{"id":1523,"date":"2013-05-14T10:05:09","date_gmt":"2013-05-14T14:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/?p=1523"},"modified":"2014-01-10T10:20:00","modified_gmt":"2014-01-10T15:20:00","slug":"everence-takes-values-of-the-church-into-the-marketplace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/2013\/05\/14\/everence-takes-values-of-the-church-into-the-marketplace\/","title":{"rendered":"Everence Takes Values of the Church Into the Marketplace"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Everence

Alumni employed at the Everence office in Souderton, Pa.: (from left) administrative assistant Sabrina Swartzentruber \u201909,
church relations representative Randy Nyce \u201994, and administrative assistant Janine Mason \u201903<\/p><\/div>\n

Everence is a rarity\u00a0<\/strong>in the financial world. It is the only full-service financial institution founded by one of the historic peace churches, and it continues to be a ministry of Mennonite Church USA and kindred churches.<\/p>\n

\n

Founded nearly 70 years ago as Mennonite Mutual Aid, the company initially offered loans to conscientious objectors who worked as Civilian Public Service workers during World War II. During the years since, it has grown considerably in scope and size.<\/p>\n

Everence \u201chelps individuals, organizations and congregations integrate finances with faith,\u201d says its website, everence.com. \u201cThere is enough for all if we manage our gifts effectively. Becoming an effective steward of those gifts is a lifelong journey \u2013 a journey made easier when you join with the faith community of mutually supportive people dedicated to the same ideal\u201d (found at everence.com\/difference<\/a>).<\/p>\n

After a merger with Mennonite Financial Federal Credit Union and a 2010 name change, Everence now offers life and health insurance, financial advice, investment products and banking services \u2013 all fields employing numbers-focused people. Today, almost 30 EMU alumni work in its various divisions and branches.<\/p>\n

\u201cNumbers serve as signposts \u2013 they tell me if we\u2019re meeting our financial goals and if our revenue is going in the right direction,\u201d says J.B. Miller \u201970<\/strong>, vice-president for investment services at the company\u2019s headquarters in Goshen, Indiana.<\/p>\n

And while numbers are critical to evaluating ideas, Miller is most drawn to the ideas themselves: \u201cGood ideas and strategy sustain organizations\u2026. Spending time dreaming about new products or services and then bringing them to market is what I like to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

After spending more than 20 years as a banker in Florida, Miller took a job at Everence, in part as a way to fully integrate his faith and values with his expertise in finance. In the mid-90s, Miller oversaw development of Everence\u2019s Praxis family of mutual funds, based on the concept of having a positive impact with one\u2019s investment dollars beyond simple financial returns.<\/p>\n

Often called \u201csocially responsible investing\u201d \u2013 or SRI \u2013 this approach at Everence stands on three legs: (1) the screening of companies for sustainable and socially just practices (such as their stewardship of the environment and avoidance of child labor and other abusive practices); (2) using shareholders\u2019 collective voices to promote improved environmental, social, and corporate-governance practices; and (3) applying up to 2% of invested dollars toward revitalizing or building healthy communities.<\/p>\n

Adjunct business professor Allon Lefever<\/strong>, who has been in the management team of several national corporations (two of them going public in his tenure), says Everence leads the way on socially responsible investing, which includes passing up manufacturers that thrive on the proliferation of weaponry. Lefever is a member of the investment committee of Mennonite Education Agency, through which EMU\u2019s pension funds are invested. \u201cWe [at the education agency] work with seven or eight financial management groups that screen for social responsibility,\u201d he says. \u201cBut Everence does the best job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lefever applauds Praxis for pushing Hershey Chocolate to agree in 2012 to make its Hershey\u2019s Bliss chocolate products with 100 percent cocoa from Rainforest Alliance Certified farms. Since 2009, Everence (via Praxis Mutual Funds) has encouraged Kraft Foods Inc., the world\u2019s largest chocolate manufacturer, and Hershey to strengthen cocoa sourcing policies and local development activities aimed at eliminating forced child labor and increasing income for smaller farmers, according to a March 1, 2012, report in Mennonite World Review<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Lefever points out that \u201csocially responsible investing\u201d means different things to different investors. In keeping with the prevailing ethos of the church members they serve, the Praxis funds exclude industries that derive their profits from alcohol, gambling, tobacco, abortion-specific products, and weaponry or military contracting. Praxis seeks to invest in industries that put a high value on environmental sustainability, human rights, positive labor relations, and community development.<\/p>\n

\"Everence

Alumni at the Harrisonburg, Va., office: Beryl Jantzi ’82, MDiv ’91; Chan Gingerich ’98; Glen Kauffman ’82; Patty (Black) Skelton ’00; Joseph Lapp ’66; Jacqueline (Day) Painter ’08. Not pictured: Kimberly Jo (Zook) Showalter ’03<\/p><\/div>\n

Investment advisor Glen Kauffman \u201982, MBA \u201906<\/strong>, working from the office in Harrisonburg, Virginia, sells Praxis funds as well as other investment products to clients.<\/p>\n

\u201cI make every effort not to use either fear or greed to motivate my clients to take certain actions,\u201d Kauffman says. \u201cI believe that these emotions are contrary to the way God would want us to make financial decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n

As president\/CEO of Everence Federal Credit Union,\u00a0W.\u00a0Kent Hartzler \u201994<\/strong> applies a similar values-based approach to his responsibility to keep the credit union \u201crelevant and viable.\u201d He says his education at EMU has helped him balance a \u201c\u2018bottom line\u2019 corporate focus\u201d with concern for the organization\u2019s impact on the broader faith community.<\/p>\n

Through church relations representatives like Rhoda Blough \u201994<\/strong>, who earned a certificate in pastoral studies at EMU (Aurora, Colorado) and Randy Nyce \u201994<\/strong> (Souderton, Pennsylvania), Everence also supports congregational efforts to promote stewardship of finances through Sunday school curricula, educational materials, seminars and workshops.<\/p>\n

As repeatedly emphasized by other alumni interviewed for Crossroads<\/em>, however, Melvin Claassen \u201977<\/strong> notes that communication skills are at least as important for any number-cruncher as math skills.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most important duty of my job was communicating the sometimes complex financial situations of Everence to other decision-makers,\u201d says Claassen, who retired in 2012 as chief financial officer.<\/p>\n

In that role, Claassen says he needed both the technical skill to understand pertinent mathematical and financial information as well as the ability to translate it to others in the company.<\/p>\n

\"Leon

\u201cNumber-crunching has always made sense to me,\u201d says Leon Miller \u201970, a business development officer in Everence\u2019s Belleville, Pa., office. Miller joined the company after spending 30 years teaching math at Belleville Mennonite School.<\/p><\/div>\n

Like all financial institutions, Everence has the fiduciary responsibility \u2013 that is, it is morally and legally obligated \u2013 to put the interests and desires of each client in the driver\u2019s seat, says Joseph L. Lapp \u201966<\/strong>, JD, Everence\u2019s managing director in the Harrisonburg area. There is always room, however, to help people understand how their Christian faith might shine through their financial choices, he adds.<\/p>\n

\u201cMuch of life is connected to business and finance,\u201d says Lapp. \u201cIf left outside the realm of faith, unfortunate things occur by default, [things] that are contrary to being Christian disciples. By being aware of the implication of business and finance decisions, we can care for others, support the church, and benefit ourselves as well.\u201d \u2014 Andrew Jenner & Bonnie Price Lofton<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Other Alumni Who Work at Everence<\/h3>\n

At Kalona, Iowa, site: Cheryl Martin Miller \u201901. Goshen, Indiana: Daniel Grimes \u201978, Kevin Strite ’95, Elaine Martin ’79. Kidron, Ohio: Barbara Reinford ’77, Lois Bontrager ’72. Lancaster, Pennsylvania: Abram Moyer ’74, Elizabeth Mast ’11, Alicia Hurst ’09, Keith Witmer ’87, Michael Zehr, class of ’77, Marv Smoker ’93, Kevin Nofziger ’94.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Everence is a rarity\u00a0in the financial world. It is the only full-service financial institution founded by one of the historic peace churches, and it continues to be a ministry of Mennonite Church USA and kindred churches. Founded nearly 70 years ago as Mennonite Mutual Aid, the company initially offered loans to conscientious objectors who worked […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":1524,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[326,327,325,332,328,333,331,330,329],"class_list":["post-1523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-magazine","tag-allon-lefever","tag-glen-kauffman","tag-j-b-miller","tag-joseph-l-lapp","tag-kent-hartzler","tag-leon-miller","tag-melvin-claassen","tag-randy-nyce","tag-rhoda-blough","issues-spring-2013"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/73"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1523"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1523\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1528,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1523\/revisions\/1528"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}