Timothy H. Shenk may seem like an overachiever, but he’d be quick to challenge that label.
Nonetheless, this somewhat reserved guy has a long list of involvements and causes championed during his four years at EMU.
Tim Shenk gives the undergraduate “senior perspective” at EMU’s commencement Apr. 29. Photo by Jim Bishop
Shenk, son of Keaton and Betty Shenk and a member of Community Mennonite Church of Harrisonburg, came to EMU as an honors student thinking he’d major in biology.
But, a summer stint on staff at Camp Hebron in Dauphin County, Pa., where he “had a fresh discovery of who Jesus is,” turned his interests toward the social sciences.
He ended up a liberal arts major, adding minors in Bible and religion, psychology and history.
Tim is hard pressed to single out a highlight of his time at EMU. His Middle East cross-cultural experience in the spring of 2006 was “unforgettable.”
Another memorable time was involvement at Reba Place Fellowship, Evanston, Ill., through the Ministry Inquiry Program, which “helped me look at ministry in non-traditional ways,” he says.
As a pastoral assistant with EMU’s campus ministries office, he related to fellow students’ spiritual journeys and helped facilitate prayer meetings on campus.
The spring semester, he and fiancee Cheryl Heatwole facilitated weekly inductive Bible studies on the Gospel of Mark. Students gathered early Thursday morning in his Parkwood Apartment for a light breakfast, followed by a “communal discovery of the biblical text.”
Last fall, Shenk helped initiate a response to the fighting between Israel and Lebanon they called “Prayerfully Sleeping on the Hill.” Students camped out on the hill overlooking campus, prayed about and discussed the conflict and ended up writing letters to refugee children.
Tim is grateful for “an amazing mentoring relationship” he enjoyed all four years with Mark Zollinhofer, former director of instructional technology for EMU. They met weekly for “significant, in-depth conversations on the relationship of faith and science.”
When he graduated summa cum laude from EMU Apr. 29, Tim was among 10 students selected by faculty, staff or fellow students to wear the blue and gold “Cords of Distinction” in recognition of “exemplifying the highest ideals of the university.” He and Elizabeth Hevenner gave the undergraduate “senior perspective” during the ceremonies.
May 26, Tim married Cheryl Heatwole from Christiansburg, Va., whom he met his freshman year at EMU. They will spend the summer working in a camping program there with Montgomery County Parks and Recreation Department.
This fall, the couple will begin a two-year commitment to an intentional community in Camden, N.J., relating to inner-city young people at Sacred Heart School. He had spent time there earlier as part of an EMU spring break service team.
“We feel led to return there, because we want to follow Jesus in reaching out to people in need,” Tim says. They envision a longer-term mission assignment.
“Wherever we go, I know that God will direct us,” he adds.