{"id":14320,"date":"2012-10-08T10:20:15","date_gmt":"2012-10-08T14:20:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=14320"},"modified":"2012-10-24T15:56:05","modified_gmt":"2012-10-24T19:56:05","slug":"seminary-couple-do-ministry-at-dulles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2012\/seminary-couple-do-ministry-at-dulles\/","title":{"rendered":"Seminary Couple Do Ministry at Dulles"},"content":{"rendered":"

Preaching from a pulpit on Sundays is not the aspiration of seminary students Eugene and Christina Kraybill.<\/p>\n

Eugene, in fact, is often in the sky Sunday mornings, piloting his United Airlines CRJ-700 from Dulles International Airport \u2013 a job he enjoys and plans to continue indefinitely. Ministry, for him, is \u201cnot \u2018a calling\u2019; it\u2019s life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really feel called to be workplace ministers,\u201d adds Christina, who often accompanies her husband on flights, along with serving on the ground at Dulles, where both are volunteer chaplains.<\/p>\n

They enrolled in Eastern Mennonite Seminary (EMS)<\/a> in Harrisonburg, Va., in the fall of 2010. In a Sept. 22, 2012, service at the airport, they were licensed \u2013 a step toward Virginia Mennonite Conference<\/a> ordination, which they hope will occur in 2014. Balancing study with work, they anticipate earning master of divinity degrees in perhaps 15 years.<\/p>\n

Eugene has flown for 25 years, the past 12 with United and affiliates. The couple have been chaplains at Dulles for four years since relocating to Virginia from Pennsylvania. First they lived in Herndon near Dulles, operating a guesthouse for pilots and flight attendants, before moving in 2011 to Berryville, 40 miles east of Dulles and 80 miles north of Harrisonburg. Prior to EMS they trained with the Fellowship of Christian Airline Personnel<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After approaching Dulles senior chaplain Ralph Benson to offer much-needed office-organizing skills, Christina became the first woman among the airport\u2019s 15 chaplains \u2013 including Eugene, the group\u2019s only airline employee. All chaplains, excepting Benson, are volunteers, including an imam and a Catholic priest.<\/p>\n

Christina\u2019s social-work background proves helpful. \u201cWe often see passengers who have arrived and have nowhere to go,\u201d she says \u2013 and penniless travelers who take free shuttles from D.C. to the airport. Other times, employees request prayer \u2013 including a woman anxious about her troubled teenager.<\/p>\n

Christina\u2019s a native of Pennsylvania. Eugene was born in Vietnam to a Mennonite medical missionary family and spent some of his formative years in Ethiopia.<\/p>\n

The couple made the nearly hour-and-half trip to Harrisonburg weekly together for their first two EMS courses, while separating for small-group class discussions. Sometimes they stayed overnight with relatives or in their cabin in Mathias, WV. Eugene benefited when some courses shifted to meeting for longer periods once per week. Christina took the fall 2011 semester off to renovate their 1875 railroad-worker home in Berryville. Last month she opened a Fair Trade store, My Neighbor and Me<\/a>, from their house.<\/p>\n

EMS has enrolled 11 couples over the past decade, says Laura Amstutz<\/a>, EMS associate director of admissions and communication coordinator. The seminary now has 140 students.<\/p>\n

VMC overseer Luke Schrock-Hurst and EMS professor Mary Thiessen Nation<\/a> gave testimony at their licensing ceremony, where Christina shared a poem she\u2019d written, \u201cAirport Chaplains Walking.\u201d It was inspired by Luke 24: 13-35, in which two disciples, on the road to Emmaus, are joined by Jesus \u2013 whom they invite to dinner before recognizing him. She remembers that story when \u201cpeople ask us to meet their family, or attend a party.\u201d<\/p>\n

Close friends the Kraybills have made among Dulles\u2019 international community include a ramper (who moves planes into position) and his wife, who are Muslims from Tunisia. Eugene discourages attempts at \u201cprofiling\u201d passengers. At the airport chapel, where Christina conducts Bible classes, she also sometimes watches children for Muslim women while they pray.<\/p>\n

When hosting employee dinners, the Kraybills included invitations to mechanics, who had previously felt excluded.<\/p>\n

They have yet to experience a disaster. (Asked about prayer in moments of danger, Eugene replies he tries to always have \u201can underlying mode of confidence. I\u2019m praying in my spirit.\u201d) They\u2019ve helped conduct memorial services for two workers killed in accidents on the ground. After such tragedies, Christina notes, the work \u201cstops briefly to address the emergency, and then it has to continue.\u201d Yet the chaplains remain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Preaching from a pulpit on Sundays is not the aspiration of seminary students Eugene and Christina Kraybill. Eugene, in fact, is often in the sky Sunday mornings, piloting his United ... read more about Seminary Couple Do Ministry at Dulles<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":14323,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[266,265],"tags":[14600,14599,9294,7257,7792],"feature":[],"class_list":["post-14320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-seminary","tag-christina-kraybill","tag-eugene-kraybill","tag-laura-amstutz","tag-mary-thiessen-nation","tag-virginia-mennonite-conference"],"yoast_head":"\nSeminary Couple Do Ministry at Dulles - EMU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2012\/seminary-couple-do-ministry-at-dulles\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Seminary Couple Do Ministry at Dulles - EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Preaching from a pulpit on Sundays is not the aspiration of seminary students Eugene and Christina Kraybill. 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