I was born in Newton, KS in 1952 and raised there, the oldest of four children born to Lawrence and Elda Yoder.  My Mother’s maiden name was Schmidt, a Russian Mennonite name of General Conference extraction.  I grew up in the Bethel College Mennonite Church and wasn’t very aware of the meaning of my "MC" roots until I got a job at a lumber yard in Hesston, KS.

I met my wife, Jill, at Newton High School and we married in August of 1972, four days after I turned 20.  Jill has been a Registered Nurse for over 30 years.  Our oldest son, Ed, was born in January of 1975 and my life was impacted dramatically by that event.  I experienced God in a real way for the first time as an adult.  I began to seek Him and within a short time, met the Lord in a significant way at the Whitestone Mennonite Church in Hesston, KS.  Our second son, Benjamin was born in 1977.

In the spring of 1979, I took a Bible class at Hesston College over my lunch hour.  It was out of that class that John Lederach, the professor, tapped me on the shoulder to consider a "call to ministry".  After one year at Hesston College, I was licensed at the Crystal Springs Mennonite Church to the pastoral ministry.  The next year I was ordained.  After a three-year stint at Crystal Springs, we had an opportunity to move back to Hesston where I was campus pastor while I finished my BA in Bible and Religion from Bethel College.

We moved to Goshen IN in 1985 after two years as Campus Pastor at Hesston College and I completed a Master of Divinity degree that included a unit of CPE while Jill worked at Goshen Hospital and our boys attended Parkside School.  Worshipping at College Mennonite in Goshen for those two years was a meaningful experience for our family.

We moved back to Hesston in 1987 and I continued to be campus pastor and taught Bible half-time for four years.  In 1991, we responded to the call to pastor Hesston Inter-Mennonite Fellowship.  I continued to teach part-time at Hesston and we enjoyed a 6 year pastorate at Inter-Mennonite.  Watching the church grow in numbers and in worship over those 6 years was a highlight for us.

In 1997, the call came to consider a move to Sarasota, FL to be senior pastor at the Bay Shore Mennonite church.  During our six years at Bay Shore, Jill continued working as a RN in a same day surgery center, both our boys graduated from Goshen College, met and married their spouses and completed master’s degrees, Ed in Accounting and Ben as an Anesthetist Assistant.  Bay Shore presented incredible opportunity and challenge with the annual influx of winter residents.  Many books of the Bible were taught inductively on Sunday evenings and some Wednesday evening classes.  Bay Shore also presented an platform to develop preaching skills.

In 2002, a call came to seek the Lord in terms of the lead pastor position at the Lindale Mennonite Church.  The call to come to Virginia coincided with a desire to return to an academic community and possibly pursue doctoral studies and the desire to be near to family who live here.  Lindale Mennonite Church feels like an incredible fit with it’s desire for strong preaching and teaching and the movement with an eye to the future evidenced by the building program to construct a new sanctuary.

I believe that together we can move forward as a Word-centered, prayer-focused body of believers open the Holy Spirit’s leading as we seek to be faithful followers of Jesus Christ and reach out to others most in need of Him.