Collected by Brian Hook and Rachel Lapp
Connecting faith and work can be difficult for all of us at times - no matter what work God has called us to do. For those guiding their own businesses, the challenge of serve God through business while successfully navigating complex and constantly changing marketplaces can create tension. But there are also many rewards for implementing a vision - taking risks, working toward a coherent mission, being persistent in reaching goals, seeking and developing talent and investing in the future.
Hundreds of Goshen College alumni and friends have answered God's call to serve their communities - and, often, the world - through business. There are also many who have started their own businesses, or become excellent and innovative stewards of a family company. These individuals are as varied as their passions: furniture to framing, new technology to needle art, agriculture to antiques. The following profiles and comments about the business journey illuminate how business can be more than a profession, but a calling and a service connecting gifts and needs.
Photos by Joel Fath and Jodi H. Beyeler; and submitted
Name: Brenda Hostetler Kauffman '95
Business name: The Electric Brew, Goshen, Ind.; established in 1996.
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Names: Anthony Showalter '99, Bryan Smucker Falcăn '95, Amber Friesen '99 and Ryan Hochstetler '98
Business: LightSky, Goshen, Ind., founded in 1999; Showalter and Smucker Falcăn are two of the founding partners. ... more
Name: Bernadine Yoder '63
Business: Bernadine's Needle Art, founded in 1987 and incorporated under E.B. Yoder Inc., a group of companies owned by her husband, Elvin Yoder
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Name: Maynard Sauder, co-chair, with wife Carolyn Sauder '55, of Music Center Campaign Steering Committee
Business: Sauder Woodworking, Archbold, Ohio; founded in 1934. ...more
Name: Sonja Mateer Rempel '96
Business name: The Millrace Framery, Goshen, Ind.; established in 2001.
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Name: Jaime Alvarez-Swihart '84; he will begin serving as director of Goshen College's Family Business Program this spring.
Family business name: Empreses Pic & Casas Agręcolas.
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Name: Clifford Troyer '54
Business: Troyer Farms Potato Chips, Waterford, Pa.
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Name: David Martin '89
Business: MCAM, Charlottesville, Va.; founded in 1997.
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Name: John Yoder '01
Business: Furniture Outfitters of Indianapolis, founded in 2002.
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Name: Art DeFehr '65
Business: Palliser Furniture Ltd., Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
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Name: Guarav Khandelwal '01, Houston, Texas; Raunak Khandelwal, GC first-year
Business: Chai Hut, founded in 2003.
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Name: Bob Brunk '63
Business: Brunk Auctions, Asheville, N.C.; founded in 1983
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