The Bethel College graduating class of 2025 has chosen Dr. Trent Voth, assistant professor of Bible and religion, as their commencement speaker.
One hundred and thirteen seniors are scheduled to take part in the 132nd commencement on Sunday, May 18, at 4 p.m. in Memorial Hall.
The Baccalaureate worship service, May 18 at 10 a.m., will be back in Bethel College Mennonite Church for the first time since 2019.
Both events will be available to view via livestream on the Bethel College YouTube channel.
The 2025 Baccalaureate theme is “Who Will Go?”
The service begins with prelude music selections by student a cappella groups Woven (soprano-alto) and Open Road (tenor-bass), plus Woven Road, a combination of the two ensembles.
Special music during the rest of the service will be by the Bethel College Concert Choir.
Graduating seniors will offer reflections: Loggan Birch, Burleson, Texas, Lynnzey Young, Gas City, Ind., and Benjamin Rudeen, Osage City, Kan.
The commencement program will begin and end with music by the Thresher Brass Quintet, an alumni group.
Dr. Jon Gering, president, will introduce the ceremony and later confer the degrees after Dr. Robert Milliman, vice president for academic affairs and dean of faculty, presents the graduates.
Milliman will also give the Ralph P. Schrag Distinguished Teaching Award to a faculty member.
Two graduating seniors will participate in commencement by offering prayers at the beginning and end of the ceremony – Tobin Wise, a student chaplain, from Pleasant Hill, Mo., and Ben Bollinger, the Class of 2025 representative, from Hesston, Kan.
Trent Voth is in his second year as assistant professor of Bible and religion and director of philosophy at Bethel.
A native of Halstead, Kan., Voth is a 2007 graduate of Tabor College, Hillsboro, Kan., with a B.A. in history, biblical studies and philosophy. He completed an M.A. in Biblical Studies: New Testament from Fresno (Calif.) Pacific University Biblical Seminary in 2012 and a Ph.D. in Bible Studies: New Testament from Emmanuel College at the University of Toronto in 2022.
While working on his academic degrees, Voth has also served in pastoral roles. From 2008-09, he was associate pastor at Ebenfeld Mennonite Brethren Church in Hillsboro. He was assistant pastor at College Community Church-Mennonite Brethren in Clovis, Calif., 2009-15, and transitional minister at Toronto United Mennonite Church from 2017-19.
Voth has also held a variety of teaching roles. He has been a biblical studies lecturer for Fresno Pacific University’s Ministry Quest program for high school students as well as adjunct faculty at FPU and at FPU Biblical Seminary. He also served as adjunct faculty at Emmanuel College, as well as an archival assistant at the Anglican Church of Canada Archives in Toronto.
In his two years at Bethel, Voth has taught courses in religion, Bible and philosophy and has been instrumental in developing the Vocation Seminar, an important piece of the college’s Employment Experiences curriculum.
Bethel is a four-year liberal arts college founded in 1887 and is the oldest Mennonite college in North America. Bethel ranks at #23 in the U.S. News & World Report rankings of “Best Regional Colleges Midwest” for 2023-24. Bethel was the first Kansas college or university to be named a Truth, Community Healing and Transformation (TCHT) Campus Center, in 2021. For more information, see http://www.bethelks.edu
