Norma Duerksen grew up in Kansas, graduated from Goessel High School and Bethel College.  She received her seminary training at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, IN.  She and her husband, Phil, served 3 years in voluntary service in Woodstock, IL, at an outdoor educational center that served the inner city youth of Chicago.  Norma taught elementary school for nine years before becoming the Director of Children's Education for the Mennonite Church.  There she developed curriculum and trained teachers in churches throughout the United States and Canada.  For the past 14 years she has been a pastor of a church near Smithville, OH.  Her husband is a high school biology teacher at West Holmes High School near Millersburg, OH.