The Search Committee for the Executive Director is pleased to announce that Noah McCarn has accepted the position of Executive Director for DuBois Center.

After an extensive search process which included: Zoom interviews; submissions of a case study of how they would envision staffing, programming, finances, and partnerships for DuBois Center; checking candidates’ professional references; and an onsite tour of DuBois, the Search Committee unanimously voted to hire Noah as the next Executive Director of DuBois Center.

As the committee continued to be engaged in interviews and conversations with Noah, as well as conversations with those who knew him through our intensive reference checks, we discovered that Noah possessed the qualities we were most looking for in a leader who could help us live into a vision he has of DuBois Center, to be “A gathering place to experience community, unlike other places. A place where people can experience the kin-dom of God, in large and small ways, that they can take back into their lives.”

Noah is a calm, non-anxious presence who brings a team approach to his leadership, as he highly values collaboration and the personal well-being and development of the staff he leads. Noah is a deep thinker and person of faith who is deeply invested in eco-justice and the work of dismantling oppressive systems which do not allow all of God’s beloveds to be seen, heard, valued, and believed. Noah is a get-it-done kind of person, taking the incentive to do the research on how to get things done so that personal and shared deadlines and goals can be met.

Here is what Noah has to say about beginning his ministry at DuBois Center:

“It is an exciting and humbling experience to serve as the next Executive Director of the DuBois Center. As I begin to learn about the camp and talk with people about their camp experiences, I am continually amazed by the passion and love folks have for the DuBois Center.

My love and passion for camp began at a young age in my home state of North Carolina. I attended summer camp at Johns River Valley Camp, the camp associated with the Southern Conference of the UCC, located in the mountains of North Carolina. There, I first felt God’s presence in the company of fellow campers and the wild beings, and it has served as an experience foundational to my being.

After graduating college with degrees in Math and Computer Science and working as a software developer, I decided that working in a cubicle was not for me, so I moved to St. Louis to attend Eden Theological Seminary. While in seminary, I remembered my own camp experiences and became curious about the intersections of faith, Earth, and justice.

In the spring of 2020, I graduated from Eden Seminary in the early days of the pandemic and found jobs as a handyman and then at Human Support Services in Waterloo, IL, at one of their residential mental health facilities serving clients with mental illness.

While I greatly appreciate those experiences, I am grateful to be able to return to the work I am most passionate about. I am committed to creating an inclusive community where we all may grow together in our faith and know God knows us and is connected to one another and all that is.”

The Illinois South Conference sincerely thanks the Executive Director Search Committee for their time and energy in prayerful and Spirit-led discussions, deliberations, and decisions.

Its members were:

• Priscilla Self, an at-large member of the committee, served as a co-chair of the Search Committee
• Nicole Avise-Rouse, the current chair of the Conference Outdoor Ministry Team, served as a co-chair of the Search Committee.
• Rev. Joan Mier, a current member of the Conference Personnel Committee, served as the chaplain of the Search Committee.
• Rev. Philip Barbier, a current member of the Conference Outdoor Ministry Team, served as the secretary of the Search Committee.
• Dr. Jill Baker, the current Moderator of the Conference, served as an ex-officio member of the Search Committee.
• Rev. Shana Johnson, the Conference Minister, also served as an ex-officio member of the Search Committee.

Noah will be moving on-site soon and will officially begin his ministry on Monday, January 23, 2023.

We hope you will join us in welcoming Noah McCarn, the new Executive Director of DuBois Center, to the Illinois South Conference.