Mosaic Mennonites

Missional - Intercultural - Formational

Articles

How a Problem’s Solution Became a Bike Shop

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It was a simple problem without a simple solution. How do we train students to work when businesses do not hire them? 

Scott Roth, then director of the Upper Perk Community Life Center (UPCLC), mentored seniors from Upper Perkiomen High School in Pennsburg, PA. Roth would teach them how to swing a hammer, update a website, make phone calls, and order supplies from a vendor. Roth learned these “simple skills” while working in his family’s business early on. But most students wouldn’t have these experiences on their own. 

Bike & Sol Director, Scott Roth (left), works with 2 youth in the bike shop. Photo provided by Scott Roth.

Meanwhile, a $22 million YMCA was opening in the Upper Perkiomen school district. Roth began working as a consultant for the YMCA helping shape their youth programs while still working with UPCLC. Roth began to promote the idea of an “earn-A-bike program”: teach kids to work and they can earn a bike, fixed with their own hands. Roth just needed a bike mechanic, so he prayed and kept asking. 

An acquaintance of Roth’s, Dick Fox, felt called to be that mechanic and the program began. After a couple months in the garage of the UPCLC, with 15 kids in the program and more bicycles coming in for repairs, the demand for parts was exceeding the donated bicycles in need of repair. 

JBI, the largest bicycle parts distributor in the US, partnered with the program. However, the program needed to be in a traditional brick and mortar shop. Soon a banner was hung on the garage with the name, “Bike & Sol.” 

Director Scott Roth on the sales floor of Bike & Sol. Photo provided by Scott Roth.

Eventually, UPCLC programs diminished as YMCA programming increased. Bike & Sol became a student work program through the YMCA.  Weekly, ten students came to the shop to volunteer. When UPCLC closed, the entire building was now Bike & Sol. 

Five years later, Bike & Sol merged programs under the umbrella of ViaShalom, a ministry dedicated to creating missional experiments. Bike & Sol has serviced over 1500 bikes and touched many more lives. 

With the COVID pandemic, bicycling has become more popular than ever. This has forced Bike & Sol to become more than a student work program. Now it is a bicycle shop that happens to have a student program. More than ten adults regularly volunteer at the shop. Due to COVID, school programs are temporarily halted, however, there are still youth working to complete their court-required community service hours. 

Bike & Sol is now an intergenerational space for young and old to meet and share their love of life. Frequently tales are told of faith and encouragement. 

Youth volunteer and learn skills at Bike & Sol, earning a bike of their own as pay. Photo provided by Scott Roth.

Scott Roth often says, “Most people have learned to ride a bike. Most people smile as they ride and cry when they fall. The good news is that we get to be Jesus to most people since most people have a bike.” Jesus used fish and healing to bless others. Bike & Sol blesses and heals through bicycles. Helping people ride bicycles is one of the best things we can do for mental health and relationship building. 

Today Bike & Sol is a community non-profit bicycle shop that covers all biking needs, from a trash-picked bicycle to a high-end race bike. The volunteers, young and old, are continuing to improve their skills to keep people riding in all kinds of bikes.

The vision for 2021 is simple: Get the Kingdom of God out riding with others. Jesus interacted and loved people in all circumstances. Bike & Sol seeks to love all who come with their bikes. Bikes know no social structures, skin colors, or economic status. They just want a human to pedal them. 

How Do You Wait?

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How do you wait when you are expecting something to happen and the wait seems endless?

Some of us withdraw and get depressed thinking about what we cannot do. Some of us disconnect and focus on doing things that give us pleasure like eating, watching sports or a movie, playing video games, shopping, or reading a book.  Some of us isolate and focus on spiritual practices like praying, journaling, or writing poetry. Some of us get impatient and do something active like exercising, composing music, creating a work of art, or organizing our closets. 

During the COVID pandemic, we are all growing weary of waiting, wearing masks, washing hands, socially distancing, and avoiding in-person meetings and events. 

How do you wait?

As we wait for an accessible and effective vaccine to slow down the spread of this costly and deadly virus, we are also celebrating Advent, a season of waiting. Advent is more than waiting to celebrate the birth of Jesus more than 2000 years ago. It is a reminder of the time when Jesus will come again to bring to fulfillment his eternal kingdom. 

God’s people throughout the ages have been waiting for God to free them from oppressive government treatment and policies, personal or communal sin, and disease or hardship in hopes of a better future. The scriptures repeatedly name God’s vision and accompanying promises to restore humanity and all of creation. Scriptures also name the lament, confession, longing, and hopes of God’s people.

Psalms 130 is a poem of waiting for divine liberation. How does the poet wait? From the depths of his being, he cries out to the Lord to listen and hear his voice. He cries out his prayer requests, confession of sins, and hopes from God’s word. Then he becomes silent, to wait for the Lord. His waiting reminds him of God’s steadfast love, power to forgive his sins and the sins of the nation, and promise to liberate.

Many of the gospel texts suggest that this time of waiting is not to be one of withdrawing, disconnecting, isolating, or filling our time with activities. While we remember the past events of Jesus’ birth, life, death and resurrection and anticipate Jesus’ second coming, the gospel writers remind us of Jesus’ teaching to be actively engaged in God’s mission now. Advent is now.

How do you wait? What are ways to wait with hope while staying engaged in God’s mission? During this season when there is increased need, I am inspired to be generous by many individuals, congregations, and organizations in our conference and beyond who are meeting the basic needs of many people. 

Here are a few ideas:

  • Donating money or time to package food items, Christmas gifts, or Mennonite Central Committee kits to ease the burden of those suffering so many losses. 
  • Memorizing a scripture (like Psalm 130) can ease despair and offer hope. 
  • Planning meaningful, family activities that deepen relationships. 
  • Scheduling virtual times with family and friends to keep us connected. 
  • Viewing inspirational concerts, events, and programs online to remind us of God’s creativity, joy, and delight. 
  • Creating a work of art for a family member, friend, or donation to an organization nudges us to serve with joy. (See the photo of my quilt project for my grandson.) 
Mary Nitzsche’s quilt project, a gift for her grandson. Photo provided by Mary Nitzsche.

During this advent season I challenge all of us to wait with hope. May we discover ways to stay engaged in God’s mission to liberate all of creation, for God’s kingdom to be on earth as it already is in heaven. How are you waiting?

Advent in the Worst and Best of Times

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It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.”

Charles Dickens

And it was Advent.  And it was the first snow-bringing Nor’easter of the pandemic.  Well, not in Florida or California, where it was barely cool enough for a hoodie, but in the northeast.  Nonetheless, it was still Advent in a pandemic.

We are well into the predicted second wave of heightened COVID-19 infections and deaths. We are responding in varied ways with courage, distress, and resignation.  

Many of us are well acquainted with our living rooms and Zoom.  Others of us continue to don protective gear for essential work in hospitals, stores, schools, and offices.  Some of us are anxiously awaiting the vaccination due to our work in healthcare.

Some of us have been sick. Or we’ve been quarantined.  We’ve masked up mostly.  Our continuing care facilities are on heightened alert to keep the virus at bay as much as possible from vulnerable populations.  Some of our churches haven’t met together face-to-face for months. There are risks all around us.  

We do what we can to mitigate and to serve the Lord with our whole hearts and with a clear conscience.  We trust in the One who walks with us through even this time of shadows in what is often a season of goodness and light. 

Still, there are needs all around us.  Our churches and conference-related ministries continue to meet needs. However, we are seeing needs increase while resources remain stressed.  As a result, the conference board executive team discerned these needs and our conference’s budget. Typically, there is a year-end appeal for the conference budget communicated at this time. However, the executive board decided that this atypical year needed an atypical appeal. 

The conference board executive team discerned to focus our annual year-end appeal toward the Shalom Fund.  We’re setting a goal to raise at least an additional $40,000 in the next few months to meet tangible needs in our communities and ministries toward an overall goal of $200,000 for the Shalom Fund. I am so grateful for all who have met needs in mutuality with time and resources.

If you have not donated to the Shalom Fund, we invite you to give during this time of generosity and goodwill. If you have already given, we thank you, and invite you to give again. To donate, click here.

The Shalom Fund is actively distributing your gifts at a somewhat accelerated pace.  Together, we’ve touched thousands of lives through congregations reaching their neighborhoods in Philadelphia, North Jersey, Souderton, PA, Allentown, PA, Sarasota, FL and San Gabriel, CA.   Through our conference-related ministries, our Shalom Fund has also reached globally, to India and Honduras.  

It’s easy to see this as the worst of times.  Most of us haven’t lived through a pandemic nor were prepared to do so.  

It has also been the best of times. Together, we have shared our resources and met real needs together.  Together we trusted in God who takes what we give in faith, hope, and love and multiplies it beyond our expectations. 

This holy season will be like no other in our lifetimes.  We are Mosaic Conference, our name given to us by God in the midst of pandemic and sociopolitical unrest.  And I believe that history will tell us: it was the worst of times, but it was also the best of times to bear witness as a community of Christ’s peace toward justice, healing and hope.

Conference Related Ministries (CRM) Profile: Frederick Living

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Frederick Living was founded in 1896 by Rev. N.B. Grubb in Frederick, PA, located in western Montgomery County. It is the oldest Mennonite retirement community in North America.   Initially called “The Mennonite Home for the Aged and Infirmed,” the “home” was a ministry of Eastern District Conference of the Mennonite Church General Conference, who provided oversight and responsibility.  Early administrators were members of the clergy. Over time, professional administrators took the reins.  

From its earliest days, this “home” was led by Mennonite leaders and maintained Mennonite values. It was welcoming of residents of non-Mennonite faith traditions as well.  There have been many changes and expansions over the years. Next year Frederick Living, as it is now known, will be celebrating its 125th anniversary of ministry.  

Still rooted in its Mennonite heritage, their focus is on living well in every aspect of our lives…body, mind and spirit.  Their mission is, “In the spirit of Christian love, Frederick Living cares for and enriches the lives of older adults, while valuing the staff, volunteers and community that serve them.”  

Frederick Living resident, Hannah Carlson, 106 years old, moved to a Frederick Living cottage in 1986. Photo credit courtesy of Frederick Living.

The current Chief Executive Officer, John Hendrickson, who has served at Frederick Living since 2005, will be retiring in February 2021.  The board of directors has initiated a search committee assisted by Mennonite Health Services to ensure the continuity of leadership.  Warren Tyson, former Conference Minister for Eastern District Conference, is the chair of the Frederick Living board of directors.   

A continuing care retirement community, Frederick Living offers a full spectrum of services.  They have maintenance-free villas, cottages, and apartment living for those who want to live active, independent lives while taking advantage of all of the community’s amenities.  The Magnolia House personal care center serves those who need assistance with activities of daily living.  Magnolia House also provides temporary respite care.   

For those who need round-the-clock licensed nursing care, Cedarwood Health Center provides both short-term rehabilitation therapy and long-term care.  Cedarwood has consistently maintained a 5-star rating from Medicare.  

Finally, the Aspen Village memory support center serves those struggling with Alzheimer’s disease or other diseases that impair memory.  Frederick Living has the  Alzheimer’s Foundation of America Accreditation for Excellence in Care and is a Dementia Care Program of Distinction.

Laurie Maher, RN serves in Frederick Living’s Cedarwood isolation unit. Photo credit courtesy of Frederick Living.

The global pandemic has made 2020 a very challenging year.  At the beginning of the pandemic, through many protective measures, continuous vigilance, and God’s help, no residents and very few staff members tested positive with the virus for many months.  They remain committed to protecting the residents, staff, vendors, and guests.  

Frederick Living has been adhering to the recommended control measures and guidelines of the Department of Health, the Center for Disease Control, and Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services. With the recent uptick of COVID-19 positivity rates in Montgomery county, they immediately updated their control measures and are continually addressing protocols as any new information becomes available.  

Please visit their website, www.frederickliving.org, to get the most up-to-date and accurate information on positive COVID-19 cases and current policies and practices.

Those who sow will reap

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“Whoever sows will reap,” says Pastor Buddy Hannanto, when he talks about the joys and sorrows of serving God. Hannanto especially knows this from the way God miraculously inspired his personal life, his family, and his ministry to grow.

Pastor Buddy Hannanto and his wife, Susy, of International Worship Church. Photo provided by Buddy Hannanto

Buddy Hannanto was born and raised in the city of Jakarta in Indonesia. He began working in  ministry and was active in youth ministry since high school. Through Indonesian Charismatic Pentecostal Church (GPKDI), he ministered in schools. During college, Pastor Buddy began his pulpit ministry at the GPKDI church branches spread throughout the cities of Jakarta and Tangerang.

In 1992, Hannanto’s parents received visas to the US through the green card lottery in Indonesia, allowing them to live in the United States. Hannanto and his parents moved to California that year.

Upon arrival in California, Pastor Buddy returned to ministry. He met Virgo Handojo and together, they served at JKI Anugerah Church in Sierra Madre, CA. Because of his ministerial experiences in Indonesia, Pastor Buddy was often assigned to fill the pulpit in other churches.

In 1995, Pastor Buddy was asked to start a fellowship in Alhambra, CA with Haryono Margono. This fellowship later developed into Indonesian Mennonite Church. Eventually, the name was changed to Indonesian Worship Church. In 1996, Haryono Margono resigned as pastor and Pastor Buddy was appointed the church’s pastor. 

Under Pastor Buddy’s leadership, Indonesian Worship Church grew from a church of only Indonesians to a church that serves non-Indonesians as well. As a result, in 2016 the church changed its name to International Worship Church.  In 2019, Buddy was ordained by Franconia Mennonite Conference and is now a credentialed pastor in Mosaic Mennonite Conference.

“Service is a gift and opportunity which builds a crown in heaven,” says Pastor Buddy. Since 2004, he has been working full-time for the church. As pastor, he leads services on Sundays and cell-groups and Bible studies on weekdays. Throughout the week he offers support and help to the congregation, such as accompanying them to the immigration office or doctor. 

“The call of God’s servant to the ethnic church has demands to serve the congregation outside of just preaching in the pulpit,” says Pastor Buddy. “The congregation considers us family.” Frequently, Pastor Buddy is called upon for assistance from other church pastors and congregations. 

The Hannanto Family: Pastor Buddy (sitting), (left to right) Rachel, Jason, and Susy. Photo provided by Buddy Hannanto.

“If we are truly serving, the people we serve will love us,” reflects Pastor Buddy.  “Service is carried out with a sincere heart and with joy. The results can be seen through the fruits that can be enjoyed today, both through the growth and the sincerity of the congregation one serves.”

“We must be like Christ and become Christians who have spiritual fruits and not only spiritual gifts,” Pastor Buddy shares.  “A gift without spiritual fruit is temporary, but if we pursue the fruit of the spirit, the results will remain.”

Now Pastor Buddy is studying to get a Doctor of Ministry degree, which has been his dream since he arrived in the US. “God gave me the opportunity to go to school,” he says. “I don’t want to back down. I want to go ahead and take the opportunity.”

Pastor Buddy lives in Alhambra, California with his wife, Susy, and their two children, Jason and Rachel. When he has time with his busy schedule, Pastor Buddy enjoys running to keep in shape.

Letter to Julia Where I Speak of the Unimaginable Marta Castillo and her Organic Ministry

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This article is translated to English by Andrés Castillo. Original article appears in Mosaic News En Español: Banda de Cinco Niños Hacen Travesuras, Hablan por Señas, Corren a Escondidas de Ana y Estudian en Computadores Carta a Julia Donde se Habla de la Inimaginable Marta Castillo y su Ministerio Orgánico by Javier Marquez

Dear Julia, 

The cold has not stopped, and you more than anyone knows that the cold creates bad music in my heart. I haven’t forgotten last winter, when we had the fortune of studying together in the city where you were born and that you love more than any other. Where we shared, apart from readings, a teapot to prepare your tea of aromatic plants, and heat up the water for the coffee that I prepared myself, refusing to use the coffee maker. 

As I promised you before leaving for the mission that you’ve given me, I’ll now begin to tell you through this letter of the findings of my surveying, which you have arranged for me during your kind and noble tutoring and discipleship.

After so much effort of long readings, serious reflections, and faithful service, your wise will has understood that the next thing to do is set out on this search of, as you have described it to me, “finding the deep parts of the heart of God in the people I meet and the actions I witness” on this research trip.

It hasn’t been long since I left the comfort of your tutorials, and I now have the joy of being able to tell you of my very first findings. I’ve seen God, in the sense that you’ve incited in me, as the result of a marvelous conversation with a woman who presented a few shards of her life to me—shards which have been more than enough to begin to better understand what “finding the deep parts of the heart of God in the people I meet and the actions I witness” means.

Luego de tanto esfuerzo de lecturas largas, reflexiones serias y servicio fiel, tu sabia voluntad ha entendido que lo siguiente es emprender esta búsqueda de, como bien me lo has descrito, “encontrar lo profundo del corazón de Dios en las personas o en los hechos que conozca en mi viaje de investigación”. 

Her married name is Marta Castillo. She lives in Norristown, a place in Pennsylvania that I wasn’t sure was a small city, or a large town. She has lived in this place for many years, where she married years back and raised two sons, Andrés and Daniel. Her husband is from Cali, Colombia, and his name is Julio. Similar to yours—a calendar name. 

However, she didn’t always live in Norristown. She is the daughter of two missionaries who brought her up and educated her in Indonesia. Already with only these short lines I am giving you a sheet of implicit information. A childhood in Indonesia, a country of islands and spiciness; the wife of a Colombian, people of coffee and music; plus the ingredient of her United States nationality, a people who you know better than I—but I rise to say about them that they are people with an admirable capacity of curiosity, and of a country with much geographical variety. Marta told me that ever since she was a child she always felt like part of a ministerial team, because her parents always involved her and her younger brother in their work of serving. 

She enjoyed this life of service so much that, when she learned that she would have to leave Indonesia, she wanted to travel to any other country that wasn’t her parents’ home country in order to be able to continue with her life of service. This didn’t happen, but as she herself commented in our conversation, “God always has his own plans.”

She studied to be a teacher and after graduating, she volunteered for three years to teach English to children with learning difficulties in Washington, D.C. This gave me an idea of her levels of patience. Afterwards, she was called to lead a youth program at Nueva Vida Norristown New Life (NVNNL—Norristown, PA), with the detail that when she arrived, she would be the only young person to lead in the program. Despite this small inconvenience, she remained at NVNNL, a place where she found an honest community that warmly received everyone, and that held its services in different languages, uniting multiple cultures. There, as you have surely begun to suspect with your shrewdness, she met Julio, who she married barely fourteen months after beginning to date. Love is more simple than what one figures.

At this moment our conversation was momentarily interrupted because the waitress brought us hot drinks and some sweet bread that we had ordered a few minutes before. Just then, I noticed a book that Marta had in her bag: Re-discipling the White Church. She noticed that I had turned my attention to her book, and she briefly told me that it contained reflections of a Christian man who had gone through many intercultural experiences, and in that way was able to talk to his brothers and sisters of white churches about what he learned.

At NVNNL, she helped in each corner of the camp. She carried out each task necessary, and one day was offered to be pastor. It was a calling that built up throughout the years. At first, it was a difficult thing for Julio. He wondered, “What does it mean to be the husband of a pastor?” Marta wanted his support, and after about a year, Julio heard God telling him that he couldn’t be an obstacle in the way of his wife’s calling, but rather the total opposite—her support.

In that way started her pastoral ministry that lasted 10 years—a period in her life where she learned something fundamental to her, the importance of sustaining her job as a pastor on the basis of relationships, walking alongside others, conversing with and accompanying people. When the time came when this stage of her life ended, confirmed by a dream of God, she found herself working with Mosaic conference, supporting three churches as Leadership Minister. Today she continues, and it seems that next year she will work with a total of eight. She is also a member of the intercultural team, a job that doesn’t seem easy. She says that working with people of different nationalities and cultures demands flexibility and humility.

Well, the afternoon passed very rapidly despite the cold. But, before I say goodbye to you I’ll share a few words from Marta that I’ve liked: 

  • “I’ve always liked challenges, my position is to always say yes to God. When one doesn’t feel prepared, or that he or she isn’t capable, God will provide.”
  • “At NVNNL I learned from the latino congregation to pray with more freedom. I feel more comfortable and free praying in Spanish than in my own language.”
  • “That feeling of never being completely prepared, but always ready.”

I hope to write to you soon about a new discovery on this trip. See you soon, Julia. Protect yourself from the cold and respond to me about your impressions of the first results of my mission. Apologies for the lengthy letter, as I know you’ve repeatedly told me that they’re not your favorite.

With care,
The one you only call by the nickname of the Curioso Impertinente (“the Curious Meddler”).

Faith and Life Gathering

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Mosaic Conference’s quarterly “Faith and Life gatherings” of pastors have been created to strengthen our relationships with one another, to discuss Scripture together, to hear each other’s stories, and to pray for one another. It is good church. 

This year our Faith and Life gatherings have focused on identity: gender and sexual identities, national and political identities, socio-economic identities, and life stage identities. Three of the four gatherings have been held remotely. Table groups are now Zoom break-out rooms. Scriptural texts, graphics, and charts appear on shared screens. Conversations happen in chat boxes. But we’ve found, to our great relief, that story-telling and prayer do not suffer from the distance. 

In preparation for the November 18 and 19 gathering, participants were asked to do some personal reflection in advance. Participants were invited to create a personal timeline showing the evolving stages of our ministry. The Faith and Life commission offered us some guiding questions to assist us in seeing our development in various ministry settings and roles. 

Two suggested scriptures, John 21:15-19 and 1 Peter 5:1-7, also guided us. Both passages draw on the image of a shepherd for a model of pastoral leadership, and both texts explicitly address the differences between young and old leaders. Because we are all working within the restrictions and unknowns of a pandemic, one of the texts seemed a fitting metaphor for all of us in these uncertain times: “When you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go” (John 21:18b, NIV).  

Faith and Life conversations take place within a covenant: to exercise humility when discussing Scripture, respect when listening to others, and honor the confidentiality of all stories shared. Again, that’s good church. 

But the agreement to not tell other people’s stories without permission can complicate sharing our learnings from these fruitful conversations. One story was too good not to share. With her permission to share, Pastor Sandy Drescher-Lehman (Methacton congregation in Norristown, PA) shared a story about her first inklings of her pastoral skills. 

Drescher-Lehman recalled one summer when she was a young teenager. J. Lorne Peachey, editor of WITH magazine and also her youth group leader, asked Drescher-Lehman and her friend Carmen to create a calendar of daily activities, to be published in WITH magazine. The purpose was for young Mennonites across the country to feel a sense of connection, knowing they were all doing the same thing on the same day. 

One of the calendar days, which happened to be a Sunday, Drescher-Lehman and her friend had designated everyone to wear their hair in braids. When they arrived at church, they found that all the women in their congregation, especially those who normally wore their hair pinned up in buns under their coverings, were wearing their hair down in braided pigtails.  

Drescher-Lehman reflected, “It was more formative for me than I knew at the time, in affirming my future of writing and leadership. I remembered the joy of their recognition of us that day.”

Most likely, J. Lorne Peachey had suggested to the women in their congregation to do what the girls had designated for that particular Sunday, but what Drescher-Lehman remembered was the affirmation she felt. Peachey was creative in the ways he drew out and affirmed leadership gifts and writing skills in young people. 

We were reminded during this gathering of 1 Peter 5a, which says, “You who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another” (NIV).  Sometimes when all of us clothe ourselves in humility, it may be the elders who submit to the leadership of those who are younger.

Chaplain Carl Yusavitz Retires

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Photo Credit: theforgivenesslab.com

If you had asked Carl Yusavitz at age 25, where he would be in 50 years when he retired, he would have said, “Serving at the Vatican in Rome.”  He never would have guessed God had other plans for him. 

Instead, Yusavitz retired from Penn Foundation (Sellersville, PA), a conference-related ministry, on October 16, 2020, after 20 years as director of pastoral services and Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) supervisor.

Yusavitz studied at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, Italy after college.  He served the Catholic Church in active ministry as a priest for ten years before beginning graduate studies at the Rochester (NY) Institute of Technology.  After deciding not to return to ministry in the Catholic Church, he married his wife, Mary, and together they served with Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) in Sudan for three years.  Both of their children were born in Africa.  

Upon his return to the US, Yusavitz joined the Mennonite Church and served Germantown (PA) Mennonite Church as an associate pastor. He later trained for chaplaincy and as a clinical pastoral educator at the University of Pennsylvania.  Prior to Penn Foundation, he worked as a chaplain at Easton (PA) Hospital.  

In 2000, Yusavitz accepted the director of pastoral services position at Penn Foundation and started a unique Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) program that included pastoral care in a behavioral health setting.  This hands-on chaplain training requires 400 hours of supervised ministry.  It includes regular meetings with peers who offer support and additional perspective as each student considers how to fully engage with God and others in a pastoral role.  Yusavitz deeply impacted the lives and ministries of over 180 students in his CPE supervisor role at Penn Foundation, Easton Hospital, and Penn Health System.  

Yusavitz’s role over the past 20 years has been multi-faceted. In addition to leading the CPE program, he served Penn Foundation clients and staff as chaplain.  He offered annual spiritual care trainings for lay ministers in the community.  He resourced local faith communities on topics such as spirituality, mental health, and addictions. Yusavitz also provided oversight to the Grand View Hospital (Sellersville, PA) pastoral care program and was involved on the national level of the Association of Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE), the certifying body for professional chaplains.  

During his time at Penn Foundation, Yusavitz joined the Anabaptist Chaplain group, started by Franconia Conference, to support its licensed chaplains.  In the early 1990s, Clayton Swartzentruber hosted and led the group in his home.  Later, Dave Derstine assumed leadership, followed by Charlotte Rosenberger, Walter Sawatzky, and then Gay Brunt Miller.  Mary Nitzsche, Mosaic associate executive minister, picked up the leadership in 2017. 

The Anabaptist Chaplain Group met virtually on October 8 to offer well wishes to Carl Yusavitz on his retirement. Photo by Sue Howes.

The group primarily supports area Mennonite chaplains but includes non-Anabaptist chaplains serving at Mennonite-affiliated organizations.  Participants include hospice, hospital, and prison chaplains.  About half of the group serve as chaplains to local continuing care retirement communities.  The group meets every six to eight weeks. 

At the October 8 meeting, the group took some time to honor Yusavitz’s years of ministry and the ways many have been blessed by his gifts and calling.  A majority of the group have had the opportunity to train under Yusavitz, through CPE, or work with him and appreciate his approachability, insights, and passion for pastoral care.  We are grateful that Yusavitz allowed God to lead him to us and the many ways he offered his gifts and passion for pastoral care to our community over the years.