{"id":33311,"date":"2017-04-30T14:55:59","date_gmt":"2017-04-30T18:55:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=33311"},"modified":"2017-05-01T12:13:29","modified_gmt":"2017-05-01T16:13:29","slug":"seminary-graduates-commissioned-grow-gods-mission-new-time-place","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2017\/seminary-graduates-commissioned-grow-gods-mission-new-time-place\/","title":{"rendered":"Seminary graduates commissioned to ‘grow into God’s mission in a new time and place’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thirteen graduates of Eastern Mennonite Seminary<\/a> received blessings, degrees and certificates during Saturday\u2019s seminary commencement. They were also accompanied by the observation, offered by associate dean Nancy Heisey<\/a>, that \u201ctoday marks the end of the world as you know it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Degree and certificate recipients of the class of 2017.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Heisey and seminary dean Michael King<\/a> offered the commencement addresses in the absence, due to illness, of Fuller Seminary professor Dr. Erin Dufault-Hunter.<\/p>\n

The end of late night studies and of commutes to and from Harrisonburg or Lancaster, Heisey said, also marks the beginning of \u201cliving with a new intensity the question of what this education is good for?\u201d<\/p>\n

Heisey gave several examples of those who \u201cgrow into God\u2019s mission in a new time and place\u2026drawn by God into frightening places before them, singing God\u2019s praises\u2026We go forth from here,\u201d she said, \u201cbecause we have been called to sing that great old and new hallelujah chorus in tunes and rhythms we don\u2019t know among people who may not choose to join us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The salutation offered by graduates Sarah Payne and Andrea Yoder summarized the class of 2017 as \u201ca group of Mennonites, of Methodists, and miscellaneous, in some ways, a collection of contradictions \u2026 yet an assembly of mature practitioners, discerning communicators, wise interpreters, and transformational leaders. We are fierce followers of Jesus, seekers of the Spirit, children of God.\u201d<\/p>\n

View photo albums of seminary baccalaureate<\/a> and seminary commencement<\/a>.<\/h3>\n

The class comprised those in study for three years to some who labored for eight years, each nurtured by faculty, peers, family, friends and church communities.<\/p>\n

For Payne, pastor of Sherando United Methodist Church in Stuarts Draft, \u201cthe goal of seminary studies was to pursue wholeness, to learn good boundaries, and to learn ‘what is Christian hope,\u201d she says. \u201cThe seminary experience has helped me find a measure of wholeness that can deal authentically with my story in the greater narrative of Christ’s life, death and resurrection.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Stephen Wilcox leaves Lehman Chapel at the completion of Saturday’s seminary commencement ceremony.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Yoder, who serves as worship pastoring intern at Eastside Church in Harrisonburg, came to seminary \u201cbecause I felt called,\u201d she said. \u201cI didn’t know when I began what the end-goal would be.\u00a0 My goal in coming to seminary and pursuing a degree was simply obedience to the Holy Spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n

The experience, she says, \u201chas been revelatory for me, allowing me to grow more and more fully into who God has created and called me to be. No matter what my vocation becomes after seminary, I will step into it with a far great awareness of who God is, who I am and the role that I’ve been called to play in God’s redeeming work in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

King, giving his last address as seminary dean, offered a complementary address to that of Heisey, sharing the personal stories of two students giving of their gifts amid personal loss and wounds.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is why we need seminaries,\u201d he concluded. \u201cThis is why we need the graduates, all with their own stories of abiding in Christ, heading into a world at the edge. I fear the future. I also dare hope students like these will raise the rafters of new homes\u2014personal and institutional, academic and spiritual, economic and environmental, denominational and congregational, human and divine\u2014for which in times like these we so yearn.\u201d<\/p>\n

Class of 2017<\/h3>\n

Master of Divinity degrees were conferred to the following graduates:<\/p>\n

Dale T. Humphries, Waynesboro, Va.<\/p>\n

Phil C. Kanagy, Harrisonburg, Va. (with recognition for excellence in practical theology);<\/p>\n

Jacob R. Kave, Harrisonburg, Va.<\/p>\n

Carlos H. Madrid, Grottoes, Va.<\/p>\n

Julie D. Nitzsche, Stanardsville, Va.<\/p>\n

Sarah E. Payne, Staunton, Va.<\/p>\n

George F. Ryan, Round Hill, Va. (with recognition for excellence in theological studies);<\/p>\n

Stephen K. Wilcox, Harrisonburg, Va. (with recognition for excellence in theological studies);<\/p>\n

Andrea K. Yoder, Harrisonburg, Va. (with recognition for excellence in Biblical studies);<\/p>\n

A Master of Arts in Religion degree was conferred to Audrey Ann Kanagy, of Lancaster, Pa., with recognition for excellence in historical and pastoral theology.<\/p>\n

Certificates in Ministry Leadership were earned by Dwight Groff, Kinzers, Pa.; Hardaye Ramjit, Macedonia, Ohio; and Nancy Sims, Sugar Grove, W.Va.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thirteen graduates of Eastern Mennonite Seminary received blessings, degrees and certificates during Saturday\u2019s seminary commencement. They were also accompanied by the observation, offered by associate dean Nancy Heisey, that \u201ctoday ... read more about Seminary graduates commissioned to ‘grow into God’s mission in a new time and place’<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33322,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16077,17562,8845,265],"tags":[12293,9392],"feature":[17427,17425,17241],"class_list":["post-33311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commencement-alumni","category-digest","category-emu-at-lancaster","category-seminary","tag-michael-a-king","tag-nancy-heisey","feature-emu-home-page-feature","feature-featured-seminary","feature-news-feature"],"yoast_head":"\nSeminary graduates commissioned to 'grow into God's mission in a new time and place' - 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\/2017\/seminary-graduates-commissioned-grow-gods-mission-new-time-place\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Seminary graduates commissioned to 'grow into God's mission in a new time and place' - EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Thirteen graduates of Eastern Mennonite Seminary received blessings, degrees and certificates during Saturday\u2019s seminary commencement. They were also accompanied by the observation, offered by associate dean Nancy Heisey, that \u201ctoday\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2017\/seminary-graduates-commissioned-grow-gods-mission-new-time-place\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/EasternMennonite\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-04-30T18:55:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-05-01T16:13:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2017\/04\/Sarah-Payne.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1370\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"913\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@EMU_News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@EMU_News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2017\/seminary-graduates-commissioned-grow-gods-mission-new-time-place\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2017\/seminary-graduates-commissioned-grow-gods-mission-new-time-place\/\",\"name\":\"Seminary graduates commissioned to 'grow into God's mission in a new time and place' - EMU News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2017\/seminary-graduates-commissioned-grow-gods-mission-new-time-place\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2017\/seminary-graduates-commissioned-grow-gods-mission-new-time-place\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2017\/04\/Sarah-Payne.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-04-30T18:55:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-05-01T16:13:29+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d6737034219398924e6bd5dedcfa1245\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2017\/seminary-graduates-commissioned-grow-gods-mission-new-time-place\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2017\/seminary-graduates-commissioned-grow-gods-mission-new-time-place\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2017\/seminary-graduates-commissioned-grow-gods-mission-new-time-place\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2017\/04\/Sarah-Payne.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2017\/04\/Sarah-Payne.jpg\",\"width\":1370,\"height\":913},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2017\/seminary-graduates-commissioned-grow-gods-mission-new-time-place\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Seminary graduates commissioned to ‘grow into God’s mission in a new time and place’\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/\",\"name\":\"EMU News\",\"description\":\"News from the Eastern Mennonite University community.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d6737034219398924e6bd5dedcfa1245\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Seminary graduates commissioned to 'grow into God's mission in a new time and place' - EMU News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2017\/seminary-graduates-commissioned-grow-gods-mission-new-time-place\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Seminary graduates commissioned to 'grow into God's mission in a new time and place' - EMU News","og_description":"Thirteen graduates of Eastern Mennonite Seminary received blessings, degrees and certificates during Saturday\u2019s seminary commencement. They were also accompanied by the observation, offered by associate dean Nancy Heisey, that \u201ctoday","og_url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2017\/seminary-graduates-commissioned-grow-gods-mission-new-time-place\/","og_site_name":"EMU News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/EasternMennonite","article_published_time":"2017-04-30T18:55:59+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-05-01T16:13:29+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1370,"height":913,"url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2017\/04\/Sarah-Payne.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@EMU_News","twitter_site":"@EMU_News","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2017\/seminary-graduates-commissioned-grow-gods-mission-new-time-place\/","url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2017\/seminary-graduates-commissioned-grow-gods-mission-new-time-place\/","name":"Seminary graduates commissioned to 'grow into God's mission in a new time and place' - EMU News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2017\/seminary-graduates-commissioned-grow-gods-mission-new-time-place\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2017\/seminary-graduates-commissioned-grow-gods-mission-new-time-place\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2017\/04\/Sarah-Payne.jpg","datePublished":"2017-04-30T18:55:59+00:00","dateModified":"2017-05-01T16:13:29+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d6737034219398924e6bd5dedcfa1245"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2017\/seminary-graduates-commissioned-grow-gods-mission-new-time-place\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2017\/seminary-graduates-commissioned-grow-gods-mission-new-time-place\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2017\/seminary-graduates-commissioned-grow-gods-mission-new-time-place\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2017\/04\/Sarah-Payne.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2017\/04\/Sarah-Payne.jpg","width":1370,"height":913},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2017\/seminary-graduates-commissioned-grow-gods-mission-new-time-place\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Seminary graduates commissioned to ‘grow into God’s mission in a new time and place’"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/","name":"EMU News","description":"News from the Eastern Mennonite University community.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d6737034219398924e6bd5dedcfa1245","name":"admin","sameAs":["http:\/\/"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33311"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33311\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33341,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33311\/revisions\/33341"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33311"},{"taxonomy":"feature","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/feature?post=33311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}