Two to speak at mission conference

Barb Dewald, associate dean of spiritual formation at Northwestern College, and Dr. Rod Spidahl, associate professor of religion/missiology, will present workshops at the Fellowship of Short-Term Mission Leaders conference in Atlanta Oct. 11 to 15.

Dewald will present “Introduction to the Standards of Excellence Peer Review Team,” in which she will present an overview of the Standards of Excellence in Short-Term Mission and the peer review process that is the core of the program. She and other representatives of mission agencies, schools and churches that send short-term missionaries were involved in developing a common set of standards to help ensure that individuals or teams sent by U.S. organizations are excellent.

A member of Northwestern’s campus ministry staff since 1995, Dewald has led many mission experiences in the United States and abroad. She earned a Master of Divinity degree from North American Baptist Seminary, a master’s degree in counseling from the University of South Dakota and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of South Dakota.

Spidahl will speak on “Making the Most of Short-Term Muslim/Christian Relationships” and “Justice in Mission: How to Use Context-Appropriate Stories.”

Spidahl joined Northwestern’s faculty in 2005 after teaching missions at Lutheran Brethren Seminary in Fergus Falls, Minn., since 1994. He has also pastored Lutheran and Presbyterian churches, provided training and leadership development in Cameroon, and served as a consultant for HIV-AIDS projects for Kenya. The recipient of a doctoral degree from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Spidahl earned a Master of Divinity degree from Lutheran Brethren Seminary and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Idaho.