By Saulo Padilla

I remember the first time I was introduced to Dirk Willems: the Anabaptist who escaped and then turned back to rescue his persecutor who was drowning, got caught again, and later was burned to death. When John Driver, one of my history professors at Goshen (Ind.) College told me the story for the first time I thought, "What a fool," and to me, even more foolish were the Anabaptists and Mennonites who thought he was a hero for turning back and rescuing his enemy ... 

 

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In July, The Mennonite received its largest donation on record; it came from an Illinois church that closed in 2009 as a result of declining membership. Bethel Mennonite Church in Pekin, Ill., was a former Central District Conference congregation.

 

The board of trustees of Bethel Church allocated the remaining funds in the church account to various Mennonite Church USA organizations or agencies which they felt a connection, according to Jim Sommer, acting secretary for the board of Bethel. The Mennonite received $6,995.73 ...

  

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College Corner: EMU alumni reunite for 'love of the game' By Mike Zucconi of Eastern Mennonite University

Baseball players fill seats, inspire songs, become talking points around the water cooler and, more importantly, to a dozen alumni of Eastern Mennonite University (EMU), Harrisonburg, Va., accumulate statistics.

For the past 30 years EMU alumni reunite to banter, share familial updates, and participate in an annual fantasy baseball league, "Shenandoah's Major Minor League" ... 

Kate's blog: I'm back!

Summer is unwinding, and I'm finally catching my breath after a whirlwind year. For several months this year, I had a collection of suitcases sprawled in my front hallway. When I got home from a trip, I would scoop out my dirty clothes and toss them in the washing machine. Many weeks, I'd pull them out of the dryer and drop them into the appropriate suitcase (small, medium or large, depending on the length of the trip) and head out the door again ... 

Tim's blog: Landscape of the Ojai Valley in photos
 
It's time for me to share from the trove of photos I've been taking over the last month and a half here in the Ojai Valley in California. The focus of this collection is landscapes, both natural and human-built ...