Rosedale Business Group (RBG) is experiencing a significant leadership transition following the retirement of Larry and Dot Chupp, who joined the organization as its directors in 2014. An interim leadership team, comprised of Mary Edgington, Jerry Sauder, and Lloyd Kuhns (Interim Director), was put into place earlier this year.
Mary brings twenty-nine years of local government experience, primarily in finance and human resources, to the interim team. Her involvement with RBG began in 2018 with an introduction to Café Diego; since 2024, she has served as RBG’s administrative assistant.
After nearly twenty-five years of work in corporate finance, Jerry became RI’s Vice President of Finance, a role he has held for the last decade. His missional experience includes a two-year term with RI in Kenya and a wide variety of church leadership roles, including pastor, deacon, and elder. He has served on RBG’s board since 2018.
Lloyd’s long history with missions began in 1973 with time as an RI volunteer in Nicaragua and Costa Rica. His professional career includes twenty-six years with Mennonite Central Committee in several roles, including Country Representative in Brazil, Nicaragua, and Honduras; Associate Director of Ten Thousand Villages; and US Director of Finance. He gained additional experience through fifteen years in financial management with several businesses. He has served on RBG’s board since 2016.
“Since the beginning, RBG has operated with the belief that business as missions can be an effective tool to extend the Kingdom of God around the world.”
This time of transition has provided an opportunity to analyze RBG’s strategies and structural relationship to Rosedale International. Since the beginning, RBG has operated with the belief that business as missions can be an effective tool to extend the Kingdom of God around the world. They have used several different methods to implement this idea with varying levels of success.
Recently, the board performed an analysis on the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of each approach with the hope that their findings would highlight which are most effective. The strategies evaluated include enabling missionaries to engage in business opportunities within their country of outreach; providing employment opportunities for professionals who serve in another country and seek to share the gospel through their work and life; providing financial, technical, and business resources to local Christian entrepreneurs in other countries; implementing a microfinance program in one or more countries; and implementing a savings and loan program in one or more countries.
This list is broad and diverse, which means that RBG leadership will need to make tough choices as they determine which approaches to prioritize moving forward. Guiding this conversation is a commitment to shaping the RBG program to more closely align with the vision, mission, and focus of RI.
“They saw God’s creative work in many beautiful contexts.”
Looking back over their time with RBG, Larry and Dot express deep gratitude for what they see as a very rewarding and challenging time. They appreciate the support of RI and the RBG board and are thankful to Paul Kurtz, former RBG Director, and many others who had the vision to begin the program of marketplace ministry that RBG is today. Says Lloyd, “There have been many challenges and cultural differences they encountered along the way, but nonetheless, they saw God’s creative work in many beautiful contexts.”