Lancaster Region

Sherwood Lingenfelter, a Ph.D. author and retired professor, will interview a different interesting individual each week. You will learn about lives and work of: 1) Peter Teague, President Emeritus, Lancaster Bible College (October 29) 2) John Maietta, Retired Army Officer, Pathways Institute Faculty Member (November 5) 3) Jack Crowley, President, Water Street Mission (November 12) 4) Connie Bender, CEO, Show Ease Inc., Ephrata, PA (November 19)

Pennsylvania was founded by William Penn as a place of religious freedom and toleration. Many different religious sects came to Pennsylvania to practice their religion, beliefs, and customs peacefully. One such small group from Europe settled in Lancaster County - they lived as a small communal society at Ephrata. They prospered over time, emigrated to other counties, but eventually declined.

Today, the person next door does not always look like us, talk like us, or believe the same things we do. Various cultures, religions, and worldviews are part of our everyday lives, and many come to our shores as refugees fleeing violence and persecution around the world. Christ calls his followers to serve them with love and compassion. Learn more about who refugees are, why they come to seek safety in the United States, and what we can do to make them feel welcome and part of our community.

In the summer and autumn of 1944, an array of German secret weapons began appearing on the battlefields of Europe. These included the V1 flying bomb, the Me 262 jet fighter, and, most ominously, the V2 rocket - the world's first ballistic missile. The Allies had been anxious about the potential appearance of these weapons for years, so their manifestation on the battlefield seemed like a nightmare come true. And it was unclear what else the Germans might have up their sleeve - an atomic bomb, perhaps? The desire of the Anglo-Americans to get the war over with as quickly as possible led to several weighty and consequential decisions, including the decision to launch a powerful air campaign against Germany in February 1945 - a campaign that included the air attack on the city of Dresden.

We use various sayings and phrases in our common language every day, but what do they mean and where did they come from? We will also explore some nautical sayings and look back into where the word “Okay” came from.

Sherwood Lingenfelter, a Ph.D. author and retired professor, will interview a different interesting individual each week. You will learn about lives and work of: 1) Peter Teague, President Emeritus, Lancaster Bible College (October 29) 2) John Maietta, Retired Army Officer, Pathways Institute Faculty Member (November 5) 3) Jack Crowley, President, Water Street Mission (November 12) 4) Connie Bender, CEO, Show Ease Inc., Ephrata, PA (November 19)

Today, the person next door does not always look like us, talk like us, or believe the same things we do. Various cultures, religions, and worldviews are part of our everyday lives, and many come to our shores as refugees fleeing violence and persecution around the world. Christ calls his followers to serve them with love and compassion. Learn more about who refugees are, why they come to seek safety in the United States, and what we can do to make them feel welcome and part of our community.

We’ve all got family histories, some more intriguing than others. But turning our ancestors’ tales from simple word-of-mouth recollections into a novel that’s descriptive, detailed, and filled with tension is daunting. Especially when your long lost relatives are no longer alive and there is little factual information upon which to draw. On the other hand, sometimes the writer prefers to remain faithful to the actual story rather than embellishing it to follow a dramatic arc. Author Kyra Robinov describes the challenge of both recreating the survival story of her grandmother Luba in her fictional Red Winter and finding the drama in her father’s story, which spanned the 20th century and the globe, in her non-fiction memoir/biography, HiStory.

Americans typically think of the 1950s as a decade where women left the World War II labor market and resumed the roles of wife and mother. But labor market forces, trends in education, and pent-up consumer demand propelled many wives and mothers back into paid employment. Why did this happen? How did it affect employers and families? And what were the implications of this trend for the women's movement?

The culture of conflict around us can be wildly unsafe or suffocatingly controlled. How do we find a balance and handle conflict in healthy ways, whether in our communities, families, congregations, or other relationships? Based on the mediation and restorative justice work of Lancaster-based Advoz, this experiential session on "conflict, communication, and culture" provides a framework, language and skills to handle conflict and harm in healthy, restorative ways.