Mosaic Mennonites

Missional - Intercultural - Formational

ministerial

Ministerial Committee Update – June 2026

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The Ministerial Committee makes decisions on ministry credentials and policies that promote the support, health, and training of credentialed leaders and safe church practices for congregations. They meet quarterly to act on recommendations from the credentials committee, review and revise current policies around credentialed leaders, and provide leadership in cases of misconduct.

Report from the June 2026 Ministerial Committee Meeting:

Licenses Approved

License Toward Ordination (LTO) – grants the person all the privileges and responsibilities accorded to an ordained person, except to ordain someone else. This license is issued for a three-year period with the purpose of testing the inner and outer call to ministry, further discerning of ministerial gifts, abilities and aptitude and may or may not lead to ordination.

  • Henny Vina Krisnadi – Whitehall (PA) Mennonite; Church planter
  • Yesenia Perez Morales – Iglesia Evangelica Menonita Shalom (Tampa, FL); Associate Pastor
  • Jacob Wibowo – Philadelphia (PA) Praise Center; Associate Pastor
  • Laura Alderfer – Salford (PA) Mennonite; Music Pastor

Ordination – grants the person the full range of ministerial privileges and responsibilities. This is a long-term, leadership ministry credential appropriate for all pastors, area conference ministry staff, chaplains, missionaries, evangelists, and those determined by the church to have a continuing ministerial-leadership role in, and on behalf of, the church.

  • Joe Paparone – Bethany Mennonite (Bridgewater Corners, VT); Community organizer/Pastor
  • Dave Moyer – Zion Mennonite (Souderton, PA); Associate Pastor
  • Eszter Bjorkman – Neffsville Mennonite (Lancaster, PA); Associate Pastor

License Extension (for 3 years) – Issued for a three-year period with the purpose of testing the inner and outer call to ministry, further discerning of ministerial gifts, abilities and aptitude and may or may not lead to ordination. It is extended for three more years as needed.

  • Kirby King – Souderton (PA) Mennonite, License for Specific Ministry – Bible Department Chair/Teacher – Dock Mennonite Academy (Lansdale, PA)
  • Joseph Brooks – College Hill Mennonite (Tampa, FL), License towards Ordination – Associate Pastor

Moved to Active without Charge – held by those not presently holding a ministry assignment

  • Hunter Hess (Neffsville Mennonite)
  • Mary Nitzsche (since 2024 when she resigned leadership minister role with Mosaic Conference)
  • Randy Heacock (Doylestown [PA] Mennonite)

Moved to Inactive – held by those who have been without a ministerial assignment for more than three consecutive years. This credential is not valid for performing ministerial functions.

  • Daniel Tran (Vietnamese Gospel [Allentown, PA])

Withdrawn

  • Nathan Good (Swamp Mennonite [Quakertown, PA])
  • Tracy Commons (Swamp Mennonite [Quakertown, PA])
  • Dania Hernández (Peña de Horeb [Philadelphia, PA])
  • Mike Spinelli (Perkiomenville [PA] Mennonite)
  • Bob Helverson (Salem Mennonite [Quakertown, PA])
  • Bruce Eglinton-Woods (Salem Mennonite [Quakertown, PA])

Moved to Active

  • Gwen Groff – Interim role at Taftsville (VT) Mennonite

Committee Updates and Discussions

Credentialing Leaders Profile – (Form that candidating pastors fill out, and the corresponding reference forms). The committee discussed further revisions of the profile and reference forms.

Credentialing Procedure Update – (Internal working policy for credentialing process for licenses and renewals). The committee will review in its September meeting

Abuse and Misconduct Policy and Procedure – (Policy and procedure for response to allegations of abuse). The committee was informed that GRACE has written the first draft of a policy for Mosaic Conference. It is currently being reviewed by a select group of people from the board, ministerial, and credentials committees then will be returned to GRACE for updates. Further review will be done through intercultural and language lenses, after which it will given to the ministerial committee and board for final approval.

Centering Posture Document application in Ministerial Committee and Credentials Committee – The committee was reminded that we have been asked to use the Mosaic Centering document (A Mosaic Identity: Clarifying Our Center) as a guide for our policies and actions. For example, the questions that the Credentials Committee asks have changed to reflect Mosaic priorities and values.

Congregational Change Updates

  • Peña de Horeb (Philadelphia, PA) is withdrawing membership in Mosaic Conference
  • Hope Church (Temecula, CA) is requesting to join Mosaic Conference
  • Iglesia Menonita Fuente de Agua Viva (Monterrey, Mexico) is requesting to join Mosaic Conference

Committee Members – The Nominating Committee is working to name new committee members, including:

  • The Chair of the Credentials Committee will join when affirmed by the Credentials Committee. The Credentials Committee will also name Spanish-speaking vice chair who may or may not join the Ministerial Committee.
  • Boendianto from JKIA (Jemaat Kristen Indonesia Anugerah [Sierra Madre, CA]) has been affirmed by the Nominating Committee and named to the Ministerial Committee.
  • Staff committee members – There are currently two committee members on the Ministerial Committee who have joined the Mosaic Conference staff during their committee term. According to our bylaws, staff members who are on committees would be non-voting members. The committee discussed options and gave input for addressing committee members who are conference staff (voting vs non-voting roles).
    • ACTION: The committee voted unanimously that Rose Bender Cook and Josh Meyer will become non-voting committee members when new members are selected and onboarded at the beginning of next year.

Mosaic values two-way communication and encourages our constituents to respond with feedback, questions, or encouragement. To share your thoughts or send a message to the author(s), contact us at communication@mosaicmennonites.org.   

Anabaptist Theologians to Teach Pastors & Lay Leaders

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by Sharon Williams

Laura Brenneman, Terry Brensinger and Dennis Edwards are the featured speakers for “The Bible through Anabaptist Eyes: Christ at the Center,” on Saturday, April 18, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. at Penn View Christian School.

The three Anabaptist biblical scholars will interact with participants through presentations and discussion.

Laura Brenneman (Photo by Jackie Wells)
Laura Brenneman (Photo by Jackie Wells)

Laura Brenneman will start with “Biblical Interpretation in an Anabaptist Perspective: Joshua, Jonah, Jesus.” She teaches at Eastern Mennonite University and Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, as well as the University of Illinois, including a program in a men’s prison. Brenneman previously taught religious studies at Bluffton University, and is the co-editor of Struggles for Shalom: Peace and Violence across the Testaments.

 

 

Terry Brensinger
Terry Brensinger

Terry Brensinger will present on “Reading the Old Testament with ‘New Eyes.’” He is vice president of Fresno Pacific University, dean of the Biblical Seminary, and professor of pastoral ministries. Brensinger is best known to Mennonites as the author of Judges, in the Believers Church Bible Commentary series by Herald Press. He previously taught Old Testament studies and chaired the Biblical and Religious Studies Department at Messiah College (Grantham, Pennsylvania). Brensinger is an ordained minister in the Brethren in Christ Church and trained spiritual director. Most recently, he served as the international pastor/teacher for the International Brethren in Christ Association, a position that took him around the world to train pastors.

Dennis Edwards
Dennis Edwards

Dennis Edwards will teach about “Word and Spirit: Interpreting the New Testament.” He is the senior pastor at Sanctuary Covenant Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. A biblical scholar and chemical engineer by training, Dennis has been in urban ministry for more than two decades, having served at churches in Brooklyn, New York and Washington, D.C. He has taught New Testament studies at St. Mary’s Seminary and University and Bethel Seminary of the East. 

“The Bible through Anabaptist Eyes” is sponsored by Franconia Conference’s Ministerial Committee, in response to conference delegates’ interests in biblical interpretation from an Anabaptist perspective. This free event is open to everyone; credentialed leaders, teachers, delegates and lay leaders are especially encouraged to participate.

Registration is required; to register, go to the conference website or call 267-932-6050, ext. 110 or 610-277-1729. Donations for lunch will be accepted.

Penn View Christian School is located at 420 Godshall Road, Souderton.

Sharon K. Williams is a musician, editor and congregational/non-profit consultant. She serves the Lord with the Nueva Vida Norristown New Life congregation as minister of worship.

Ministerial Update (April 2014)

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Hadi Sunarto
Hadi Sunarto was licensed as a deacon at Philadelphia Praise Center in March.

Steve Kriss, Director of Leadership Cultivation, provided this update from the March & April meetings of the Credentials and Ministerial Committees:

Hadi Sunarto (East Rutherford, NJ) was approved for a license for specific the ministry of deacon at Philadelphia Praise Center.

Krista Showalter Ehst (Bally, PA) was approved with a license toward ordination to serve as pastor at Alpha (NJ) Mennonite Church.

Bill Martin was approved with a license toward ordination and to serve as associate pastor at Towamencin Mennonite Church.

Danilo Sanchez (Whitehall congregation) was approved to serve as Allentown area youth minister with a license toward ordination.

Donna Merow was approved for ordination and continues to serve as pastor at Ambler (Pa) Mennonite Church.

Several new members have been added to the Ministerial and Credentials committees.

Mike Clemmer (Towamencin) and Marlene Frankenfield (Salford) have been named to the Ministerial Committee.   Heidi Hochstetler (Bally) resigned her position from the committee earlier this year.   Continuing Ministerial Committtee members include:  Verle Brubaker (Swamp), Ken Burkholder (Deep Run East), Carolyn Egli (Whitehall), Janet Panning (Plains), Mary Nitzsche (Blooming Glen), Jim Williams (Nueva Vida Norristown New Life).

Aldo Siahaan (Philadelphia Praise) and Marta Castillo (Nueva Vida Norristown New Life) have been named to three year terms on the credentials committee.    Continuing committee members include:  Rose Bender (Whitehall), Verle Brubaker (Swamp) and Mike Clemmer (Towamencin).

Steve Kriss began serving as Conference staff liaison for both committees since the retirement of Noah Kolb late in 2013.

Reflections on the Journey: celebrating the career of Noah Kolb

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Noah Kolb's Open House
Noah and his wife Sara talk with their guests at the December 11 open house honoring Noah’s years of ministry. Photo by Emily Ralph

by Krista Showalter Ehst, Bally congregation

For Noah Kolb, the journey has moved in unexpected places, bringing challenges and blessings alike. Reflecting on a 45 year ministerial career—the most recent 14 of which he spent in Franconia Conference leadership—Noah says, “I could not have dreamed this path and in many ways it has felt like God has nudged and moved me along step by step.” As Noah anticipates his retirement years, he continues to experience those divine nudgings, offering words of wisdom from his ministerial work.

Noah was born and raised in a farming family in Spring City, Pa. He felt the call to ministry at a fairly young age, and this call was drawn out and affirmed by many people along the road. Noah names teachers, in-laws, mentors, and seminary professors at Goshen Biblical as central to discerning and following his call. Perhaps most significantly of all, Noah’s wife Sara has brought wisdom and counsel—as well as her own gifts of hospitality and relationship-building—that have helped Noah live into his calling. As he says, “I would not have wanted to do the journey without her.”

Noah and Sara Kolb
Noah and Sara were honored at the Credentialed Leaders Appreciation Dinner on December 2 with a fraktur by Roma Ruth. Photo by Emily Ralph.

That journey took Noah and his family to many different ministerial settings.  He spent 24 years in pastoral ministry: beginning part time at Pottstown (Pa.) Mennonite, moving to Swamp congregation (Quakertown, Pa.) for 11 years, and then serving the Bellwood Congregation in Nebraska for 5 years.  The leadership skills he exhibited during those years resulted in his call into conference ministry. After serving as the only Iowa-Nebraska conference minister for a number of years, he returned to the east coast. Jim Lapp, his brother-in-law and a former conference colleague, remembers that transition. “Noah’s strength as a leader arises from his lack of pretense and aspiration for recognition and a genuine humility and gentle spirit,” Jim shares.  “It was his strong churchmanship and character that led us to call him in 2000 to serve as part of the Conference Ministry Team [of Franconia Conference].”

Conference ministry brought its own set of challenges and learnings. For Noah, one significant area of growth was in conflict management. Noah grew up with very little understanding of conflict and became quite anxious when faced with it. As a pastor and conference minister, however, he was quick to realize that “wherever you have two or three gathered, there will be conflict.” Noah worked hard to wrestle with his aversion to conflict and to develop a non-anxious presence. He tried to create safe spaces where people could gather to talk and to share openly about their differences. As is so often the case, Noah remembers his times of helping congregations to move through conflict as some of the most difficult and rewarding moments of his career.

Noah and Bobby
Noah discusses life and ministry with Bobby Wibowo (Philadelphia Praise Center) at the 2013 Conference Assembly. Photo by Bam Tribuwono.

As he’s worked alongside congregations, Noah has realized the importance of building relationships. He believes leaders cannot be effective without building trust with their congregations. Undoubtedly shaped by the many mentors in his own life, Noah has worked to build this trust by prioritizing one-on-one relationships with pastors, taking the time to listen to their stories and to know them more deeply. One leader who has benefited from this relational approach is , currently leading Peace Proclamation Ministries International in India and a member of Plains congregation, where Noah and Sara also attend. “Noah has energized me with his natural ability as a servant leader,” says.  “I have seen and experienced in him the qualities of gentleness and love.”

As he moves into retirement, Noah continues to model gentleness, strength, relationality, and the willingness to listen in the midst of difference. “We live with a lot of judgment towards each other and we don’t know how to receive and accept each other graciously as brothers and sisters in Christ even with our diversity,” Noah reflects.  “One of my deep convictions is that we need to work at a greater understanding of God’s grace and mercy—that God has received and uses us amazingly in our brokenness and that we can extend that grace to one another as brothers and sisters in Christ. My deep yearning is that we can somehow learn to do that much better—not a sense that anything goes, but an extending of mercy and grace and compassion to each other in the midst of our brokenness.”

Noah and Nancy
MC USA Conference Minister Nancy Kauffmann joins Franconia Executive Minister Ertell Whigham and Eastern District Conference Minister Warren Tyson to pray for Noah at Conference Assembly 2013. Photo by Bam Tribuwono.

While Noah has faced challenges in the last few years of ministry as he struggled with failing vision, his care and giftedness as a pastor to leaders has continued to shine through. “While it is indeed true that he is having a struggle with his physical eyesight, the spiritual eyesight of my brother continues to grow,” said Ertell Whigham, Franconia’s Executive Minister, at the 2013 Conference Assembly in November.  “[Noah is] able to see the needs and the care and the encouragement and the guidance and the wisdom that our brothers and sisters who serve in ministry need.  And so, while indeed there may be some struggles with [his] physical eyesight, I thank God for [his] spiritual eyesight….  I have truly been transformed through our intercultural interaction.”

Ministerial Update (November 2013)

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Joy Sawatzky
Joy Sawatzky, pictured here receiving prayers of blessing at Conference Assembly 2012, was approved for ordination at the November 3rd ministerial meeting.  Photo by Andrew Huth.

from Noah Kolb, outgoing Pastor of Ministerial Leadership

The ministerial committee met on November 3rd.  Chris Nickels was welcomed as a new member.  Marlene Derstine was thanked for her completed time of service.

  • Sandy Landes was approved for a license toward ordination at Doylestown congregation as Pastor of Prayer and Pastoral Care.
  • Joy Sawatzky was approved for ordination as Pastor/Chaplain at the Souderton Mennonite Homes.  Joy is a member of Plains.
  • John Bender’s ministerial credentials were received from Allegheny Conference for ministerial leadership at Ripple and Franconia congregations.
  • The ministerial credentials of Emily Ralph and Robert Nolt were approved to be transferred to Lancaster Conference.
  • The license toward ordination for Julie Prey, Joe Hackman, and Scott Franciscus were renewed for another two years.
  • Duane Hershberger’s ministerial status was changed from active to retired.
  • Donna Wilkins’ license for specific ministry was terminated with the end of her responsibilities at Blooming Glen.
  • Mike Ford, formerly youth pastor of Franconia congregation, has transferred to Blooming Glen, working in youth ministries.
  • Walt Morton is serving as an interim pastor at Lakeview.

Ministerial report (September 2013)

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The Ministerial Committee met on September 4:

  • We took action to grant a specific license to Tim Hart to serve as pastor of revitalization for Garden Chapel.
  • We approved ordination for Emily Ralph from the Salford congregation who has been called to an associate pastor position at Sunnyside in Lancaster.
  • We granted a license toward ordination to Tami Good who is serving as minister of worship and music at Souderton.
  • Arnold Derstine and Mike Ford have resigned from the pastoral team at Franconia.
  • Blooming Glen has hired Mike Ford as youth pastor.
  • Frederick and Lakeview are seeking interim pastoral leadership.
  • Perkiomenville is seeking an associate pastor and Alpha and Taftsville congregations are looking for pastoral leadership.

Fall Ministerial Update

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Noah Kolb, for the Ministerial Committee

Ubaldo Rodriguez, left, is the newest member of the Ministerial Committee.

The Ministerial Committee met on September 5 and November 7. At our September meeting, we welcomed Ubaldo Rodriguez as a new member of the committee. We took action to approve Kristopher Wint, associate pastor of Finland congregation, for a two-year ministerial license toward ordination and accepted the ordination credentials of John Stoltzfus, conference youth minister and campus pastor at Christopher Dock Mennonite High School, from Illinois Conference.

At our November meeting, we approved Franco Salvatori, pastor of Rocky Ridge congregation, for a license toward ordination. The committee took action to change the ordination status of Dennis Detweiler and Bill Brunk from “active’ to “retired.” The policy to assist credentialed leaders with counseling expenses was reviewed and updated.  We invited LEADership Ministers and the Credentials Committee to join us in reviewing the policies that guide who we credential.

August Ministerial update

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Josh Meyer
Josh Meyer

Update from Noah Kolb, Pastor of Ministerial Leadership, on behalf of the Ministerial Committee.

Just two quick updates this month:

  • Kristopher Wint has been called by the Finland congregation to serve as an associate pastor alongside of John Ehst.  He begins full-time in August.
  • Josh Meyer has been called by the Franconia congregation to serve on the pastoral team as pastor of preaching and teaching. He begins full-time in September.