“Are you feeling groovy?!” bellowed brothers Keith Lyndaker Schlabach and Brent Lyndaker at the start of their seminar, “Got game? Developing and playing peace games: A PeaceGrooves gathering.”

They had to repeat the question several times until a satisfactorily energetic “Yes!” echoed through the audience.

The brothers began their project, PeaceGrooves, out of a love of games, and a desire for peace. “People are just tired of the old stuff,” explained Lyndaker Schlabach, saying that most online and video games today promote violence and killing.

“Why do you play games?” he asked. “It’s because of the community, the interaction with other people and how it makes you feel.”

The brothers noted that 9 out of 10 people don’t play online games, whether World of Warcraft or Halo, because of the game, but because of the interaction with other people around the world. “We’re trying to create games that have a community, but that are teaching people how to resolve conflict instead of how to create it,” Lyndaker Schlabach said.

The brothers’ hope for  “PeaceGrooves” is that youth can learn anger management skills as well as how to resolve conflict in their personal lives and globally.

They kicked off the seminar with a game of “WWJP”— a peaceful competition that benefits the other person. Lyndaker Schlabach said: “See those stickers? They stand for What Would Jesus Play. Get up, place those stickers on the back of everyone you see, and whoever has the most stickers on their back by the end wins.”

The brothers led other games throughout the seminar, including one with two groups of people, the “Mutants” and the “Blinders.” These two groups had to collaborate with each other and learn where they came from, what they needed and where they were going. The catch: Mutants could not speak and Blinders could not see.

Horin Byler and Bob Troyer of Canton, Ohio, completed the game— they used each other’s hands by putting them on their heads and shaking yes or no. Others solved the game by writing with fingers on chests, clapping and stopping for yes or no, or using hands to create shapes.

Seminar attendees then took on the challenge of inventing a peace game in 15 minutes. “We wanted to do this at convention because it’s a community, with similar people having a drive to work together and develop games that benefit society and ourselves,” Lyndaker Schlabach said.

After each table explained the name and concept of their game, Lyndaker Schlabach said, “These are all amazing ideas you guys! I would like to take them all and publish them.”

The brothers then encouraged youth, ages 13-18, to enter into the 2009 Youth Peace Game Creation contest that they’re sponsoring. Contestants can register online, and receive one year to create the concept and game design. The winner receives a laptop, $200 or an iPod.

For more information about the youth contest or about PeaceGrooves in general, go to www.peacegrooves.com or peacegrooves.wordpress.com, or send an e-mail note to info@peacegrooves.com.

As about 180 children loaded onto four buses bound for the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, they got in the spirit with the popular chorus “We’re going to the zoo, zoo, zoo… How about you, you, you?!”

Carol Grieser, director of the children’s convention, was anticipating the zoo trip as much as the students: “I love the animals! I am so excited because at this zoo there is a gate where you can go in and pet the kangaroos!”

Grieser has a heart for children—“I’ve been retired (from teaching) for 10 years, so this is kind of like my shot in the arm.”

Beyond the fact that the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium has recently been named the No. 1 zoo in the United States, organizers had other compelling reasons for the field trip: “Zoos are great because children get to see animals that they just read about or see on TV in their natural habitats.”

Grieser wasn’t the only one excited for the zoo. “I really want to see the elephants… and I hear you can pet the kangaroos!” said 6-year-old Regan Ramirez from Archbold, Ohio.

The children not only got to pet kangaroos and birds, but they also received an education at the zoo. Animals were divided into regions, such as “Asia Quest,” where Julia Rhoden of Oswego, Ill., and Abby Horst and Emily Horst of Saint Thomas, Pa., were able to see a Large Flying Fox and a Golden Mantled Flying Fox.

Children enjoyed showing off their education as well. Upon approaching a red panda, Breanna Kanagy of Lancaster, Pa., said, “Those are really rare! They’re different than other pandas!”

There were also zoo rides available, including a carousel, and animal shows where a child could ask questions of a zookeeper.

Ryan Haggerty of Freeman, S.D., summarized the afternoon at the zoo: “It was awesome! Especially the otters. I could have stayed there all day.”

Rachel Halder/Photo
Ethan Lapp, Goshen, In., receives a high-five from Joel Shroeder, Newton Kan., as Jamie Lapp Stoltzfus, Mt. Rainer, MD, looks on. Shroeder was interviewed for the Silas class “Fruit of the Spirit” question.

While worship gatherings, delegate meetings and seminars are taking place each morning, about 300 children in the upper C-section of the convention center are drawing from the Bible in their own way.

The children’s convention is divided into “family groups,” using names from the Bible such as “John” or  “Rhoda.” Members of the fourth and fifth grade group, “Silas,” enjoy interactive mornings, shaped by the convention focus on the Holy Spirit (John 14:26).

The children travel to the lower convention floor with clipboards, asking adults specific questions and recording the answers. On Friday the children approached adults and said, “We are talking about the fruits of the Spirit. Which of the fruits are the hardest for you?”

The nine fruits of the Spirit are self-control, peace, kindness, joy, love, goodness, patience, faithfulness and gentleness. Of the more than 25 adults questioned, 14 said that patience was the most difficult fruit to share.

The following are a few of the responses from adult convention attendees.

Micah Martin, Ethan Lapp and Ethan Setiauan asked….
Juanita Shenk – “Self-control: I say what I think too quickly.”
Rachel Kauffman – “Gentleness: I need to look through the other person’s eyes.”
Martha Yoder Maust – “Patience: I want changes to happen fast.”

Justin Burkholder and Jamie Stoltzfus asked…
Michael Grieser – “Love: People are so different, which can cause conflict.”
Sarah Schloneger – “Patience: If I have a bad day, it’s hard to stay patient.”

Justen Burkholder and Ian Bomberger asked…
Nevin Ball – “Gentleness: Using kindness and not being too forceful.”
Jane Eanes - “Patience: Staying on God’s time and waiting.”

Emily Roth, Leah Wenger, and Olivia Ruth asked…
Tim Moyer – “Faithfulness: We must give up all of ourselves.”
Janet Ruth - “Patience: You want to be quick, but sometimes that is not the way to go.”
E. Kyle - “Faithfulness: I’m so busy, it’s hard to remember who the foundation is.”
Geneva Smucker - “Patience: My natural temperament is to be more impatient.”

Rachel Halder/Photo
Michelle Hershberger, Hesston, KS., leads a youth seminar Thursday on “How a prostitute can be more righteous than a patriarch-Understanding biblical stories in their context.

Dozens of  young people might have felt like shaking the dust off their feet as they walked away from Room C113 shortly before a Bible seminar on Thursday.

They were not welcome at the seminar presented by Michelle Hershberger — but for justifiable reasons.  Coordinators had to send them away because of fire marshal regulations limiting crowd size in the room. The place was packed.

“I’m glad there are so many people interested in this, because this is a Bible study!” said Hershberger, who teaches Bible and youth ministry at Hesston College. She explained that the Bible is misinterpreted numerous times, and through prayer she asked God to “help all of us get through (misinterpretation), to hear what (God) wants to fill us with.”

Hershberger’s seminar — “How a prostitute can be more righteous than a patriarch: Understanding biblical stories in their context”– was about Genesis 38, which was read aloud. The overarching question, “How does this verse have context for us today?” was addressed, as well as a second question, “How can Tamar be more righteous than Judah?”

Audience members divided into groups of two or three as they brainstormed about different “weird things about the story.” When the group as a whole came together, people shouted out their questions, including “Why did Judas get a prostitute?”  and “Were they really going to kill a pregnant woman?”

When someone asked “Why is this story even in the Bible?” Hershberger said that question is “a question that must be asked of all Bible stories.”

“How much of this stuff has double meaning? That is the $64,000 question!” she said.

Hershberger then analyzed Genesis 38 and went through a short inductive Bible study with the remaining time.

Hershberger explained, “When you meet someone from another culture, you must go into a different worldview. I need to take off my Michelle glasses to see the rest of the world.”

She said that applying this cultural context to biblical interpretation is helpful in deciding what a verse truly means.

The group came to the conclusion that although the context was different in Genesis 38, the ultimate lessons—to take care of the widowed and poor, and to stay faithful in marriage—are as relevant as ever in 2009.

“I just read that story in the Bible a few weeks ago and I thought it was weird; so looking at it today it was nice knowing what it actually meant,” said Jonathan Nagy from Lancaster, Pa.

Hershberger made sure that the meaning was not lost on anyone in the group: “If you walk out of this room thinking you don’t have to concern yourself with taking care of the poor, you’ve missed the point.”

Editor’s Note: For a related blog posting by Rachel Halder go to goshen.edu/mpress.

“How on earth am I supposed to sell 900 handwoven Peruvian bracelets?”

This is a question I have been struggling with for the past two months, when I received a delivery consisting of 700 bracelets from the Peru Spring 2009 Goshen College SST group. “I still have 200 from my last batch!” I thought, nearly appalled.

The spring of 2008 I went to Chimbote, Peru, on the service portion of Goshen College’s Study-Service Term (SST). Chimbote, a coastal city, and the poorest city in Peru, was full of dust, stray dogs, crying children on the streets, houses made out of reeds, prostitutes, disease, illness, crime, waste and an overall stench of poverty. Going on service I knew I wanted to work with young women.

Very long story short (and if you would like to hear the long story, you’re more then welcome to put your e-mail address below and I will send you a copy of the story), I ended up creating a young women’s group for ages 12-18, in an attempt to provide the girls with something to do to keep them off the streets and away from the drugs, alcohol and prostitution.

While participating with this group of women, I also found myself meeting with a group of older women, ages 20-50, who met in the afternoons to make crafts, including traditional handwoven Peruvian bracelets. Eventually, Benjamin, my main contact in Chimbote, and I had the idea to have the older women teach the younger women how to make the bracelets so they could sell them and make a profit. This idea later spread to a group of women prostitutes who also wanted to participate in the bracelet-making program.

Benjamin and I worked out a way that I could sell the bracelets in the States and return the money by wiring it to a bank account. Within the first week of returning to the States I sold the 200 bracelets I originally brought home, which raised about $700. I received more bracelets, about 300, later that summer. I proceeded to sell these at music festivals, the Goshen farmer’s market and student art shows, which raised a little over $1,000. As of this date, I have sent approximately $3,000 to Peru with the profits from the bracelets.

Coming to Convention 2009, I didn’t know what to expect. I knew I was an mPress staff member. I assumed I would be covering stories on worship services, long lunch lines and anxious Mennonite teenagers — articles that weren’t exactly my “passions.”

I was hoping I could have an opportunity to sell some of my 900 bracelets, but without any kind of market or booth, I didn’t know how this would be possible.  Also, mPress is hard work (if you can’t tell by all our fabulous articles!) and I didn’t know if I would have a free moment to take a break with my bracelets.

Although I brought my bracelets, they sat in my hotel room untouched. But then Wednesday I saw there was an opportunity to write an article about the Mennonite Women USA booth. I jumped at the chance, seeing that this was something that interested me and I could be really passionate about writing.

Engaging in this article was a fabulous experience, not only because I had the chance to see what Mennonite Women USA was about and what they were currently doing for the church, but also because it reminded me of my passion and my mission to sell the Peruvian women’s bracelets! I saw that Mennonite Women’s next Timbrel issue was going to be about “Women and Poverty.” As I’m attempting to alleviate Peruvian women from poverty, this fell right in line with my prerogative.

I sat down to write this article, hoping to stir up some interest about my bracelets. Also, looking through the convention program, I noted Michelle Hershberger’s seminar titled, “How a prostitute can be more righteous than a patriarch: Understanding biblical stories in their context.” I plan to attend this seminar today (Thursday at 1:45 p.m., Friday at 3:00 p.m., in case you’re interested, too) and write an mPress article about it. Hopefully I will have the opportunity to sell some of my Peruvian bracelets there too.

Overall, I’m quite excited that Convention 2009 has fallen directly in line with my passions. For some reason, before coming to Columbus I could not see the connection between my bracelets and the overall convention. I thought it would be challenging to find the opportunity to sell my bracelets, and to tell the story to those who were interested. Now I can see that the articles I’m writing for mPress directly align with my passion to aid Peruvian women prostitutes.

With plenty of crafts, story time and laughter – and, in some cases, crying – the children’s convention includes 314 registered infants, preschoolers and children grades K-5. Among the energetic faces, it could be easy not to note that there are five sets of twins aged 7 to 9.

Hannah and Tyler Hedderick, age 8, of Union City, Pa.
Parents: Jeremy and Shawna Hedderick
Convention highlights: “Swimming in the pool!” said Hannah. “I get to go swimming tonight!”Tyler said he liked making crafts, particularly the Holy Spirit Mosaic he was working on during the interview.
Favorite thing about being a twin: “We can play together everywhere and anywhere!” the twins said, but added that they “sometimes fight,” too.

Daniel and Rebekah Holsopple, age 9, of Archbold, Ohio
Parents: William “Bill” and Beth Holsopple
Convention highlights: Everything, they said, “but especially the games” added Daniel.
Favorite thing about being a twin: “Playing video games together,” said Daniel.
Rebekah said they like to share the games, and also their Nintendo DS … although “we do fight over who gets to play the DS game first,” she added.

Names: Joel and Kara Kornhaus, age 7, Fredericksburg, Ohio
Parents: Robert and Lila Kornhaus
Convention highlights: Kara said, “I’m pretty sure I’ll like this teddy bear walk and story.”
Favorite thing about being a twin: “We really like playing Legos together,” said Kara.
Joel added, “When I forget my homework at school, we can make copies of Kara’s.” It’s handy being a twin.

Names: Hannah and Kate Landis, age 7½, Sellersville, Pa.
Parents: Jeff and Sharon Landis
Convention highlights: “I think I will like the Teddy bear story time that we’re going to now,” said Hannah. Kate chimed in that she likes “all of it.”
Favorite thing about being a twin: “If you’re really bored, you get to play together,” explained the twins together, though “sometimes we hurt each other and wrestle.”

Chase Snyder/Photo
Rachel Halder, Parnell, IA., responds to a question by Patricia Burdette during a videotaped interview at the Mennonite Women USA booth in the Exhibit Hall.

“Where do you have kitchen table conversations other than the kitchen table?”

Sitting in a chair at the Mennonite Women USA exhibit hall booth, I drew this question from a bowl as a camera stood a few feet ahead anticipating my answer.

The current theme for Mennonite Women USA is “Kitchen Table Theology.” Patricia Burdette, editor of Timbrel, is responsible for videotaping women at the Mennonite Women USA booth. She explained that the theme is from 1970s feminist theology, which discusses “the informal way that women talk about their theology over the kitchen table.”

Mennonite Women USA is wanting to acknowledge the issues of the church through the voices of women —“We’re encouraging women to come talk, share their opinions, and be videotaped,” said Burdette.

“The videos may be posted on the Web, and will eventually go to the Mennonite archives as a picture of women’s opinions in 2009,” explained Burdette.

Questions might be “What would you like to see Mennonite USA doing for women?” or “What are the current issues for women about the church?” But women are invited to share whatever they feel compelled to say in the five-minute time slot each interviewee is given.

Although this idea has received overall positive responses, there are a few frustrations, said Burdette: “A lot of women think this is a good idea, but then they say ‘Oh, no, don’t tape me!’”

And as for my answer, I have found a beautiful “kitchen table” in my living room at Goshen College, where I join with the women who have grown closest to my heart. There we sit and discuss spirituality, peace, current news, feminism, sorrows and joys.

And they need to be, as getting to convention can be expensive. First comes the early registration fee: $50. Then there are meal tickets: $188. Transportation can total $400 or more per person. Lodging adds a few hundred dollars. Extras include service project fees, T-shirts, choir music and a convention DVD.

To go to convention, many youth groups participate in fund raising–early and often.

Tabor Mennonite Church in Newton, Kan., and Casa del Alfarero (The Potter’s House) in Pasadena, Texas, have been partner congregations for three years, so it made sense to combine resources to help each other with convention fund raising. Casa del Alfarero made 160 dozen tamales, while Tabor Mennonite filled orders and sold them. The tamale sales raised half of the money needed to cover convention costs for Casa del Alfarero, which “was a tremendous help and a blessing,” said Christian Baeza, a leader of the youth from Casa del Alfarero.

For 25 years running, Iowa’s Lower Deer Creek Mennonite Church has relied on a winning combination of three fundraisers. In the fall, the youth earn $1,500 to $2,000 selling homemade potato chips, hot dogs and specialty sodas including sarsaparilla at an annual fall festival held in Kalona, Iowa. In December, they sell Christmas greenery, and every other month the group cooks a meal at the church.

Mary Stutzman, Lower Deer Creek youth sponsor, said that fund raising has multiple benefits. “The youth take ownership in the trip. They enjoy working together and there is something fun about it,” she said. “It’s just a good camaraderie thing; it builds unity within the group, and [also] brings out leadership skills. The youth also talk to people they don’t know from school or other places.”

First Mennonite Church of Iowa City, Iowa, took advantage of its location. The church is only three blocks from Kinnick Stadium, where the Big 10 Iowa Hawkeyes play their home football games. Since the church owns a large property, the youth group parks cars for people attending the football games. Brenda Litwiler, one of the youth sponsors at First Mennonite, said, “On a typical Saturday, we average 500 cars, give or take. At $15 a car—much more for RV’s—we do pretty well. You do the math!”

That math is, in fact, around $7,500 per game. Though the earnings are impressive, the youth sometimes grumble. “It involves getting up very early, [by] the youths’ standards, and standing out in the cold, rain or immense heat for many hours and dealing with people who may or may not be happy with the parking situations,” explained Litwiler. Each person works four games during a season. By dividing up the season that way, the youth group is able to raise enough money to send everyone to the convention, and still tithe 10 percent to the church.

Harrisonburg (Va.) Mennonite Church sometimes sends as many as 80 people to convention, which requires multiple fundraisers. This year, though, they number 45. A pancake lunch and servant auction raises around $3,000 in the fall. At Christmas, the youth group takes homemade goodies to each Sunday school class as a “Coffee Break,” with donations bringing in another  $2,000 or so. January brings a potato bar and the spring  a coin drive, both of which raise somewhere around $2,000 each.

Glen Guyton, youth pastor of Calvary Community Church in Hampton, Va., recommends creativity. He said, “We particularly involve food and fun, because those are two things people don’t mind paying for.” In the food category, the youth group operates soda and snack machines at the church, and they sell homemade cookies every Sunday.

For fun, the Calvary Community youth group rents a roller skating rink for two hours. Youth invite their friends, who pay a small fee. A party at the rink can net $200 or more.

The church’s Fabulous Fifties Family Night brings in people from across the community for 50s music, hamburgers, chicken strips and apple pie.

Guyton said Chick-fil-A also boosts revenue. “You get 15 percent of the proceeds depending on how many people you invite to Chick-fil-A,” he said. “Over 200 people come out to our family night. The cow even came to church. We passed out fliers, and for dinner our Bible study went and ate at Chick-fil-A.”

Silverwood Mennonite Church of Goshen, Ind., is known for selling perennial sale. “Come spring, people simply split their plants that are coming up and donate them to us so we can sell them,” says Janice Troyer, the youth ministry leader. At the sale, which is always held on Mother’s Day weekend, the youth help sell the plants and deliver them to buyers’ cars.

“In the past we have made between $1,800-2,000,” Troyer said. “The other great thing about this fundraiser is that it pulls in a lot of community people rather than just hitting up our congregation for funds.”

Silverwood is also a confectioner. The youth pre-sell four different kinds of candy—by the pound—starting at the beginning of November; in December, the group makes peanut brittle, peanut clusters, chocolate peanut brittle crunch and chocolate caramels. “[Making the candy] is quite a production, but we really have it down to a system that works well and efficiently,” Troyer said.

The day is divided into two 4-hour shifts, and each youth group member must work one of the shifts if they want to attend convention. The goal is to make as much chocolate to fill the existing orders, and then make extra to sell later.  Silverwood usually makes around 600 to 700 pounds a year. This year the sale earned $2,600.

Like the invitation in that warm-sounding Taizé chant—though it is most often sung in Latin—Sunday’s Taizé service welcomes all conventiongoers to come and be filled. Though convention is a week of unique, inspiring services for adult and youth, the Taizé-style experience planned for the final joint worship service on Sunday at 9:30 a.m., in the convention center’s adult worship hall may be new to many Mennonites.

According to Janeen Bertsche Johnson, worship leader of Sunday’s Taizé service, the convention committee decided to close the week with this style “because they wanted to have the opportunity to experience our convention theme ["Breathe and be Filled"] in our worship.”

Taizé is a contemplative form of devotion—a quieter, reflective service that “bridges very well between people who like a more liturgical form of worship, and the contemporary style of worship where songs are repeated and you don’t have to think about all the words,” said Bertsche Johnson.

Meditative in style, Taizé services consist largely of singing, scripture readings, prayers and short periods of silence, and there is no sermon. Songs are repeated multiple times, said Bertsche Johnson: “While the congregation is singing, the soloists and instrumentalists play music on top so it becomes a rich tapestry of musical prayer.”

This repetition gives “the feel of both ancient chant and reflective contemporary Christian choruses,” she continued.

Taizé has attracted young adults and youth from around the world, and many Christians have traveled to Europe for services and training since it was established in 1940. The original community in France has had gatherings of 50,000 people from around the world. Although started by Protestant brothers, the community now has brothers from Catholic backgrounds as well. Similar to Mennonites, reconciliation has also been a significant influence on the Taizé community.

Mennonites may be more familiar with Taizé worship than what they would think, with almost 20 Taizé songs in the three Mennonite hymnal books: A Worship Book, Sing the Journey, and Sing the Story. A few of these songs will be included in the Sunday Worship such as “Holy Spirit, Come to Us,” O Lord, hear my prayer” and “Come and fill our hearts.”

Bertsche Johnson is the campus pastor at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary. A Taizé worship leader and teacher for 20 years, she has also visited the Taizé community in France, attended North American Taizé gatherings and  trained as a cantor.

Musicians for the service include Brian Wiebe, Caleb Wiebe and Hannah Johnson (Goshen, Ind.); Tom and Lois Harder (Wichita, Kan.); Phil Hart, Neil Leonard, Thomas Leonard, (Columbus, Ohio); and Hal Hess (Cincinnati). Scripture readers are Nathan Detweiler (South Africa) and Femi Hollinger-Janzen (Goshen, Ind.).