Wally Kroeker grew up in southern Manitoba with one foot on the farm and one in the city. He descends from two different streams of Russian Mennonites. His paternal ancestors emigrated from the Chortitza Colony, Russia, to southern Manitoba in 1876. His mother migrated as a child from the Molotschna Colony, Russia, in 1925. He has spent more than 35 years as a reporter and editor, specializing in business and religion. He began his career with the Regina (Saskatchewan) Leader-Post and later served as editor of the Saskatchewan Business Journal and as business writer and assistant city editor of the Winnipeg Tribune. He was assistant editor of Moody Monthly (Chicago) and for 10 years was editor of The Christian Leader, the magazine of the U.S. Mennonite Brethren Church. Since 1985 Kroeker has been director of publications for Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA) and editor of its magazine, The Marketplace. His freelance articles have appeared in nearly a hundred business and religious publications. He is author of God’s Week Has Seven Days (Herald) and co-author of Faith Dilemmas for Marketplace Christians (Herald). Kroeker studied journalism at Northwestern University in Chicago and completed his undergraduate degree in religious studies at Tabor College, Hillsboro, Kansas. He has a Master of Arts degree in theology from the Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary, Fresno, Calif. He and his wife Millie have two sons, Scott and Joel.