Hesston College announces the recent hire of Jessica Schrock-Ringenberg as the director for a new ministry program that will begin in development stages this spring.

The new ministry program will provide Anabaptist theology and nurture missional leadership for pastors and other church leaders in a distance-based format. It comes as a replacement to Hesston College’s Pastoral Ministries program, which closed in 2014 with a commitment to the development of a new program.

“It has been about five years since we closed the residential Pastoral Ministries program, but we have been seeking to re-start a ministry program that can equip disciples in a variety of locations and contexts,” said Brent Yoder, vice president of Academics. “Jessica has a vision for how Hesston College can serve others in the church and the world, and we are excited that she has accepted the call to develop and direct this new program.”

A graduate of Hesston College, Goshen (Ind.) College and Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary (Elkhart, Ind.), Schrock-Ringenberg served as a pastor of Zion Mennonite Church (Archbold, Ohio) for 11 years, as well as in a variety of roles for Mennonite Church USA, including convention planning and as a member of the Constituency Leadership Council (CLC). She and her husband, Shem, recently relocated to the Kansas City area where they bought a heating and cooling business and also hope to plant a church. In addition, Schrock-Ringenberg serves as a missional discipleship leader and consultant with the Five-fold Leadership Development Assessment and the Exponential Emerging Leaders Cohort.

Schrock-Ringenberg has served as a member of the Hesston College Board of Directors since 2011, and will complete her second four-year term in May before transitioning to serve as an employee in early June.

Schrock-Ringenberg will continue to reside in the Kansas City-area, with regular teleconferencing and trips to Hesston. As the program develops and curriculum is established and approved, her role will transition from developer to instructor.

“Jessica has experience teaching disciples how to make new disciples, and she knows how to help others catch that vision,” said Michele Hershberger, Hesston College Bible and Ministry department chair. “Under her leadership, Hesston College can become a center for a new kind of missional leader in the church.”