AMBS - Key Persons
Aaron Yost joined the AMBS Advancement Team as Data Services Manager in January 2018.
Originally from rural northeastern Arizona, Aaron studied Communication, Theatre and English at Bluffton University. Following graduation, he worked in data management in suburban Maryland for five years. He also worked with a theatre company in Washington, D.C., and as an English teacher in Spain for a year with his wife, Joni, who now teaches at Waterford Elementary School in Goshen, Indiana. Aaron's interests include traveling, music, basketball, theatre, reading and listening to podcasts.
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor of Christian Proclamation Campus Care Provider
Allan Rudy-Froese blends a heart for the church, preparation in communicating the Good News of the gospel, and infectious humor with the ministry of teaching students how to communicate with diverse audiences in the church and in current culture. His research brings homiletics, theology, biblical studies and performance theory to bear on preaching. Research interests for Allan include Jonah as a source for narrative, poetic and missional preaching; preaching practice and theology among North American Anabaptist-Mennonites; and the changing landscape of prophetic and pastoral preaching. His latest interest is in stage fright for preachers and leaders of worship. Allan leads preaching workshops for preachers, Scripture readers and worship leaders.
Betty Pries specializes in providing mediation, training, facilitation, coaching and consulting services for businesses, not-for-profit organizations, governments and churches. She is published in magazines and has authored several manuals. Betty is CEO and Senior Consultant at Credence & Co., where she mentors and supports the growth of the Credence Team.
Betty has worked as a mediator, trainer and consultant on conflict resolution and conflict management issues since 1993 nationally and internationally. She specializes in resolving workplace disputes and has helped many organizations design dispute resolution systems. She has also developed expertise in managing faith community conflict, particularly within the church. In addition to teaching Conflict Resolution (PACS 202), Betty delivers dispute resolution training through Conrad Grebel University College's Certificate Program in Conflict Management, Community Justice Initiatives (CJI), and others.
Betty received much of her training through mediation services in Winnipeg, Manitoba, including a Diploma in Mediation as well as extensive training in negotiation, consensus building, case development, facilitation, conciliation, anger management, and managing workplace conflict. She has a Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Theology, Diploma of Mediation, Master of Theological Studies, Doctor of Philosophy, and is a chartered mediator.
Job Titles:
- Vice President and Academic Dean Title LX Coordinator
Beverly Lapp brings more than two decades of experience in academic affairs, teacher development, curriculum design and intercultural exchange to her work in the Dean's Office at AMBS. She is an active church music practitioner with a deep interest in the relationship between music and theology and in the spiritual power of congregational song. She previously served on the Goshen (Indiana) College music faculty for 23 years, where she chaired the Music Department, directed the Core Curriculum and led four Study-Service Term semesters in China, Peru and the Dominican Republic. A collaborative team leader, Beverly has a robust background in faculty and student recruitment, strategic planning and educational assessment.
Job Titles:
- Director of Information Technology
Job Titles:
- Assistant Director of Human Resources and Payroll
Carla joined AMBS in February 2023 as half-time Assistant Director of Human Resources (HR) and Payroll.
In her role, Robinson maintains the seminary's payroll system, manages employee compensation and benefits administration, facilitates and coordinates hiring processes for open positions, and ensures that the seminary maintains compliance with HR regulations.
Robinson brings a wealth of prior HR and administrative experience. Between 2017 and 2023, she served in HR at Wabash National/Supreme in Goshen and at Godfrey Marine in Elkhart; and as a temporary employee in HR, finance and accounting for various agencies through Creative Financial Staffing in Elkhart County. Prior to that, she was a receptionist for Supreme Corporation in Goshen; Development Assistant for the Scholarship Foundation of St. Joseph County, Inc.; and Customer Service and Inside Sales Representative for Creative Dimensions in Nappanee, Indiana.
Job Titles:
- Executive Assistant, Church Leadership Center
David B. Miller is a Teaching Associate of the AMBS Church Leadership Center with more than 20 years' experience in congregational leadership.
In this role, David is available as a pastoral consultant for leaders, congregations and church-related organizations. David is also able to serve as a visiting preacher, lecturer or workshop leader. Throughout his career, David's work has focused on:
Christian leadership
the missional church
peace, justice, and nonviolence
healthy boundaries
holistic witness
Job Titles:
- Managing Editor, Institute of Mennonite Studies Core Adjunct Faculty
David Cramer, PhD, has a passion for understanding the difference the Christian faith makes for how Christians live in contemporary society. His scholarship focuses on the tradition of Christian social ethics from the early 20th-century social gospel movement to its 21st-century expression in Anabaptist theological ethics.
Before teaching courses in theology and ethics at AMBS, he taught Christian Scriptures at Baylor University as a presidential scholar and was an adjunct instructor in theology, ethics, philosophy and Scripture at Bethel University in Mishawaka, Indiana.
He brings to his role as Managing Editor of the Institute of Mennonite Studies experience working for Baker Academic and Brazos Press in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is co-author of A Field Guide to Christian Nonviolence: Key Thinkers, Activists, and Movements for the Gospel of Peace (Baker Academic, 2022), and his writing has appeared in scholarly and popular outlets, including Anabaptist World, Christian Century and Sojourners.
He also serves as pastor of Keller Park Church, a Central District Conference (MC USA) congregation in South Bend, Indiana.
"After having served as a church leader for more than 30 years, I am so grateful to be a part of this vibrant academic community where people from across the world learn with each other. It is wonderful, at this stage of life, to be immersed in the rich diversity of this campus and to think together about how the church makes God's wisdom known in the world." -David W. Boshart, PhD
president@ambs.edu
PhD in Leadership Studies with an emphasis in Missional Theology,
Andrews University School of Education, Berrien Springs, Michigan, 2009
MAR with a major in New Testament Theology, Eastern Mennonite Seminary, Harrisonburg, Virginia, 1987
BA in Biblical Studies and Theology, Eastern Mennonite College, Harrisonburg, Virginia, 1986
David Boshart brings a variety of administrative and leadership experiences to his role as AMBS's fourth President, which he began in January 2020. Prior to coming to AMBS, he served as Executive Conference Minister for Central Plains Mennonite Conference of Mennonite Church USA (2010-19). As part of this role, he was responsible for supporting emerging congregations and staffing a partnership with Mennonite Mission Network and Iglesia Cristiana Menonita de Colombia (Colombia Mennonite Church) in support of Anabaptist networks in Ecuador and Venezuela. David pastored for more than 25 years in congregations in Iowa and Virginia. His teaching experience includes serving as Appointed Associate Professor at the Andrews University School of Education (2009-present) and as an Adjunct Faculty member at AMBS (2014-15) and Eastern Mennonite University (2010-15). He has served on the Mennonite Church USA Executive Board (2007-19), including as moderator (2017-19), and also was a member of the AMBS Board (1999-2007), serving as chair from 2003 to 2005.
Job Titles:
- in 2021 As Vice President for Administration and Chief Financial Officer
- Vice President for Administration and Chief Financial Officer
Deanna A. Risser joined AMBS in 2021 as Vice President for Administration and Chief Financial Officer. Prior to coming to AMBS, she served for 22 years at Goshen (Indiana) College (GC) - the last five years as Vice President for Finance.
Deanna oversees a variety of administrative areas at AMBS, including the Business Office, Housing, Human Resources, IT, Maintenance and Food Service. She earned a Graduate Certificate in Theological Studies from AMBS in 2023.
Deanna is also an active volunteer, having served in various capacities on the boards of Camp Friedenswald; The Hermitage Community in Three Rivers, Michigan; Ten Thousand Villages - Goshen; Mennonite Economic Development Associates - Michiana Chapter; and Habitat for Humanity in Cass County, Michigan.
Job Titles:
- Development Associate for Canada
Doug Amstutz joined the Development Team in January 2021 as Development Associate for Canada. He brings a wealth of geographic and vocational experience to his role. Having grown up on a farm in the small town of Kidron, Ohio, Doug has lived in a number of locations in the U.S. as well as overseas with Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) (Europe, Egypt and Ethiopia). Since 2001, Doug and Wanda have called Kitchener, Ontario home.
Doug and his wife, Wanda, met at AMBS, marrying and graduating in 1996. They have served as pastors in various locations over many years. They also served with MCC Ethiopia as country representatives for four years. They have three young adult daughters, Amani, Abigail and Sophia, who recently graduated from the University of Waterloo.
In addition to his role with AMBS, Doug currently serves half-time as Pastor at Manheim Mennonite Church near Kitchener, Ontario. He enjoys reading Richard Rohr and recently graduated from the CAC Living School. Doug gets his exercise daily by walking and biking. Doug & Wanda love playing table games such as Scrabble and Pandemic, as well as watching their favorite Ohio and Ontario sports teams and shows such as Downton Abbey and The Crown.
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins MATGA Program Director
Drew Strait, PhD, brings a contagious enthusiasm for the world of the earliest Christians to his work as a theological animator of Scripture, seeking to connect the dots between early Christians' radical discipleship and the ways contemporary assemblies of Jesus followers can embody God's future just world now. He is passionate about becoming the gospel in community as practitioners and agents of hope and new creation among those exploited by the fallen powers of this world. Drew's passion for the church's potential to lift up the brokenhearted has led him to various ministry venues, including mission work with Haitian refugees in the Dominican Republic, an interim pastor role at Living Water Community Church in Chicago (Mennonite Church USA) and, most recently, serving as an elder at Peace Fellowship in Washington, D.C. He comes to AMBS after teaching New Testament for five years at St. Mary's Ecumenical Institute in Baltimore, Maryland.
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor of Hebrew Bible Bible Department Chair Associate Director, Institute of Mennonite Studies
Jackie Wyse-Rhodes, PhD, who joined AMBS's Teaching Faculty in July 2022, has taught courses on the Old and New Testaments, methods of biblical interpretation, exegetical studies, and introductory Greek and Hebrew, among other topics.
An active scholar, presenter and speaker, she is currently writing Numbers for the Believers Church Bible Commentary series (Herald Press) and "Isaiah and the Environment" for the Bible Odyssey website (Society of Biblical Literature). She contributed a piece titled "Land" to Biblical Themes in Science Fiction (Society of Biblical Literature, 2023).
Jacqueline is a freelance lecturer in Islamic Studies who teaches regularly in Germany and Egypt. She has also taught courses for theological seminaries and church groups in Lebanon, Malaysia, the Sudan, Nigeria, Tanzania, Kenya, Switzerland and the United States.
In October 2022 and on behalf of the Global Leadership Collaborative at AMBS, Professor Hoover taught two intensive courses at STAKWW, the seminary of the GITJ synod in Central Java, Indonesia. The GITJ is the oldest of the three Indonesian Mennonite synods, and the oldest Mennonite church outside of Europe and North America. She also presented a public seminar for pastors and leaders on "Women Preaching the Gospel: A Mennonite Perspective."
Job Titles:
- Member of Prairie Street Mennonite Church
- Visiting Professor of Church and Mission MDiv Program Director DMin Faculty Mentor
James R. Krabill, PhD, is retired from full employment, having served for 42 years as a mission worker and administrator with Mennonite Mission Network, 1976-2018. However, he continues to teach around the world.
For fourteen of those years, Krabill lived and worked with his family in West Africa as a Bible and Church History teacher among African Initiated Churches (AICs) in various village settings, Bible institutes and theological faculties, including eight years with members of the Harrist Church among Ivory Coast's Dida people, collecting, recording, transcribing, and publishing over 500 original Harrist hymns for use in literacy and music training. Many of these hymns appeared in Krabill's published PhD thesis, The Hymnody of the Harrist Church (Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 1995).
Krabill has been a frequent speaker in various church and academic settings across the United States and has lectured or taught courses in over twenty countries, currently serving as an adjunct professor at Eastern Mennonite Seminary, Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Dallas International University, and Bethesda Khankho Institute (Manipur, India).
Krabill is a member of Prairie Street Mennonite Church in Elkhart, Ind. He and his wife, Jeanette, have three adult children and five grandchildren.
Job Titles:
- Professor of Anabaptist Studies Director, Institute of Mennonite Studies Editor, Anabaptist Witness Journal
Jamie Pitts, PhD, seeks to join the Spirit's work of bringing healing, justice, and joy in and through the church to all of creation. He does this in part through teaching and research on global Anabaptist-Mennonite theology and history, and participation in local congregational life and community organizing. His current research interests include theological method, pneumatology, baptism, gender and sexuality, and postcolonial mission. He is also the editor of Anabaptist Witness journal and the director of the Institute of Mennonite Studies at AMBS.
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor of Peace Studies and Christian Social Ethics Peace Studies Director MATPS Program Director
Janna Hunter-Bowman, PhD, brings experience as a peace and justice worker in a variety of settings to her academic study and teaching roles. She has worked with Witness for Peace in organization and advocacy, and with Justapaz in Colombia in the areas of documentation, education, and advocacy. Immediately after earning a Master of Arts: Peace Studies at AMBS, she entered a PhD program at the Kroc Institute at the University of Notre Dame. There she was the first student to combine the disciplines of theology and peace studies into a single program, an endeavor that found expression in her dissertation, which examined the agency of victims of violence in Colombia's war zones.
Job Titles:
- Director, CHANGE Initiativ
Jeff has had a variety of roles in graduate theological education for nearly twenty years. Prior to his arrival at AMBS, Jeff served on the faculty and as an academic administrator at Brite Divinity School at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas.
Job Titles:
- Visiting Professor of Peace Studies History, Theology, and Ethics Department Chair Student Services Associat
Joe was Professor of Peace, Justice and Conflict Studies at Goshen College from 2003 to 2020, following 24 years of reconciliation work in Ireland and Northern Ireland under the auspices of Mennonite Mission Network.
He earned his PhD in Irish History from the National University of Ireland, and designed and later served as the first director for the MPhil program in Reconciliation Studies at the Belfast campus of the Irish School of Ecumenics (Trinity College Dublin). He has also served as a consultant for The Colossian Forum, which helps guide Christian communities through conflict.
Joe is a member of Berkey Avenue Mennonite Fellowship in Goshen.
Joe Sawatzky began in August 2020 as Global Leadership Collaborative Project Specialist for AMBS, serving as an international education liaison for both AMBS and Mennonite Mission Network in Elkhart, Indiana.
Through a partnership between the two organizations, Joe serves one-third of his time as a Church Relations Representative with Mission Network with AMBS, helping to develop the seminary's Global Anabaptist Education initiative. He represents AMBS in connecting with Anabaptist-related educational institutions across the world as part of a partnership between AMBS and Mennonite World Conference (MWC).
According to Joe in an October 2020 article written by Laurie Oswald Robinson, the role integrates his two biggest passions - mission and theological education. After earning a Master of Divinity in Mission and Evangelism from AMBS in 2005, he served in South Africa (2006-14) with his family as a mission worker/teacher/administrator for Bethany Bible School, based in the city of Mthatha. The itinerant, nonresidential, biblical and theological education program was geared toward African Initiated Churches in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Robinson wrote that through fraternal support, occasional workshops, and preaching, Joe also interacted with other Anabaptist-related bodies in the region, such as Grace Community Church (a member of MWC) and the emerging Anabaptist Network in South Africa.
Job Titles:
- Archivist for the ELCA Region 6 Archives at Trinity Lutheran Seminary
Joel Wildermuth is a PhD student at Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, Ohio. Specializing in Jewish and Christian studies in the Greco-Roman period, he is interested in the historical contexts and socio-political forces that animated the production and transmission of texts that shaped Jewish and early Christian identities. In the classroom, Joel is passionate about strengthening the interface between ancient texts and modern faith communities.
In addition to teaching, Joel is the Archivist for the ELCA Region 6 Archives at Trinity Lutheran Seminary at Capital University in Bexley, Ohio. He is an active member at Gethsemane Lutheran Church in Columbus, Ohio, where he has chaired the Worship Ministry Team, coordinated children's Sunday school, taught middle school confirmation courses and led adult education seminars.
Job Titles:
- Program Administrator, Thriving in Ministry Grant
As the Program Administrator for the Thriving in Ministry Grant, Julia Schmidt provides direction and administration for the Integrity Circles programs and for Transition to Leadership. She is also the organizer for Pastors & Leaders conferences.
Job Titles:
- Director of IT Strategies, CHANGE Initiativ
Job Titles:
- Director of Library Services
Karl sees the library as a space for a theological conversation across space and time, and invites students, faculty, and church leaders to join that conversation through reading, writing, and various forms of creative expression. He collaborates with library staff, AMBS faculty, and library colleagues in peer institutions to develop library collections and expand online access to AMBS scholarship and Anabaptist-Mennonite resources. Karl lives in Elkhart with his spouse, Twilla Epp-Stutzman, and their three children. He enjoys outdoor activities like bicycling and gardening.
Katerina Gea, Adjunct Instructor, is the pastor of Pasadena Mennonite Church on Tongva land in the Los Angeles basin. She is an organizer of white settler descent who co-founded the Repair Network, a model for Christian faith communities and institutions to practice reparative justice and solidarity with Indigenous Peoples. She has been shaped by Indigenous Peoples' cosmologies and their struggles for sovereignty and land rights through her work with the Coalition to Dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery. Katerina first traveled on the Trail of Death Pilgrimage as a student at AMBS, and graduated in 2016 with an M.Div. in Theology and Peace Studies, going on to plant "Wild Church, Fresno" and to coordinate healing gardens in California State Prisons as part of the Insight Garden Program.
Katie Graber is an ethnomusicologist who studies race and ethnicity in a variety of contexts including Mennonite music, American music and European opera. Katie is the Intercultural Worship editor for the Voices Together project and the U.S. director of the Anabaptist Worship Network.
Katie studied piano pedagogy and religion at Goshen (Indiana) College and received a PhD in ethnomusicology from the University of Wisconsin. She teaches courses on Western music history and world music at Ohio State University, accompanies Suzuki recitals and school choirs, and leads singing at Columbus (Ohio) Mennonite Church.
Kim is a scholar of theological ethics and a full-time pastor at Stirling Avenue Mennonite Church in Kitchener, Ontario. Her work is shaped by her experience of growing up in a peace-church tradition that often failed to notice how peace is negotiated and performed in sexual/sexualized and gendered (as well as other socially located) ways.
For Kim, understandings of God, the church, morality, and the body are highly contextual and shaped by intersecting relationships of power. Two of her guiding questions are: how is power (both interpersonal and social systemic) functioning to oppress? And what do life-giving relationships of power look and feel like, especially according to those who have been disempowered?
Kim's current work focuses on social and theological understandings of desire; liberative sexual ethics in a multi-faith context; institutional cultures of abuse; and ways to incorporate queer theory and theology into the life of the church.
In Semester Two of 2023-24, Kim is teaching HTE663E Sexuality, Colonialism and Queer Theology.
Laura Brenneman-Fullwood is a hospital chaplain and visiting religion professor at AMBS, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Eastern Mennonite Seminary. Her work is at the intersection of biblical studies and peace studies, combining theory and practice. She is the New Testament editor of the Studies in Peace and Scripture Series with Drew Strait (New Testament editor) and Jackie Wyse-Rhodes (Hebrew Bible editor) and a restorative justice practitioner in her local community. Laura enjoys biking, reading, traveling, being outside and being with friends.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor of Pastoral Care Director of Contextual Education
Leah Thomas, PhD, blends an academic focus on pastoral care and Christian social ethics with professional experience in hospital chaplaincy, pastoring and nonprofit management. Her ministry and theological commitments inform her teaching and research, which carefully attends to and incorporates voices excluded by the dominant culture, asking how these voices inform and shift caregiving. Leah's research interests include anti-racist and intercultural pastoral care, trauma, culture, and the role of embodiment in caregiving and Christian spiritual practices. Her desire to teach at AMBS is rooted in a commitment to peace, justice and anti-racism in a world that is reeling from disparity, injustice and divisiveness.
Lesley Francisco McClendon, DMin, is the senior pastor of C3 Hampton, a Mennonite Church USA congregation in Hampton, Virginia. In addition to pastoring, she serves as an instructor for Duke Divinity School in Durham, North Carolina.
Lesley teaches with vigor and passion and aims to deliver powerful, life-altering messages with her simple, easy-to-comprehend delivery. She has a passion for bridging generational gaps and connecting to a broad range of audiences. Lesley loves helping leaders cut through the noise of their own self-doubt, find their most authentic voice and live with confidence. She was part of a consultation hosted by AMBS in July 2021 that helped shape development of the AMBS Doctor of Ministry program and other leadership initiatives, and she has served as a mentoring pastor for AMBS's !Explore program.
Witty, spontaneous, comedic, and ever-evolving, Dr. Lesley seeks to be both rooted and relevant - staying on the cutting edge while remaining true to and standing firm upon the solid foundation of the Christian faith. She is married to Caleb McClendon, and they are the proud parents of one son.
Luis joined AMBS in 2022 as half-time Director of Practical Leadership Training.
In this new role, Tapia Rubio is overseeing the development and implementation of Practical Leadership Training, a series of learning modules that will help church leaders, lay leaders and seminary students strengthen their skills in administrative leadership and contextual engagement in congregations and other settings. The modules will serve pastors and leaders seeking continuing education in these topic areas; current AMBS students; and participants in the seminary's Transition to Leadership and Ministry Integrity Circles programs.
Tapia Rubio is currently a PhD student in Theology at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. He also teaches theology in the SeBAH program (Hispanic Anabaptist Biblical Seminary) and is a Research Fellow with the Institute for the Study of Global Anabaptism at Goshen (Indiana) College. He graduated from AMBS in May 2021 with a Master of Divinity with a major in Theological Studies: History, Theology and Ethics. He also was selected to receive an Award for Excellence in Theological Studies from the seminary's History, Theology and Ethics Department.
Prior to studying at AMBS, Tapia Rubio was involved in pastoral ministry in Chile and Ecuador and was connected to theological education in both countries. Tapia Rubio works remotely from his home in Portland, Oregon.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director Emeritus of Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center of Goshen ( Indiana ) College
Luke Gascho is Executive Director Emeritus of Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center of Goshen (Indiana) College, where he also served as Professor of Sustainability/Environmental Education. He speaks at conferences and churches on a variety of of sustainability topics, including regenerative stewardship, Indigenous landscapes, and strategic planning. He also has been involved with the Potawatomi-Miami Trail Marker Group.
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor of Theology and Ethics History, Theology, and Ethics Department Chair Director, Faith Formation Collaborativ
Dr. Malinda Elizabeth Berry is both a theologian and a teacher: she's passionate about the subject matter of her courses and believes that the content of a course should shape how it is taught. Her commitment to Anabaptism in the Mennonite tradition is evident in her approach to an array of topics, issues, and concerns of our day: Christian social responsibility, environmental stewardship-with an emphasis on human ecology, and renewing congregational life in its structural and spiritual dimensions. In addition to the research she does to support her teaching, Malinda continues to develop her contribution to peace theology: shalom political theology (SPT). She is currently working to outline a model for theological reflection based on SPT for application in congregational and organizational settings. She is also the director of the Faith Formation Collaborative.
Job Titles:
- Director of Marketing & Communications
Job Titles:
- Secretary / Lititz, Pennsylvania