Our Staff
Everett J. Thomas
Everett Thomas is the second of six children and originally hails from Willow Street, Pa., a small town three miles south of Lancaster. He began as editor of The Mennonite in November 2000 and currently works out of the magazine’s Elkhart, Ind., office. Thomas came to The Mennonite after serving 11 years as president of Mennonite Board of Congregational Ministries in Elkhart.
Everett graduated from Goshen (Ind.) College in 1972 with a degree in English and spent 15 years at Bethany Christian High School in Goshen, first as an English teacher and later as an administrator. Thomas also squeezed three years of seminary courses into 20 years, receiving the M. Div. degree from Anabaptist (then Associated) Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart in 1998.
Everett and his wife, Barbara, are members of College Mennonite Church in Goshen. Their family includes (left to right in photo above): Robin Myer, Matthew Thomas, Barbara, grandson Sam Brenneman, Everett, Ryan Brenneman and Michelle Thomas.
Everett is an avid sailor and enjoys sailing with Barbara on Lake Michigan, the Chesapeake Bay, and in the Caribbean. Thomas also serves on Goshen's City Council, having first been elected in 1991.
Gordon Houser
Associate editor Gordon Houser is the youngest of seven children in a family that includes two sets of twins (he’s one of the singles). He grew up in Emporia, Kan., eventually graduated from Wichita (Kan.) State University in 1976, then moved to Newton, Kan., where he joined a Mennonite congregation, New Creation Fellowship Church, at the time an intentional community.
He says he first encountered Mennonites when he met some while helping clean up after a tornado hit Emporia in 1974. But what moved him in the direction of becoming a Mennonite was reading John Howard Yoder's The Politics of Jesus.
He began working for The Mennonite, the magazine of the General Conference Mennonite Church, in 1978 as an editorial assistant. He became assistant editor in 1984, then editor in 1992, the position he held when the magazine merged in 1998 with Gospel Herald to form the current The Mennonite.
Gordon enjoys walking or riding his bike. He’d as soon read as eat and enjoys a variety of literature, from theology and history to classic and contemporary fiction. He is author of the book Present Tense: A Mennonite Spirituality (Cascadia, 2011).
He is married to Jeanne, who grew up in a German Catholic community in western Kansas. They have two children: Ethan, born in 1983, and Abri, born in 1987. Ethan is married to Rachael Wareheim, and Abri is married to Justin Hochstetler.
Rebecca Helmuth
Having grown up in a small Mennonite community in Plain City, Ohio, Rebecca Helmuth is the oldest of three sisters. After finishing high school Rebecca took time to travel around Europe visiting historical Anabaptist sites. By the fall of 1990 she was enrolled as an English major at Goshen College and enjoyed playing infield on GC's pioneer women's softball team. Rebecca married fellow GC student and Goshen local, Todd Helmuth, in the summer of 1993 and earned a degree in English from Goshen in 1994.
With a baby on the way in early 1995 Rebecca took a job working as the secretary for Todd’s home church, North Goshen Mennonite, and is now an active member teaching Sunday school and serving on several church committees. In May 2005 Rebecca left her job of ten years at North Goshen to accept a subscription fulfillment position at The Mennonite.
Rebecca and Todd have three children—Joshua, Jordan and Emma. Family is central in Rebecca's life, which is evident when looking at the family calendar. Their schedule is full of the children's baseball and soccer games, family camping trips, bike rides, picnics and an occasional game of Carcazone.
Anna Groff
Anna Groff, the middle of three children, grew up in Lancaster, Pa. Anna has been assistant editor of The Mennonite since June 2006 and now is an associate editor. She has lived and worked in Harrisonburg, Va., Pittsburgh and now Whiteriver, Ariz.
Anna graduated from Goshen (Ind.) College in 2006 with a journalism degree. She will have a Master of Public Administration (Nonprofit Management focus) from Arizona State University in May 2013.
Anna has written for a variety of publications including the Lancaster New Era in Lancaster, Pa.; the South Bend Tribune in South Bend, Ind.; and The Truth in Elkhart, Ind.
Anna’s husband, Brian A. Miller, works as a family doctor with the Indian Health Service on the White Mountain Apache Reservation in Eastern Arizona. Anna is a member of East Chestnut Street Mennonite Church in Lancaster, but she and Brian attend St. Francis Church in Whiteriver.
Celina Romero
Celina Romero is originally from Aibonito, Puerto Rico. She began working for The Mennonite in December 2006. For the last seven years she has served as bookkeeper at Clinton Frame Mennonite Church, in rural Goshen, Ind.
Celina graduated from University of Puerto Rico in 1982 with a degree in accounting. She previously served as the business manager at Academia Menonita and treasurer of the Puerto Rico Mennonite Conference. For six years she also served as treasurer of the board for the Goshen Ten Thousand Village store.
Celina and her husband, Carlos, and children Elise and Cristian attend Clinton Frame Mennonite Church. Her daughter, Elise, is an avid volleyball player and enjoys gymnastics. Her son Cristian enjoys baseball, basketball and soccer. As a family they served a short term mission assignment in Burgos, Spain and opened the first Goshen College Study-Service Trimester unit in Cuba.