LANCASTER, Pa. – Joe Rosa of Lewisburg, Pa., has been hired by EMM to serve at a new “LMC desk” as a resource leader for church planting and development.

Although he is an EMM staff member, Rosa’s office will be located in the LMC staff offices at 2160 Lincoln Highway East. He will be supervised by both LMC and EMM in the implementation of LMC’s Vision 2010, and EMM’s As the Waters Cover the Sea.

Rosa who plans to begin full time work at the “LMC desk” July 24, 2007, came into the Mennonite church in 1992 as a youth pastor at Good Shepherd Mennonite Church in Lancaster, Pa. He currently pastors Congregación Menonita Shalom, a church he helped to plant in New Columbia, Pa., in 2002.

In addition to his pastoral work and as treasurer/accountant for the Spanish Mennonite Council of Churches in New Holland, Pa., Rosa worked at American Education Services of Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency in Harrisburg, Pa., as an IT Project Manager in the Information technology Department.

Rosa holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Millersville University and is enrolled in a master of science in computer systems management at University of Maryland University College in Adelphi, Md. He is also enrolled in the STEP pastoral leadership program of LMC through Eastern Mennonite University.

In the wider church he serves as a member of the general board of Iglesia Menonita Hispana in Riddling, Ca., and as a member of the Constituency Leaders Council of MC USA.

Mervin Charles, director of Global Ministries for EMM, who will be working closely with Rosa said, “Our LMC vision calls for ‘new revitalized and multiplying congregations.’ We are delighted that Rosa, who is part of Spanish Mennonite Council – a multiplying district – will be working in this collaborative effort with LMC and EMM to initiate and resource church planting. I look forward to working with Rosa as he learns to know those in the wider conference who feel called to church planting and engages with them in peer learning and resourcing. He brings enthusiasm, diverse personal experiences, organizational skills, and a natural bent for networking to this role.”

Rosa noted that after years of full time work in the secular world along with his church responsibilities, he is “excited to be working full time in missions alongside the church that I have grown to love.”

Rosa and his wife Maggie have two children, a daughter, Amy (21), and a son, Joey (10).

--Jewel Showalter

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