Planning for 2013 Annual Conference Includes a Sunday of Renewal

 

The city of Charlotte, N.C., by day (above) and the city skyline by night. Photos courtesy of Visit Charlotte, Patrick Schneider Photography.

Following is initial planning for the 2013 Annual Conference in Charlotte, N.C., on June 29-July 3. See below for information about the theme, leadership, location and facilities, fees, hotel costs, and a special day set aside for spiritual renewal. Additional information will be posted at www.brethren.org/ac as it becomes available.

Theme
“Move in Our Midst” is the theme for the 2013 Annual Conference, taken from lyrics written by the late Brethren poet and hymnwriter Ken Morse. This Conference falls in the 100th anniversary year of Morse’s birth, in 1913.

The following daily themes have been announced:
Saturday June 29, “Move in Our Midst,” Philippians 2:13, 2 Chronicles 7:14
Sunday, June 30, “Touch Us,” Ezekiel 36:26-27
Monday, July 1, “Teach Us,” Ephesians 4:11-13
Tuesday, July 2, “Transform Us,” Ephesians 4:30-32
Wednesday, July 3, “Transport Us,” Matthew 9:38, Luke 4:18-19

Find the moderator’s reflection on the theme online at www.brethren.org/ac/theme-2013.html .

Leadership
Moderator Robert Krouse, pastor of Little Swatara Church of the Brethren in Bethel, Pa., will lead the Conference assisted by moderator-elect Nancy Sollenberger Heishman, interim co-pastor at West Charleston Church of the Brethren in Tipp City, Ohio. James M. Beckwith, pastor of Annville (Pa.) Church of the Brethren, is the Annual Conference secretary.

Serving on the Program and Arrangements Committee alongside the three Conference officers and Conference director Chris Douglas are Eric Bishop of La Verne (Calif.) Church of the Brethren, Cindy Laprade Lattimer of the pastoral staff at Lancaster (Pa.) Church of the Brethren, and Christy Waltersdorff, pastor of York Center Church of the Brethren in Lombard, Ill.

Volunteer coordinators include:
Site coordinators Dewey and Melissa Williard of Winston-Salem, N.C.
Registration coordinator Nancy Hillsman of Durham, N.C.
Hospitality coordinator Teresa Broyles of Roanoke, Va.
Usher coordinators Linda and Buddy Crumpacker of Blue Ridge, Va.
Ticket sales coordinator Karen Haynes of Roanoke, Va.
Unloading/loading coordinator C.D. Lyons of Concord, N.C.
Early childhood services coordinators Pat Mullins of Little River, S.C., and Suzanne Rhoades of Daleville, Va.
Children’s activities coordinator, Kindergarten-2nd grades, Stephanie Naff of Bassett, Va.
Children’s activities coordinator, 3rd-5th grades, Lynette Harvey of Roanoke, Va.
Junior high activities coordinator Clara Nelson of Blacksburg, Va.
Senior high activities coordinator Mike Elmore of Salem, Va.
Young adult activities coordinator Emily LaPrade of Boones Mill, Va.
Singles/Night Owl activities coordinator Dava Hensley of Roanoke, Va.

A day of renewal
Sunday, June 30, is set aside as a special day for Conference-goers to “refocus, restore, renew,” with no business scheduled until Monday morning. This is in response to the item of business that came to the 2012 Conference highlighting a need to revitalize the Annual Conference experience.

Sunday will feature three worship events:

— a morning worship service on the theme “Grace, Grace, and More Grace” with speaker Philip Yancey, a popular Christian writer and author of “What’s So Amazing About Grace?” and “The Jesus I Never Knew”;

— an afternoon worship service on the theme, “The Pathway to God Is Paved with Prayer,” led by Mark Yaconelli, a writer, speaker, spiritual director, and co-founder and program director for the Center for Engaged Compassion at Claremont (Calif.) School of Theology; and

— an evening “Concert of Prayer” inviting all to an experience of personal prayer and guided corporate prayer.

After each worship service will be a session of “Equipping Workshops” offering deeper insights into various areas of faith such as how we experience God, servant leadership, spiritual formation, and more.

Preachers

Preaching on Saturday evening, June 29, will be moderator Robert Krouse.

Philip Yancey, author of “What’s So Amazing About Grace?” and “The Jesus I Never Knew,” will give the Sunday morning sermon on June 30. That same day, Mark Yaconelli of the Center for Engaged Compassion at Claremont (Calif.) School of Theology will preach for a special afternoon worship service.

Paul Mundey, pastor of Frederick (Md.) Church of the Brethren, will preach Monday evening, July 1.

For worship on Tuesday evening, July 2, a dialogue sermon will be given jointly by Pam Reist of the pastoral staff at Elizabethtown (Pa.) Church of the Brethren, and Paul W. Brubaker, a minister at Middle Creek Church of the Brethren in Lititz, Pa.

Suely Inhauser of Igreja da Irmandade, the Church of the Brethren in Brazil, will give the closing sermon of the Conference on Wednesday morning, July 3.

Location and facilities
The Charlotte Convention Center opened in 1995 and has 280,000 square feet of meeting/exhibit space, 46 meeting rooms, and a food court featuring some popular restaurant and café chains. Since 2007 it has been implementing “Going Green” procedures such as recycling, water conservation, use of bio-degradable paper products, and environmentally sensitive cleaning supplies.

The hotel block in downtown Charlotte includes five hotels: the Westin Charlotte and the Hilton Charlotte Center City–closest to the convention center and considered co-headquarter hotels–as well as the Omni Charlotte, the Charlotte Marriott City Center, and the Hampton Inn.

Go to www.brethren.org/ac/location-facilities.html for more about the historic city of Charlotte, founded in 1769, and a list of sites of interest in the area such as the NASCAR Hall of Fame and the Billy Graham Library.

Registration fees
Delegate registration: $285 for early registration until Feb. 19, 2013; $310 for advance registration from Feb. 20-June 4, 2013; $360 for on-site registration in Charlotte.

Adult non-delegate registration: $105 for online advance registration from Feb. 20-June 4; $140 on-site. For those not planning to attend the full Conference, an adult daily rate of $35 is available in advance, going up to $45 onsite.

Brethren Volunteer Service worker discount: active BVSers may register for $30 in advance, or $50 onsite.

Children, youth, and young adults ages 12-21: $30 for the full Conference if registered in advance, $50 onsite. A daily rate is available of $10 for advance registration, or $15 onsite.

Children under 12: registration is free, but children are still required to register using the online process or to register onsite on arrival in Charlotte.

Hotel costs
Westin Charlotte: $145 per room per day, $18 per day for parking
Hilton Charlotte Center City: $139 per room per day, $18 per day for parking
Omni Charlotte: $130 per room per day, $15 per day for parking
Charlotte Marriott City Center: $139 per room per day, $14 per day for parking
Hampton Inn: $134 per room per day, $10 per day for parking

Video resource
A promotional video about the 2013 Conference in Charlotte has been created by Brethren videographer David Sollenberger and is available to view at www.brethren.org/ac .

More information and resources will be posted at www.brethren.org/ac as they become available, including a logo for the Conference, a business agenda, a ballot, and more.