Annual Meeting
October 24, 2020
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This year’s Annual Meeting will center on the 3 Great Loves campaign of the UCC which will wrap up at the 33rd General Synod of the United Church of Christ. We believe in this moment of our nation and world’s history, more than ever, people need to hear and experience the love of Jesus Christ. Our focus will be on how we can uniquely continue to tell and live out the story of Christ’s love through expressing love to neighbor, children, and creation. We hope to inspire you and your church to continue to tell and share Christ’s love, which has the power to impact and transform the Church and the world in a common purpose of creating a just world for all.
Friday, October 23 afternoon will consist of a panel of educational speakers. Friday night will feature a pre-recorded celebration event which will include highlights from churches and pastors who are celebrating milestone anniversaries.
Saturday morning, October 24, will be a combination of pre-recorded videos and five interactive webinars with voting capabilities for the business portion of our meeting. We plan to have our guest speaker, Rev. Dave Sigmund, the UCC's 3 Great Loves Campaign ambassador, talk to us about the ways in which the Church has been the Church by caring for our neighbors, children, and the environment.
Sunday morning, October 25, will feature a worship service that will be available for everyone in the Illinois South Conference to view.
DuBois Center Fall Programming
The Decision
With a heavy heart, we announce program postponements. On Monday August 17, the ISC Conference Council, with full support of the Outdoor Ministries Team, voted unanimously to postpone all in-person retreats and events sponsored by DuBois Center and/or the Illinois South Conference through the end of 2020. This includes the ISC Confirmation Retreats, Nature's Classroom, Mother-Daughter Retreat and Wrangle & Ride and Fall Festival. Our first priority is the health and safety of our campers, guests and staff. As COVID-19 cases rise steadily throughout our region and a number of schools are reacting and adapting to cases among students and teachers, it is clear that to proceed would not be the cautious or sensible approach. We will continue to welcome small groups and families to camp for overnights, select activities and work projects, as long as participants are willing to follow strict safety protocols related to the COVID virus. Above photo by Anne Petry.
Fall Festival - Postponed
As we examined the amount of nearly constant disinfecting, crowd control and monitoring that would be required, it became clear that to proceed was just not feasible. THANKS to everyone who has already invested time and energy in this event. We are looking forward to celebrating together again in 2021. The first Fall Open House was held in 1977; that was the beginning of our annual Fall Festival. This would have been year #43 for this important friend- and fund-raising event.
Joy and Sadness - A Letter from Shirley Asmussen
Dear Friends and Partners in Ministry: September 9, 2020
It is with great joy and great sadness that I announce my resignation as the Director of Outdoor Ministries, effective December 1, 2020. This decision has been percolating for the last 12-18 months. I turn 65 at the end of October and it's time for new adventures and new challenges, as well as a little less stress and responsibility. I love working at DuBois Center and enjoy living at camp, but the last months have taken their toll. I am looking forward to spending quality time with friends and family, traveling and working on my bucket list - all with good safety precautions in place. Read more.
Shirley Asmussen, Director of Outdoor Ministries
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The Gift of Revitalization:
6-week interactive online worship learning with
Dr. Marcia McFee
Pastors, musicians, and worship leaders and congregations have adapted to the many challenges of worshiping in the ever-changing world of COVID. To help make this Advent/Christmas season rich with worship, the Illinois South Conference has paid through our Strengthen the Church funds so that anyone may participate in the deeply transformative offering of new resources, ideas and techniques provided by Dr. Marcia McFee. Anyone in your church can participate in Dr. Marcia McFee's "Reboot Your Worship" training at no cost to you starting on September 20th, 2020. Read more about the program here and more about Dr. McFee at her website. Click here for our registration link.
Illinois South Conference shares the inspiring stories that show the faith-filled lives within our Conference. We hope this gives you comfort during this time of sheltering in place.
If you know of stories that show people being the church, please send it to ISCspirit@iscucc.org. Share the stories that are warming your heart. #ISCspirit.
To see all of the #iscspirit stories, click here.