, Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary is a learning community with an Anabaptist vision, offering theological education for learners both on campus and at a distance as well as a wide array of lifelong learning programs — all with the goal of educating followers of Jesus Christ to be leaders for God’s reconciling mission in the world.

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—AMBS release

This article is also available online: www.ambs.edu/news-events/news/1624591/pastors-and-leaders-to-focus-on-hope-for-such-a-time-as-this

Pastors Week 2017 group discussion Credit Jason Bryant.jpg
Participants in AMBS’s 2017 Pastors Week engaged in small group conversations during the teaching sessions: (clockwise from left) Marisa Smucker, Goshen, Indiana, of Mennonite Mission Network; Duane Beck of Raleigh (North Carolina) Mennonite Church; Nehemiah Chigoji, Rancho Cucamonga, California, of Upland Peace Church; Amy Aschliman, Schaumburg, Illinois, of Christ Community Mennonite Church; and Kristin Jackson (back to camera), Chicago, of Living Water Community Church. (Credit: Jason Bryant)

It’s that time of year… First Norwood Mennonite Church will host their annual Christmas Black Light Puppet Show. This year they have songs from the 50’s to the 80’s. Come and see the Christmas Story told by Granddad. Bring your winter coat because it just might snow inside! “Chomp” the flying shark just might make an appearance as well.

Refreshments at Intermission in the Fellowship Hall