COLUMBUS, Ohio (Mennonite Mission Network) — Linda Gehman Peachey and Titus Peachey have spent their lifetimes working for peace and justice across the world. Laura Bowman’s passion has been focused much closer to her western Ohio home and for a much shorter time.

Of course, Bowman is still in high school.

The Peace and Justice Support Network of Mennonite Church USA honored all three peacemakers for their commitment to Christ’s call toward justice and reconciliation at the Mennonite Church USA convention in Columbus, Ohio.

More Mission Network Columbus news Reporters and photographers from mPress, the convention newspaper organized by Goshen College, covered a variety of Mission Network-related stories during the 2009 Mennonite Church USA convention in Columbus, Ohio. - Mission Workers Who Know Their Curry - Mission Network's cooking show attracted visitors eager to hear stories of mission and sample international cuisine. - Delegates Weigh Building Campaign, Faith Legacy - a report on responses to the Joining Together, Investing in Hope capital campaign led by Mennonite Church USA Executive Leadership and Mennonite Mission Network. - Four Share Testimonies of Spirit-Led Turning Points - Hugo Saucedo, director of Mennonite Voluntary Service, addressed thousands of youth during the Saturday morning worship service. - When Music Ends, Talk About Music Goes On - Jeremy Kempf, Mission Network's personnel counselor, led the youth worship band. - Bowman Awarded for Marching to Peace Beat - Peace and Justice Support Network honors three for working towards peace.

Bowman received the first ever A Different Drummer Award in front of thousands of youth who had just finished worshiping together. In a separate, smaller ceremony, Peachey and Gehman Peachey received the Peace Pitcher Award for their lifetimes of influencing the world for peace.

Bowman received a peace drum—a carved wooden drum with a leather head and a peace symbol etched into the side—because she “marches to the beat of a different drummer and moves to the rhythms of peace in her life, congregation, community and world,” according to PJSN leaders.

Nominated by one of her pastors at Zion Mennonite Church in Archbold, Ohio—Jessica Schrock-Ringenberg, one of the youth worship speakers during convention—Bowman has worked for peace both within her congregation and her school, Archbold High School.

She has organized school demonstrations for the World Day of Peace, distributed materials to her school counselors that counteract military recruitment pitches, and led peace vigils to pray about ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Bowman also organized a project to collect discarded television sets for recycling instead of for landfills. She stored the sets that Archbold-area residents brought to Zion Mennonite, then researched to find a place that would recycle the materials without environmental hazards. Her efforts were featured in a news story in the Archbold Buckeye in April.

Bowman also is the peace and justice advocate for her youth group and works with Zion Mennonite’s peace and justice project to bring issues in front of the youth group for potential action.

Peachey and Gehman Peachey, of East Chestnut Street Mennonite Church in Lancaster, Pa., currently work for Mennonite Central Committee. Gehman Peachey is MCC U.S. women’s advocacy director and Peachey is MCC U.S. peace education director. They previously served MCC as co-directors of the MCC U.S. peace section and in Laos.

Peachey also did service work in Vietnam.

PJSN leaders said though Gehman Peachey and Peachey are relatively young to receive lifetime award recipients, combined they have nearly four decades of peace work. Gehman Peachey has been a significant voice in challenging churches and offering resources on women’s advocacy, domestic violence and abuse, and sexism. Peachey’s advocacy work contributed significantly to a 2008 cluster bomb ban treaty.

The couple was nominated by Timothy Seidel, MCC U.S. director of peace and justice ministries.

Previous recipients of the ceramic pitcher, which is specially made by Goshen, Ind., potter Dick Lehman, include Kathryn Aschliman, Atlee and Winifred Beechy, Marian and Delton Franz, Lawrence Hart, Edgar and Ethel Yake Metzler and Gene Stoltzfus.

The Peace and Justice Support Network (PJSN) is a partnership between the Mission Network and a network of volunteers. Mission Network staff and finances are joined with the time, talents and gifts of these volunteers to equip Mennonite Church USA congregations for peace and justice ministries. Leadership for this work is shared among Mission Network staff and volunteer leaders.