Benny VanDerburgh (2019) writes with the grand news that his partner, Isabel Neal, has won the 2025 Yale Series of Younger Poets prize. Her collection, Thrown Voice, will be published in March by Yale University Press.

John Cheadle Rich (2001) and Amy Rich continue as co-executive directors of Patchwork Central in Evansville, Indiana. Patchwork serves individuals and families with arts and enrichment programming for youth, an emergency food pantry, hospitality offered to all neighbors, a community garden and meditative green spaces, facilities for other community organizations, and a health ministry offering health screenings and consultation with a nurse. John, pictured in his work with Sozo Health Ministry, and Amy (not pictured) each came to Patchwork Central as volunteers over twenty-five years ago.

Luther Young (2022) was featured in the Chicago Reader's Annual People Issue on November 20 as “the justice championing pastor.” As a pastor of Lighthouse Church UCC in Chicago and a Disciples minister, he works with Black LGBTQ people for healing and justice. While concluding his PhD at Ohio State, Luther completed some of his field study as a House Scholar. Now an assistant professor of Religion and Sociology at Boston University School of Theology, he returned to speak about his research after Monday Night Dinner on November 17.

Brent Reynolds (1997) is a contributor to a new book, "Beyond Words." Edited by Matt Zemon, the book features fifty-two weeks of reflections and practices that bridge mysticism, faith, and psychedelic experience.

"Family Dinner" has returned to the House this fall. Each Thursday evening, folks are invited to bring a dish and to gather around a theme. Pictured here is "Soup and Swords"! 

Delaney Beh, third-year MDiv, preached their senior sermon on Monday, November 3. They preached about finding their pastoral vocation: after years of being sure they were called to be a chaplain, DDH, Dean Culp, and friends made Delaney realize the Holy Spirit was calling them to pastoral ministry. The service was livestreamed here on the DDH Facebook page so that parishioners from Delaney's summer internship in Colorado could also listen.

Bruce Ervin, a retired Disciples pastor now living in Boise, Idaho, came to visit DDH for dinner and the Disciples History and Thought seminar in late October. He is long-time friend of the House, and his parents, Don and Jean Ervin, were active members of University Church. Here, he and Clark Gilpin pose in the Common Room at the end of the evening. 

PhD candidate and House Scholar Rachel Abdoler is in Rome this fall working at the Vatican Libraries with ancient manuscripts of medieval Christian texts written in Arabic. Her husband Matt came to visit, and together they saw classic Roman sights and hiked the Amalfi Coast. Her Fulbright-Hayes Fellowship will next take her to Cairo, Egypt. 

Ethan Yu, ecumenical resident and second-year MA, recently attended "La Conference" in Vancouver, Canada, this year themed: “Feminine Desire: Honoring the Life and Work of Anne Dufourmantelle and Mari Ruti.” He gave a presentation titled, “Psychoanalysis as Secular Prophecy: The Lacanian Theology of Anne Dufourmantelle.”

Claudia Highbaugh, Trustee and former Dean of Religious and Spiritual Life, Connecticut College, spoke with the House on Monday evening, October 13, about the journey she has taken researching the history of her paternal and maternal ancestors, her growing up in two Black Disciples of Christ Churches (Park Manor, Chicago, and Second Christian Church, Indianapolis - now Light of the World), and the intersections of race, church, enslaved peoples in the United States, and her own vocational and spiritual history.