Small farm takes a holistic approach
Anabaptist Bible aims to promote broader engagement with Scripture
Andy Dula’s business journey
Things entrepreneurs wish pastors knew #MEDAField2Fork 2024 photo contest winners
Planning for yesterday?
Sometimes, following a presentation, a MEDA staff member will be asked how economic development contributes to peacebuilding.
Indirectly, yet significantly, is often the reply.
People who enjoy the dignity and hope that decent work provides are less likely to fall under the malignant spell of recruiters promising that picking up a gun and joining a revolution is their path to a better future.
Recently, a group visiting a MEDA project in the Philippines experienced this dynamic up close. During a visit to a group of cacao farmers, one of the speakers said that only a few years earlier, the area had been a no-go zone due to terrorist attacks.
Roads in the rural area were, for the most part, surprisingly new concrete structures. Six years ago, those roads did not exist.
The connection that the roads allow plays a role in making the areas safe.
“Communism starts where the roads end,” says Natalie Macawaris, country director for MEDA’s Philippines work, in the Davao region of the Mindanao island.
Before 2018, farmers had to use horses to transport their crops to a town several kilometers away. “No buyer went there (to the countryside),” she said.
Some farmers had to pay as much as 50 percent of their crop’s value to get it to a buyer.
During that era, communist rebels recruited farmers’ sons by telling them: “The government has forgotten about you, they don’t care about you. Join us, We will help you.”
In return, a farm family would receive a stipend from the communists for sending one of their sons to fight.
The group became increasingly violent after foreign support for the rebels dried up. They required bus companies and plantation owners to give them a “revolutionary tax,” Macawaris said. Those who refused to pay saw their buses bombed or their crops burned.
Even Mom and Pop corner stores were extorted by Communist fighters, she said.
When Rodrigo Duterte, a former mayor of Davao City, became the first Philippines president from the Davao region,
he realized that military might alone would not end the acts of terror. In the fall of 2022, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Duterte’s successor, declared the Davao region insurgency free.
Duterte’s government oversaw the building of roads to connect rural areas to urban centers. That allowed cacao buyers to set up buying stations within remote villages.
Farmers could save transportation costs by taking their crops to the nearest buying station in their village, Macawaris said.
“The people that you talk(ed) to, the farmers who are there, most of them would have been members of those communist groups.”
Normally, when the supply of a commodity falls short of demand, prices increase.
How then, to explain some Filipino farmers’ reluctance to grow more cacao?
Macawaris said several factors are at play.
Farmers can convert some crops, especially fruits and vegetables, into cash within two to three months.
As for cacao, “it’s a lot more work than others,” she said.
Farmers willing to do the work of tending to their trees, growing to trader requirements, or doing some processing will get a better price than those who just sell the raw commodity.
Lizabel ‘Wit’ Holganza (see story page 14) is a client of MEDA’s RIISA project who is doing the work required to profit from her cacao production.
Future issues of The Marketplace will look at other players in the Philippine cacao sector. .
4
Hey, pastor. Did you know… ?
Jeremy Shue thinks there are some things pastors should know about business leaders.
The Indiana entrepreneur is well-placed for the discussion. He served as a pastor for 13 years, in two US congregations.
18
Publisher MennoMedia launches the Anabaptist Community Bible as part of upcoming celebrations of the 500th anniversary of the Anabaptist movement.
10
Stepping through a series of open doors
Andy Dula, president of EG Stoltzfus, is the first non-family member to lead the Pennsylvania residential and commercial construction firm. How did the “child of a shepherd boy from Ethiopia and a trailblazing Mennonite missionary woman” rise from washing dishes at a restaurant to heading a $130-million-a-year company? By walking through many open doors. By Stephen R. Clark
20
Are you planning for yesterday?
Leaders who rush from fire to fire are planning for something that no longer exists, a Pennsylvania leadership coach argues. By Nathan Good
good reads
Pastors often don’t understand the challenges facing businesspeople, Jeremy Shue says.
Shue’s thoughts on the subject come from reflection and life experience in both vocations.
He is an Indiana businessman who heads Re-Gen, Inc., a Goshen-based plastic recycling company. He has seen the lack of understanding between entrepreneurs and clergy from both sides of the pulpit.
Before starting Re-Gen, and for nine years after starting the company, he served half-time on the pastoral team at Silverwood Mennonite Church as minister of outreach.
In April 2023, Shue spoke to a dozen pastors at a weekend retreat Everence put on for pastors from MCUSA’s Central District. His topic was: “What I wish my pastor knew about being a business leader.”
He emailed a dozen Mennonite entrepreneurs he knew in several states — Kansas, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. He asked them what they wished their pastors knew about being a business leader. Everyone responded with something, a few with long emails, others with a couple of quick bullet points.
The response from busy entrepreneurs suggests they all wish there was more conversation on the topic, he said. “Part of the issue is pastors carry an authority and a power that is different from a business leader’s authority and power.
“Because they both have authority and power, I think they make a lot of assumptions that it’s similar, and then they miss each other.”
When Shue was a pastor, he was a member of a five-person team.
At one point a member of his congregation told Shue that as team leader, he should fire another staffer that the congregant was frustrated with.
“I couldn’t hire or fire anybody on my team. That was the congregational board’s job.”
Even though Shue was the team leader, he did not have the authority to make those decisions.
“Businesspeople in the church, I think, sometimes get frustrated
with how pastors handle authority or don’t handle authority, and they make some assumptions about what (pastors) can do.”
Business leaders have the authority and power to hire and fire staff. But that comes with a certain weight or heaviness, he said. “Because pastors don’t have that, they can’t empathize with what it means in the business world, how heavy a decision that can be.
“I think that ends up getting pretty lonely for business leaders in the congregation, particularly
when their employees go to church with them.”
In those situations, business leaders often can’t share a prayer concern in a church service about needing to fire some people, he said.
As a child growing up in Harper, Kansas, Shue learned that a local manufacturer that employed many people who attended Shue’s church did massive layoffs.
“Two or three gentlemen in
Jeremy Shue grew up hearing about different issues facing businesses and church leaders.
Exposure to those different worlds led him to the unlikely position of being a seminary grad who started a business with his parishioners.
Shue’s mom’s side of the family was business-oriented. His father’s side of the family was much more church-oriented. He has an uncle who is a pastor.
A sense of call to ministry led him to work for four years as a youth pastor in Kidron, Ohio, at a church where his uncle Terry Shue was the senior pastor.
Jeremy Shue then moved to Elkhart County, Indiana, to try to start a business as an inexperienced 20-something. “That really opened my eyes to what the business world was, and how it connected to church.”
His first business effort fell apart, so he took a job with Steve Brenneman, who he had previously met while trying to raise funds for a start-up.
He worked for Brenneman for 18 months but had a nagging feeling that he was leaving the ministry behind. That feeling, and Brenneman’s encouragement, led him to attend the Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS).
“I just never really fit the mold in seminary, because I came out of the business world at that point, which I think was a healthy perspective, but I also had pastoring experience.
“Somehow, I had this crazy idea that I wanted to stay in both worlds."
During his third year of seminary, he was hired by Silverwood Church as a part-time pastor.
He wanted to be bi-vocational, so he intentionally stayed part-time at the church, and then started meeting the businesspeople in the church.
“I started taking them out for breakfast, to find out what they do, and asked
them where they saw openings in the business world and asked them if they ever thought about starting something.”
Unknown to Shue, three of those people had transitions occurring.
“I got them all together, and because they had this transition coming, they had more experience and more capital than I did. I had more time than they did.
The group founded Re-Gen in 2012. For nine years, Shue worked half-time at the startup business, and half-time as a pastor.
By 2021, the business had grown to the point where it required more of his time, so he stepped down as a pastor and has worked full-time with Re-Gen since then.
Even though he has grown Re-Gen to a company that employs close to 40 people, he tells people that he probably won’t be running the firm when he retires.
“I’m 100 percent an entrepreneur, but I’m also 100 percent a pastor, even though I’m not in a paid (church) role right now.”
In his latter days at Silverwood church, he realized his entrepreneurial side was beginning to influence his pastoral work.
“I had a lot of ideas on what I wanted a church to look like. I imagine if I pastor again, it will be a startup, a church plant of some sort. It probably won’t look like most of our congregations.
Shue was a keynote speaker at the Ohio-based Rosedale Bible College’s business conference in March, speaking on vocation.
He has another seminar that he would like to present someday: “What I wish my business leader knew about being a pastor.”
“ I think that one needs just as much development. They’re different roles, but how do we work together and understand where the other one’s at?” .
the congregation were let go by the boss, who also attended that church. That Sunday morning, during our open mike sharing time, it was very long, and it was mostly these men processing (the layoff) from different perspectives.
“I can remember after that, the pastor saying: ‘I had prepared a sermon for today, but it doesn’t have anything to do with what’s really needed.’ ”
The pastor said a lengthy congregational prayer, “and that was the end of church that day.”
That event was seared in Shue’s memory.
While attending seminary at
Volume 54, Issue 6
November December 2024
The Marketplace (ISSN 0199-7130) is published bi-monthly by Mennonite Economic Development Associates, 100 S Queen St Ste 235, Lancaster, PA 176035368. Periodicals postage paid at Newton, KS 67114. Lithographed in U.S.A. Copyright 2024 by MEDA.
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Published by Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA). MEDA’s economic development work in the Global South creates business solutions to poverty. MEDA also facilitates the connection of faith and work through discussions, publications and conventions for participants.
For more information about MEDA call 1-800-665-7026. Web site: www.meda.org
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The Marketplace is printed on Rolland Enviro® Satin and is made with 100% post-consumer sustainable fiber content, FSC® Certified to help meet client sustainability requirements, Acid Free, Elemental Chlorine Free Cover photo of Wit Holganza by Mike Strathdee
Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary in 2010, Shue began exploring the issue of dialogue needed between pastors and entrepreneurs.
He and Jewel Gingerich Longenecker of AMBS’s Centre for Leadership Education created a seminar that they presented at MEDA’s 2011 convention in Lancaster. They also presented the seminar at a few MEDA chapters, “where we brought pastors and business leaders together for intentional conversation.”
“There was definitely some tension felt there, between both groups.”
At the Everence event a dozen years later, he explored the question of entrepreneurs who feel that the church devalues them.
Pastors are critical of power, of systems that are not egalitarian or just enough, he said. “But when you’re building a business, that’s exactly what you are doing — building a system and a structure and an organization. You try to be egalitarian for people with pay, and hours, and what’s fair, but it’s never exactly fair, so then you make policies.
“As soon as you make policies, there’s somebody that’s an outlier, that gets marginalized because of the policy that’s best for the majority. … “
Shue is skeptical of some business practices. He is also upset with church leaders who are critical of business leaders and fail to recognize the important role of business in creating jobs.
“That’s where I get critical of both sides — when there is not a willingness to recognize the lens, the valuable lens that the other side brings.
“I think that ends up getting pretty lonely for business leaders in the congregation, particularly when their employees go to church with them.”
Because they’re both needed. They really are.”
Pastors can validate businesspeople’s journey by understanding the real relationships business leaders have with people, not just in their business, but in the marketplace as well, he said.
“A lot of business leaders, when you talk to them, they see their business as the mission field. That’s where they’re called, that’s where God has them doing the work of the Kingdom… Pastors could recognize that.”
“The business leaders that I have gotten to know have good intentions of how to support their employees, how to pay fairly, or even above fair. How to run their business in a way that is environmentally sustainable and conscious. Just a number of those
things, that I think it’s easy to point fingers at, and not see the work that they are doing.”
Business leaders will be more open to critique once their spiritual leader understands their context and the challenges the businessperson faces, he said. “I don’t know that pastors are often thinking about those things.”
Building a relationship with a businessperson opens the door to questions about how the entrepreneur is building relationships with their employees, he said. “What they are wrestling with, how are they trying to be different than just a regular, marketplace businessperson?”
“Ask them, what do they do differently because they are a Christian in the marketplace than people they encounter?
“All good pastors know how to affirm and love somebody, and when somebody needs a kick in the pants. If you have a relationship, both of those could be received."
Some businesspeople told Shue they wished their pastor would come and see their workplace.
“Seeing someone in their natural environment gives you a way better insight into who they are than meeting them in a coffee shop that is just neutral territory.”
Pastors need to get better at communicating what they do in a way that makes sense in the businessperson’s context, he said. “That’s super important. Because if we put the blame on the business leaders, that’s not building anything.”
The church needs to understand where its people are at, to bring the Gospel or a challenge, he said. .
Agriculture and food security are the primary uses of artificial intelligence (AI) in Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa.
This is the finding of a study released in July by the GSM Association. That group works “to ease cooperation, uphold standards, and support interoperability between those using Global System for Mobile (GSM) technology.”
The report suggests AI has immense potential to boost African economies and support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
In Kenya, Microsoft’s AI For Good lab developed a tool that allows farmers to detect malnutrition hotspots using their smartphones. Tools such as Virtual Agronomist provide advice on fertilizer applications. Plant Village, another AI app, helps to diagnose pests and diseases.
However, many challenges slow the development and adoption of AI systems. The high cost of computer equipment is a barrier facing entrepreneurs and researchers with limited financial resources.
In some countries, a significant skills gap undermine these developments.
“Lack of knowledge and skills remains one of the greatest barriers to adoption and use of digital tools and services, especially for women, low-income and rural communities, and persons with disabilities.”
Under-resourcing of the agriculture sector worsens these challenges.
Kenya has 7.5 million smallscale farmers, an article in The Guardian states. But it only has one extension officer for every 1,093 farm households. The Food
and Agriculture Organization recommends one extension officer for every 400 farm households.
And while mobile network coverage has improved, only 59 percent of people in Sub-Saharan Africa use mobile internet. .
DutchCrafters named to Inc.’s 5000 fastest-growing list DutchCrafters, JMX brand’s Amish furniture line, made Inc. Magazine’s 2024 list of the top 5,000 private companies in the US.
The Sarasota-based firm, headed by former MEDA board member Jim Miller, has been on the list seven times.
Companies on the 2024 Inc. 5000 list are ranked according to percentage of revenue growth from 2020 through 2023.
During these years, DutchCrafters redesigned its Sarasota showroom, launched an Alpharetta, Ga., showroom, added a warehouse, and began an inhouse delivery service. .
In a world where fewer people read from printed pages, the need for a new version of the Bible may not seem obvious.
More than 3,142 versions of the Bible are available, in 2,073 different languages, on bible.com.
But Bibles continue to sell well in the broader marketplace, said Amy Gingerich. She is the executive director of MennoMedia, the denominational publisher for Mennonite Church USA and Mennonite Church Canada.
The Bible is the best-selling and most widely distributed book in the world, the Guinness Book of World Records says. Though it’s impossible to know how many Bibles have been sold over the past 1,500 years, estimates range from five to seven billion. Another 80 million are printed annually.
Four years ago, MennoMedia’s leadership team came up with the idea of producing an Anabaptist Community Bible to mark the 500th anniversary of the beginnings of the Anabaptist movement.
2025 was chosen to mark Anabaptism’s 500th anniversary because, on January 21, 1525,
Conrad Grebel baptized George Blaurock, who in turn baptized several others. Anabaptists believe in adult baptism, a practice that led to persecution in the 16th century by Roman Catholic and Protestant churches of the time, as well as local governments.
MennoMedia chose to develop an Anabaptist Community Bible in part because none of the existing Bibles have commentary from Anabaptist scholars and church laypeople. The idea has received strong support from MennoMedia’s constituency.
When MennoMedia’s development director presented the Anabaptist Community Bible concept to an important donor, the donor had a surprising response: “That’s the craziest thing I ever heard of, and I think you should do it.”
MennoMedia did its largestever fundraising campaign for the Anabaptist Community Bible project, attracting $1.5 million in donations. Its second-largest appeal, which asked for $850,000 to produce the Voices Together hymnal a few years ago, raised about $1 million.
photos courtesy Dreampic
The new Bible, to be released in January, includes more than 7,200 marginal notes alongside the biblical text, commentary from Anabaptist scholars, historical notes from the tradition, and the insights of the nearly 600 Bible study groups.
It includes:
• 40 original linocut illustrations of the biblical story
• Informative essays on Anabaptist approaches to biblical interpretation, the Apocrypha (biblical or related writings that are not part of the accepted set of texts that Christians agreed to include in the Bible), and other topics useful for group discussion
• A 365-day Bible
reading plan and suggestions for group Bible study
• Timelines, weights and measures, and other tables help orient readers in the biblical world
“The Bible is for many people either irrelevant or regarded as a source of conflict,” said John Roth, MennoMedia’s project director for its Anabaptism at 500 initiative. “Not (for) everyone, of course, but in our broader culture it has been a point of friction or irrelevant.”
Menno Media’s attempt to invite broad and deep engagement with scripture revealed that “there’s a deeper interest in scripture than what you might think of if all you’re doing is reading the headlines,” he said.
MennoMedia set a goal of at least 500 church groups reading, reflecting, and sharing comments about scripture passages. That target was met and surpassed.
Each group was asked to reflect on the three Old and New Testament passages they were assigned, over several meetings. The goal was to cover every book of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelations.
Most of the nearly 600 groups’ contributing comments came from MC USA and MC Canada churches. However, many other Anabaptist groups contributed to this process.
These included members of Church of the Brethren, LMC, Evana, the Bruderhof, Old Order Amish, Old Colony Mennonites in Paraguay, Mennonite Brethren, and Church of God in Christ congregations.
Roth received more than 3,000 pages of comments from study groups that reported on their experience. “Those comments are overwhelmingly positive, full of gratitude,” he said.
Gingerich thinks the project makes a theological statement. “In part, I think what we’re proclaiming theologically here is that God is still living and active,” she said.
“It bears witness to God’s movement in our lives as study groups dove in. I think it allowed … groups that engage the Bible regularly and groups that don’t engage the Bible regularly to get back to the book together. And that was the point, that together we are people of the book.”
Roth, who was previously a history professor at Goshen College for 37 years, agrees. “This is about the renewal of the church and using the expertise of MennoMedia to give back to the church,” he said.
“I think what we’re proclaiming theologically here is that God is still living and active.” — Amy Gingerich, MennoMedia’s executive director
The Anabaptist Community Bible neither offers a new translation nor the older translations — most commonly the New International Version or the New Revised Standard Version — that many Mennonite congregations regularly use in worship.
Instead, project staff settled on a lesser-known translation, the Common English Bible (CEB).
The CEB is a scholarly translation written in clear, simple language. That makes it more accessible to young people and members of immigrant Anabaptist churches for whom English is not their first language than some older translations.
CEB translators aimed to produce a rendering of the Bible at a Grade 7 level. By comparison, the NRSV is written at an 11th-grade reading level.
The Anabaptist Community Bible will be available in January, 2025. But that is not the end of the project, Gingerich said. “We intend to make lots of resources around the Bible available on our website, and I think they’ll continue to spring up for years to come.” .
By Stephen R Clark
Getting from Ethiopia to where he is now meant walking through many unexpected open doors for Andy Dula.
“I am the child of a shepherd boy from Ethiopia and a trailblazing Mennonite missionary woman from Strasburg, Pennsylvania,” Dula told EMU (Eastern Mennonite University) News in 2023 after he was named Alumni of the Year.
Born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in 1969, today Dula is the president of EGStoltzfus, a residential and commercial construction firm in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Dula is the first non-family president of this second-generation, $130 million-ayear, 80-employee family business.
He joined the company in 1992. In 2022, EGStoltzfus was awarded an Ethics in Business Award. Dula is a 1991 graduate of EMU. In 2016 he earned an MBA from Millersville University.
His parents met in Ethiopia where his mother served as a missionary nurse. Mary Ellen Groff had gone to Ethiopia as a nurse with Eastern Mennonite Missions. Mamo Dula, Dulas’ father, was an Ethiopian medical assistant at Nazareth Hospital.
Mary Ellen and Mamo married in 1967 despite family and others’ objections to their interracial
relationship. Shortly after Andy Dula was born, the family moved to Goshen, Indiana where his father attended Goshen College to earn an undergraduate degree.
Watching his parents, he explains, “played a significant part in shaping” his value system and sense of justice. In addition to the
challenges of managing school, work, and a family, his parents endured the stigma of being a mixed-race couple during a time of racial tension in the United States and within the Mennonite Church in the ‘60s.
Later the family moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania so his dad
could continue his education at pharmacy school. They lived next door to Germantown Mennonite Church in northwest Philadelphia.
Andy remembers the “overwhelming generosity of the church” as church members cared for Andy and his brother while his dad went to school, and his mother worked as a nurse.
The church graveyard was a playground for Dula and his brother and only sibling, Peter. Andy recalls, “We lived in a pretty rough part of Philly” where he was “petrified 30% of the time.”
The family moved again after his father completed his schooling and took a job at St. Joseph Hospital as a pharmacist in Lancaster. There, Dula eventually entered the Manheim Township School District before moving into the Lancaster Mennonite system.
Dula “was always into sports” playing soccer and basketball in school. For his future career goals, he looked to his dad. “He was my role model,” says Dula, “and, at the time, a pharmacist seemed like a pretty good gig.”
When he headed to college
at Eastern Mennonite on a scholarship, he was considering being a pharmacist but kept his options open, watching for open doors. His first choice had been Goshen College, following in his father’s footsteps.
However, he received a letter with an unexpected scholarship offer to EMU and so walked through the door that opened at the last minute.
At EMU he studied business administration and management and met a charming young woman from Ohio, Michelle Wittmer. She and his studies filled up his four years at EMU. They married in 1991, months after graduating. Michelle, who later earned a master’s in education, went into teaching and Andy helped his father and a partner start an Ethiopian restaurant.
Sharing about this first experience running a business in a 2010 speech for the Lancaster MEDA Chapter, Dula said, “I had no boss to learn from, no previous knowledge, no experiences of best practices for running a restaurant, no established policies for accounting, managing costs, or handling employees.”
“I had come out of college wanting to be a mover and shaker in the world of business,” he continued, “instead I was washing dishes one night and waiting tables the next.”
Today as he looks back, he acknowledges the value of being a “Jack of all trades” and seeing the business from every angle. It taught him that “this is what entrepreneurs do — it’s just blood, sweat, and tears.”
It stripped him of the idea that the business world was a glamourous adventure and, instead, was much more than “profit-seeking indulgence.”
Dula worked in the restaurant
for about a year before another door opened. A friend mentioned an opening for a project manager at EGStoltzfus and encouraged Andy to apply.
He wasn’t hired for that role but made a good impression. He learned later that the people he’d interviewed with wanted to bring him on because they liked him. Once hired, he started working on a framing crew. Next, they moved him into a position where he learned drafting and drawing floor plans by hand. A couple of years later he finally landed in the project management role he’d originally interviewed for.
position more than a few years. After project management, he became controller, then chief financial officer, later chief operating officer, and finally president in January 2021. He is the first non-family president in the company’s 56-year history.
Dave Gautsche, president and CEO of Goodville Mutual Casualty Company, told EMU News, “His success [at Stoltzfus] is somewhat unusual and a testament to the trust the family has developed in him.”
While Dula was walking through open doors at Stoltzfus, his wife, Michelle, eventually sensed a call to ministry, and went back to school again to earn an M.Div. Since 2009 she has been a pastor. Since 2015, she has served Blossom Hill Mennonite Church in Lancaster, the church Dula grew up in. Says Dula, “I’m back home.”
How did he manage to move through these various opportunities? He admits there was a certain amount of luck involved. But he also says, “Some of it is just not being smart enough to say no.”
While some people, when offered an opportunity where they have no training or experience, would shy away, Dula said yes, and stepped through the doors that kept opening.
“Frankly, that’s been the story of my life,” he said. “Doors opened in my path, and I just stepped through.” As a result, in his 34 years at EGStoltzfus, he’s not held a single
Despite their very different jobs, he says, “it’s amazing how similar our roles are.” They both provide leadership, address people issues, and engage in problem-solving. However, he doesn’t view his leadership role as a calling in the same sense Michelle sees her pastoral role. He says, “We all have certain skills and gifts that we can use in multiple ways for good or not so good.”
Recognizing the skills he’s been gifted with coupled with the doors that have opened leading him to his present career, “Ultimately,” he says, “I just wanted to use my gifts and skills for good.”
When it comes to faith, he says, “Faith has always been a mystery to me.” He cites Frederick Buechner who talks about a “plot line in your life that intersects with Jesus” in your journey. His faith, “has been more of a perspective of having hands wide open instead of clenched.”
He does say, though, that he
believes all are called to do the work of spreading compassion and understanding. He seeks to do this in how he relates with his colleagues at work.
Given the nature of the company he works for, he sees a lot of good in creating much-needed housing. “We build as many as 150 or more homes each year,” he said, “including affordable housing,” which he sees as a good thing.
To his role at EGStoltzfus, he applies what he views as a “bridge builder” approach. “I want to see both sides of things.” This allows him to apply a “certain level of pragmatism” to his decisions and for addressing challenges.
One significant change Dula has shepherded in his tenure at Stoltzfus is, “Our diversification strategy of in addition to being home builder — EGStoltzfus Homes — for 55 years, starting a commercial general contracting company — EGStoltzfus Construction — 20 years ago.” This change was coupled with the company’s need to move beyond being merely a homebuilder to engaging in commercial construction and real estate land development.
A current challenge is preparing the company for the future. Dula is approaching 55 and several key people in the company are much nearer to retirement. “We are working hard on a succession plan,” he says, “as well as to be actively mentoring emerging leaders.”
Nurturing leaders is solidly within his wheelhouse. “Coaching, mentoring, advising, and supporting our current and future leaders is about as fun as it gets.”
Another activity he enjoys is serving on various boards. Besides using this as an opportunity for giving back, he views it as a great way to learn more. “I’ve learned so much from both the process
of being on boards, but also from the leaders and mentors I’ve served with.” He says more than once ideas that have been shared in board meetings have sparked ideas for improvements he’s implemented at his company.
A key reason for his tenure at Stoltzfus is, “There’s just a set of core values that we’ve been able to dial into in terms of integrity, honesty, and respect.” While the
company leadership team may not always be on the same page theologically or politically, “our basic values are the same and that has enabled us to really trust each other.” He reiterates that his ability to look at both sides of issues helps him build consensus.
Character and trust are key reasons the second-generation family members brought Dula into his current role. “I owe (them) a
Andy Dula, president of the EGStolzfus Construction, draws inspiration and guidance from the 10 Commandments for the Marketplace that hang in his office. These commandments were developed by Rev. Carnegie Samuel Calian, president of Pittsburgh
Theological Seminary from 1981 to 2006.
The purpose of these commandments, Calian said, is to help “sort out what is and what is not negotiable for us in a market-driven society.” These guidelines “provide a framework to examine our fears, failures, and rationalizations of our greed.”
He asserts that holding to these 10 guidelines will help ensure sound sleep every night.
1. Treat individuals as sacred; people are more than the means to another’s end.
2. Be generous; the benefits will exceed the costs in the long run.
3. Practice moderation; obsession with winning is dehumanizing and idolatrous.
4. Disclose mistakes; confession and restitution are necessary to restoring ethical character.
5. Arrange priorities; have long-range goals and principles in mind.
6. Keep promises; trust, confidence and authenticity are built over a period of time.
7. Tell the truth; falsifying information destroys credibility.
8. Exercise a more inclusive sense of stewardship; charity does not stop at home but extends throughout our global-oriented society.
9. Insist on being well-informed; judgment without knowledge is dangerous.
10. Be profitable without losing your soul in the process; evaluate your profit
and loss statement in light of tradeoffs. A business audit is much more than an accounting of dollars and cents.
Calian says that “Translating these ‘ten commandments,’ or guidelines into codes of ethics for organizations and company policies will support the health of the marketplace” and “raise the level of business, show respect to others, encourage efficiency, heighten listening and increase productivity — all characteristics of successful companies and organizations that desire a sustainable and successful future.” .
ED note: Calian, who is 91, received so many responses to his 10 Commandments for the marketplace that it inspired him to write his 14th book: “Heaven’s Passport: Designing Your Biblical Passport for a Fuller Life.”
Heaven’s Passport can be purchased through Amazon.
tremendous debt of gratitude.”
“We are a team that has been at the company a long time, we share common beliefs and values, and we all care deeply about doing the right things for our employees and customers.”
A source of inspiration for him are 10 commandments of the marketplace by C. Samuel Calian, a retired president of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, which he has framed in his office.
“I would sum up my energy and work during my career with the last commandment,” Dula said. “ ‘Be profitable without losing your soul.’ Profitability is essential and needed but it is only one part of leading a values-oriented highachieving company.”
The Dulas have two children. Maya, 21, is in Arizona going to medical school. Mesa, 24, just completed an accounting degree at EMU and plans to pursue a master’s.
Andy explains, “My son, Mesa, spent a half-year in Africa and learned to surf there.” That gave the bug to Andy. He bought a used board and goes out on the waves on Bethany Beach in Delaware when they’re staying in their beach home.
“It’s a work in progress,” and one more door that opened, he said. He enjoys the meditative quality of being on the water, waiting for a good wave.
His other outdoor passion is running. “I do a lot of running. I’m up at 5:30 a.m. and out on the road with just my thoughts.” He avoids earbuds and music. “I don’t do anything but run and clear my head.”
At times, watching the sun come up and feeling the warmth hit his face, “I’m just in tears,” taken with the beauty of creation all around him.
As for the future, after his time at EG ends? He expects that “a door is going to open and I’m going to walk through it.” And then he’ll see what’s next. .
Wit Holganza likes it wild.
“The move for the farm now is to rewild it,” she said while giving visitors a tour of her five-hectare (12.36 acre) Gran Verde family farm.
Gran Verde is home to an eclectic operation in the Davao region of the southern Philippine island of Mindanao. Holganza heads Lilamaya, a firm that grows many different organic crops and offers food tours to visiting groups.
A related company, Wit’s Sweets & Savories, develops food and wellness products from crops grown on the farm. Visitors quickly become aware that Holganza cares equally about people and caring for the environment while working to turn a profit.
“When people come to the farm, when they walk through it, we have them eat flowers, we have them eat young shoots on the fly,” she said. “The whole idea of permaculture is really, as much as possible to enjoy everything as closely as possible to its natural state.”
Holganza worked in the US in information technology for more than two decades before returning home to a farm her parents purchased in the late 1950s.
Her father’s busy legal practice made him a weekend farmer. The land was contracted out to pineapple, banana, and papaya growers. After taking over the farm, she did away with contract growing and spraying.
“Over the past eight years,
we have not used any synthetic fungicides, pesticides, and herbicides.”
Making this change has not come without challenges. Mango trees that once yielded fruit are now unproductive. Their trunks are used as supporting posts for vanilla, pepper, and dragon fruit plants.
A partnership with MEDA through the RIISA project provides Holganza’s business with tools to strengthen its operations.
RIISA stands for Resilience and Inclusion through Investment for Sustainable Agrikultura.
RIISA is a six-year project in the Philippines’ cacao sector. It is funded by Global Affairs Canada and support from MEDA’s private donors.
Cacao is a small tree with seeds — cocoa beans — used to make cocoa solids, cocoa butter, and chocolate.
Part of MEDA’s support for Holganza’s farm is a $20,000 Canadian matching grant.
“I think the whole point of the MEDA (partnership) is to showcase how a small farm can be resilient, without having to concentrate on having just one particular crop,” she said.
Ensuring that everything grown at the farm can be used in some fashion is one of her goals.
Coconut shells border walkway paths. Detaching a piece of fennel, she notes that people prone to insect bites can rub it on their skin.
“I also put this in egg salad, and I use it as a natural insecticide.”
What cannot be used for food makes mulch to benefit the ground.
A recently purchased chopper/grinder machine assists with the farm’s “chop and drop” philosophy of returning plant material to the soil.
Gran Verde farm has between 6,000 and 8,000 trees, one-quarter of which are cacao. Other trees on Holganza’s farm are a mix of coconuts, durian fruit, mango, and other tropical fruits.
Half a hectare of the property is being planted with native trees to create a forest to support flora and fauna. Creating this habitat will attract many birds, which in turn attracts bird-loving tourists.
The farm is experimenting with applying a natural fertilizer to 500 trees.
The product is a mix of 13 natural microorganisms that promote mycelium growth. Mycelium is a fungus that helps close an ecosystem’s energy cycle. It works to decompose organic matter and recycle it into beneficial compounds.
Holganza has a team of six staff working on the farm, three men and three women. Another five people work on branding, packaging, and product development for Wit’s Sweets & Savories, her food processing business.
The use of stingless bees is an innovation being tested at Gran
Verde.
The bees will improve the productivity of the farm’s cacao, coconut, and fruit trees.
Splitting the hives allows the farm to harvest honey, pollen, and propolis, a resinlike material used in some natural remedies.
Her food crafting team makes cough syrup from a honey and garlic mixture.
The farm has a bamboo grove. Bamboo harvested from the grove is used in basic structures around the farm.
A vegetable patch grows what Holganza calls “ugly vegetables.” These are imperfectly shaped veggies that don’t get sprayed and have “thin holes and pinpricks from friendly insects.”
The vegetables are not sellable to a market that wants “very uniform, very beautiful, very smooth” products. Still, the farm has been in touch with “three to five restaurants who are looking for chemical-free vegetables,” she said.
Some product development efforts have failed but then spurred new ideas. An effort to make jam with cacao pods flopped but led to the discovery she could make flour from the pods.
Part of the partnership with MEDA has been to “improve the process of making our chocolate bars. Our chocolate bars are not the same as the other bars.”
Support from MEDA allowed her firm to order custom molds, “so that we can create standard, uniform bars, that have our logo on the bar.”
But she is thinking about new ideas for using cacao. Larger players “can make chocolate bars better than we can,” she said. “We want to look at other things that the others are not making.”
The company will launch three new products by July 2025. Her family helps clarify the direction for developing her firm’s wellness brand.
Guidance has come from “robust exchanges with the thirdgeneration members of the family, who are driven by a sense of purpose to take care of the earth,” she said. .
by Sudip Maiti
The plaza was developed by converting the unused space under metro rail pillars using the vertical garden technique and providing the citizens with a food production model in the limited space of an urban setting.
A man works on his rooftop garden in Kolkata,
As a result of climate change and rapid urbanization, the space for agriculture is declining. We can use our roofs as a secondary source of food production to help relieve pressure from industrial agriculture and prevent significant carbon dioxide emissions by using local produce.
A farmer checks on cauliflower plants beside the highrises of the city of Kolkata.
Urban agriculture can prevent significant greenhouse gas emissions from transporting the produce and creates a green space to reduce pollution.
In ancient West Bengal villages, farmers winnowed rice by tossing it in the air using a flat, woven bamboo tray called a “kulo.” The wind separated the lighter chaff from the heavier grains, which fell back onto the ground, leaving the chaff to blow away.
In West Bengal, mustard seed cultivation is vital, particularly in the districts of Nadia, Burdwan, and Murshidabad. The region’s alluvial soil and favorable climate support high yields. Farmers use traditional methods combined with modern techniques to enhance productivity, contributing significantly to the state’s agriculture and economy.
Rice cultivation in West Bengal thrives due to fertile alluvial soil, abundant rainfall, and favorable climate. It follows a traditional, labor-intensive method with three main growing seasons: Aus, Aman, and Boro. The state is one of India’s top rice producers, supporting millions of farmers and contributing significantly to the state’s economy.
Agriculture is a major source of food production that is essential for human daily life. Therefore, care should be taken to improve agriculture.
In a cucumber farm, small plants are being cultivated with care so that they can survive in an orderly manner.
Agriculture is a very important business for our daily lives.
Leaders who rush from fire to fire are planning for
something
that no longer exists
By Nathan Good
My family loves to hike. When I was young, we enjoyed orienteering. Using only a map and compass, we hiked without a trail or path.
Finding your way through unknown areas like this is a lost art in a world of Global Positioning System (GPS) and satellite images.
When hiking without a trail, you need a plan. You map out the route before entering the woods. But on the hike, things do not always go as planned. Coming across a dense patch of undergrowth, you walk around it, keeping the end in mind so you can get back on track.
Leadership can be like this. We have a general idea of where we want to go. Then, reacting to challenges, we need to keep the bigger picture in mind.
When things get off track, it might be the result of decisions made long ago. Without taking time to think and plan, we risk getting lost by reacting only to what is in front of us.
In the book of Numbers, we find the story of Moses striking a rock (Numbers 20:1-13). Moses had led the people of Israel into the desert. His sister Miriam died there, and they buried her. Now, the people needed water.
In a similar situation, God
told Moses to strike a rock and water gushed out. This time, God told Moses to speak to the rock, not strike it. Yet, in a moment of frustration, Moses used what worked before.
Water flowed from the rock. However, because of his disobedience, God would not allow
Moses to enter the Promised Land. Moses, Aaron, and Miriam were a leadership team. Together they guided Israel through the wilderness.
With Miriam gone, perhaps Moses felt the weight of leadership more sharply. The problem in front of him felt larger. Rather than stepping back and thinking, he reacted and made a mistake.
Even the greatest leaders can fall into reactive patterns. We all act on impulse at times. Without thought, we do what worked in the past, only to regret it later.
Leadership, whether in a business, nonprofit, or family, requires a proactive mindset. Rather than reacting to the crisis at hand, leaders look ahead and plan for the future.
The fires of today sparked on the tinder of yesterday. Rushing from fire to fire, leaders plan for something that no longer exists.
The prophet Elijah found himself in a similar position in 1 Kings 19. The Israelites were worshipping idols. Elijah won a tense victory over their false priests. Now the queen was threatening to kill him. Tired and upset, Elijah ran into the wilderness. He asked God to end his life.
God met him there. His problems did not go away. But God brought rest, food, and a still small
voice that gently guided him back on track. Elijah’s retreat gave him perspective and strength for the work yet to be done.
Jesus provides a different example. He heard that one of his best friends, Lazarus, was near death. He did not rush to heal him. Instead, He stayed where He was for two more days (John 11:1-7).
To those around Him, this was a cruel mistake. Jesus looked like a leader failing to act in a crisis. But he was focused on showing God’s glory rather than reacting to the problem in front of him.
Jesus arrived after Lazarus died. This led to his greatest miracle, bringing Lazarus back to life.
These biblical stories show the dangers of reactive leadership. Today’s fires are yesterday’s problems. Leaders need to step away from crisis management to seek God’s wisdom.
For close to 20 years, I have taken an annual personal retreat around my birthday. Some years, this retreat is life changing. I come back with new insights, a renewed sense of purpose, and major changes to make in my life and work.
Other years, the retreat is downright boring.
The practice itself has been useful. Stepping away from the noise and demands of daily leadership to reflect, pray, and plan has allowed me to lead from a place of vision rather than reaction.
I also practice “balcony time” every Friday. I step out of the dayto-day, getting up in the “balcony” to see the big picture. I look ahead at my calendar, figure out what is most important, and plan my coming week.
Both of these practices — whether yearly or weekly — help me lead proactively. They keep me from simply responding to whatever demands the day throws at me.
So, how can you cultivate a proactive mindset in your own life and work?
1. Create space for reflection: Just as Elijah needed to step away from the noise to hear God’s voice, we need regular times to reflect. Whether it’s a personal retreat, “balcony time,” or a quiet moment each day. These times help us focus on what really matters.
2. Develop a vision for the future: In the story of Lazarus, Jesus wasn’t thinking about the crisis in front of him. As leaders, we must cultivate a vision that goes beyond crisis management. This requires a deep sense of calling and purpose.
3. Build a culture of trust: Proactive leadership is bigger than the leader. It requires building trust with a team. Like Moses with Miriam and Aaron, feedback from others is needed. When people feel
trusted and empowered, they’re more proactive, planning for the future.
4. Address root causes, not just symptoms: When faced with a problem, it’s easy to put out the fire without asking what caused it in the first place. True leadership involves digging deeper, asking hard questions, and making real changes. This prevents the problem from coming again in the future.
5. Prepare for tomorrow, today: As the saying goes, “Failing to plan is planning to fail.” Take the time to think about where things are headed. Prepare now for what is coming up.
Today’s fires are yesterday’s problems. The crisis of today does not need to consume your future. Step back, seek wisdom, and plan proactively. Lead with purpose, turning today’s challenges into tomorrow’s successes. .
Longing For Joy: An invitation into the Goodness and Beauty of Life by Alastair Sterne (InterVarsity Press, 2024 223 pages $18.00 US)
The search for joy is as important as any joy we might find in life. In “Longing For Joy,” Alastair Sterne speaks about joy in this fashion, in both the introduction and epilogue. In the intro, he talks of his depression and need for medication to help with this condition. For those of us who struggle with depression, panic or anxiety, medication can be a great start.
Sterne has an engaging style of theology and storytelling, so the book is a pleasure to read. He begins with longing for joy in Part 1 and moves to the story of joy in God and finishes with eight chapters of ideas to foster joy.
During one Easter season, he wrote in a journal about the joy
Pursuing the complex path of doing good
Right Thing, Right Now. Good Values, Good Character, Good Deeds by Ryan Holiday (PortfolioPenguin. 2024 340 pages, $37.99 US.)
Holiday’s latest book is the third volume in the bestselling Stoic Virtues series.
he finds in life. This is a practical way that you can maintain a place of joy in one’s life. I am going to attempt to do this for a month. Maybe it will stick.
As I was completing the book, my young friend passed away suddenly. Where do you find joy? I tell stories of her love of people and her great ability to bring the best out of people. This gives the possibility of joy amid tragedy.
At the beginning of each of the 22 chapters, Sterne quotes tidbits of joy from various poets, theologians and storytellers. I offer Sterne a short piece of wisdom from Canadian folk singer Bruce Cockburn, “Joy will find a way.”
Thank you, Alastair, for your
Stoicism, a philosophy that dates to 300 BC, involves repression of emotion and indifference to pleasure or pain. This book explores four basic virtues: Courage, Temperance, Justice, and Wisdom.
Doing the “right thing” is both complicated and straightforward, he writes. All philosophical and
religious traditions involve some form of the Golden Rule.
Self-sacrifice won’t increase a person’s popularity, he notes. “No one throws you a parade when you do the right thing.”
Instead, doing the right thing can attract hostility. “I can see clearly that at even the slightest mention of our obligations to each other, about issues like racism or inequality, I will lose readers and customers.”
Citing the Sermon on the Mount and the parable of the Good Samaritan, he urges readers:
“When everyone has turned away, lean in. Do what is kind and decent and so desperately needed.”
That should include “growing a coaching tree” within our spheres of influence, acting as a mentor, patron, sponsor, ally, or teacher to those we can help.
“Stop looking for angels,” he writes. “Start looking for angles.’”
Holiday is clear-eyed in his assessment of obstacles to implementing his suggestions. “Anyone who wants to do good in this world must be a student of power.”
That work must be grounded in pragmatism, as well as virtue, he suggests. “Pragmatism without virtue is dangerous and hollow. Virtue without pragmatism in ineffectual and impotent.”
Well worth reading and reflecting upon. - MS
Comfort & Joy: Readings and Practices for Advent by Sherah-Leigh Gerber & Gwen Lantz (Herald Press, 2024. 196 pages, $16.99 US)
During the busy holiday season, how do you nurture your spirit? Sherah-Leigh Gerber and Gwen Lantz created what they were longing for — first a blog and eventually this book, “Comfort & Joy: Readings & Practices for Advent,” an invitation to slow down and connect with God throughout Advent and Christmas.
This devotional guide, organized by weeks, allows readers to use it in ways that suit the rhythms of their lives. Themes and scriptures are drawn from Wilda C. Gafney’s “A Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church.” Focusing on
the birth narrative in Luke’s gospel offers space to reflect more deeply on the main characters.
Lectionary texts are accompanied by poetry, reflections, words of comfort, journal prompts, and spiritual practices. The writers
also include favorite family recipes. I found myself wishing for pictures, or simple drawings of the foods to support my efforts to make these recipes. Throughout the resource, they return to the hope and promise of the incarnation — that God meets us where we are and is at work making something new.
Simple and accessible spiritual practices offer ways to integrate the themes into daily life. Open-ended journal prompts provide entry points for people in all seasons of life. The writers acknowledge that the holidays can be chaotic, stressful, and full of overwhelming expectations. They can also be sad and lonely. This warm and realistic resource can help people encounter God through all their joys and struggles.
I found myself wishing for one more chapter on the story of the Magi. The book’s conclusion only hints at the Epiphany moments of illumination, discovery, and change that can be part of living into “something new” with hope and joy.
Reminding us that “it is good to prepare — not just our calendars, but also our hearts — for this season,” the authors invite us to wait and watch for where God shows up in ordinary life. This resource offers us many ways to make the journey through Advent and Christmas meaningful. .
Janet Bauman is a pastor at St. Jacobs Mennonite Church.
Would you like to comment on anything in this magazine, or on any other matters relating to business and faith? Send your thoughts to mstrathdee@meda.org
