Photo: Worship in Jacksonville, Florida. Photo provided. 

Leaders in Mennonite education, health and human services convened March 9-12 in Jacksonville, Florida, for the MHS (Mennonite Health Services) Mennonite Health Assembly and Mennonite Education Agency (MEA) Education Leaders Gathering (ELG), sponsored by Everence.

More than 350 were in attendance, including executive leaders, board members, educators and healthcare professionals, as well as six “Emerging Leader” scholarship recipients — young adults nominated for their strong leadership skills..

The 2017 conference theme, “Beyond Buried Treasure: Turning hidden resources into assets,” offered a framework for the variety of workshops, special interest sessions and keynote presentations that comprised the second-ever joint event, first held in 2013.

Scattered between the keynote presentations and dozens of workshops, conference goers had the opportunity to enroll in a number of special interest sessions.

This included an alumni gathering of the Values-based Leadership Program, a joint initiative of MEA, MHS and Everence, as well as an Evolving Systems Forum.

The forum marked the first-ever formal gathering of executive leadership from Anabaptist education, health and human services specifically to discuss innovative ways to work together.