Before their season-opening game, members of the Bluffton (Ohio) University baseball team pray in front of banners honoring their teammates who died in a March 2 bus crash in Atlanta. — Photo by Burton Andrews/Bluffton University

“Through tears, darkness gives way to light,” said Donald L. Pannabecker, vice president and dean of academic affairs emeritus at Bluffton (Ohio) University, of the renewal of hope after shocking losses.

He spoke at a memorial service for five Bluffton students who died in a bus accident, the worst tragedy ever at a Mennonite college.

The bus carrying the university’s baseball team on a spring break trip to Florida ran off an overpass near downtown Atlanta about 5:30 a.m. March 2 and plunged 30 feet onto Interstate 75.

Seven people died: students Zachary Arend, 18, of Oakwood, Ohio; David Betts, 20, of Bryan, Ohio; Scott Harmon, 19, of Lima, Ohio; Cody Holp, 19, of Arcanum, Ohio; Tyler Williams, 19, of Lima; and bus driver Jerome Niemeyer, 65, and his wife, Jean, 61, of Columbus Grove, Ohio.

“Darkness descends whenever lives are lost in tragic circumstances,” Bluffton President James M. Harder told a crowd of 2,500 people at a memorial service in Founders Hall. “But it also reflects our faith in God that lament can once again give way to hope, joy and love — that we can understand even death as a light in the darkness.”

Almost a month later, on March 30, the Bluffton baseball team made its own statement of hope by returning to the field, beginning a season played as a tribute to their teammates who died.

“It is about healing, because they need to get out and do what they love and honor the players that we lost,” said coach James Grandey.

With funds that came in from across the nation, including a $50,000 contribution from Major League Baseball, the university planned improvements to its baseball field and a permanent memorial honoring the 2007 team and the players who died.

Comedian’s death

A few weeks later, on May 17, word of another tragic death shocked Mennonites across the country. Lee Eshleman, 43, of Harrisonburg, Va., whose biblically based humor with partner Ted Swartz had entertained and inspired audiences for 20 years, lost a long struggle with depression and committed suicide, leaving a wife and three young children.

“Lee loved wrapping laughter around magic moments of God’s grace and presence,” Swartz said. “It feels like there’s a piece of me missing.”

In their Ted & Lee partnership, Swartz and Eshleman wrote and performed comedy on biblical themes that won acclaim and drew large crowds at events of many denominations.

At San Jose, Calif., on July 3, on a stage where Ted & Lee would have presented a new show at the Mennonite Church USA convention, Hesston (Kan.) College professor Michele Hershberger spoke about trying to make sense of Eshleman’s death.

“God understands mental illness better than any of us do,” she said. “God knows the heartache of depression. . . . Hope is you and me daring to laugh again, daring to believe again.”

Later in the year, Swartz returned to the stage, touring with actors Ingrid DeSanctis and Trent Wagler to perform DoveTail, Ted & Lee’s Christmas play.

Rev. Fumulemba preaches at the Mennonite church of Lozo, Congo, during a visit by a delegation from Mennonite Church USA. — Photo by Marathana Prothro/MC USA

Delegations to Congo, Zimbabwe and the Vatican strengthened relationships with Mennonites in troubled countries and with leaders of the Catholic church.

A 13-member delegation from Mennonite Church USA visited Congo in February to build church-to-church connections with two of the three Mennonite conferences in the central African nation.

Leaders from both countries talked about gifts-sharing possibilities. In December, MC USA leaders announced a project to raise funds for motorbikes for ministries in Congo, where inadequate transportation is a major obstacle to church growth.

An eight-member delegation sent by Mennonite World Conference visited Zimbabwe in August to show support for the country’s Anabaptist churches, the Brethren in Christ, amid economic decline and political turmoil. The visit fulfilled a promise not to forget the Zimbweans after they hosted the 2003 MWC assembly.

Delegation members said they found members of the Zimbabwean BIC churches resilient, wise, hardworking, joyful, patient and filled with grace. The MWC group presented to their hosts a gift of $15,000, which Zimbabwean church leaders decided to use for relief for those in need.

Another MWC delegation went to Rome in October as part of a series of dialogues with the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity and an audience with Pope Benedict XVI. The pope affirmed Catholic-Mennonite dialogue and peacemaking’s place at the heart of the gospel.

“When Catholic church leaders think of Mennonites, they see us as leading Christian bearers of the message of peacemaking and nonviolence,” said Larry Miller, MWC executive secretary.

Convention and profile

More than 6,200 people attended the biennial MC USA convention in San Jose, Calif., with the theme, “Live the Call!”

Delegates approved the development of a health-care plan for pastors and other church workers. They gave their blessing for the denomination to join Christian Churches Together, a new ecumenical organization. And they heard messages from speakers who affirmed the impact of a distinctive Mennonite witness to the way of Christ.

“Just like Paul thanked God for the Ephesians, I thank God for you Mennonites,” said Paul Alexander, an Assemblies of God minister. “Your existence helped me realize I could follow Jesus in the 21st century.”

Challenges for MC USA came in the results of the Mennonite Member Profile, a 2006 survey that followed similar studies in 1972 and 1989. The profile showed an aging but more racially diverse membership. The average age of members is 54, five years older than in 1989.

Survey director Conrad Kanagy wrote: “The shift in age is a critical issue. Without a major influx of younger people, questions of Anabaptist identity will take a back seat to the question of mere survival.”

Women in ministry

A proposal to grant full approval for women in pastoral ministry narrowly failed in MC USA’s largest conference. A recommendation by the Lancaster Conference Bishop Board to allow the ordination of women fell four votes short of the two-thirds majority needed for passage.

The MC USA Executive Board responded by reaffirming the denomination’s support for the equality of men and women in ministry. Several congregations in the conference’s Lancaster District responded by forming their own credentialing committee to approve candidates for ordination. This led to the first ordination of a women in Lancaster Conference when James Street Mennonite Church in Lancaster ordained its associate pastor, Elizabeth Nissley. The conference did not recognize the ordination.

Iran connections

Mennonite Central Committee and MC USA led peacemaking initiatives with Iranian political and religious leaders amid tension between the U.S. and Iranian governments.

MCC co-sponsored a delegation of U.S. religious leaders to Tehran in February. In the first meeting of its kind since Iran’s Islamic revolution in 1979, the group talked with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

In September in New York, MCC coordinated a meeting between Ahmadinejad and more than 100 U.S. and Canadian religious leaders.

“We believe it is critical to engage the Iranian people at all levels in an attempt to build bridges of understanding between our peoples,” said Ron Flaming, MCC’s director of international programs. “We are motivated to this work by our faith convictions that call us to live in peace with all our neighbors.”

Iraq relief, witness

MCC provided aid to the growing number of people displaced by the war in Iraq, and U.S. Mennonites took part in witnessing against the war.

MCC shipped relief supplies worth more than $1.2 million to Iraq, including more than 30,000 blankets. It also helped fund projects such as the construction of a hospital and water-storage tanks.

In March, Mennonites took part in an ecumenical antiwar event, the Christian Peace Witness for Iraq, at the National Cathedral in Washington. MC USA’s Peace and Justice Support Network was one of the organizing groups.

New leaders

MCC appointed Arli Klassen, executive director of MCC Ontario, as its new executive director and the first woman to lead the relief and development agency. Tabor College in Hillsboro, Kan., named Jules Glanzer, dean of George Fox Evangelical Seminary in Portland., Ore., as its next president.

	Jeff Blackburn, pastor of Greensburg (Kan.) Mennonite Church, surveys the destruction of his congregation’s building after a tornado virtually destroyed the small town. — Photo by Kevin King/MDS

A May 4 tornado destroyed the building of Greensburg (Kan.) Mennonite Church. No members were hurt or injured, though many lost their homes. The tornado virtually destroyed the town of 1,500 and sparked a large response by Mennonite Disaster Service and other volunteers.

In New Orleans, MDS dedicated its project headquarters in a building rescued from the ravages of Hurricane Katrina.

“In our 57-year history, MDS rarely purchased property, but the horrific storms of 2005 were unusual and called for unusual measures,” said Kevin King, MDS executive director. “The MDS site . . . will serve as a lighthouse here for many years to come.”

Other top news

— The Mennonite Church of Uganda was founded with four congregations, the result of mission work by Kenyans.

— The national Mennonite Brethren youth convention drew 1,100 people to Anaheim, Calif.

— Christians in Switzerland celebrated Täuferjahr, or year of the Anabaptists, remembering the persecution of Anabaptists and promoting reconciliation between Swiss Reformed and Mennonites.

— The Vietnamese government granted recognition to the Vietnam Mennonite Church, conferring new privileges.

— Mennonites achieved political firsts in Mexico and Canada. Francisco Dick Neufeld became the first Mennonite to win public office in Mexico when he was elected to the Zacatecas state legislature. Brad Wall, 41, a member of Bridgeway Mennonite Brethren Church in Swift Current, Sask., was elected premier of Saskatchewan.

— Conservative Mennonite Conference ministers approved a statement of practice that includes allowing divorced people to remarry in the church.

— The 144,600-member Meserete Kristos Church of Ethiopia, the world’s largest Anabaptist national conference, broke ground for a new headquarters.

— The Omsk Bruderschaft, a group of 33 congregations in Siberia, celebrated its 100-year history, which began with the 1907 founding of Tchunayevka Mennonite Brethren Church.

— Six months after a shooting rampage left five Amish schoolgirls dead at Nickel Mines, Pa., a new Amish schoolhouse opened April 2 a few hundred yards from where the shootings occurred, and contributions to an aid fund for the affected families exceeded $4 million.