New campus pastors to bring growth

EMU has welcomed two campus pastors into its community this past year. Byron Peachey began the 2003 fall semester with the new title of campus pastor, changing from his previous title of interim pastor. July of this year brought Brian Martin Burkholder from his position as Program Director at the Amigo Centre in Michigan, to the campus ministries department.

Peachey, age 44, attended Hesston College as well as a Catholic seminary, Washington Theological Union, where he graduated with a background in Missions and Cross-Cultural Studies and a Master of Arts in Theology. Prior to accepting an interim position at EMU, Peachey held a number of positions with MCC including a four-year service in El Salvador as a country co-representative. He also worked with an inner city church social service agency, Community of Hope, in Washington D.C. for 10 years. Peachey and his wife Deanna, EMUís Community Learning Coordinator, and their seven-year-old son now live on the cattle farm that Peachey called home as a child. He enjoys reading, having conversations over a meal, traveling, and taking care of his father's beef cattle herd. Concerning his position last year as interim pastor, Peachey said, "The fit felt very good to me and I thoroughly enjoyed the variety of interaction with students and faculty/staff I had in that role and was very pleased to be hired on as permanent staff." To the EMU community Peachey sent this message, "I have long valued having an attitude of growth as a person, for myself and others. No matter who or where you are, what your strengths and weaknesses, the point is to be growing, exploring, seeking, in all different areas of life, depending on where your life's journey brings you."

Starting his premier year as a campus pastor, Brian Martin Burkholderís first impression of EMU was that the school is a worshiping, Christian faith community that contains a faculty of ìcommitted down-to-earth practitioners. At the age of 43, Burkholder brought his wife Linda, and their two children, Sydney, age eight, and Lane, 19 months, to the Harrisonburg community for the ìchance to do campus ministries. The Apple Creek, Ohio native graduated from the University of Akron with a degree in Elementary Education, and a Masters Degree in School Counseling. After serving as both a teacher and a counselor, Burkholder felt a calling to go into a formal ministry, and attended the Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Indiana where he received a Masters Degree in Divinity. An avid nature enthusiast, he enjoys hiking, biking, canoeing, as well as ìbeing ornery with (his) kids. He encouraged people to "...search out their calling, and find their ministry, here in this place," and that "In times of challenge or conflict, rather than shut down in a defensive mode, to move toward it, to see what learning God has for us."

The third member of the campus ministries team is Julie Haushalter. She, husband Rick, and their children Brandon, 23, Ryan, 20, Rebecca, 19, as well as an international student that lives with their family, have made Harrisonburg their home. An Ypsilanti, Michigan native, Haushalter received an undergraduate degree in Special Education for the Hearing Impaired, at Eastern Michigan University, and a Masters of Education from the University of North Carolina Greensboro.

Before moving to Harrisonburg to attend EMU's Seminary, where she received a Masters of Divinity, Haushalter worked for 10 years as a missions and weekday coordinator for a large United Methodist Church in Gulf Breeze, FL. Spending time in nature, hiking, and "seeking waterfalls around the area," take up her free time. Haushalter said that Harrisonburg seemed to be the right fit for her family and she appreciated the "friendliness of the people when (they) came." She also said that she would "like to see us all embrace a deeper understanding of what it means to show hospitality, as a reflection of God's love for all of us."

Peachey, Burkholder and Haushalter bring numerous gifts to the Campus Ministries program at EMU. The school community has the opportunity to grow in their personal spiritual walk, led by this devoted pastoral staff.