ECD Feature

Avoiding the Isolation Trap

Avoiding the Isolation Trap

People in helping professions are often surrounded by others, but when healthy friendships are not fostered, it can be easy to get caught in a trap of isolation. Co-Director of Worship Arts at College Wesleyan, Jordan Rife sees fostering healthy frie

Thriving in ministry: Rev. John Fowler

Thriving in ministry: Rev. John Fowler

About two years ago, Southside Fellowship Church in Owensboro, Kentucky, started to explore the idea of doing church differently. The call to examine the structure of the church came from their pastor, Rev. John Fowler, who had experienced a personal

God knows what he’s doing: Abby Powell

God knows what he’s doing: Abby Powell

Abby Powell realized she wasn’t the typical Oklahoma Wesleyan student one day in an intercultural studies class, when asked to fill out a 10-question quiz about emotional “baggage” she carried. Each question answered “yes” indicated some wound or negative experience...
Dr. Marcus Dean: No ivory tower

Dr. Marcus Dean: No ivory tower

Whether in an office at Houghton College or a board room at Fillmore Wesleyan Church, Dr. Marcus Dean lives a life in service to the local church. Dr. Marcus Dean’s life has been spent in two worlds that don’t always play nicely with one another – the academy and the...
A calling that found its home in the church: Jordan Rife

A calling that found its home in the church: Jordan Rife

Jordan Rife has long recognized her passion to work with people, but she hadn’t been looking for her niche where she found it: in the local church, as a worship leader. Growing up in a church that didn’t affirm women as ordained pastors, Rife didn’t imagine she’d soon...
First street smarts, then book knowledge: PK Hope Guptill

First street smarts, then book knowledge: PK Hope Guptill

Hope Guptill is in her fourth year at Kingswood University, but that’s not where she learned the most about ministry. As a pastor’s kid, Guptill has experienced the joys—and the heavy burdens—of leading the Church, motivating her to commit to supporting those in...
Assured purpose: Katie Betts 

Assured purpose: Katie Betts 

Most of us would love nothing more than for life to move in a straight line on the map — no speed bumps, sharp turns or second-guessing. But Katie Betts could tell you that our journeys don’t always traverse the path so straightforwardly. A talented musician,...
Ten pastors, five questions

Ten pastors, five questions

We wanted to hear and honor the wisdom of Wesleyans serving across the country. So, we asked 10 pastors from 10 different states the same five questions. Here are some of their answers: What’s the biggest challenge and/or opportunity for growth the church is facing...
Braving uncharted waters

Braving uncharted waters

As the first woman to be ordained in Russia in The Wesleyan Church and the first in her family to accept the good news of the gospel, Rev. Larisa Levicheva-Joseph is no stranger to braving uncharted waters. “Everything happens in God’s timing. Going through a time of...
Joining others on the journey: Karen Bates

Joining others on the journey: Karen Bates

A 2008 alumnus of Asbury Theological Seminary, Karen Bates is a minister-of-all-trades. After a career as a newspaper editor, Karen pursued a call to full-time ministry, serving the church as an assistant pastor, ministry coach and communications facilitator. How did...
The World In A City: Buffalo Urban Advocacy

The World In A City: Buffalo Urban Advocacy

Pastors Steve and Ruth Strand have served The Wesleyan Church in all corners of the Western Hemisphere for 30 years. Their latest mission field reaches the world in a single city: Buffalo, NY. Buffalo has one of the highest poverty rates in the U.S., and is also the...
Higher education administrators meet for a better ministerial future

Higher education administrators meet for a better ministerial future

Collective collegiate collaboration brought the five presidents and board chairs of the Wesleyan college and universities together on Monday, November 13 at The Wesleyan Church World Headquarters, Fishers, Indiana, for this year’s convening of the Wesleyan Education...