Sunday,
July 6, 2003
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YODAs take a place at the table
By JODI H. BEYELER
Goshen College Sunday, July 6, 2003
These YODAs are Young adult Delegates to Assembly, a program to encourage congregations and conferences to send young.adults – ages 18 to 30 – as delegates to assembly, as their numbers have been historically low. “The idea for the YODA program came from the Executive Board and staff saying that we need more young adult delegates,” said Jim Schrag, executive director of the Mennonite Church USA Executive Board. Jesse Smith is a YODA from Iowa City Mennonite Church who has missed only one convention – Eugene ’91 – in his 20-year lifetime. When his church’s elders nominated him as a delegate to Atlanta, he said he was “a little surprised to be asked, but honored.” After returning from a convention that he attended as child, Smith told his mother, a pastor, that he wanted to be moderator of the Mennonite Church. She jokes that his YODA status is actually a first step towards that goal. “Being involved [as a delegate] has helped me to understand the church’s work better and the ways my gifts can fit into the church’s mission,” said Smith. As part of the YODA program, he was assigned a mentor, pastor Randy Roth of Des Moines (Iowa) Mennonite Church, who welcomes more young adults as delegates. “We need their enthusiasm, their idealism, their energy and their vision because it is vital to the rest of the church,” he said. Sarah Sales, a 24-year-old YODA from Lombard (Ill.) Mennonite Church prepared for the week of meetings and voting by reading the entire delegate book before coming – every page. “Bylaws are really hard to read,” she said. Smith appreciates having a mentor he can go to for clarification and find out what the delegate body is actually voting on. This year, there are 38 YODAs, but there are more young adults who are not part of official program. Two conferences also decided not to assign mentors. Special YODA sessions are offered to young adult delegates to gain background information on issues to be voted on, ask questions of the MC USA Executive Board, reflect on their experiences and talk about their hopes and dreams for the church. The acronym for the program is a “bit of a stretch,” admits its creator, Associate Executive Director for Mennonite Church USA J. Ron Byler, but it’s hard to miss the humor and appropriateness of the name. However, said Shana Peachy Boshart, who coordinated the program with David Mauer, “We have done nothing to play the name up. We are very sensitive to not wanting young adults to feel in any way minimized.”  |
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