Why I Want to Travel the Central Plains Mennonite Conference

Hi, my name is Matt Troyer-Miller. I'm originally from Shickley, NE, and my home church is Salem Mennonite Church. I graduated from High School in 2001, Hesston College in 2003, and Goshen College in 2005. I currently live in Elkhart, IN with my wife Elizabeth and a fake Christmas tree that I want to throw out the window (instead, I will donate it to a local thrift store). My time is spent working construction, also known as cleaning up the mess of people who work construction. I'm pretty new to the world of construction, so I'm on the bottom of the pecking order. I've learned something though, recently I held an extended conversation about general construction with several much more experienced construction workers. That made me feel good about myself.
I'm excited about this summer for several reasons. One, I look forward to meeting many of the congregations who are members of Central Plains. I look forward to getting to know them, learning about how God is moving in their community, and to listening to them as they reflect on their faith. I'm just a young guy (25), and I look forward to encountering the wisdom of Christians further along the Christian journey than I.
I'm also excited to visit and work with a Conference that is largely a rural conference. I was raised on a farm, and nurtured into faith in a small agricultural town . It was a good life, and a good way to grow up. And because of this, I feel like my home is still in Central Plains Conference. I look forward to using my gifts in the rural church, a church that faces many challenges in the coming years. Population is declining and the average age is rising, jobs and young people are fleeing to places with more opportunities...there's not always a lot of hope. But I believe God is at work in the Central Plains and that the rural church has something to offer the body of Christ. I look forward to being apart of it.
Finally, I'm excited to be putting my faith into action. I believe that Jesus brought good news; he revealed God's saving grace and he proclaimed a gospel of peace. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus, God made peace between Jews and Gentiles; God changed former enemies into brothers and sisters in the family of God (Eph 2.11-22). God is in the business of reconciliation, and because of this we have been reconciled to God and to each other. This truly is good news!