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Programs Spotlight

Temperatures may be cooling down as the seasons shift toward yet another winter, but Laurelville is just
warming up for the fall and winter months.

“This is when we’re able to do some truly creative things with our program offerings,” comments Laurelville Program Director Angela Dietzel.

September’s calendar featured a number of these innovative programs, including the Music and Worship Leaders Retreat and Values-based Leadership Program. Laurelville also hosted an Elderhostel cycling trip in which participants rode over 100 miles of the scenic Great Allegheny Passage.

Some highlights included:

Coat-hanger Percussion When an intimate gathering arrived at Laurelville in early September for Music and Worship Leaders II, they came to sing and to worship. They also came to discover new ways to lead their respective congregations in worship.

So when Eastern Mennonite Professor Ken Nafziger urged participants to approach worship creatively, a couple individuals took up the challenge. EMU juniors Steve Rittenhouse and Ben Bergey picked up nearby coat-hangers to add percussion to a number of hymns being sung.

“We’re discovering that worship can be more meaningful if we learn from other traditions and incorporate the arts,” commented Marlene Kropf, denominational minister of worship for Mennonite Church USA, during Friday evening’s opening session.

Her observation provided a framework for the weekend: the presenters and participants collaborated to explore a number of ways in which a faith community might experience the time leading up to Christ’s birth and the celebration thereafter in new and powerful ways.

CEOs, Administrators, and Games? The Values-based Leadership Program places what it means to lead in a new light. “The whole goal is transformation,” consultant Lee Schmucker said. “We want leaders to possess greater self-awareness in order to make better conscious choices as they lead.”

The strategy? VBLP participants engaged in a number of team-building games, among other activities, designed to foster growth of skills and qualities essential to effective leadership. “This is not about lectures. Leadership is a relationship and a process,” explained Schmucker. “We don’t assume that it just happens.”

The outcome resulted in participants departing renewed, having built strong relationships with fellow leaders and peer coaches, ready to lead in new ways.

“I want to rethink the way I do some things,” remarked Doc Johnson, executive director at Mennohaven, a camp and retreat center in Illinois.

Fortunately for him and others taking part in VBLP, he’s equipped to do just that.

Great riding weather Threatening storms couldn’t dampen the trail riding experience of Elderhostel participants visiting Laurelville this fall. “I’m an optimist,” declared host Lorne Peachey time and time again. Sure enough, rain fell before and after rides on the Great Allegheny Passage as cyclists made the journey from Frostburg, Maryland, to just outside the Pittsburgh area. But during the rides, the weather was great.

And so were the sights. The GAP is a recently finished crushed limestone bike path connecting Pittsburgh with Cumberland, Maryland, and offers riders breathtaking views in beautiful western Pennsylvania and northern Maryland.

To view pictures of the ride, check out Laurelville Mennonite Church Center on Flickr.