MCCN'S Creation Care Council
meets twice yearly, either in Goshen, IN, or via web
cam.
Above,
left to right: Dave Neufeld of Winnipeg, Manitoba; Greg
Bowman of Columbiana, Ohio: Karla
Stoltzfus Detwiler of Iowa City, Iowa, Joanne Moyer of Winnipeg,
Manitoba; Dave
Hockman-Wert of Corvalis, Oregon; Jennifer Schrock, Jim Smith
and Luke Gascho, all of Goshen, Indiana.
Current Members of the Creation
Care Council: (pictured at left
in alphabetical order)
Greg Bowman, Bally, PA,
is the former editor of The Rodale Institute's online
magazine, New Farm (www.newfarm.org). This role has
engaged him in many issues of global sustainable and organic
agriculture, and in the online educational work of the Institute.
He helped to establish and continues to help plan the annual
Farming with Values that Last conference, a Christian sustainable
farming event. Bowman has written farmer-oriented books for the
U.S. Department of Agriculture on alternative weed management
and cover crop use; worked in therapeutic horticulture; coordinated
a statewide global climate change campaign within the broader
faith community, and served in leadership of the Bally Mennonite
Church. He is interested in building durable and life-giving
connections between local farmers and all Christian institutions
that offer food services, such as schools, colleges and retirement
centers. As of July 2010, he is planning a move to Columbiana,
Ohio, where he will direct Goodness Grows, an agricultural
ministry of a missional church plant.
Contact information: gebowman@dejazzd.com
P.O. Box 490
Bally PA 19503
Luke Gascho, Goshen,
IN, is executive
director of Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center of Goshen College
and holds degrees in biology, Christian school administration and
educational leadership. Luke is grateful for the way three major
interests of his life merged when he accepted his current position:
educational leadership, care of the earth, and theology. “Working
to help form Mennonite Creation Care Network is another way of
engaging these three interests,” he says.
Luke frequently
works on sustainable building issues and has been deeply involved
in the design and construction of a "green" facility
at Merry Lea. He enjoys many opportunities to speak on sustainable
building principles and gives tours of Merry Lea’s facility. Luke
also enjoys reading and speaking about the connection between faith
and stewardship of the earth. He envisions people from many backgrounds
within the church making a commitment to caring for the earth in
new and deeper ways. Luke is always looking for ways to learn about
the earth and how it functions. In his spare time, he enjoys gardening,
planting trees, and photographing nature.
Contact information: lukeag@goshen.edu,
260-799-5869
Dave Hockman-Wert,
Corvallis, OR, is a geographic information
systems (GIS) analyst with the U.S. Geological Survey Forest and
Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center. Dave has earned an M.A. degree
in Environmental Studies from the University of Oregon, with an
emphasis on the role of religion in motivating sustainable behavior.
His research focused on the environmental attitudes and behaviors
of Amish and Mennonite farmers in Belleville, Pennsylvania.
In the past,
Dave has worked with sustainable forestry in southern Oregon
and watersheds in central Pennsylvania. Presently, the idea
of responsible consumption energizes him. Dave challenges his
ingrained Mennonite tendency toward frugality with the mantra, "Cheaper
isn't always better." He's learning to vote with his dollars,
purchasing products and services that support the kind of world
he wants to live in.
Contact information: dhwert@yahoo.com
Joanne Moyer, Winnipeg, MB, is
currently pursuing a PhD at the University of Manitoba, exploring
faith-based organizations engaged in environmental work. Her broader
interests include the intersection of faith and environmental issues,
environmental ethics and the ways various cultures understand the
relationship between humans and the natural world. Joanne has worked
as an environmental consultant for various research and writing
projects, including the Mennonite Central Committee's 7 Days website,
which was later published as Earth Trek: Celebrating and Sustaining
God's Creation. She is also serving on the advisory committee for
Canadian Mennonite University's Braintree Creation Care Centre.
Contact information: moyerjoanne@yahoo.ca
David Neufeld, Winnipeg,
MB, is the past chair of the Mennonite
Environmental Task Force. Presently, he is director of community
planning services for the Government of Manitoba, which involves
encouraging rural communities to do proper land use planning. David
has a Ph.D. in Planning from the University of Waterloo.
Remaining faithful to living more with less is a personal environmental
challenge that David takes seriously. This year he is buying a
household share in a local small-scale vegetable farm, and is enjoying
walking to work.
Contact information: eraconsulting@yahoo.ca
Jennifer Halteman
Schrock, Goshen, IN, coordinates public programs
at Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center. She is active in Christian
education and worship planning at Berkey Avenue Mennonite Fellowship
and has also used her M.Div. as a curriculum writer. Just
Eating: Practicing Your Faith at the Table is her most recent
publication. Currently, she works with the Mennonite Creation Care
web site.
Jennifer enjoys gardening with native plants and has many friends
in the plant kingdom. She loves outdoor travel and learning about
ecology and natural history.
Contact information: jenniferhs@goshen.edu
Jim Smith, Goshen, IN, is a church relations manager and advocate
system manager at Mennonite Mutual Aid. He has also served as a
pastor. Jim has a personal interest in creation care and has experience
teaching biblical and theological creation care perspectives to
congregations. How can congregations implement creation care theology
in practical ways? What forms of ministry might grow out of a focus
on creation care? These are questions that intrigue Jim.
Contact information: jim.smith@mma-online.org, 1-800-222-5054
ext. 330
H. James Smith
MMA
1110 N. Main St.
P.O. Box 483
Goshen, IN 46526
Fax: (574) 537-6639 www.mma-online.org
Karla Stoltzfus Detweiler, Iowa City,
IA, serves
part-time as Minister of Church Community Life at First Mennonite
Church in Iowa City and also works as
a farmhand, helping to grow lots of wholesome vegetables at ZJ
Farm near Solon, Iowa. "I love tending the growth of
people and plants, and am thrilled to live and work in a place
that blesses both of these callings!" Karla says.
When she is not writing sermons, planning social events
for youth and young adults, or playing in the soil, she enjoys
biking, growing and arranging cut flowers, canoeing, camping, reading,
knitting, and cooking meals to share with friends. She also
enjoys relating to Spanish-speaking neighbors through volunteer
work at Iowa City’s Free Medical Clinic.
contact information: karlastoltzweiler@gmail.com
Confession
of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective, 1995
Mennonite
Creation Care Network
P.O. Box 263 Wolf Lake, IN 46796
PHONE 260-799-5869 FAX 260-799-5875
Luke Gascho provides leadership for MCCN.
Contact him at the number above or
email lukeag@goshen.edu
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