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The keynote speaker is Ben Merold,
retired minister from Eastside Christian Church in Fullerton,
Calif., now serving at Harvester Christian Church in St. Charles,
Mo.
This will be the second year for the conference, the brainchild
of Don Hatfield, First Christian's senior adult minister. Hatfield
is committed to helping older adults find ways to stay productive
and connected in ministries after retirement -- sharing their golden
nuggets of wisdom with others in their golden years.
"So often people see retirement as the end of their ‘productive'
life," Hatfield says. "But seniors have so much life experience and
knowledge that the Lord can use. There are all kinds of
opportunities to volunteer and minister and apply that life
knowledge with organizations who need that expertise. We want to
help people see that they can still serve, even though they have a
few gray hairs."
Guest speaker Ben Merold is one of those serving seniors. After a
long career authoring articles on church growth, teaching in Bible
colleges and pastoring churches -- including 22 years at Eastside
Christian Church in Fullerton, Calif. -- Merold "started all over
again" by accepting the call to minister at Harvester Christian
Church in 1991.
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The conference begins at 8 a.m. with a continental breakfast, and
includes worship sessions, two workshops and lunch. The conference
will include several popular workshops from last year, including Dr.
Harold Davis' session on mentoring and the "Apples of Gold" women's
Bible study workshop. New workshops on the schedule include
missions, estate planning, practical issues with aging and
reinventing retirement. According to Hatfield, 200 people from 28
churches attended last year's conference. His goal this year is 300
attendees from 40 churches.
The conference is co-sponsored by First Christian Church in
Champaign and Christian Homes Inc. of Lincoln.
Registration is available online at
www.fcc-online.org. For more information, call the church office
at (217) 356-1649.
[News release]
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