{"id":7963,"date":"2017-08-17T20:31:34","date_gmt":"2017-08-17T20:31:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/new.brethren.org\/news\/?p=7963"},"modified":"2018-10-15T20:34:31","modified_gmt":"2018-10-15T20:34:31","slug":"support-and-sponsorship-grows-for-noac","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/2017\/support-and-sponsorship-grows-for-noac\/","title":{"rendered":"Support and sponsorship grows for \u2018Inspiration 2017′"},"content":{"rendered":"

Church of the Brethren Newsline
\nAugust\u00a017,\u00a02017<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"
NOAC participants in a walk for Nigeria sponsored by Brethren Benefit Trust at the 2015 older adult conference. Photo by Nevin Dulabaum.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

by Debbie Eisenbise and Gimbiya Kettering<\/p>\n

This is the 25th anniversary year (and 14th gathering) of the National Older Adult Conference (NOAC), and we are especially grateful for the sponsorship and leadership of denominational agencies, Fellowship of Brethren Homes communities, and other nonprofits who have an opportunity to share their mission with the conference participants.<\/p>\n

Sponsorship for \u201cInspiration 2017″ has increased 300 percent over the average of previous years, with increased support from sponsors who have participated for many years and some new partners. Sponsorship subsidizes participants\u2019 costs while still enabling us to bring in exciting speakers and new presentations and opportunities.<\/p>\n

\u201cInspiration 2017,\u201d the title for this year\u2019s NOAC, gathers together generations of people whose lives have been touched by our church. Participants will range from church members, to those with deep Brethren family roots, to those who have moved to places without a local Church of the Brethren congregation and who want to continue to connect, to alumni\/ae of Brethren colleges. With keynote speakers, interest groups, and lots of fellowship time, the conference inspires and refreshes the commitment to discipleship.<\/p>\n

\u201cEducation is an important component of what we do, which is why\u00a0Brethren Benefit Trust<\/strong>\u00a0is proud to once again serve as a sponsor of NOAC events and have the opportunity to share our personal interests and knowledge with others,\u201d says BBT president Nevin Dulabaum. \u201cThat is why in addition to focusing on the ministries of BBT through several learning sessions, we will also offer NOAC sessions on photography and Brethren heritage.\u201d BBT was created by Annual Conference to provide pension, insurance, and educational services to the employees, retirees, and organizations of the Church of the Brethren denomination. BBT is sponsoring a keynote address presented by Jim Wallis, the NOAC News Retrospective, and the fitness walk.<\/p>\n

Bethany Theological Seminary<\/strong>\u00a0is another perennial supporter of the conference. Bethany president Jeff Carter says NOAC \u201cembodies the value of lifelong learning and speaks to our shared faith commitments. For the seminary, the gathering includes many alumni\/ae as well as those who support the work and witness of the seminary. Together, we are the continued story of the church which should be proclaimed again and again.\u201d This year, Bethany is sponsoring a sermon by Brethren Press publisher Wendy McFadden, and the second annual coffee house hosted by Chris Good and Bethany alumnus Seth Hendricks.<\/p>\n

Other sponsors include<\/p>\n

—\u00a0Heifer International,<\/strong>\u00a0which is supporting Peggy Reiff Miller\u2019s plenary speech, and a service trip in which volunteers will read to students at Junaluska Elementary School;<\/p>\n

—\u00a0Upper Room Books<\/strong>, which is supporting a keynote presentation by Missy Buchanan, a prayer room, and an exhibit with books for sale;<\/p>\n

— the\u00a0Fellowship of Brethren Homes<\/strong>, which is sponsoring daily Bible studies led by Stephen Breck Reid, whose book \u201cUncovering Racism\u201d will be for sale at the Brethren Press bookstore;<\/p>\n

—\u00a0The Palms of Sebring<\/strong>, Fla., which is sponsoring a sermon by Susan Boyer;<\/p>\n

— the\u00a0Ron and Mary E. Workman bequest,<\/strong>\u00a0which is providing new binders to be used for songbooks during the week.<\/p>\n

Held in western North Carolina at the Lake Junaluska Conference and Retreat Center on Sept. 4-8, \u201cInspiration 2017″ welcomes all people age 50-plus to participate. Registration is open through the first day of the conference. Information is available at\u00a0www.brethren.org\/noac<\/a>\u00a0.<\/p>\n

A program of Congregational Life Ministries, \u201cInspiration 2017″ is made possible by numerous volunteers working throughout the year and serving during the conference, Church of the Brethren staff and support staff in various departments, and our financial sponsors. Thanks to all of you!<\/p>\n

—\u00a0Congregational Life Ministries staff Debbie Eisenbise and Gimbiya Kettering provided this report. Eisenbise director of Intergenerational Ministries and is a staff leader for NOAC. Kettering is director of Intercultural Ministries.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to\u00a0www.brethren.org\/Newsline<\/a>\u00a0to subscribe to the Church of the Brethren Newsline free e-mail news service and receive church news every week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is the 25th anniversary year (and 14th gathering) of the National Older Adult Conference (NOAC), and we are especially grateful for the sponsorship and leadership of denominational agencies, Fellowship of Brethren Homes communities, and other nonprofits who have an opportunity to share their mission with the conference participants. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":7964,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1268,160,806,481,1259,1256],"wf_post_folders":[],"class_list":["post-7963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-bethany-seminary","tag-brethren-benefit-trust","tag-congregational-life-ministries","tag-fellowship-of-brethren-homes","tag-noac","tag-older-adults"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7963"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7963\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7966,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7963\/revisions\/7966"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7963"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=7963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}