Peace and Justice Leadership Team

The PJSN Leadership Team back row, left to right:  Jack Knox, Elizabeth Troyer-Miller, Leo Hartshorn, Roger Farmer, Jorge Vielman  front row left to right:  Saulo Padilla, Chris Hoover Seidel, Jim Roynon, Matt Friesen, Melonie Buller  (Sara Nissley is absent from photo)

co-facilitator

Jorge is part of the pastoral team of Iglesia Menonita "El Buen Pastor" in Goshen Indiana

Jorge is a graduate from Goshen College (1999) with a double major in Hispanic Ministry and Sociology / Anthropology and holds a Masters of Peace Studies from Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS) (2001)

Jorge is originally from Guatemala, lived in Canada for 11 years and relocated to Indiana in 1996 to attend Goshen College.

Jorge also is the Director of the Hispanic Program at Center for Problem Resolution in Goshen and Elkhart. He works as a counselor in substance abuse, chemical dependency and domestic violence. He also is a volunteer at the Center for Community Justice, doing mediation and conflict resolution.

Jorge lives in Goshen, Indiana with his wife, Sandra. They have three children, two sons Daniel, Josue and one daughter Andrea.

Contact Jorge at:

Melonie Buller lives in Columbus, Ohio, where she works as the Financial Manager for a nonprofit that develops affordable housing and provides housing counseling. Melonie has a B.S. in accounting from the University of Kansas and is a CPA. 

She is a member of Columbus Mennonite Church and coordinates (and encourages) the various peace activities of the church.  She currently serves on the CMC Mission Commission.  Melonie served for about 4 years on the Ohio Brain Injury Advisory Committee and is the treasurer of the Brain Injury Association of Ohio.  Through this work, she has learned that our brains are marvelous and mysterious.

For several years, Melonie has written prayers and other materials for those Sundays when she is privileged to lead worship. She is married and has two sons, one in college and the other teaching school in Washington, DC.  Melonie enjoys reading, indie and foreign movies, poetry and the open prairie and big blue skies of Kansas.

Roger lives on the grounds of Crooked Creek Christian Camp (CCCC) near Washington, Iowa, where his wife Mary Lou is administrator. Roger was formerly pastor of Sugar Creek Mennonite Church, Wayland, Iowa, and is now involved in a variety of volunteer activities, including presenting seminars on Conscientious Objection, writing the 25th anniversary historical booklet of CCCC, cashiering at the local MCC store, and helping organize a local peace group.

Roger received a Master of Divinity degree from Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary and bachelor’s degrees from the University of Illinois with majors in electrical engineering, computer science, and mathematics.

Jack Knox and his wife, Linda, live in Salem, Oregon, where he has been the pastor of Salem Mennonite Church since 2003. He is a member of the Pacific Northwest Mennonite Conference's Peace and Justice Committee.

Jack has a B.A from Rhodes College, an M.A. in clinical psychology from the University of Alabama and an M. Div. from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Before becoming a pastor and moving to Salem, Jack taught school for many years in Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming and Texas. He also worked as a forensic psychologist in Alabama and Texas.

Jack's passion for peace and justice began developing during his college years in the 1960's when he was involved in the civil rights movement and the anti-war movement.

Jack and Linda have one son who also lives in Oregon, and Jack enjoys fly fishing, music and woodworking.

Jim Roynon, Christian Peacemaker team representative, joined the Peace and Justice Support Network Leadership Team in September, 2006.

Jim grew up in the Evangelical United Brethren Church in Carey, Ohio and graduated from Findlay College (now University) with a BA in Music Education. He taught in public school for 10 years. During this time, he was invited to a Mennonite church, where he soon became a member. Feeling God's calling to pastoral ministry, Jim went to Eastern Mennonite Seminary, where he received his Master of Divinity. He has been a pastor in Ohio for over 20 years and has always been interested in peace advocacy and reconciliation mediation.

After a trip to the Holy Land in 1998, Jim was moved by the plight of the oppressed. He joined CPT as a reservist in 2002, serving in Hebron.

Jim is married to Nancy, a registered nurse. They have four grown children: Bran (Jana) in Twin Lakes, WI; Taryn (Keith Myers) in Pettisville, OH; Drew (Melinda) in Harrisonburg, VA; and Colin of Westover, MD. There are 2 grandchildren - Gideon, 3, and Lucy Ann, 1.

Matt has been the pastor of Albany Mennonite Church (www.albanymennonite.org) in Albany, Oregon since 2001 and the chairperson of the Pacific Northwest Mennonite Conference's Peace & Justice committee since 2002. (pjc.pnmc.mennonite.net)

Matt is a graduate of Bethel College in N. Newton, Kansas (1990) and holds a Masters of Divinity degree from the Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Indiana (1993).

During his sabbatical in the summer of 2005 Matt helped organize and lead the Oregon Peace Delegation, a group of seven HS students, school teachers and community people, to Nagasaki, Japan to join in the 60th anniversary ceremony of the 1945 nuclear bombing of the city. The group met with bombing survivors, city officials, peace organizers, students and community leaders and returned to advocate for nuclear disarmament.

Besides his pastoral ministry in Oregon, Matt pastored Hope Mennonite Church in Wichita, KS (1994-2001), was a community organizer with the United Neighborhood Organization in South Chicago (1992) and drove limousine (1993) to help pay his way through seminary.

Born a "moss under the collar" Oregonian he enjoys far too much coffee, reading, backpacking, canoeing and is the sinfully proud husband of Teri and father of Nick and Noah.

Saulo is a member of Iglesia Menonita del Buen Pastor, in Goshen IN, where he lives with my three daughters and wife since 2001.

He graduated from Goshen College in 2005. Originally from Guatemala, lived in Calgary, Alberta, Canada for 16 years, and moved to Goshen to study at Goshen College.

He is currently finishing up studies for a MA in Theology and Ethics at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS) in Elkhart.

In January 2008 started work with MCC US as Director for the office on Immigration.

He enjoys playing music (guitar, bass, piano, and charango) and singing.

Sara lives in Philadelphia, PA with her husband Andy and their son Jacob where they attend West Philadelphia Mennonite Fellowship.

Sara is a 2001 graduate from Eastern Mennonite University where she studied Justice, Peace and Conflict Studies. After college she joined the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker House in Washington D.C. where she worked to coordinate community efforts in peace building and direct action.

After moving to Philadelphia she became certified to teach and has spent the last number of years working in the public school system in Philadelphia.

Sara was part of an MCC delegation to Colombia in 2001.

Elizabeth Troyer-Miller is currently working as a caseworker with the Home Incarceration Program at the Center for Community Justice in Elkhart, IN. Shortly, she will end this job and move West with her husband to settle in Shickley, NE. Through the summer she and her husband will join three others in a summer teaching/listening tour through the Central Plains Mennonite Conference. This group, Seeds of the Kingdom, will work with conference leadership and congregations to do weekend and evening workshops on peace education.

Elizabeth is a graduate of Goshen College (2006) with a degree in Peace, Justice and Conflict Studies. Her interest in peace and justice issues was strengthened through her experience with Service Adventure, a year-long voluntary service opportunity for ages 18-21 through Mennonite Mission Network, when she worked as a mediator with a community mediation organization in Albany, OR.