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2009-04-07 issue:

New leaders for denominational ministry

Lee Lever, Nancy Kauffmann begin assignments with Mennonite Church USA.

by Mennonite Church USA

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Lee Lever has begun a new assignment as interim director of denominational ministry for Mennonite Church USA Executive Leadership. He will lead a team of denominational ministers providing support and encouragement for conference ministers.

In his new role, Lever will work collaboratively with area conferences and churchwide agencies to equip conference ministers for their work with congregations.

Lever and denominational ministry staff also oversee the pastoral call system, pastoral salary guidelines, resource packets for conference ministers and more.

“Mennonite Church USA is on a journey of responding to God’s call for us to be a people of healing and hope,” says Lever, “and we want to help area conferences as they provide connections and build relationships among pastors and congregations.”

Nancy Kauffmann will join Lever as a denominational minister for Mennonite Church USA Executive Leadership, effective May 1. She joins Linford King, Phil Bergey and Iris de León-Hartshorn as denominational ministers responsible for building strong, churchwide relationships with Mennonite Church USA area conferences and their staff.

Lever began as a denominational minister with Executive Leadership in August 2007.
He previously served for three years as associate conference minister with Western District Conference.

He has served as pastor of Eden Mennonite Church in Moundridge, Kan., and Menno Mennonite Church in Ritzville, Wash.

In 2005 and 2006, Lever also served as a consultant training congregational teams for Gospel in our Culture Network and Church Innovations.

Lever holds a master of divinity degree from Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS) in Elkhart, Ind., and a doctor of ministry degree in congregational development from Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, Evanston, Ill.

Lee and Terri, his wife, are members of Faith Mennonite Church in Newton, Kan., and live in Moundridge. They have three adult children.

“I sense the Holy Spirit working within Mennonite Church USA in new ways, drawing us toward a renewed understanding of who we are and what we are to be about in the midst of changing times,” says Lever.

Kauffmann has served as a conference minister for Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference since 2000.

Previously she served on the pastoral team of College Mennonite Church in Goshen, Ind., for 19 years.

She also served for three years on the student services staff for the former Mennonite Board of Missions and taught youth ministries courses at Goshen (Ind.) College for four years.

Kauffmann is part of a pastors group that has been reflecting on the nature of missional leadership.

She says she is grateful for the opportunity to be part of the denominational ministry team and explore what it means to pray for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.

“God is calling us to keep this question central in our lives no matter where we are serving,” she says.

Kauffmann holds a master of divinity degree from AMBS and a doctor of ministry degree from Claremont (Calif.) School of Theology.

She and Joel, her husband, live in Goshen, Ind., and have two adult children. Kauffmann is a member of College Mennonite Church in Goshen.