Chester Wenger, the 98-year-old Mennonite pastor and missionary who made headlines in 2014 when he performed a same-sex wedding ceremony for his son and his partner, was the featured guest on an Aug. 11 episode of bestselling author Malcolm Gladwell鈥檚 podcast, .
奥别苍驳别谤鈥檚 , which lays out the biblical and theological rationale for his change in belief about LGBTQ inclusion, was published on The Mennonite on Nov. 6, 2014 and has been read over 235,000 times. 奥别苍驳别谤鈥檚 pastoral credentials were revoked by Lancaster Mennonite Conference after performing the wedding.
Launched in June, Revisionist History, a 10-episode podcast series, explores 鈥渉ow people deal with difficult questions,鈥� said Gladwell. Since its release, the podcast has perched atop the ITunes charts.
奥别苍驳别谤鈥檚 episode, entitled 鈥淕enerous Orthodoxy,鈥� explores how people of faith register protest and work to change their institutions and communities.
[Son of A.D. Wenger, the second president of Eastern Mennonite, Chester Wenger earned three degrees at 糖心Vlog: high school in 1934, associate degree in 1936, and bachelor of theology degree in 1941. His son Phil graduated with the class of 1982. Daughter Sara Wenger Shenk ’75, president of Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, taught for 15 years at Eastern Mennonite Seminary, where she was also interim dean and associate dean of Eastern Mennonite Seminary. Shenk contributed an article about “‘” in the fall 2007 issue of Crossroads. ]
In an Aug. 8 interview, Gladwell said that Wenger is 鈥渁 man who is so clearly filled with the Spirit of God鈥� and embodies the 鈥済old standard鈥� for institutional change.
鈥淵ou have to respect the institution you鈥檙e trying to change and maintain a balance between loyalty and openness,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat is the hardest balance of all, but that鈥檚 the truest way to bring about transformation鈥� We should all be so lucky to have critics like this. Even if minds aren鈥檛 changed, I hope Mennonites are proud of the fact that they belong to a religious tradition that conducts criticism and change so respectfully.鈥�
Gladwell emphasizes that people trying to change institutions often fall into the trap of being either too loyal to the institution or too focused on change. 鈥淭he minute we forget our loyalty, we lose people and begin to antagonize the very people whose hearts we鈥檙e trying to change,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut if we go too far towards the other side, we become incapable of change.鈥�
Gladwell hopes that 奥别苍驳别谤鈥檚 story will resonate both inside the Mennonite community and beyond it, even to people who are skeptical about Christian faith. He believes that the podcast medium, which allows people to hear 奥别苍驳别谤鈥檚 voice and the emotion behind his story will help people to 鈥渉ear the power of him鈥nd make it difficult for people to tune out what he鈥檚 saying.鈥�
Gladwell first learned about 奥别苍驳别谤鈥檚 story through a friend and Mennonite pastor in Kitchener-Waterloo, Jim Loepp Thiessen. Loepp Thiessen, a graduate of Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Ind., connected Gladwell with Sara Wenger Shenk, AMBS president and Chester 奥别苍驳别谤鈥檚 daughter.
On Jan. 2, Gladwell met with Wenger and his son, Phil, at Chester and Sara Jane 奥别苍驳别谤鈥檚 home in Lancaster, Pa. Wenger Shenk was able to sit in on the interview and actually coined the phrase 鈥溾�� to describe her father.
鈥淭his is how I think of my father,鈥� said Wenger Shenk in an Aug. 8 phone interview. 鈥淗e has a deep rootedness in the wisdom of the Mennonite tradition and unshakeable principles that guide him, which include confidence in the authority of Scripture. It is precisely rootedness that frees him to reimagine how we can be church together in the spirit of Jesus.鈥�
Wenger Shenk says that Chester agreed to the interview because he is a 鈥渕issionary to the core鈥� and the podcast gave Wenger a chance to share his message of good news. 鈥淢y father is heartbroken about the divisions in the church and the failure to reach out to those who are disenfranchised,鈥� said Wenger Shenk.
Wenger Shenk also acknowledges that this podcast provides a chance for a Mennonite message to go public in a very big way. 鈥淎s Mennonites, we have often been the 鈥榪uiet in the land鈥� and there are reasons to break the silence and to be a public witness to a watching world,鈥� she said. 鈥淢ost of what we hear in the media about religion is noisy, cynical, self-serving, and hate-filled. I long for us to have a witness with a faith orientation where the gospel is truly good news for those on the margins.鈥�
Gladwell is a journalist, speaker and the author of several bestselling books, including The Outliers, The Tipping Point and, most recently, David and Goliath. In this latest book, Gladwell tells the story of Cliff and Wilma Derksen, Mennonites from Winnipeg who offered forgiveness to individuals who kidnapped and murdered their daughter, Candace.
Gladwell grew up in Ontario, Canada, in midst of a Mennonite community and says that he likes to do 鈥渟tealth promotion of Mennonite causes.鈥� In 2013, during the publicity tour for David and Goliath, Gladwell and ways he has been influenced by Anabaptist and Mennonite faith traditions.
The 鈥淕enerous Orthodoxy鈥� podcast is available through ITunes and on the Revisionist History website.
Reprinted with permission from