Last week\u2019s evening banquet, held during the seminary\u2019s annual School for Leadership Training, brought together celebrants of the program\u2019s 20-year anniversary. Among the audience were CPE alumni, seminary faculty and program advisory council members, EMU cabinet members and trustees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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The honored guests were the family of Lena<\/strong> and Norman Yutzy \u201955, SEM \u201858<\/strong>, who provided the $1 million CPE program endowment: daughter Lenora Yutzy Bell \u201879 <\/strong>and husband Rick, daughter Charlene Yutzy Jacob \u201888<\/strong>, son David Yutzy \u201882 <\/strong>and wife Jewel<\/strong>; and grandson Ben Yutzy \u201806<\/strong>, with wife Risa Heatwole Yutzy<\/strong> and their two children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n CPE is \u201cinterfaith professional education for ministry\u201d that brings \u201ctheological students and ministers into supervised encounter with people in crisis,\u201d according to the Association of Clinical Pastoral Education. The curricula integrates practice, reflection and analysis, and a foundation of knowledge around theories of behavioral science. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Guest speaker Sara Wenger Shenk<\/strong>, who was the seminary\u2019s interim dean when the program began and is now president emeritus of Anabaptist Biblical Mennonite Seminary, described \u201cthe practice of CPE and pastoral formation as \u201clearning to be human, learning to be at home in our own bodies, histories, families, limitations and strengths, learning both what it means to flourish as embodied mortal human beings and flourish to as spiritual beings.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n CPE practices, she said, \u201chelp to move pastors on the long arduous journey to becoming comfortable in our own skin, to find a place of deep calm in the midst of crisis, to stay calm when panic threatens everyone in the room … learning to stay grounded in that non-anxious place, to trust and not be afraid as we weather crisis, deaths, serious events, profound regrets \u2026 learning the remarkable beauty and harmony of all we\u2019ve learned of christ\u2019s love and pain.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n A native of Plain City, Ohio, Norman Yutzy attended school through the 10th grade, then earned his GED and continued to feed his appetite for knowledge at then Eastern Mennonite College, where he eventually earned three degrees: a BA degree (1955), a bachelor of theology degree (1958) and finally, at the seminary, a bachelor of divinity degree (1961). While at EMC, he met and married Lena Beachy (the couple were engaged during an evangelizing tour in Europe).<\/p>\n\n\n\n His first encounter with CPE was while earning a master\u2019s degree at Princeton Theological Seminary, and he regarded that experience as profoundly beneficial for his life and ministry. Yutzy would go on to careers in teaching and the ministry: he taught Bible at EMC and Eastern Mennonite High School during the late 50s and early 60s, and held pastorates at churches in Illinois Pennsylvania and Virginia. After beginning a career as a successful dairy and poultry farmer, he pastored on an interim basis and continued to preach on request.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1993, Yutzy first met with seminary administration to share his idea of beginning a CPE program.* Ever thankful for his own CPE experience, \u201che desired others to receive that gift for use in their ministries,\u201d recalled son Dave Yutzy. Endowing such a program at the seminary was a way that he and Lena could contribute towards \u201csupporting ministries that blessed others\u2019 lives and furthered the work of God\u2019s Kingdom.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Norman Yutzy\u2019s idea was truly visionary: he hoped the CPE curricula and experiential learning would be a requisite for graduation. Basing the program at an institution of higher learning, instead of at medical facilities or psychiatric hospitals, would help to integrate the CPE curricula, mentorship and experiential learning model that Yutzy found so valuable to his own pastoral formation into the formal education of seminarians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By 1999, when six students enrolled, EMS was only the third seminary in the United States to host CPE (it was initially a Satellite Center under the UVa Health System\u2019s Department of Chaplaincy Services). Later that year, Kenton Derstine <\/strong>became the program\u2019s first (and until recently, only) director.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the banquet, Derstine recalled his own personal connection to Norman Yutzy, who was his pastor at Souderton Mennonite Church in Pennsylvania. \u201cI was a teenager then and he would often stop to purchase milk at our farm and get into lengthy conversations with my father about church matters \u2026 Even now, I still marvel at the mystery of how our paths would cross later.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The evening included recognition of Derstine\u2019s long contributions to the program and his \u201cstrong and visionary leadership,\u201d Yoder said. Under his guidance, the program is now accredited to offer units of Level I and II and Supervisory CPE. Initially EMS developed relationships with Rockingham Memorial Hospital (now Sentara RMH) and the Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community (VMRC) for clinical placements. Opportunities have expanded to Sunnyside Presbyterian Retirement Community and the Bridgewater Retirement Community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n New director Penny Driediger<\/strong>, who has been serving as a clinical educator since 2010, is also a staff chaplain at Rockingham Memorial Hospital. <\/p>\n\n\n\n On the occasion of the program\u2019s 20th anniversary, Derstine has been able to reconnect with many past students. \u201cIt has been gratifying to learn how so many alumni have gone on to serve as transformative ministers and leaders in a wide variety of ministry contexts, noting the value of their CPE experience for their life and ministry,\u201d he said. \u201cIn sum, I think it remarkable how one person\u2019s transformative experience in CPE birthed a vision to multiply that experience for others, generating a vision and resources that when joined to that of others has produced this powerful legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n *CPE had been offered at the seminary before. An extended unit of CPE was offered for more than 10 years from EMU Lancaster, with internship settings at Landis Homes in Lititz, Pa., and Garden Spot Village, in New Holland, Pa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, from the Harrisonburg campus, from 1980-83, Will Agee (based at Western State Hospital in Staunton) supervised three units of CPE at Rockingham Memorial Hospital for EMS students and others. This involved 23 interns over the three-year period.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Program focused on ministering to people in crisis<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
A gift in thanks for his own learning<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Recognition of first director\u2019s leadership<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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