In 718 "profiles" of Cumberland Valley Mennonite leaders, the author includes anecdotes, quotations, and family lore on the bishops, ministers, and deacons. Especially preserved are the details of the process of ordination. In its combination of genealogy, narrations of key moments, spiritual assessments, and cross-referencing, this massive collection of data of a geographically-related set of congregations that in recent decades has experienced unprecedented fragmentation—there are twenty groupings in the book—all share roots in common. (789pp. illus. index. hardcover. Author, 2004.)