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A Mennonite pastor won $125,000 US while playing on TV’s Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Feb. 22 in New York City. Mitch Brown, pastor of Evanston (Ill.) Mennonite Church and a part-time truck driver, said he plans to donate $15,000 to Mennonite Central Committee for its aid to India’s earthquake victims and use the rest to pay some bills. Brown, 50, who said he had fun being in the hot seat, finally got to be on the trivia show after trying unsuccessfully several times over the last two years. Brown said if he had won the jackpot, worth $2,020,000, he would have donated the first $1 million to MCC. – Mennonite Weekly Review
Tour group at synagogue ruins in Capernaum
Photo: Gary Chio |
Elmer A. Martens, president emeritus of MB Biblical Seminary, co-hosted a tour group in the Holy Land March 2-12. The group was made up of 14 Americans and 10 people from Botswana, including bishops, pastors, a hospital administrator, a diamond mine worker and a soldier. The tour was coordinated by MBMS International and Africa Inter-Mennonite Mission (AIMM) for the purpose of learning, sharing and building friendships across denominational and cultural lines. Long-time AIMM worker Tim Bertsche was the other host. Martens related that the most enriching part of the tour was the interaction with the Botswana leaders and learning about their interpretation of biblical symbols like water baptism. While at the Jordan River, nine people from Botswana dipped themselves seven times in the river, following the example of Naaman in the Old Testament. Archbishop Joseph Motswasele, pastor of the Spiritual Healing Church and overseer of 31 churches with a membership of 30,000, explained the importance of water for his people, both for healing and cleansing. Mary Ann Isaak, an MB pastor in Clovis, Calif., said the event gave her insight into other cultures. The group was originally denied entry in Bethlehem due to the threat of violence, and one of the African members said she was afraid to visit the city because she had seen people killed in the streets of South Africa. Isaak recalled, “I realized that we experienced Bethlehem in very different ways: I as a tourist and pilgrim with unconscious expectations of safety, she as identifying with the vulnerability of people who live there.” Bertsche believes the group’s goal to experience God in a new, transforming way was met. MBMS International is the global mission agency of the North American Mennonite Brethren Conferences; AIMM is a mission agency sponsored by five Mennonite Conferences in North America, including Mennonite Brethren. – MBMSI International, Africa Inter-Mennonite Mission
“House of Peace”, a Palestinian house in Anata, West Bank, was bulldozed April 4 by the Israeli military. The house, owned by the Shawamreh family, was built with the help of Mennonite Central Committee and Israeli and Palestinian peace groups. It had been destroyed twice before. Although two Israeli peace activists, Jeff Halper of the Committee Against Home Demolitions and Rabbi Arik Ascherman of Rabbis for Human Rights, parked their car in front of the house and sat down in front of the bulldozers, the army forcibly removed them, moved the cars and bulldozed the house, destroying the foundation as well so that the house could not be rebuilt. Ascherman was arrested. This was the fourth demolition on that day in Anata, close to Jerusalem. Eleven homes were destroyed by the Israeli government within days of the Anata demolitions. The Shawamreh house became a symbol of the movement to end such demolitions. MCC co-sponsored a speaking tour for Halper and Salim Shawamreh in North America earlier this year, advocating an end to the violence and a peaceful resolution of the conflict in the Middle East. The Shawamreh house was first destroyed in July 1998, was rebuilt in August 1998 and was destroyed again the next day. At the second rebuilding, completed in July 1999, the house was designated “House of Peace” in Arabic, Hebrew and English. – Mennonite Central Committee
Mennonite Central Committee’s Global Family Program is now sponsoring 13 students in China’s northeastern Sichuan Province, the first students in China. MCC’s Global Family Program helps students in other countries continue their education who otherwise would not be able to afford it. China has a policy of nine years of compulsory schooling, but government resources have become stretched thin over the last few years. Schools, especially in rural areas, are forced to charge tuition in order to cover teachers’ salaries, maintenance and other expenses. The Global Family Program does not cover the students’ total costs. Local Chinese government officials and the schools have offered to match MCC Global Family funds so that more students can be sponsored. MCC plans to expand the Global Family Program in China in April 2001 and is looking for additional sponsors. – MCC
Wallace and Evelyn Schellenberg will be part of an exchange program between Mennonite Central Committee and the Imam Khomeini Education and Research Institute in Qom, Iran, beginning in May 2001. In 1997, MCC initiated the exchange program through an agreement with the Institute by inviting two Iranian students to study at the Toronto School of Theology. Wallace will be studying religion at the institute; Evelyn hopes to volunteer for a social service agency. The Schellenbergs closed their family medical practice in Paoli, Ind. in order to volunteer with MCC. – MCC
Over $640,000 has been donated to Mennonite Central Committee for its India earthquake relief. MCC and the Canadian Foodgrains Bank contributed 1000 tonnes of wheat valued at $450,000 for food-for-work projects of Church’s Auxillary for Social Action (CASA), an Indian relief and development agency. CASA is helping people to mend roads, build water reservoirs and rebuild homes, schools and health centres in seven villages damaged by the earthquake. In February, CASA supplied 35,000 families in 150 villages with emergency food, clothing, blankets and kitchen utensils; MCC contributed $45,000 to that effort. – MCC
During the 1992-95 Bosnian War, 700,000 people were displaced in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Many are now returning. In order to help the refugees get re-established, Mennonite Central Committee and Church World Service have distributed 10,000 kg of seed potatoes, 500 kg of seed onions, rotor tillers, water pumps, backpack sprayers and fertilizer. Farmers who received the aid will donate a percentage of the crops of the next two years as part of a repayment program. – MCC
Only 10 people have openly admitted that they are HIV-positive in Botswana, a country in which there are 300,000 people infected with the deadly virus. Connie Thabangana, who was diagnosed with HIV in 1997, made a public declaration about her infection Mar. 17, 2001 in order to encourage other young people to avoid AIDS by remaining sexually pure. Her decision to go public was influenced by the counselling and other help she received at the Maun Counselling Centre. The centre, which receives support from Mennonite Central Committee, also offers daycare to orphans, material assistance to the needy, support groups for people living with HIV/AIDS, youth ministry and educational outreach to churches, workplaces, schools and community groups. – MCC
A study conducted by Auburn Theological Seminary’s Center for the Study of Theological Education found that many people were not aware of the presence of a seminary in their community. Some did not know what a theological seminary was. Those interviewed included newspaper reporters, college presidents, elected officials, business and non-profit leaders, clergy and the general public in Atlanta, Ga., Portland, Ore., Indianapolis, Ind. and Shreveport, La. – Sightings
Herbert (Sask.) Nursing Home will be holding a 50th anniversary reunion of staff and board members, June 30. Supper at 5:30 p.m. will be followed by a program at 7 p.m. More information can be obtained by writing Herbert Nursing Home, Box 520, Herbert, Sask. S0H 2A0; phoning (306) 784-2661; or faxing (306) 784-2449. – Herbert Nursing Home
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Last modified June 7, 2001.
© 2001 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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