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‘I just want to help people’
Like many of his peers, Nathan Bartel is fielding questions about what he plans to do after graduation. But, unlike some of them, he has a ready answer. He wants to be a firefighter. Bartel grew up in Arnprior, Ont. His older brother, Emerson, has Duchenne muscular dystrophy, which, he says, “gave me a different…
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Pacifism and the art of theatre combat
Jacqueline Loewen just spent the weekend riding a motorcycle as a stunt double for a science-fiction TV show and will be rolling on the ground with strangers tomorrow, choreographing combat for Shakespeare in the Ruins’ production of Hamlet. Jacqueline Loewen. Loewen, 36, is well-versed and well-known in the theatre world. She is an actor, stunt…
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Canadian faces of MDS in Texas
What do you get when you put Mennonites from all over Canada, and from all sorts of different Mennonite conferences and churches—along with Christians from other denominations—in the same place? A Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) unit—that’s what. In February, I visited volunteers in three communities in Texas hit by Hurricane Harvey in 2017—La Grange, Bloomington…
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What resilience looks like
From dealing with disaster to mental health recovery, partners of Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) in Nepal and their beneficiaries demonstrate resilience. That was the theme of MCC’s first-ever trekking learning tour. From April 1 to 19, participants from all over Canada and the United States hiked around Nepal, taking in the vistas while visiting MCC…
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Join the (fashion) revolution
Who made my clothes? That’s what the organizers of the globally observed Fashion Revolution Week want people to ask themselves the next time they put on an outfit or choose what clothing to buy. Fashion Revolution began in response to the Rana Plaza building collapse in Bangladesh, which killed 1,138 people and injured another 2,500…
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Mediating in the church
As a lawyer for more than 40 years, Wayne Plenert has seen his share of interpersonal conflicts in the secular world. But, now retired and a member of Northgate Anabaptist Fellowship of Dawson Creek, B.C., he believes that conflicts also are inevitable in faith communities and are too often destructive, with damaging fallout. His interest…
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Sourdough spirituality
Baking bread is more than just a business for Joel Kroeker. It’s also a way to further important conversations. With a deftness that comes from repetition, he slides another two loaves of bread into the oven. By the time he finishes for the day he will have baked 20 loaves and mixed another batch of…
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Ethiopian church plant dreams big
“I have big dreams,” says Pastor Mezgebu A. Tucho of the Bethel International Church Edmonton Oromo Congregation. Born in Ethiopia, Tucho has planted more than 50 Oromo churches throughout Ethiopia and has travelled in Kenya, the United States, Canada and Australia, preaching the gospel. His passion is for his people from the Oromo tribe, who number…
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From mould to masterpiece
Joel Penner is a time-lapse filmmaker based out of Winnipeg’s West End neighbourhood. But he doesn’t capture typical scenes like sunsets or the bustle of the city. Joel Penner. His films reveal mould creeping onto raspberries, liquid oozing out of watermelons and flesh-eating beetles devouring snakes. “I initially got into decay because I love looking…
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Coffee and community
Five years ago, Brock Peters dreamed of an affordable coffee shop where everyone in the community would feel comfortable going. “Sometimes, when I walked into coffee shops in the city, I felt like ‘I’m not cool enough to be here,’ ” he says. A couple of years later, the 29-year-old Winnipegger decided to put his money…
