Revelation 7:9 Award is given to Wendy McFadden and Nancy Sollenberger Heishman

The Church of the Brethren Intercultural Ministries held its annual Revelation 7:9 Award presentation during the Mission and Ministry Board meeting on Sunday, June 28. Intercultural director Founa Augustin Badet presented the award, which recognizes church members and congregations for their contributions to a vision of intercultural ministries in their communities, within the denomination, and in the world at large.

Two honorees received the award this year, both retiring from the denominational staff in July: Wendy McFadden, publisher and executive director of Brethren Press and Communications, and Nancy Sollenberger Heishman, director of Ministry.

Wendy McFadden

In her almost 45 years on the staff of the Church of the Brethren, Wendy McFadden has quietly led the church in matters of race—expanding the number of people of color among writers, leading events and webinars, advocating for high-quality translation of publications, and occasionally writing from her personal experience as Korean American.

As a member of a 2021-2025 Mission and Ministry Board-appointed committee on racial justice, she oversaw a first-time survey of current and former staff and board members who are people of color, researched employment statistics, and drafted documents for the board.

At Christian Churches Together (CCT), where she was the church’s longtime representative, McFadden took part in numerous events related to racial justice and served on the writing team for CCT’s formal response to Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” In 2012, she was the first member of the Church of the Brethren to take part in a Sankofa Journey.

*Wendy McFadden (at left) with Intercultural Ministries director Founa Augustin Badet. Photo by Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford*

McFadden has covered church activities in countries that include Haiti, Lebanon, Japan, Nicaragua, South Africa, and Zimbabwe, and has represented the church at global meetings of the World Council of Churches.

As publisher of Brethren Press and executive director of Communications, she is the first person of color to helm these areas, which include Messenger magazine, and to serve as an executive on the denominational staff.

Nancy Sollenberger Heishman

Nancy Sollenberger Heishman is concluding nearly nine years of employment as director of the Ministry Office for the Church of the Brethren. In that role, she has overseen the support of the office for the calling, training, credentialing, and sustaining of ministers in the denomination.

Previously she was co-pastor of West Charleston Church of the Brethren in Tipp City, Ohio, and also of the Cristo, Nuestra Paz congregation in New Carlisle, Ohio. She also worked as coordinator of Spanish language ministry training programs for the Brethren Academy for Ministerial Leadership, administering the Seminario Bíblico Anabautista Hispano (SeBAH-CoB) educational program and the Spanish-language track of the Education for a Shared Ministry (EFSM) program.

In 2012, she was called to the role of Annual Conference moderator and presided over the 2014 Annual Conference in Columbus, Ohio.

Prior ministry experiences included serving as co-mission coordinator for the Church of the Brethren in the Dominican Republic, working from 2003-2011 with la Iglesia de los Hermanos en la República Dominicana. She also filled the role of director of the Theological Program for the Dominican Brethren.

Her additional pastoral experiences included serving as co-pastor of Harrisburg (Pa.) First Church of the Brethren and as pastor of Wilmington (Del.) Church of the Brethren. She was ordained in 1985 by Annville (Pa.) Church of the Brethren in Atlantic Northeast District. She currently resides in Richmond, Va. She and her husband, Irvin, are parents of two young adult children and grandparents of two (adorable) grandchildren.

— Find out more about the Revelation 7:9 Award at www.brethren.org/intercultural/revelation-7-9-award

#MissionAndMinistryBoard #StrategicPlan #RacialJustice #LoveOurNeighbors #Discipleship #NewTestamentGiving

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