Church Staff - Pastoral Team
MERLE HOSTETLER, Pastor
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I was born and raised in the Kalona, Iowa community. I graduated from Iowa Mennonite High School in 1978, attended Rosedale Bible Institute (OH) for 3 terms, graduated from Hesston College (KS) in 1981 (AA degree in Agriculture), and Eastern Mennonite College/University (VA) in 1983 (BS in Camping/Recreation & Youth Ministry and Christian Ministries), attended Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary (Philadelphia) for one year (1998-99) before attending and graduating from Denver Theological Seminary (CO) in 2000 (MA in Youth and Family Ministries and Counseling Ministries).
From November 1983 to November 1984, I served in voluntary service for one year in Ocean City, MD at Diakonia, a residential crisis shelter. Following this I was camp director at Bethel Mennonite Camp in southeastern Kentucky from May 1985 through August 1987. It was from this point on to the present that I have been involved in congregational ministry, except for the three years in seminary.
From September 1987 through August 1998, I served as Director of Youth Ministries at Souderton Mennonite Church, Souderton, PA. In June 2000, I joined the pastoral team at East Goshen Mennonite Church in Goshen, Indiana.
Mary Yoder and I were married November 30, 1991. We live in Goshen, IN. Mary is an elementary school teacher. She enjoys teaching, as well as spending time working around our home, gardening, walking, cruising antique shops, and traveling. Our son Ian finds great joy in miniature people, horses and other animals, looking at books and being read to, being outside, and roughhousing with mom and dad. Austin was born November 22, 2002, and his adoption was finalized February 13, 2003. As a family we enjoy riding bike together, traveling to visit our families, day hiking if we’re in Colorado, and hosting people in our home.
NAOMI YODER, Pastor
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I was born in West Lafayette, IN, and grew up in Knoxville, Tennessee. As the middle of five children, I was surrounded by the activities of family, close neighborhood friends, and the small Mennonite church in which I was raised. At Carleton College (a small liberal arts college in Northfield, MN) I studied history with a focus on the Renaissance and Reformation Eras. That study of early Anabaptist history during college deepened my commitment to the Mennonite faith.
After college, I spent a year teaching English to kindergarten and pre-school children in Nazret, Ethiopia with the Mennonite Central Committee's SALT program. That time expanded my understanding of God's creation and my interest in the church's work in the world. My college and SALT experiences led me to pursue religious studies at Vanderbilt Divinity School in Nashville, TN. My time there—and particularly internships at a Mennonite church in Virginia and as a chaplain at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital—helped me explore my emerging sense of call to ministry. I graduated with a Master's of Divinity degree in 2015, and in the summer of 2016 was delighted to accept a call to join the pastoral team at East Goshen Mennonite Church.
Outside of ministry, I enjoy any chance to spend time with my parents, siblings, siblings-in-law, and niece, who are in Tennessee and California. My move to Goshen also lets me enjoy time with my local extended family, cook, host visitors, and be outdoors.