Peer Ministry
Our peer ministers work with Mother Linda to organize programs and services, and to assist fellow students. They are:
Yasuhiko Harada
Yasuhiko Harada is originally from Nara, Japan, where he was baptized in the Holiness-Nazareth Church; in the U.S., this church would be close in theology to the Free Methodist Church or Church of God. He came to the U.S. in August 2001 to study at Michigan State University, where he earned a master’s of music in vocal performance. While at MSU, he was an active member of the University Reformed Church (RCA), and lead a worship team, bible study, and prayer group. In 2005, Yasuhiko joined the Celebrant Singers, a Christian music mission group that gave concerts and provided musical assistance in church services. As a member of this group, he spent three months traveling and singing in Catholic and protestant churches in Costa Rica and in southern states in the U.S.
In summer 2005, Yasuhiko came to Indiana University to pursue a Doctor of Music in voice in the Early Music Institute of the Jacobs School of Music. He joined the Canterbury Fellowship and became highly involved in the peer ministry program. Yasuhiko coordinates the Sunday brunches, serves at the Thursday service, represents ECM at inter-faith gatherings, and plays the organ at our monthly services at Beck Chapel. He also initiated and maintains the Canterbury Face Book page. Yasuhiko has become one of the most beloved cooks in the history of the Canterbury Fellowship, for which he regularly cooks several Thursday evening dinners each semester.
In addition to his doctoral work and ministry with the Canterbury Fellowship, Yasuhiko is a Grad Residence Assistant+ at Eigenmann Hall, a residence hall primarily for international students. He coordinates programming, supervises undergrad RAs, and tends to newly arriving international students. Yasuhiko is a well known volunteer on the IU campus. One of his favorite volunteer activities is with the International Coffee Hour and noon time concert series at the IU International House. He especially loves doing this because it gives him an opportunity to learn about the cultures of other countries and make friends.
In 2008, Yasuhiko was confirmed as a member of the Episcopal Church. Now, he is keeping to one of the traditions of the peer ministry program of IU-ECM — he is in the discernment process and hopes to go to seminary to become an Episcopal priest. Yasuhiko asks that people pray for him, this process, and God’s guidance.
Jill Hudson
Jill Wood teaches literature and composition courses for the English department at Indiana University. She is also at work on her dissertation: "Women of the Lost Cause: Women in Dramas about the American Civil War." In this document, she examines the role that women play in nineteenth century melodramas about the American Civil War. It was her own participation (or lack thereof) as a woman in the Southern Baptist church that led her to seek a more inclusive and socially just church, and so she became an Episcopalian.
However, her decision to become an Episcopalian was also liturgically centered. She sought a church that was communion centered, as the Southern Baptist church had not been. It is the importance of communion that binds her to the Episcopal church and to the more formal Rite I liturgy, which she loves.
She is also the proud/slightly obsessive owner of her dog, Humphrey, and is delighted to be married in a full Episcopalian mass this summer. She thinks that the Apostle Paul is hilarious and is happy to tell you why. Ask her about it sometime.