150th Celebration Seminars

Anabaptist Beginnings: Committed to Following Jesus
Speaker: Dale Schrag
Time: 9:00am – 10:00am
We must never forget that without the 16th century Anabaptists there would be no Swiss Volhynian Mennonites. This seminar will focus on the Swiss Anabaptist leaders, their beliefs, their actions, and their persecution.

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Schweitzer influence on the World
Speaker: Jeff Koller
Time: 10:30am – 11:30am
A look at the many ways Schweitzers have influenced organizations, communities, and people. There will be stories describing how people can affect change in Denominational missions/ministries, Education, Health care and the US Military.

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The European Experience: United or Divided?
Speaker: Dale Schrag
Time: 10:30am – 11:30am
This seminar will focus less on specifics and more on broad themes. It will be highly interpretive, and will solicit audience response and participation.

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Travels to Ancestral Lands
Speakers: Patricia Goering Smith, Eugene and Waneta Goering, Jerry Juhnke, Wayne Goering, Kathy
Goering
Time: 9:00am – 10:00am
Panelists will share their experiences traveling to places where our
ancestors lived—maps and photos in Switzerland, Palatinate along the Rhine River, Montbeliard, Poland,
Ukraine.

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Fractured Community in America
Speaker: Dale Schrag
Time: 1:30pm – 2:30pm
This seminar will examine and interpret what may well have been the single most defining event in the Swiss Volhynian community in Kansas, the Hopefield/Eden split. Were the seeds of division sown in Europe or in America or both?

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From Anabaptist to Alleles: Tracing Mennonite Genetic Heritage
Speaker: Jeremy Schrag
Time: 10:30am – 11:30am
Unlock the remarkable tapestry of your Mennonite ancestry! This presentation takes you on a journey, utilizing genetic research to trace your family’s lineage and uncover the unique genetic threads with an emphasis on benign and malignant conditions that have shaped the Mennonite heritage over generations.

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What about the land we came to?
Speaker: Rayleen Hinz Penner
Time: 9:00am – 10:00am
Settlers on the plains have long studied their ancestral journeys  and the places their ancestors came
FROM.  What could we learn if we studied the land and the peoples on the land we came TO?  How
were Indigenous homelands stewarded for centuries before our people’s arrival? What might their land
management teach us about their values and lifestyles that might be useful to us today?

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Looking at the Future
Speakers: Josue Coy Dick, Peter Buller, and Kaytlen Keough
Time: 1:30pm – 2:30pm
Perspectives shared by those who like to look ahead.

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The Lone Tree Story
Speakers: Shawn Giesel
Time: 1:30pm – 2:30pm
A legacy of faith through disappointment, despair, disease, death, and determination.

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