Home » Alumni » Third Thursdays

Join other alumni for Third Thursdays, occasional online conversations with AMBS faculty and staff members! Janeen Bertsche Johnson, MDiv, Alumni Director, will interview a selected member of the AMBS learning community for 35 minutes, followed by a short time of open conversation.

These sessions will be held via videoconference from 12 to 12:45 p.m. ET on the third Thursday of selected months during the academic year. In 2025–26, Third Thursdays will be held on Oct. 16, Nov. 20, Jan. 15 and March 19.

The virtual events are open only to AMBS alumni at this time. There is no charge to attend, but registration is required.

Upcoming Third Thursday speakers

• January 15, 2025: Meet our newest Teaching Faculty member, Gilha Lee, PhD, Assistant Professor of New Testament!
• March 19, 2025: Janeen Bertsche Johnson will interview AMBS alumni who have focused their ministry on educating children and youth — let her know if you’d like to be considered for the panel.

Past Third Thursday recorded events

This playlist shows the most recent Third Thursday event. You can find more recordings of Third Thursday events below on this page.

Past Third Thursday speakers

Click on the name of a past speaker to view a recording of that conversation.

• November 20, 2025: Join us for “Anabaptism at 500,” a conversation with alumni Troy Osborne, PhD (MA 1998), Dean and Associate Professor of History at Conrad Grebel University College; and John Sharp (MDiv 2005), retired History and Bible Professor at Hesston (Kansas) College and former Director of the Mennonite Church USA Historical Committee and Archives.
• October 16, 2025: Sunghyun Lee, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pastoral Theology and Psychology
• April 17, 2025: AMBS’s Faith Formation Collaborative shares about the new Orienting With the Word program.
• March 20, 2025: We discovered some of the AMBS Library’s many treasures and learned how alumni can access library materials.
• Jan. 16, 2025: Hear from three DMin students who are AMBS alumni about their experience in the DMin program! Featuring Janeen Bertsche Johnson (MDiv 1989), Marlene Kroeker (MDiv 2000) and Doug Luginbill (MDiv 1997).
• Nov. 21, 2024: David Boshart, PhD, President, shared about his recent sabbatical and his vision for AMBS.
• Sept. 19, 2024: Janeen Bertsche Johnson, MDiv, shared observations about the development and role of AMBS’s native prairie and interviewed Norm Cender, Director of Maintenance and Campus Safety, and Orion Blaha, Assistant Director of Maintenance, about the impact of the seminary’s first controlled burn in spring 2024.
• May 16, 2024: David B. Miller, DMin, Teaching Associate of the Church Leadership Center and Doctor of Ministry Faculty of Record
• April 18, 2024: Mary Ann Weber, MA, Director of Enrollment
• March 21, 2024: Deanna Risser, MBA, Vice President for Administration and Chief Financial Officer
• Feb. 15, 2024: Daniel Schrock, DMin, Doctor of Ministry Program Curriculum Specialist and Core Adjunct Faculty member, shares about the Spiritual Direction Practicum.
• Jan. 18, 2024: Malinda Elizabeth Berry, PhD, Associate Professor of Theology and Ethics and Director of the Faith Formation Collaborative
• Nov. 16, 2023: Julia Schmidt (MDiv 2018), organizer of Pastors & Leaders 2024, shared about the theme, the speakers and other special features of the upcoming gathering, on the theme of “Strategies for Peacemaking.” (We regret that no recording is available.)
• Oct. 19, 2023: Paula Killough, MDiv, Director of Campaign, and Bob Yoder, DMin, CFRM, Director of Development, on AMBS’s new Forming Leaders Together campaign 
• Sept. 21, 2023: Luis Tapia Rubio, MDiv, Practical Leadership Training Director
• May 18, 2023: Bob Yoder, DMin, CFRM, Director of Development
• April 20, 2023: Jackie Wyse-Rhodes, PhD, Associate Professor of Hebrew Bible
• Jan. 19, 2023: Hear about Global Initiatives – David Boshart, PhD, President; Henok Mekonin, MA, Global Leadership Collaborative Specialist; and Joe Sawatzky, PhD, Global Leadership Collaborative Project Specialist
• Dec. 15, 2022: Rachel Miller Jacobs, DMin, Associate Professor of Congregational Formation
• Nov. 17, 2022: David C. Cramer, PhD, Managing Editor, Institute of Mennonite Studies
• Oct. 20, 2022: Introducing the new Doctor of Ministry (DMin) degree
• May 19, 2022: Karl Stutzman, MLS, Director of Library Services
• April 21, 2022: Allan Rudy-Froese, PhD, Associate Professor of Christian Proclamation
• March 17, 2022: Daniel Grimes, MPA, Vice President for Advancement and Enrollment
• Feb. 17, 2022: Andy Brubacher Kaethler, PhD, Associate Professor of Christian Formation and Culture
• Jan. 20, 2022: Jewel Gingerich Longenecker, PhD, Dean of Lifelong Learning
• May 20, 2021: Janna Hunter-Bowman, PhD, Assistant Professor of Peace Studies and Christian Social Ethics
• April 15, 2021: Jamie Pitts. PhD, Associate Professor of Anabaptist Studies
• March 18, 2021: Beverly Lapp, EdD, Vice President and Academic Dean
• Feb. 18, 2021: Leah Thomas, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pastoral Care and Contextual Education
• Dec. 17, 2020: David Boshart, PhD, President
• Nov. 19, 2020: Nekeisha Alayna Alexis, MA, Intercultural Competence and Undoing Racism coordinator
• Oct. 15, 2020: Drew Strait, PhD, Assistant Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins

Your gifts make a difference!

As an alum, you know firsthand what it’s like to dive into biblical and theological studies and to be shaped as a leader as part of AMBS’s learning community.

Would you consider making a gift to AMBS to support other students as they seek to grow through both our graduate-level and Lifelong Learning options? Your contributions make it possible for current and future generations of students to experience what AMBS has to offer — both on campus and at a distance.

Thank you for all of the ways you serve as an ambassador of AMBS!