CMBS dinner focuses on NC MB churches

Hunt will give keynote address at annual event

by Connie Faber with CMBS news release

Terry Hunt, district minister of the North Carolina District Conference (NCDC), will give the keynote address May 5 at the Center for MB Studies (CMBS) annual spring dinner held on the Tabor College campus. Hunt will speak about the past and future of Mennonite Brethren in North Carolina.

“We are pleased that Dr. Hunt has agreed to come to Kansas and speak at our annual spring dinner,” says Peggy Goertzen, CMBS director. “It is an honor and we look forward to hearing of the history of the early African-Americans Mennonites that lived in the region and their dreams for ministry in the future.”

The Center for MB Studies, headquartered in the south wing of the Tabor College Library, has hosted a spring dinner for more than 40 years. The dinner serves several purposes, says Goertzen.

“We want to promote what we do and give visibility to the mission of the Center,” she says. “The other part is to educate and build community. And so we intentionally select a variety of speakers and topics.”

The 2012 focus on the history and present ministry of the NCDC churches was suggested by a CMBS Advisory Board member and was affirmed by Frank Johnson, Tabor College vice president for academic affairs.

At Johnson’s request, Terry Hunt will address the student body Monday morning as the keynote speaker for the annual Honors Chapel. Hunt will also be preaching Sunday morning at Ebenfeld MB Church, rural Hillsboro.
Hunt has been a NCDC pastor for 26 years and is currently serving The Life Center, a MB congregation in Lenoir, NC. He and his wife, Kathy, have four daughters.

Hunt, who has a degree in industrial management from North Carolina State Univeristy, worked for 17 years as a plant manager in the furniture industry while also serving as a bi-vocational pastor. He was the first NCDC pastor to serve fulltime. He received his doctorate in theology from the North Carolina College of Theology.
Hunt is heavily involved in serving his community and the Mennonite Brethren church, serving on the national Leadership Board and the USMB Board of Faith and Life. He has also served on the Tabor College and MB Foundation board of directors.

As a life-long resident of North Carolina and someone nurtured in the Mennonite churches of that region, Hunt can speak personally to NCDC history.

The North Carolina MB Conference traces its beginnings to 1899 when Henry V. and Elizabeth Wiebe from the Springfield KMB Church, rural Lehigh, Kansas, moved to North Carolina.

A pictorial display illustrating the history of the North Carolina MB churches is currently on display in the CMBS suite and will be available to CMBS dinner guests.

Individuals interested in additional information about NCDC history can purchase copies of CMBS Newsletters that highlight early missionaries to the region. The spring issue, which will feature a history of the conference and the story of early missionaries Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Tschetter, will be available soon.

For more information about the dinner, to be held in the Wohlgemuth Music Education Center lobby, and to purchase copies of the CMBS Newsletter, contact CMBS at (620) 947-3121 ext. 1211 or ext. 1212 or by email peggyg@tabor.edu.

The Tabor College CMBS is one of four archival centers for North American Mennonite Brethren Church. Each center is responsible for keeping records of permanent value created by specific conferences. The Hillsboro center holds the records of the United States Conference of the Mennonite Brethren Churches (USMB) as well as four of the five USMB district conferences and their congregations. The North Carolina Conference of MB Churches is one of those districts. Tabor College CMBS is also the depository for other historical records, including those of Krimmer MB Conference and its churches, Marion County, the Hillsboro Historical Society and Tabor College.