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MWC names Assembly 15 National Coordinator

STRASBOURG, France — Ernst Weichselberger, from Asuncion, Paraguay, has accepted Mennonite World Conference's invitation to be the National Coordinator for Assembly 15, beginning on August 1, 2006. The global assembly will be held in Asuncion July 13 – 19, 2009.

The National Coordinator will oversee and direct in-country planning, including the work of numerous committees, communication and publicity within Paraguay, and risk management. He is accountable to Ray Brubacher, International Coordinator for MWC, and he will report to the chair and executive committee of the National Coordinating Council which is made up of representatives from the eight hosting conferences in Paraguay.

Weichselberger is the son of an Austrian Catholic pacifist who migrated to Paraguay in the 1930s where he met and later married a Mennonite woman who, in 1929 at age 16, fled from Russia with her family. He is a member of the Vereinigung der Mennonitengemeinden von Paraguay (General Conference).

Trained as a teacher, Weichselberger spent seven years teaching and in youth work and then 17 years directing Mennonite Voluntary Service and peace issues within all the German Mennonite conferences in Paraguay.

In 1975, the Mennonites appointed him to serve with Trans World Radio Communications in Paraguay.

He is a graduate of the Mennonite Seminary in Montevideo, Uruguay and he earned a Masters degree in Peace Studies at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Indiana (USA).

Currently, Weichselberger is the director of Trans World Radio (RTM), but he will be retiring from that position early next year. He will work as National Coordinator for Assembly 15 on marginal time while he is still at RTM. After retiring from there, his time with MWC will increase, moving to full-time in 2008.

Since joining the Mennonite Church, Weichselberger has been active in Sunday school, youth work, missions, preaching and he has chaired the church board of his congregation.

“The Lord has given me many opportunities to serve at national and international levels. My transcultural and transdenominational experiences have been important [and] my roots are deep in my church: Mennonite,” said Weichselberger.

He lives in Asuncion with his wife Anni. They have three adult sons, all members of the church, and one grandchild.

— Ferne Burkhardt, MWC news editor