Six emerging leaders in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) have been named as the sixth class of HELM Leadership Fellows.

HELM Leadership Fellows are selected based on their leadership potential, church participation, and academic promise. The six new Leadership Fellows, who will all be incoming freshmen during the 2006-2007 academic year, are:

	Allison Enari of First Christian Church in Bloomington, Indiana. Enari plans to major in chemistry and Spanish at Occidental College.		Katie Johnson of Woodmont Christian Church in Nashville, Tennessee. She has not yet chosen what her major at Texas Christian University will be.
	Georgia Kuss of Allisonville Christian Church in Indianapolis. Kuss will attend Kenyon College, where she plans to major in biochemistry.		Merillat Pittman of Forest Park Christian Church of Tulsa, Okla., will major in political science at Texas Christian University.
	Kristen Walling of Euclid Avenue Christian Church in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, plans to major in peace studies and international relations at American University.		Kathryn Welch of Christian Temple in Baltimore plans to be a religious studies major at Transylvania University.

The new Fellows will join a class of 14 returning Leadership Fellows. Together, the fellows are a diverse group. They come from congregations and towns of all sizes and reflect a variety of academic interests and intended professional vocations. Several attend Disciples colleges and universities, but public institutions and private institutions affiliated with other denominations are represented as well. The ethnic diversity of Disciples is reflected as well; more than 25 percent of the program's participants are non-Anglo. All this diversity gives Fellows a new way to look at the church they have grown up in, the church they will serve. The returning Leadership Fellows are:

Carissa Cullumber, a senior social work major at Bethany College (Avon Christian Church, Indianapolis, In.,) Cassie Poncelow, a senior interior design major at Colorado State University (Heart of the Rockies Christian Church, Fort Collins, Colo.) Christopher Miller-McLemore, a junior anthropology at Vanderbilt University (Woodmont Christian Church, Nashville, Tenn.). David Weuste, a sophomore music education major at Texas Christian University (First Christian Church, Guthrie, Okla.) Emily Brooke McIntyre, a senior mass communications major at Hampton University (New Hope Christian Church, Beaufort, S.C.) Esther Lee, an undecided sophomore at Texas Christian University (University Christian Church, Fort Worth, Texas) Felicia Wright, a sophomore E-business major at Texas Christian University (University Christian Church, Houston)

Jean Ellen Cowgill, a junior at Dartmouth College (Central Christian Church and Crestwood Christian Church, Lexington, Ky.) Kelly Rand, a junior social work and English major at Texas Christian University (St. Andrew Christian Church, Olathe, Kansas) Laura O’Donnell, a sophomore elementary education major at Vanderbilt University (Zionsville Christian Church, Zionsville, Ind.) Mandy Ogunnowo, a junior marketing major at Indiana Wesleyan University (First Christian Church, Lawrence, Kansas) Rebekah Cypert, a senior studio art major at Bethany College (First Christian Church, McKinney, Texas) Tiffany Curtis, a junior peace studies major at Chapman University (Familia de Fe in Downey, Calif.) Zech Wilson, a sophomore biology major at Chapman University (First Christian Church of Las Vegas, Nev.)

"Every year the application process strengthens my belief that God is sending the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) leaders equal to the challenges of its future," said HELM President Dennis Landon. "Still, we feel a constant frustration that our resources restrict the number of fellows we can include in this program. Our new fellows bring amazing capabilities and experiences, but do many others, and we continue to look for strategies and partners that will help us offer this opportunity to more young men and women across the full breadth of the church."

The Leadership Fellows Program provides several ways to help students explore and strengthen their leadership potential:

• Covenants: Students design their own covenant with HELM describing how they plan to work on developing their leadership abilities. Fellows work in cooperation with a campus chaplain, director of church relations, ecumenical campus minister or another appropriate official to develop leadership skills. Many participate in planning and leading campus ministry programs or similar activities, while others lead youth groups in local congregations or engage in outreach programs.

• Leadership Conference: Fellows also attend annual leadership conferences, where they learn from Disciples leaders, pastors, and each other while building bonds to support each other as their leadership skills grow. The next conference, scheduled for this November at the Tall Oaks Camp and Conference Center near Kansas City, will examine how to help the church make a difference in the world.

• Summer internships: HELM works with Leadership Fellows to identify internships that will expose students to the wide variety of ways Disciples minister.

• Grant: Fellows receive a $2,000 grant at the beginning of each school year for educational use.

• Intangibles: Students maintain regular contact with HELM staff and other denominational leaders via e-mail and denominational meetings. Through a special gift to HELM, most Leadership Fellows attended the Portland General Assembly at almost no cost. In addition to their commitments to HELM, several serve other manifestations of the church.

HELM works to nurture transforming leadership for the church in partnership with Disciples congregations, higher education institutions, campus ministry programs, regions, general ministries, and other agencies of the church.