Joe Ruberg is the pastor of the First Community Church of Matthews in Matthews, Indiana. Ruberg attended Greenville College and Taylor University. He graduated from Moody Bible Institute in 1976 with a degree in Pastoral Ministry.
Although he originally attended Greenville College to pursue business administration, God made it clear to Ruberg that He was called into ministry. Ruberg said that after submitting to the Lord’s call, he never doubted that ministry was the right path for him to follow.
“I heeded the call and went to Moody to become a pastor,” Ruberg said. “Through some unique circumstances, I came to this area to take courses at Taylor University where God opened the door to pastor this church in Matthews. I have been here every since 1975.”
Joe Ruberg and his family
The First Community Church of Matthews is located in a town of about 580 people. The small church hosted less than a hundred people. “Being in such a small town, we strive to have a comfortable family feel, although we also draw from the surrounding towns, like Marion, Muncie, Hartford City, Gas City and Upland,” Ruberg explained.
Some fun facts about Ruberg include that First Community Church is his first and last church. This month, he’s been there for 43 years. He and his wife, Pamela, have three daughters. They are each married, and they’ve been blessed with 12 grandchildren.
Ruberg’s words of wisdom for current IWU students is simple. “Run everything through the grid of the Scriptures and trust it to be the truth, no matter who or what would attempt to distract you from it,” he said.
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Written by Dezaray Barr, PR Specialist for the Alumni Office. Dezaray is a junior Strategic Communication, Journalism and Honors Humanities triple major at Indiana Wesleyan University in the John Wesley Honors College. Visit Dez’s website atwww.dezaraybarr.weebly.com.
Jeffery Jahn graduated from McKendree University in 1972 and from the Christian Theological Seminary in 1981. He is now the pastor of Temple Congregational Church in Marion, Indiana. Jahn said, “In college I had a great time singing, not only in the choir, but especially with a traveling group of Christians singing our way through churches, church camps, coffee houses, revivals and a Billy Graham crusade.”
Jahn said that he was called to ministry late one night. “I was dreaming one night and the thought came to me: If I spend my life professionally playing and instrument, what would I end up with?” he explained. “On the other hand, if I spent my life serving God in ministry, what would I end up with? That clinched it for me.”
Arriving in Marion at Temple Church was a bit of an unusual journey for Jahn. “I came about serving this church in a most unusual way. Five years ago, I was called to serve the Westminster Presbyterian Church, which a year ago voted to close. In the process of that discernment, I chose to serve them half-time the final year. Four blocks away, a friend who was serving Temple Church half-time as a final step toward his retirement, recommended me to replace him,” Jahn said. “We talked, and I began serving them half-time. Both churches adjusted their worship times a half hour, and it worked well. Westminster closed last fall and 80 percent of the congregation began attending Temple Church… who found it necessary to call me to full-time service. The two congregations have worked together very well this first year together.”
Jahn said that the most difficult task in this journey has been he and his wife dealing with her disability for 28 years, alongside raising their children and serving in ministry. He explained, “We’ve learned to manage those responsibilities in a more fruitful way, but in our late 60’s the challenges are changing. But God has helped us through the journey and more importantly helped us enjoy the journey. We both agree that we didn’t sign up for ‘easy,’ which has made all the difference.”
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Written by Dezaray Barr, PR Specialist for the Alumni Office. Dezaray is a senior Strategic Communication, Journalism and Honors Humanities triple major at Indiana Wesleyan University in the John Wesley Honors College. Visit Dez’s website atwww.dezaraybarr.weebly.com.
David Gafford graduated from Indiana Wesleyan University (IWU) in 2000 with a degree in church music and a degree in vocal performance. During his high school experience, Gafford said that he rarely looked into other colleges outside of IWU. “My mother worked at IWU, and even though we could have looked into the exchange program, we just knew IWU was going to be the college for me,” Gafford said.
Like other alum, Gafford said that his time at IWU was busy. He explained, “I traveled for the university in Masters Praise and the Chorale, so I was pretty much gone every weekend of my college career. I also lived on campus and attended classes for three majors. Apparently I was a bit ambitious.”
He also said, “In retrospect, my time at IWU was more about character development than anything. It wasn’t what I learned, but how I learned that has had the largest impact. I learned to be a lifetime learner during my time at IWU. It wasn’t just learning inside the classroom, it was taking all of the experiences of life and crafting all of life into a learning experience. That’s one of the biggest takeaways that I have from my time at IWU, in that I learned how to become intentionally curious. Instead of power chords and interactive response based worship architecture, today you’ll find me helping business owners with latent semantic indexing on Google or content marketing strategies to grow their business. What I learned at IWU was how to learn and apply that learning to life.”
During his time at IWU, most of Gafford’s spiritual transformation happened through chapels and the churches he was able to visit with the music groups he was in. “I was privileged to be able to hear some of the best speakers during this time,” Gafford said. “Chapels were wonderful as well, with a plethora of talent constantly joining us to invest into our spiritual lives.”
After graduating from IWU, Gafford spent 15 years in the local church, serving as a worship architect in the large churches across the country, spending a majority of his time working in communications and coaching team members.
David and Melissa Gafford at Fusion Creative
Today, Gafford owns a digital marketing agency, Fusion Creative. He said, “We help businesses grow their leads and sales by helping them create a website that ranks on Google and converts those visitors into leads they can follow up with.”
He began Fusion in 2014 with his wife, Melissa (Liddick, class of 2000). Their goal from the beginning has been to see small businesses in the community flourish. Gafford said, “As an agency owner, we get to determine our company culture, and our spiritual lives play a big part in that. We’re an agency based on Christian values and that plays out into every job we take and how we interact with each client. We’re happy to work with almost anyone, but our values are such that we simply won’t take the job unless we know that we can deliver incredible value to the client.”
Although school is out for the summer, Gafford wants to say this to IWU students, ” Understanding yourself is paramount to your future success. I love that IWU now does Strengths Finder assessments and Myers Briggs type indicators through the career development office. I wish they would have had that option while I was at IWU. Understanding what motivates you and how you are wired can help you immensely as you make plans for the future. Lean into your areas of strength and leverage how you are energized as an individual. If you can find the intersection of your strengths, interests and personality make up, you’ll not only love what you do, but you’ll be energized by it.”
Gafford and his wife Melissa said that they are both proud IWU alumni who love working with IWU students and alum, as both interns and staff members. They have two children, Addison (8) and Ethan (5).
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Written by Dezaray Barr, PR Specialist for the Alumni Office. Dezaray is a senior Strategic Communication, Journalism and Honors Humanities triple major at Indiana Wesleyan University in the John Wesley Honors College. Visit Dez’s website atwww.dezaraybarr.weebly.com.
Green had the opportunity to travel to Florida and Guatemala in May 2017 for a travel class to fulfill his science class.
Trent Green graduated from Indiana Wesleyan University (IWU) in 2017 with a degree in Human Communication Studies from the Division of Communication & Theatre. “I chose IWU after my visit day due to the evident presence of the Holy Spirit on the campus,” he said. “I also was able to room with my best friend from High School, Vinny Kurtz. We lived in Bowman Hall together; they shut the Bowman House dorm down a few years later. While in Bowman, I was able to develop a love for unity and brotherhood.”
Green said that his time at IWU was interesting. “I started freshmen year off super well and with a love of the new adventure,” he said. “My sophomore and junior years were spent living life the way I wanted to, regardless of the rules I had committed to follow. I drank excessively, did drugs and continued down a life branching away from God’s will for my life. He got my attention towards the end of my junior year, and I began to chase after Him again.”
Although it felt like Green had gotten back to where he wanted to, his senior year was rough. “I started out good!” Green said. “I was the Community Coordinator of the Lodges and absolutely loved my team. About a month in, my freshman year roommate, Vinny, passed away. I ended up drinking again and then lost my job as the Community Coordinator. I got into grief counseling, and this is where the real uphill climb began. I had an amazing counselor from IWU. She pushed me and challenged me in ways that I didn’t expect. I then got involved with Hope House and Celebrate Recovery. For my senior project with the Division of Communication & Theatre, I did an Ethnography on Hope House. IWU was the time in which I describe that I needed God in my life. I NEEDED Him. IWU is a big part of my testimony.”
Now, Green is doing missionary work in Tanzania, Africa with Youth With A Mission (YWAM). “I have been here for about a month, and God had done amazing things!” he said. His team recently left to go to Uganda for another month, and Green said, “I’m so excited to see what God has for store in Uganda. I will graduate from YWAM on June 7. After YWAM I plan to return to Ohio and continue teaching until God calls me on His next adventure.”
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Written by Dezaray Barr, PR Specialist for the Alumni Office. Dezaray is a senior Strategic Communication, Journalism and Honors Humanities triple major at Indiana Wesleyan University in the John Wesley Honors College. Visit Dez’s website atwww.dezaraybarr.weebly.com.
Rev. Steve DeNeff graduated from Indiana Wesleyan University (IWU) with an undergraduate degree in 1981 and with his M.Div. in 1996. He received an honorary Ph.D. from IWU in 2003.
“The years I attended IWU were primarily in response to my call to ministry a year earlier,” DeNeff shared. “I navigated through those four years with a set of core beliefs I’d grown up with and with the sheer will to be obedient to God’s call. I garnered a few lifetime friends and intermittently focused on developing my theology of God and the church.”
However, it wasn’t always smooth sailing. DeNeff explained, “During my senior year, I found myself arguing with God and my dad (who was in his 25th year of ministry), wielding a plethora of reasons that this was a dumb idea AND determined to win the debate. Ready to walk away and pursue another career, I clearly remember sitting in the living room of my parents’ home that Saturday night, following the heated discussion with my dad, alone and accompanied only by my surety I was right. As I sat there stewing, thinking, plotting and praying, at about 2am, I heard the creaking of the bed in the room above me. It was my parents, who had been on their knees praying for me, for the last two hours. I was finished! I remember telling God I could not do this. But if he called me, I would go…..reluctantly. Over the years, I continue to be a reluctant leader, but find this the best place to be; called out of my weakness; where God continues to show up and do things that are remarkably beyond my abilities and gifts.”
Pastor DeNeff is the Lead Pastor at College Wesleyan Church (CWC), which is strategically located between IWU and the Marion community, “giving us the unique advantage (and call/mission) to serve both,” DeNeff said. “When we built the church at its current location, we purposely placed the cross on top of the building, facing north and south as opposed to the more traditional east and west. This is symbolic of our intent to not only serve both campus and community, but to be a bridge that opens doors for shared community, relationship and spiritual formation. At College Church, we are privileged to have a myriad of resources in our people. Through them, we are able to resource the greater Church. While there are churches who are really good at incorporating current trends into their DNA and others who hold fast to long-standing traditions, CWC finds itself standing in the strength of both heritage and a mission that is timeless in serving an ever-changing culture.”
DeNeff is an avid reader, and he enjoys jogging. He likes time away at his cottage in Holland, Michigan, a great donut, bold coffee and watching his kids grow up into the life God has placed them.
If DeNeff could give IWU students words of wisdom, he’d say, “Develop early on, daily-time in the Word, with the intentionality to know Him more and a desire to become familiar with His voice.
Students at IWU who are regular attenders of CWC say, “Pastor Steve brings the truth (always with some humor and/or a sports reference) each week. He is the best encourager, but calls us out when we’re wrong. As he leads CWC, he leads me too in my walk with Christ during this important time in my life.”
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Written by Dezaray Barr, PR Specialist for the Alumni Office. Dezaray is a senior Strategic Communication, Journalism and Honors Humanities triple major at Indiana Wesleyan University in the John Wesley Honors College. Visit Dez’s website atwww.dezaraybarr.weebly.com.
General Superintendent of The Wesleyan Church in North America, Wayne Schmidt, graduated from Indiana Wesleyan University (IWU) in 1979 with a degree in Christian Ministries. When Schmidt began college, he was a business major at another university. When he sensed his call to ministry as a college freshman, his pastor brought him to IWU and helped him enroll.
During his time at IWU, Schmidt established lifelong friendships with other students, especially Dennis Jackson, whom he now works with through The Wesleyan Church’s Executive Cabinet. “I was encouraged and mentored, as well as taught by professors. I had valuable ministry experience at Westview Wesleyan Church with Pastor Carles Fletcher,” Schmidt said. He said that his time at IWU gave him ministry tools that he continues to use, even 40 years later.
His time at IWU was not always easy. “I was intentionally given a difficult campus job to ‘help develop my character.’ I was taught to self-feed on God’s Word. I was able to more fully understand how God had wired me to serve Him,” Schmidt explained.
Wayne Schmidt and his wife at his surprise 60th birthday party at The Wesleyan Church Headquarters
A fun fact about Schmidt include that he was given the nickname Dr. Sox, because his sock selection is more “expressive” than most.
Schmidt explained, “I am blessed not only to be an alum of IWU, but it was a joy to return to IWU as an employee of IWU for over six years, giving leadership to Wesley Seminary.”
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Written by Dezaray Barr, PR Specialist for the Alumni Office. Dezaray is a senior Strategic Communication, Journalism and Honors Humanities triple major at Indiana Wesleyan University in the John Wesley Honors College. Visit Dez’s website atwww.dezaraybarr.weebly.com.
Josh Hilty graduated from Indiana Wesleyan University (IWU) in 2006 with a degree in Christian Ministries. He graduated from Wesley Seminary in 2013 with a master’s degree. Hilty is now the Executive and Discipleship Pastor of Brenneman Memorial Missionary Church in Goshen, Indiana.
Hilty shared, “In my time at IWU, I decided that I wanted to be a pastor in The Wesleyan Church. That was partly due to the influence of professors like Dr. Chris Bounds, Dr. Ken Schenck, Dr. Dave Smith, Dr. Steve Lennox, Dr. Bud Bence, Dr. Jim Lo and Dr. Keith Drury. It was also partly due to meeting my wife, Jamie, whose father is a Wesleyan minister. We met in the chorale, where Dr. Todd Guy taught me the value of discipline, hard work and attention-to-detail.” Hilty also looks back on his time at Wesley Seminary with fondness, appreciating the relationships he built with his peers.
During high school, Hilty felt a call to ministry, and God used the people of his local church to confirm that call. “I’ve been certain about it ever since,” he said.
Before serving at Brenneman Memorial Missionary Church, Hilty served at North Branch Wesleyan Church for nine years. “After sensing that my season of ministry was over, I resigned last July. My family and I spent the next five months unemployed, moving back and forth from my family to my wife’s, all over Indiana and into Virginia. We packed up the minivan 14 times to go to the next place,” Hilty said. “The testing of our faith in God over those months was more than what I had expected. God taught me that obedience does not mean ease. He was faithful, providing enough money for us to live, getting us through our youngest daughter’s broken leg our first day in Virginia (with out-of-state insurance), and reminding us with every closed door that one would open.”
The Hilty family
Brenneman Memorial Missionary Church, where Hilty has been serving since the beginning of 2018, is multi-generational. “The uniqueness in this for me is that God led me back to my hometown and outside of The Wesleyan Church – two things I never expected,” Hilty explained. “Our church is unique in that we are being intentional about ministering to those with special needs, from updating our building, to hiring a special needs ministry coordinator. I feel like God is calling us to reach a demographic that is often ignored.”
During the major transitions in his life, Hilty has looked to the story of Abraham, both in Genesis and in Hebrews chapter 6. “God brings me back to His trustworthiness over and over through the life of Abraham,” he said.
Hilty would encourage current IWU students: “Soak up the experience and wisdom from your professors, enjoy the time you have on campus and don’t neglect carving out space to hear from God.”
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Written by Dezaray Barr, PR Specialist for the Alumni Office. Dezaray is a junior Strategic Communication, Journalism and Honors Humanities triple major at Indiana Wesleyan University in the John Wesley Honors College. Visit Dez’s website atwww.dezaraybarr.weebly.com.
McKinzie Horoho graduated from Indiana Wesleyan University (IWU) in 2017 with a degree in Political Science and Honors Humanities through the John Wesley Honors College. Horoho came to IWU unexpectedly. “I was not accepted to my top choice school,” she shared. “IWU was my backup plan. I grew up 30 minutes from campus and didn’t want to go to college so close to my hometown; however, my parents moved the summer before my freshman year which made attending IWU more appealing. God was very clearly working and the move was perfectly timed for my parents and myself.”
During her time at IWU, some of Horoho’s greatest joys and greatest sorrows occurred. “It was a time of immense personal growth for me. Friendships were forged in a time when, as young adults, we had fewer responsibilities, yet were also faced with new challenges, both personally and professionally,” she said.
It was at IWU that her faith became a real relationship. Horoho said, “While there were plenty of 20 minute power naps taken as a freshman, I also came to take even just 5 minutes to shut my eyes, pray and continue on with my daily schedule.”
Now, Horoho is an officer in the United States Army. After being commissioned one year ago, she is now working in Europe doing administrative support for personnel. IWU’s influence on her life impacts her work each day. “I can only imagine trying to do my job without the spiritual footing I developed at IWU. I am still growing, but I have such a respect for a Christian liberal arts education. Coming from a public school, I had never experienced classroom discussion on theology and philosophy like I enjoyed for four years in the John Wesley Honors College — what a gift that was!” she said.
If Horoho could speak to current IWU students, here is what she’d say: “Your degree will not give you your purpose in life — it may help you along that path, but often God gives us bits of purpose in bite-sized chunks, like puzzle pieces.”
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Written by Dezaray Barr, PR Specialist for the Alumni Office. Dezaray is a junior Strategic Communication, Journalism and Honors Humanities triple major at Indiana Wesleyan University in the John Wesley Honors College. Visit Dez’s website atwww.dezaraybarr.weebly.com.
Dr. Jim “Umfundisi” Lo now serves as the interim pastor of Parkview Wesleyan Church in Chesterfield, IN. Here at Indiana Wesleyan University (IWU), Umf, as students lovingly call him, serves as the campus intercessor and a professor of intercultural studies. Dr. Lo received both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from IWU. He has served the Lord in many capacities including missionary, professor, author and more.
Dr. Lo has been the interim pastor for the last three months at Parkview. Three weeks ago, he was asked to be the lead pastor for two years. Due to his positions at IWU, he could not commit to being the full-time pastor. The board then hatched a creative plan for Dr. Lo to continue to serve as the lead pastor, but to hire full-time assistant pastors. Reverend Jeremy and Ana Armiger (both Indiana Wesleyan graduates) have just filled that role.
As interim pastor, Dr. Lo has preached Sunday mornings, led Wednesday night bible study for adults and trained the church on how to do evangelism on Sunday nights. He has sought to get the church on board with the Great Commission. He is building off of the foundation previous pastors of Parkview have laid.
Through Dr. Lo’s time at Parkview, he has learned many things: “Being a pastor is more than just preaching, pastoring is a lot of work and very “fulfilling.” Prayer has to be the foundation of ministry; one must never lose focus of “the Great Commission.” What I am teaching students who are preparing for ministry at IWU needs to be both academically sound and practical. Pastoring and teaching at the same time helps me to better understand and empathize with the challenges that pastors face.”
Over a year ago, the former pastor of Parkview, Reverend Paul Trent, passed away from cancer. The church members at Parkview took up the slack while Rev. Trent was sick and have continued to be welcoming and helpful to Dr. Lo. In this way, he has seen the family of God. The first Sunday Dr. Lo preached, 43 attended, and on March 11th, 63 attended. Dr. Lo is aware that numbers do not always tell the full story, but he admits it has been nice to see the church attendance increase. Furthermore, Dr. Lo feels that what he is teaching students at IWU is even more practical since he is now “doing it.”
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Written by Noelle Beans, a writer for the Alumni Center. Noelle is a freshman Nursing and Honors Humanities double major at Indiana Wesleyan University in the John Wesley Honors College.
Jourdyn Berry graduated from Indiana Wesleyan University (IWU) with a bachelor’s degree in Strategic Communication. Berry grew up in Marion, Indiana, and it was important for her to stay close to her family while in college. She choose IWU because she was seeking a community that emphasized a genuine connection between staff and student. “My time at IWU really centered on finding myself while developing into an intelligent, independent thinker,” Berry said.
She said that the Division of Communication & Theatre at IWU really allowed her to explore her spiritually in a progressive and encouraging manner. “I would truly be lost if it wasn’t for some very wise professors in the Division of Communication & Theatre who served as my mentors,” she shared.
Berry is now a podcast producer for Barstool Heartland, an affiliate of Barstool Sports ran by Pat McAfee. She explained, “In addition to production, I also serve as an on-air personality for podcasts and The Pat McAfee Show on SiriusXM Power 85.”
“I spent a majority of my time at IWU figuring out not who I am but who I wanted to be. My four years on campus were transformative in the most beautiful way,” Berry said. “One of the best decisions I made was to be apart of the longstanding tradition that is Friday Night Live (FNL). FNL was the creative outlet I needed. I developed critical leadership skills along the way and met lifelong friends. I am also extremely thankful for the professors in my division who saw potential in me I never knew I had. My last two years were spent with WIWU TV and 94.3 The Fortress. My professors encouraged me to join even when I had no experience… and now I work directly in that field.”
Although Berry is not working for a faith-based company, she believes she can reflect Christ’s light from within herself. “I’ve been given an opportunity to speak to thousands of people on a popular platform,” she said. “The productions I work on are positive, with a purpose to make people laugh. I’ve received countless messages from people who say the shows have made them happier people. Whether they are going through something or just having a bad day, simply listening to the show allows them to escape. If my positive spirit can help just one person, I’m proud of the work I’m doing. That positivity comes from something much greater than me.”
Jourdyn Berry after her graduation ceremony
Some fun facts about Berry include that she took a semester off and interned at Walt Disney World as a character performer! She was the student employee who put up all the Visit Day signs around campus and engraved all the employee name tags. She’d like to remind students, “Anytime you think about ‘borrowing’ a sign on campus, remember there are three people who then have to make another one. Just kidding. But really, stop taking signs!” She also spent her time at IWU working late night radio shifts so she could try out jokes. “That way if they failed, less people heard them,” she said.
If Berry could speak to IWU students today, she’d say, “I think it is so important to involve yourself in all aspects of IWU. First off, talk to your professors. I cannot emphasize how important my communication professors are to me to this day. Get a job! I worked for WIWU TV and for Facilities Services in the Sign Shop. I’m so thankful I got to befriend the individuals who make IWU what it is. Lastly, join an organization. FNL was my favorite part of college. It is so important to support organizations like this and all art forms for that matter. The arts community at IWU are an incredible bunch. Get to know them!”
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Written by Dezaray Barr, PR Specialist for the Alumni Office. Dezaray is a senior Strategic Communication, Journalism and Honors Humanities triple major at Indiana Wesleyan University in the John Wesley Honors College. Visit Dez’s website atwww.dezaraybarr.weebly.com.
