The Montreat Conference Center Blog

Reflections of a Ranger: Rite of Spring

2013-05-11T18:58:00.001-04:00

Since the ice of winter has finally faded into rain, I feel that is now safe to declare that spring is upon us. Warm sun caresses the new growth of the valley as God pulls his verdant blanket up from the streambeds to finally tuck it in at the ridge line. Spring is a season for wandering out of our houses and up into the hills. Warm days and balmy nights have graced Montreat, and there is no better time to get out and go hiking. Now is the time to summit a beloved peak or to go exploring somewhere new. I would encourage you to get out and enjoy nature's overture to summer. If you have the means to get out into the woods before Montreat sings its siren's song of summer, by all means do so. In a few short weeks our valley will be filled with adolescent pilgrims and prodigal grandparents. The still of the woods will be broken by sounds of laughter and joy, of dancing and worship. There is no doubt that summer is Montreat's season to shine, but I invite you to come early if you can. Walk awhile; clear your head. Leave the worries of the world outside the gate and come experience life at a higher elevation. Be sure to come see me at the Nature Center for public hikes this summer.

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Jason Nanz comes to Montreat from Roanoke, VA. He is a 2006 graduate of Roanoke College, an Eagle Scout, long-time Montreat Ranger and a highly experienced outdoorsman. Jason runs Montreat's Wilderness School and can be reached at montreatwilderness@gmail.com

Explore What It Means to Be a Follower of Jesus in Today’s World

2013-05-02T08:18:00.000-04:00

What do Albert Einstein, John Lennon, and Montreat Conference Center have especially in common?

Imagination!

“Imagination is more important than knowledge,” said Einstein. Lennon’s most famous song suggests imagination is the key to securing peace and justice for all of humankind.

And the upcoming Imagine Conference at Montreat is an opportunity to break out from the constraints that blur visions, from polarized ideologies that suggest an “either-or” brand of Christianity and from political labels that pit one camp against the other.

Leading the conference as keynote speaker is Marcus Borg, internationally known and respected as one of the most forward thinking theologians today. A prolific author and sought after speaker among all denominations, Borg is both wise and accessible. His books are practical and thought provoking, each title going to the heart of the matter with courageous, exciting, and well-researched ideas. Among them are the bestsellers, Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time, The Heart of Christianity, and his newest, Jesus: Uncovering the Life, Teachings and Relevance of a Religious Revolutionary, already a New York Times bestseller.

Dr. Tom Currie, Dean of Union Presbyterian Seminary in Charlotte, is also part of the conference’s leadership. A professor of Theology and Ethics, Currie brings to the mix his expertise in the work of Karl Barth, the short stories of Flannery O’Connor, and the poetry of George Herbert and W.H. Auden.

Guest preacher for the conference is Dr. Jacqui Lewis, Senior Minister at Middle Collegiate Church in New York City. She serves on numerous boards and tasks forces related to racial justice, religion and society and has been featured on NPR, in Forbes magazine and is the author of The Power of Stories: A Guide for Leaders in Multi-Racial and Multi-Cultural Congregations.

Over half a century ago, the great 20th century Christian martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in a letter from his prison cell in wartime Germany, wrote: “What is bothering me is the question what Christianity really is, or, indeed, who Christ really is.”

The Imagine Conference at Montreat tackles the on-going question, “What does it mean to follow Jesus Christ and be church today?” – a question that leads to other questions: What are the biggest issues facing people of faith today? Why are so many people turned off by institutional religion? How has the church changed over the years? Is this change a good thing or a fearful thing?

It is only with bold imagination that those answers can be faithfully answered in a way that is relevant, Biblical, and energizing.

The conference is open to all.

What: Imagine Conference at Montreat Conference Center

Who: Marcus Borg, internationally known theologian

When: May 24-27, 2013

Where: Montreat, NC

How: to register or for more information go to www.montreat.org/imagine or call (828) 669-2911, ext. 339

Montreat Conference Center serves over 35,000 people annually who venture to the mountains of western North Carolina for conferences, retreats, clergy renewal, sabbatical study, family reunions, and vacations. The conference center’s mission is one of strengthening churches, building relationships, and growing disciples in the name of Jesus Christ.

Extending the Legacy: African American Mentoring Event

2013-04-29T08:47:00.000-04:00

African American Mentoring Event focuses on developing church leaders through effective mentoring relationships

This article has been cross-posted from the PC(USA) News and Announcements page. By Emily Enders Odom, Mission Communications Associate

“Some of us have been looking forward to this day for years,” the Rev. Dr. Rhashell D. Hunter told those gathered for the opening session of the African American Mentoring Event on April 21. “To identify and equip African American women and men who might serve in the future as heads of staff or in executive leadership has long been a dream for many of us.”

African American pastors and leaders gathered in Montreat

The African American Mentoring Event—the fourth leadership institute offered by the Racial Ethnic & Women’s Ministries/Presbyterian Women (RE&WM/PW) ministry area of the Presbyterian Mission Agency—brought some 30 African American pastors and leaders from across the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) together at Montreat Conference Center from April 21 to 24. Its purpose—in addition to identifying and developing teaching elders with strong potential for future leadership in the church—is also to support African American congregations by resourcing them with a pool of strong candidates to serve healthy congregations.

One unique—and ongoing—feature of this latest leadership institute is its mentoring program. “We are excited that this event has a mentoring component,” said Hunter, who serves as director of RE&WM/PW. “This mentoring program will allow for relationships between mentors and mentees not only to form here but also to continue beyond the event, so that this is not an isolated, one-time experience without follow-up.”

Six face-to-face and check-in meetings have been scheduled for the mentors and their mentees over the next 14 months, concluding at the 221st General Assembly (2014) in Detroit, Michigan. Participants are also encouraged to be in communication with one another at times other than the designated check-in periods.

“The African American Mentoring Event created a process that will generate a pool of healthy and effective pastors who can provide transformational leadership for the development of healthy congregations,” said Lonnie Oliver, associate for African American Congregational Support in RE&WM/PW. “Mentors and mentees will also share experiences and learning that will help congregations impact their surrounding communities. In other words, this event has the potential to impact the world with persons who love the Lord Jesus Christ.”

In addition to relationship building, Hunter added that the event was also designed to develop skills in areas that aren’t generally covered in seminary, such as managing large staff organizations, understanding multimillion-dollar budgets, employment and legal issues, interviewing skills, and human-resources policies.

“Knowledge and wisdom in the form of people are essential for head of staff and executive leadership roles,” she said.

A conversation with executive leaders and heads of staff in the PC(USA), held on the evening of April 22, offered one such opportunity to hear the experiences of those already serving in administrative, executive, or head-of-staff ministry positions, including Linda Valentine, executive director of the Presbyterian Mission Agency.

“Mentoring events like this are so important because we need strong leadership for the church,” said Valentine, noting that the Presbyterian Mission Agency has six directional goals (or programmatic emphases), the first of which is to cultivate, nurture, and sustain diverse, transformational leaders for the church.

“Often when I go around the church and I describe our plan, our work, and our activities, when I cite transformational leaders as the first of our goals,” Valentine continued, “people will just say, ‘Well, stop there. If you get leadership right, the rest of it will just fall into place.’”

Vince Patton, Racial Ethnic Leadership Development manager in RE&WM/PW, added that mentoring relationships are key to the development of effective leaders.

“Relationships are being forged here with the intention of sustaining them in a way that will help you to continue to enhance your skills, so that you will be ready to assume leadership roles in our congregations, mid councils, and agencies of the church,” Patton told the gathering. “As you begin to discern how God might be calling you to serve the church, the church will continue to be blessed with your strong leadership.”

Aisha Brooks-Lytle participates in a
"getting to know you" exercise.

In addition to Hunter, Oliver, Valentine, and Patton, the presenters, panelists, and worship leaders for the event were Robert Burkins Sr., pastor, Elmwood United Presbyterian Church, East Orange, NJ; Jerry Cannon, pastor, C. N. Jenkins Memorial Presbyterian Church, Charlotte, NC; Warner Durnell, executive presbyter, Middle Tennessee Presbytery, Nashville; Diane Givens Moffett, pastor, St. James Presbyterian Church, Greensboro, NC; Carolyn Heyward, associate pastor, St. James Presbyterian Church, Charleston, SC; Charles Heyward, pastor, St. James Presbyterian Church; Rhonda Hunter, partner at the law firm of Farrow-Gillespie & Heath, L.L.P., Dallas; Sterling Morse, coordinator for Cross-Cultural Ministries and Congregational Support in RE&WM/PW, Louisville; Joe Rigsby, pastor, Woodlawn Presbyterian Church, Jacksonville, FL; Dianna Wright, African American Ministry advocate, Salem Presbytery, Clemmons, NC; and Alex Zareth Canales Gonzalez, field staff for Racial Ethnic Young Women Together in the office of Young Women’s Leadership Development.

One event participant—the Rev. Alice Ridgill, organizing pastor for The New Faith Presbyterian Church new church development in Greenwood, South Carolina—said that she considered the four days spent at the event to be a good investment of her time. “Our church is a connectional church, and I believe in using those connections to sharpen the skills that I have,” she said. “Being among all of this wisdom is a wonderful thing for a young pastor.”

Agreeing with Ridgill that making connections is vital, Hunter emphasized the importance of networking, especially during the social gatherings that were scheduled throughout the event. She also urged participants to decompress by taking advantage of the natural beauty of Montreat, a partner both in the planning and hosting of the event. “We moved you away from your churches so that you wouldn’t have to open the door for anyone,” Hunter said. “Take the time while you are here to relax, to renew, to refresh.”

A host of diverse and powerful worship experiences also allowed for participants to be renewed as well as challenged. Preachers for the event were Sterling Morse, Carolyn Heyward, Robert Burkins Sr., Rhashell Hunter, Diane Givens Moffett, and Jerry Cannon.

In a Facebook post following the event, the Rev. Byron Wade, pastor of the Davie Street Presbyterian Church in Raleigh, North Carolina, and vice moderator of the 218th General Assembly (2008), wrote: “Just returned home from Montreat Conference Center, where I had a wonderful time the last three days at the PC(USA)'s African American Mentoring Event. I learned a lot of information that will serve me well in my ministry at church. I've been assigned a great mentor and enjoyed the fellowship of PC(USA) staff and fellow colleagues in ministry as we shared our frustrations, hopes, and dreams. Most of all, ‘we didn't go to church, we had church!’ If you've heard preachers like Diane Givens Moffett, Robert Burkins, Jerry Cannon, Sterling Morse, and Rhashell Hunter, you'd know what I'm talking about. Yeah, we had church!”

In his sermon on the event’s opening night entitled “Extending the Legacy”—based on Genesis 26:12–18—Sterling Morse used the example of Isaac to illustrate his two main points. First, that wherever God leads, God will provide, and second, that legacy is important.

After Isaac and his family had left Gerar—where they had moved due to famine—God directed them back to the familiar landscape of Isaac’s youth. In the valley, Isaac began to dig again the old wells of his father Abraham that had been closed by the Philistines.

“These were the waters that would allow him to take the legacy the next mile of the way,” Morse preached. “If Isaac had not observed the spiritual and vocational skills of his predecessor, the legacy would have been lost.”

Morse said that, in today’s church, many leaders are frustrated, asking why the black Presbyterian church is in jeopardy. “The churches are like wells that have been intentionally stopped up,” he said. “They are in need of someone who loves God so much and who knows where the old wells are found. Someone born with a preloaded GPS system, who can see the great needs of the present and also see the future.”

Carolyn Heyward leads worship.

Preaching the following morning (April 22) on Acts 9:1–20, the conversion of Saul, Carolyn Heyward said: “If we are going to build this 21st-century church—if this church is going to grow by 10 or 20 or 30 percent—we must let the light of Jesus shine in the dark places, those secret places in our hearts. We’re going to have to hear the voice of God giving us new models that this 21st century can hear and understand. If we will see the light and hear the voice, God has already given us the increase. To build the African American community, the struggles that we have had will be gone by the wayside, because God will give the increase. Old men and women will come, and the church will grow.”

To continue to foster such growth for both leaders and churches, the RE&WM/PW ministry area will host two additional leadership institutes in 2013, the Young Adult New Immigrant Leadership Institute in September and the Women’s Leadership Institute/Young Women’s Leadership Development Event in November, with the goal of supporting, mentoring, and growing leaders among young-adult new immigrants and among women in the church.

The Rev. Betty Griffin, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Mount Vernon, New York, a participant in the event, marveled that she had grown from mentee to mentor in three short years, having benefited from a previous RE&WM/PW conference, the Racial Ethnic Clergywomen’s Leadership Institute.

“I have great expectations,” Griffin said on the event’s opening night, April 21. “The leadership institute I attended here three years ago catapulted me into the call that I’m in now, and I’m a much better, stronger leader for having taken part in that event. So, yes, I have great expectations.”

This article has been cross-posted from the PC(USA) News and Announcements page. By Emily Enders Odom, Mission Communications Associate

How Do We Parent With Soul?

2013-04-08T09:10:00.000-04:00

Explore what it means to create community within families of all shapes and sizes.

How do we tend our souls? Take the time to nurture your own soul as you learn ways to care for the souls of your children and health of your family.

Intended for families of all configurations, with children of any age, participants will explore what it means to create community and craft ritual as a family, hear experts from a variety of fields share ways to cultivate wholeness and strength in our children and self, play together, have opportunities for solitude, discover the role and power of peacemaking in families, and ultimately learn how to find your best rhythm as parents and then get out of the way… supporting your children as they grow into the fullness of who they’re created to be!

Topics That Touch all Families

How do we cultivate wholeness in our children? Why is ritual important to a family? How do we find our best rhythm as parents? Hear from an oustanding line up of speakers (and parents!) on these topics and many more.

Nicole Mercer. Teacher, administrator, founder of Beginning Steps Ministry Preschool, and a Conscious Discipline certified instructor.

David and Deanna LaMotte. David is Rotary World Peace Fellow, author, and singer-songwriter. Deanna is a graduate of UNC Chapel Hill’s Gillings School of Global Public Health. Prior to graduate school, Deanna taught English as a Second Language domestically and abroad for 13 years.

Sarah Peters. Sarah regulary leads workshops, classes and retreats in art, spirituality, yoga, and Christian Education. She has led the children and youth’s craft program each summer in Montreat since 2005.

Danny and Vickie Dieth. Danny serves as pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church in Tallahassee, FL, and Vickie is the church's director of Christian education.

Lynn Turnage. Lynn’s passion is about including children in every part of church life and empowering parents to bring out the best in their children. She is the director of children and family ministries at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Greensboro, NC.

Now is a Perfect Time to Register!

Secure a spot now for you and your family. Full details, including information on housing, meals, and Clubs (day camp) registration for your children can be found here.

Need to have some questions answered or you'd like assistance with your registration? Conference registrar, Susan Akduman, is ready to assist! Email her or contact her at 800.572.2257, ext. 339.

Spring Construction in Montreat

2013-03-28T10:24:00.001-04:00

Assembly Inn: Phase 1 Construction

Work begins! Crane arrives to do tree work for placement of new electrical system. You can see a tree being removed on the right for new power lines.

Old transformers removed from pole now that power is being safely routed across the street for connection versus past path through the woods. Improvement in safety and service!

The first windows arrive! The TRACO truck has become a regular sight as windows are shipped to Montreat and stored in Freeland Hall until installation. A very exciting time for the Conference Center as renovation becomes visible from the outside.

Room by room we go! Out with the old windows and in with the new. Pictures show different views of work in progress. Our entire community is responding positively to the beautiful results. Guests who have stayed in the rooms have noted the quiet and lack of drafts!

Work underway to replace the large windows in the Galax Dining Room!

Repairs to prevent future leaks is another key project. Here the first shielding is placed over one of the parapet walls. It will be painted bronze to match the windows. Repairs begin in the Lakeside Conference Room now that the windows are installed and the water damage has been controlled. A very exciting facelift for this beautiful room!

With electrical wok in place, 24 HVAC units were lifted to the Assembly Inn roof to begin the running of lines to individual rooms.

Electricians are working hall by hall to install units in individual rooms and in conference rooms. Everyone is looking forward to an Inn with both heat and air-conditioning that is energy efficient and controlled by zones.

Be a part of history and join the Building on the Tradition campaign! Renovations continue on the Assembly Inn with a redecorated interior, as well as improvements to Anderson Auditorium and other buildings in this beautiful valley.

Donate today!

What are some of the major problems we face as a church today?

2013-03-18T08:09:00.000-04:00

Today's 'Themes of Imagine' video asks what the major issues that the church faces in today's world. See what folks around the PC(USA) think, and join them in deeper conversation at the upcoming Imagine conference, May 24 - 27. We want you to join the conversation, so be sure to add your comments below the video!

Having trouble viewing the video? Click here!

Add your voice!

Why is it important to engage in theology?

2013-03-14T07:30:00.000-04:00

Today we're continuing the 'Themes of Imagine' video series that reflects on some of the themes of the upcoming Imagine conference, May 24 - 27. We want you to join the conversation, so be sure to add your comments below the video!

Having trouble viewing the video? Click here!

Add your voice!

What does it mean to follow Jesus and 'be' church?

2013-03-12T09:40:00.003-04:00

As the Imagine conference comes closer, we wanted to ask some folks from around the PC(USA) to reflect on some of the themes to be discussed. In this video series, we're exploring what conversations might arise this spring at the Imagine conference. We want you to join the conversation, so be sure to add your comments right below the video!

Having trouble viewing the video? Click here!

Add your voice!

Quarterly Report: February 2013

2013-02-28T10:13:00.000-05:00

Download the February 2013 Quarterly Report

Pete Peery

Glimpses of Spring

Margaret and I went on a walk in Montreat today. The temperature was in the thirties; nevertheless, we spotted some daffodils in bloom. Spring is coming soon in this cove. And the spring of new beginnings is happening at Montreat Conference Center. I alert you to four signs of these new beginnings.

The Building on the Tradition Campaign continues to bring promise of the renewal of our facilities. Thanks to all of you who have committed to this campaign. And to those of you still considering doing so, I urge you to get on board. A report on the campaign is in this Quarterly Update. Right now we are confident we will be able to finish the renovation of Assembly Inn because of pledges already received. But wouldn’t it be wonderful to get a roof on Anderson Auditorium, open up the windows of Upper Anderson, update Reynolds Lodge, and make Freeland Hall a much more accessible conferencing space? We are on the brink of being able to do these things if, God willing, response to the campaign continues to be robust.

Crane lifts one of 24 HVAC units to
the rooftop of Assembly Inn

Construction is underway at the Assembly Inn. Heating and air-conditioning compressors have been lifted by crane onto the roof. Wi-Fi has been installed in every room. New windows are going in all over the building. Come and see! It is fun to watch!

The Imagine Conference is right at hand, happening Memorial Day weekend. We are privileged to have two renowned interpreters of the Christian faith plus a dynamite preacher lead this conference, namely, Marcus Borg of Portland, OR, Tom Currie of Charlotte, NC, and Jacqui Lewis of New York, NY. “What does it mean to follow Jesus and be Church today?” That is the question we will explore with these leaders. Details about the conference are in this Quarterly Update. Check it out and don’t miss it. Clubs will be available, making it a family friendly event. Learn more about Imagine here!

A new Vice-President for Sales, Marketing and Communications has joined the leadership team of the conference center. He is Tanner Pickett. Tanner, a native of Camden, AR and graduate of Lyon College with a masters from Arkansas State University, has spent ten years in sales, marketing and management in the health care industry. He attended Montreat Youth Conferences when he was in high school and fell in love with Montreat. Since then, he has worked in arenas far beyond Montreat’s scope. Thus he brings new eyes to the challenges the conference center has in welcoming a broader spectrum of God’s people into Montreat’s ministry. Likely you will be hearing from Tanner!

With these four developments, it seems clear that God is bringing the spring of a new season to this treasured ministry of the church we know as Montreat.

Grace and peace,
Pete Peery

Download the February Quarterly Report for more information

Put Montreat on Your 2013 Calendar!

2013-01-02T09:30:00.000-05:00

365 Great Reasons to Visit Montreat Conference Center

When you're away, a day doesn't go by that we don't wish you were here!

And when you are here - for a conference, a church retreat, a meeting of colleagues, summer worship, or maybe even for your own personal Sabbath retreat - we'll do everything possible to make your visits to Montreat Conference Center in 2013 the best ever.

Every day - 365 days a year - is a great day in Montreat. We thank you in advance for letting us be a part of your new year, and we invite you to take a look now at our 2013 conference schedule.

Program Highlights from the Center for Faith & Life

In 2013, the Center for Faith and Life is pleased offer programs for adults with timely topics and excellent leadership. We strongly commend these events:

Imagine: Montreat's Spring Conference

May 24-27, 2013

“What is bothering me is the question what Christianity really is, or indeed, who Christ really is, for us today.”

D. Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison

The question as to who Christ really is will not go away. The question as to what kind of community Christ intends is equally pressing for those who would follow him today. These questions have become particularly urgent for a church struggling with its own divisions and seeking to offer faithful witness to a culture bent on saving itself yet hungering for a word of grace.

Marcus Borg - Theme Presenter
Tom Currie - Theme Presenter
Jacqui Lewis - Preacher
Lib Caldwell, Kathy Dawson, and Pamela Mitchell-Legg - Christian Educators

Click here to learn more about Imagine and to register online.

The Church in Purple: Montreat's Institute for Church Leadership

October 14-17, 2013

The color purple has great significance for the church; it is the color of royalty and redemption, witness and want, communion and community. We are a royal priesthood, called to repent, to witness, to be One body despite our differences. We are a church, blended and blessed in our diversity, living the tensions and triumphs of the 21st century. Using the color purple as a metaphor for understanding what it means to be the church together, this conference offers opportunities for witness, for listening, and for being heard. Discover new ways to make the Gospel of Christ as relevant and creative, as life-giving and as vibrant as the color purple.

This conference for church professionals and lay people in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and beyond features team presentations by Barbara Wheeler and Richard J. Mouw; Eric Wall and Beth Williams; and Thomas Daniel and Pen Peery. Paul Roberts, conference preacher, will also be leading Bible study.

Click here to learn more about the Church in Purple and to register online.

A Reminder from the Center for Youth and Young Adult Ministry

Summer is closer than you think! Now is the time to make sure the youth group at your church comes to this summer's youth conferences at Montreat. The theme, "Here and Be Heard," will be explored by Scott Phillips, Amos Disasa, Emily Nelson Dixon, Jorge Sayago-Gonzalez, and Turner Merritt (Weeks 1-2); Derek Mcleod, Mark Lomax, Lynn Turnage, Alex Dorsam, David Ealy, and Stuart Hill (Weeks 3-4); and Dana Hughes, J. Herbert Nelson, Laurie & John Weicher, John Sawyer, and Nathan Proctor (Weeks 5-6).

And what would our youth conferences be without our Small Group Leaders? Now is the time to sign up, and this year it's easier than ever with our online "2013 Small Group Leader Application." Let us hear from you soon.

Your Program... Our Place

Plan a church or business retreat, a session meeting, your own personal sabbath. We'd love to assist you, and here's good news - there are still some great prime time availabilities.

Check with us early for the venue that works best for you and your group.

Arts and Theology, Shaping and Forming

2012-12-27T09:43:00.000-05:00

This article comes from Call to Worship, a quarterly journal published by the Office of Theology and Worship of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Ann Laird Jones is beginning her twentieth year as director of the arts ministry at Montreat Conference Center. She now divides her time between Montreat and the Mississippi Delta, where she has served churches as pastor in interim, supply and installed positions.

My lifelong interest has been the relationship between arts and theology. Both of my parents were very involved in this conversation. My mother, Marilyn Jones, is an artist and a potter, and started arts and pottery programs in every church where my father served as a Presbyterian minister. My father, Tom Jones, directed Board of National Ministries Conferences at Montreat as the arts emerged in the post-Vatican II time of global liturgical convergence. My mother made the first banners used in worship in the auditorium in Montreat in the mid-sixties. My father celebrated the arts in worship throughout his ministry. The conversation between arts and theology led me to seminary thirty-three years ago, receiving the M.Div. in 1982 from Louisville Presbyterian Seminary, and later completing a D.Min. degree in arts and theology under the mentorship and guidance of Catherine Kapikian from Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, DC.

In 1974 my mother started the pottery and crafts program at Montreat in its present form. She called it the Upper Story, running it as an artistic co-op and focusing on pottery and on Appalachian crafts. When she retired after fifteen years of service, the Montreat Conference Center renamed it the Sally Jones Pottery, in memory of my sister, Sally, who died at the age of twelve in 1973. Today the building is called the Currie Craft Center/Sally Jones Pottery, and the arts ministry is part of Montreat’s Center for Faith and Life.

We offer pottery nonstop, including fifteen to twenty arts classes per week, featuring many artists in residence, who live together in an artists’ house. We have seventeen potter’s wheels, four hand-building tables, five kilns, and tons (literally!) of clay. We have a dedicated sewing studio, as well as a teaching kitchen, a knitters’ porch, and studio space for silkscreen printmaking, drawing, painting, felting, woodcarving, copper enameling, and writing. Our doors are open to everyone who comes to us, as the arts become a place for hospitality. We want each person to feel at home in “their” studio!

During the summer months, we run a weekly arts film series followed by conversation and a weekly lecture series featuring the amazing people who live in this community. This summer we were especially excited about an in-house conference with Catherine Kapikian and Kim Jackson called “Arts, Theology, and Worship.”

Finally, we are absolutely zealous in our desire for churches to start their own arts ministries, as we seek to encourage the continuing and critical conversation between arts and theology. To that end, we find ourselves hard at work throughout the calendar year— not just during the intense summer conference months—on program opportunities with churches, presbyteries, and seminaries, modeling new ways for individuals and
congregations to incorporate the arts in every aspect of our life together. I am particularly excited about the exploration of new directions in arts and theology with theological institutions, having just completed the summer with our first Seminary Intern for Arts and Theology, Columbia Theological Seminary student Lisle Gwynn.

In addition to directing the arts, crafts, and pottery ministry at Montreat, my newly designed position (now year-round) involves planning and creating visual arts in services of worship at Montreat. I work with an intentional and dedicated collaborative Montreat worship team, including a liturgist (Mel Bringle), musician (Eric Wall), and artist (me!). Our planning process begins months before the scheduled service. We start with careful exegetical work, focusing always on the texts before us. We work collaboratively, spending hours in conference calls or meetings together. Starting in May, we met for about four hours every Monday, designing, crafting, and re-crafting every service, every detail, every point of transition. Mel Bringle designed a grid for each service of worship: liturgy, notes, visual arts, music.

Our budget for visual arts over ten services this summer was $200. We quickly realized there was no space to create new, huge installations for the auditorium each Sunday. No budget, no materials, no space—these are problems faced by many congregations, but they were challenges we accepted with much glee! Because of the space issue, we found ourselves creating the artwork between Tuesday and Saturday each week. Because of materials limitations, we explored many substances, some working better than others. Nylon, for instance, at $1.99 a yard, is a marvelous fabric that worked well with the latex house paint we received as a donation. The twelve giant polyester tablecloths that I bought on sale (because I needed one for each disciple), did not work because they absorbed so much paint, demanding twice as many hours as we had planned. Attaching tin foil to ten-foot-tall Goliath’s armor required a special adhesive; we finally discovered this after Goliath’s clothes fell off three times. Twenty-three yards of aluminum flashing, cut into small squares and tied up with fishing line, is a fabulous material to work with, except when you step on it and find yourself bleeding everywhere.

The community was curious. Individuals would wander by wherever we ended up working that week and join in the work. Catherine Kapikian’s profound insight of “participatory aesthetics,” wherein the congregation or community helps in the creation of the artwork for worship each week, became a vital part of our own worship preparation. By necessity we depended on many people helping us not only create the artwork, but transport it through the streets of Montreat, onto the stage, and up to the ceiling where it hung only through Sunday worship. Letting go of the artwork each week was more difficult than we anticipated. All the hours of work, for one hour of worship . . . but what meaning: that text, for that time, for that space, for that community! In the end, we approached taking down the artwork in much the same way as the theatre community: at the end of the play, you strike the set and begin getting ready for the next week!

Early in the summer I started writing “art blurbs” for the weekly bulletin in order to explain the connection between art and text and to deepen the critical understanding of what happens during that service of worship as we gather together. The following shows the statement we created for the final bulletin of the summer, based on texts from Psalm 51:1–12 and Ephesians 4:1–16, 25–32:

Speaking the Truth in Love!

Today’s art reflects both text and liturgy, as we joyfully prepare for celebration of Word and Sacrament on this final Sunday of our 2012 summer worship series.

Sounds of trumpets surround us, as we lift our voices in resounding acclamation, “The feast is ready to begin!” With this celebration in mind we chose the color red for today’s service. Red as a liturgical color is not restricted to Pentecost Sunday observances, but is quite appropriate for all services of celebration! We celebrate as we look around and see our brothers and sisters from many places, denominations, churches, gathered one last time at Table together. These flying banners and table paraments were made for this year’s Youth Conferences as a part of the visual concept of artist Abby King Kaiser. The sound of trumpet and brass is emulated on table, font, and pulpit by cutout pieces of brass and copper, acting as a resounding exclamation of joy and wonder, as well as summertime’s golden splendor.

The giant red banner on high depicts the joyful communion of whimsical figures dancing to the tune of trumpets and brass and pure unbounded joy, as they celebrate these words: “So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another” (Eph. 4:25).

Our design is inspired by work of potter and artist Rebecca Frith Garrity, who carves figures into most of her pots. Becky was inspired by many years of attending Friday Night Square Dances in the Barn, as she watched people of all ages and backgrounds dance and turn together! She comments on her “gesture people”: “I think of these people as alive in movement—people of all ages and occupations dance out of the tool!” The figures dance around, forming the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace, challenging us with the question, “How can we speak so that our words may give grace to those who hear?” Throughout the service we consider what it means to “speak the truth in love,” as we ponder the meaning of humility, gentleness, patience, unity, peace, grace, around the table together.

“My beloved brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love” (Song of Sol. 2:4). The feast is ready! May we go forth together in joy and peace, speaking the truth in love.

“Doing theology” means articulating our sense of God’s presence, giving form to that deep yearning for the possibility of tactile reconnection with God, especially at the table together in worship. “Doing theology” means encouraging creativity, imagination, and the development of universally understood symbolic expressions of biblical texts, as the community of faith celebrates use of all the senses in discovering new means of expressing visible signs of God’s invisible grace.

We as preachers have held theology captive, holding it behind the pulpit: “Let me tell you what this text means.” Far too frequently the congregation sits quietly, passively, looking to the pulpit for inspiration. The arts allow the movement of theology throughout the sanctuary. The arts bring theology to the people. They do this by relying upon sensory language—visual, audio, kinesthetic, poetic, musical—to discern meaning and offer “form” to describe God’s revelatory presence. Arts and theology speak to us in terms of form and function (the words of the potter), as they embrace one another in worship. The arts draw us closer to the table where we gather to touch and share bread and wine. Visually we engage with form, whose function is to deepen our understanding of the presence of Christ in our midst.

I am moved by the relationship between tactile engagement with the presence of Christ through communal sharing and touching of chalice and paten, which hold wine and bread, around which hands are joined. The chalice form reminds us of hands uplifted to God. The form is a simple one: a bowl attached to a stem. The bowl form is empty, as we are when we approach the table together, yielding to the filling of God’s Holy Spirit of grace, as well as the wine of new covenant. The paten is a simple plate, designed to be held and lifted and passed one to another, holding up the bread of life for all to taste. The pitcher is a timeless and basic cylinder form with a handle designed to fit the hand of the one pouring the water into the baptismal font. The pitcher enhances the function of community, allowing the people of God to engage in the process by hearing and seeing the waters of life, joyfully poured out for many.

I have been especially moved this summer by the relationship between the preparation and creation of pottery vessels and visual arts for worship and the deepening of my understanding of text in the process—a kind of visual preaching, as it were. I have been excited about clay as an art form that opens new visions for worship, particularly as it is compelled by pulpit, table, and font.

Clay is a medium particularly suited to the conversation between arts and theology. As an art form, clay encourages tactile engagement with earth, memory, and creative imagination. It is a substance demanding not only two hands, but the strength of the entire body—a nice understanding of worship. Clay is a forgiving material. If a pot falls apart on the wheel, the potter starts again. We are reminded of Jeremiah 18 where the potter is dissatisfied with the clay on the wheel and starts again—same substance, new form. Nothing is wasted! The clay is never discarded or thrown out. Clay forms are altered and changed by the hand of the potter as suggested by the prophet Isaiah. Clay lends itself to the creation of lyrical, malleable, three dimensional forms. Indeed, there is an amazing transformation that takes place as clay moves from formlessness to transformed body as heat in the kiln (2,200 degrees!) forever changes the internal structure of the pot. It can never go back to being mud again. The revelatory “yes!” happens before our eyes!

In the end, clay shapes me, the artist, as I am forever changed as well. Although I may believe I am in control of forming the pots, in actuality I am the one being changed and affected by the power of the clay itself.

The arts have led me into a conversation with theology that I wake up thinking about and never tire of engaging in. At the end of the day, this conversation—which allows pulpit, font, and table to interact and emulate each other in bold new ways—brings a quickening of spirit and a sense of new life and faith. The church without the arts is like a potter without clay or a painter without color and palette. As we all are invited to gather around table and font, may we lift our hands together in praise—be they covered in clay, paint, glue, glitter, fabric—one body celebrating the real and realized presence of God in our midst. Alleluia! Amen!

Dear Worship & the Arts: Advice for Planning Advent

2012-12-12T12:37:00.000-05:00

"Worship and the Arts" conference will give new spark in winter months

Worship and the Arts is a new event from Montreat Conference Center that looks at how traditional texts live anew through the interplay of music, liturgy, visual art, and preaching.

Dear W.A.: I’m looking for some rejuvenation to my worship planning for this next year. I want to get some ideas far in advance. Can you help me?
- Worship Planner

Dear Worship Planner: Yes, I think I can. You should come to Montreat’s new initiative, “Worship and the Arts: Advent Travels,” February 19-21, 2013. It’s a two-day workshop that will explore planning and resources for the Advent season. You’ll be working almost ten months in advance, exploring Advent texts for Year A and how the art, music, and liturgical creativity can transform worship.

Dear W.A.: December is such a busy month and I feel like I don’t do the kind of worship planning for Advent that I would like. I work hard on sermons but I think that worship could be more colorful and rich during this season. Any ideas?

- Tired Preacher

Dear Tired Preacher: “Colorful” and “rich” are good words for what we’ll do at our new workshop, “Worship and the Arts: Advent Travels” at Montreat in February. We’ll be looking at how liturgy can be creative, vibrant, and deep during the Advent season and particularly at how the arts can help us.

Dear W.A.: I’ve heard about you. “Worship and the Arts” sounds interesting but I’m not really an artist. Is it right for me?

- Not-an-“Artist”

Dear Not-an-“Artist”: This workshop isn’t just for people who are “artists.” It’s about artistic, creative ideas; about understanding how artists and musicians in congregations can help craft liturgy; about fresh ways to explore Biblical texts and bring their images and stories to life. This workshop is for anyone who loves worship and imagination.

Dear W.A.: I like the idea of art, music, liturgy, and preaching interweaving – can you tell me more about why Advent is your focus?

- Curious

Dear Curious: December is already a month when we do lots of artistic things in our churches: choral cantatas, decorations, pageants, and more. If you are looking for new ways to craft liturgy, it is a good season to start with because people are expecting creativity. This workshop will explore ways that art, music, and liturgy can make connective threads that weave throughout Advent worship.

Dear W.A.: Advent liturgy sounds good, but every year the real problems we have are people demanding Christmas carols all month. Will your workshop talk about these kinds of pressures?

- Frustrated Musician

Dear Frustrated Musician: Advent in a Christmas culture – yes, that’s an important topic. What do we do about Christmas and Advent music? About decorations and flowers? We’ll explore some of these practical issues.

Quarterly Report: November 2012

2012-12-03T08:46:00.004-05:00

Download the November 2012 Quarterly Report

Pete Peery

It Has Begun

In August, I told you “it will happen”! That is, the renovation of Assembly Inn will happen. Today I am able to tell you it has begun. Construction at the Inn is underway! New electrical service is being installed in anticipation of the new heating and air-conditioning systems that will be put in place very soon. The wiring for the Wi-Fi system throughout the building is going in this week.

The capital portion of the Building on the Tradition campaign to fully fund the renovations at the Inn, as well as at Anderson Auditorium and Reynolds Lodge, is still underway. We are seeking close to $3 million more to fund these improvements so vital for Montreat’s future. So we ask for your continuing support, prayers and efforts to recruit more friends to Montreat’s cause. Regardless of the work still ahead, we are grateful to God for what has been accomplished thus far in this campaign.

The MRA Board of Directors/Trustees of Stock recently met in Mon-treat. During an evening gathering with the community, the board surprised Bill Straughan with a tribute as he retires from work as Vice President for Development. But the institution is not letting Bill completely off the hook. He will work on in a part-time capacity as the Director of the Building on the Tradition Campaign. So don’t be surprised if you get a call from him!

The board also looked forward to positioning Montreat for its service to the church and world as the renovated facilities come online and as it seeks to serve the church in the emerging culture of the 21st century. To this end, the board will be engaging in a strategic planning process to more clearly identify Montreat Conference Center’s core identity, its core values, and its core mission. You will be hearing more about this in the months ahead.

The new Sally Carson Dowd Green

Additionally, another exciting thing has happened in Montreat. The Sally Carson Dowd Tennis Courts have been rebuilt into the stunningly beautiful “Sally Carson Dowd Green”! The new Dowd Green is now a special playing field foryoung children. I emphasize young: — the under seven-year-old crowd. We are very grateful to the Dowd Foundation in Charlotte for joining in the rebuilding of this important facility.

Finally, a special word is due in this Quarterly Report. Kim Hayes, our Vice President for Sales, Marketing and Communications, is retiring from her work at Montreat. This Quarterly Report will be the last one she prepares in her nine years of service. Kim has been an extraordinarily faithful member of the Montreat staff. Please join me in prayers for her well-being in the years ahead.

Grace and peace,
Pete Peery

Download the November 2012 Quarterly Report for more information

Mark Your Calendars for Youth, College, and The Blaze!

2012-11-27T10:39:00.000-05:00

Registering for a Youth Conference in 2013? Don't miss the December 1st tee shirt deadline!

An important deadline is upcoming for 2013 Montreat Youth Conferences: December 1st! Each conferee you register on or before this important deadline will receive a free "Here and Be Heard" conference T-shirt. Yes...free!

Have questions about the Youth Conference registration process? Email Chandler Guess or contact her at 800.572.2257, ext. 335.

Learn more about 2013 Montreat Youth Conferences.

College Conference @ Montreat registration fee increases after December 1st

Where is the Word living among us today? What is our call as Christians to be Christ’s hands and feet in the world? Explore with us as we discover what it means to be FLESHED OUT…

With just a little over a month until the 2013 College Conference, we're approaching 900 registrations! Secure your place now and beat the fee increase. The commuter rate is just $120 through December 1st, then increases to $130 after that date.

Questions? Need assistance with your registration? Email Chandler Guess or contact her at 800.572.2257, ext. 335.

Learn more about the 2013 College Conference at Montreat.

Do you work with youth? The Blaze is designed just for you. Don't miss out! January 6-8, 2013

Click to watch Carol (Steele)
interview Carol (Howard Merritt)

Adults who work with youth are uniquely endowed for their calling. Able to function on Cheerwine and little sleep and capable of driving large vans long distances, they give their weekends and Sunday nights, their talents for being silly and serious, and their hearts and minds so that young people might know God’s love. Along the way they find themselves counseling, recreating, worshiping, praying, laughing and crying with youth and their families. The Blaze offers a time for these adults to gather in a place set apart for renewal, fellowship, and inspiration for the journey.

Key leaders for this event include Carol Howard Merritt (keynoter), J. Herbert Nelson (preacher), Aimee Wallis Buchanan, and Bill Buchanan (worship team).

The comprehensive fee for the event is just $202 and includes your housing and meals. And yes, child care is available for a nominal fee!

Learn more about The Blaze.

Rev. Shannon Johnson Kershner: “What’s NEXT”?

2012-11-26T14:56:00.000-05:00

The Montreat community was invited to hear Rev. Shannon Kershner speak about the NEXT Church. She is pastor of Black Mountain Presbyterian Church and co-chair of the NEXT Church Strategy Team. Learn more about NEXT Church at NextChurchPCUSA.wordpress.com

Multicultural Institute: The Way is Made by Walking

2012-11-13T09:37:00.000-05:00

This is cross posted to the Montreat Blog from MarciaMountShoop.com. Marcia preaches, teaches, wirites, blogs, leads retreats, and is the Dean of the Multicultural Institute at Montreat.

“I come from a place, I am going to a place, I am and I am.” - Jo Carson

We came from California, Georgia, Utah, Michigan, North Carolina, and New Mexico. We came from New Jersey, Illinois, Kentucky, Virginia, and South Carolina. We carried with us and within us cultures, languages, stories, habits, manners and mannerisms from centuries and generations and from all around the world—from Korea to Africa, from Ireland to Venezuela, from Germany to Scotland, to Egypt and other places we did not or could not name. We came from families, from congregations, from partnerships, and from unique journeys. And we found our way to Montreat for a week in November to listen, to speak our truths, to worship, to wonder, to try new things, to meet new friends, and to grow.

The third annual Multicultural Institute at Montreat was about building multicultural community by speaking truth, hearing each other, and showing up with all of who we are from the very start. Participants described their experience as “inspirational,” “very worthwhile,” “outstanding,” and “eye-opening.” We learned a lot together, not just by talking about it, but by being together.

Lesson number one is that we need to let go of our need to control, to plan, to choreograph the movement of the Spirit. Our work instead is how to cultivate openness in ourselves so that we are ready to respond to opportunities when they come our way. One of our faculty members decided she could not come to the Institute just a few weeks before we were to gather. Storyteller and musician Paula Larke stepped in and carried with her the song and the drum beat that would so deeply in-form our time together. Our Spanish teachers, Lilia Ramirez and Gustavo Vasquez, came to Montreat from West New York, New Jersey where they had been without power for a week because of Hurricane Sandy. In the days leading up to the Institute, Gustavo, Lilia, and I struggled with how they could leave their two girls (2 and 5) under the circumstances and how we could possibly have the Institute without them. With God’s grace and with assistance from unexpected places, Gustavo and Lilia were able to bring their girls with them to Montreat. Almost simultaneously a faculty member in our Living Harmony class, Elise Witt, let us know that she would be bringing her mother who is 92 years old. Before we even arrived, God’s generous Spirit was creating the conditions for our event to embody layers and layers of diversity. A visual image I will hold in my heart for a long, long time is at our last evening worship service watching 92 year old Inga assist 5 year old Lilia with making her shaker make a sound as 2-year old Savi watched and sang the words to the song we were all learning.

Lesson number two of multicultural ministry is to be intentional about sharing power in every layer of your community. From two years old to ninety-two, we gathered together for worship, for fellowship, for learning and we made space for each other to really be there as ourselves. From turmoil and from malaise we were stirred by each other’s stories and perspectives. From plenty and from need we realized our own growth edges with more clarity as the week unfolded. From discrimination and from privilege we posed our questions to each other. We came with our experiences, with our pain, with our hopefulness, our skills, and our limitations. And we practiced sharing power in our modes of discourse, in our worship planning, and in our willingness to engage in unsettling conversations about race and privilege. Perhaps most importantly we took risks and allowed ourselves to be vulnerable, to learn new songs, and to move in new ways. Power sharing nurtures us all and creates space for transformation. Seminary student, Constance Johnson, described it this way: “I left a new person with new hope for the future for God’s world. I know that we have tremendous work to do, but this conference gave me the confidence to know that the pain and discrimination due to cultural difference I am witnessing within the church, seminaries, and presbyteries are not long with us.”

Lesson number three of multicultural ministry is this: the way is made by walking. It happens when we keep taking the next step in front of us. And we practiced this mode of trusting God together in not knowing exactly how something would work, but trying it anyway. One pastor of an increasingly multicultural church says that, “the Institute gave me an opportunity to explore how the congregation can effectively grow into its multicultural identity.” He came, he explored, and he goes home to take the next step in front of him and his congregation.

We came from diverse places and we are going into increasingly diverse spaces. We are renewed and regenerated by our time together. And we will find our way by walking.

This is cross posted to the Montreat Blog from MarciaMountShoop.com. Marcia preaches, teaches, wirites, blogs, leads retreats, and is the Dean of the Multicultural Institute at Montreat.

"Gifts and Giving" Celebration at The Montreat Store

2012-11-07T09:01:00.000-05:00

Start Holiday Shopping Friday with Big Savings!

This Friday, November 9, 4-7pm only, at The Montreat Store, you can start your holiday shopping with 20% savings storewide! (excluding books, food, and sale items)

Remember, it's 4-7pm only, so make plans now to stop by. Join friends and neighbors for light refreshments and great buys on the best gift ideas of the season.

Remembering Those in Need...

We have many reasons to be thankful here at The Montreat Store as this year draws to a close. We hope you do, too, and that you'll join us in sharing our blessings with those less fortunate. During our "Gifts and Giving" celebration, you can give back to the community with the donation of "gifts of warmth" - new or gently used gloves, hats, scarves, coats, sweaters, socks, blankets, etc. that will be given to Swannanoa Valley Christian Ministry.

And If You Miss Friday's Open House...

Here's good news: select savings will continue Saturday, November 10, 10am-5:30pm. You'll also still have an opportunity to give your "gift of warmth."

We look forward to seeing you!

Youth Leaders! Are you looking for inspiration? Opportunities for renewal? Register today for The Blaze!

2012-10-25T16:10:00.001-04:00

The Blaze: A Formative Gathering for Leaders of Youth, January 6-8

Leaders and Workshops That Will Stretch and Support Your Ministry

Carol Howard Merritt on
Hell, Abstinence, and Hope

Co-sponsored by Montreat Conference Center and Union Presbyterian Seminary, The Blaze is pleased to have Carol Howard Merritt, J. Herbert Nelson, and Aimee and Bill Buchanan providing key leadership for this January's event. Workshops, designed to provide you with many valuable take home tools, will include topics like Radical Hospitality, Group Spiritual Direction, and Youth Leadership in Worship.

Registration is already underway! Details and online registration are available on the Montreat website. Learn more now.

Planning on Registering for a Youth Conference in 2013?

An important deadline is upcoming for 2013 Montreat Youth Conferences: December 1st! If you register on or before this date, all fully registered members of your group get a FREE Montreat Youth Conference "Here and Be Heard" tee shirt. Yes...free!

Have questions about the Youth Conference registration process? Need some help navigating things? Chandler Guess, our Youth Conference Registrar, is here to assist! Send her an email or contact her at 800.572.2257, ext. 335.

Building on the Tradition and Assembly Inn

2012-10-08T10:34:00.000-04:00

Ever wonder what Montreat looks like from the roof of the Assembly Inn? (hint: rhymes with schmootiful)

Assembly Inn has graced the banks of Lake Susan since 1924, and over the years, has seen hundreds of thousands of guests. Many of you fine folks have certainly snoozed in its beds, enjoyed meals in the dining room, known countless hours of fellowship in the lobby, or attended a conference in Convocation Hall. The Inn is a place of rest, amity, and scholarship, and it's time for this iconic building to get an upgrade to its infrastructure and cosmetic refinements.

New carpets and paint welcome guests

'Building on the Tradition' is the ongoing comprehensive campaign for Montreat Conference Center. One of the pillars of this campaign is the renovation of Assembly Inn. Last year, a solar thermal system was added to the roof, and, beginning this fall, we'll begin replacing the windows to accommodate a new heating and air conditioning (yes, you read that right!) system. So, if you love throwing open the windows at night to let the cool mountain air flow through your room, but are perhaps a little warm during the day, you'll have the option of turning on the A/C. We want to do this right, so infrastructure upgrades like windows and HVAC will be completed by May of 2013, with cosmetic changes being readied for the summer of 2014.

Artists' rendering of a renovated guest room

Montreat is working with designers to replace carpeting, furniture, and fixtures throughout the building, and while it's all still being finalized, we welcome you to take a look at some of the drawings we have in mind.

The comprehensive campaign for Montreat will address other facility needs, as well, including a new roof for Anderson Auditorium. These projects are crucial to the life of Montreat Conference Center as we move into the future. Today, it is our privilege to go to work, making this place, this gift from the generations that came before us, ready for the ones who come to this sacred mountain after us.

Contribute today to support Montreat tomorrow!

Have a question about how to contribute? Contact Polly Cameron at PollyC@Montreat.org. All contributions are welcome! (For $5000/year for 5 years, you can have a guest room named for you or a loved one!)

Third Annual Presbyterian Multicultural Institute Takes Place November 5-9

2012-10-03T10:15:00.000-04:00

Inclusive Communities of Faith

"Our countryʼs diversity is increasing in every way. For the church this is a blessed opportunity. The PMN is committed to exploring a Pentecost vision and the skills we need for ministries that embrace and make space for Godʼs people to truly be “together in one place.” Our first two institutes have been great successes. Come and see how 2012 promises to be the best yet!" - Dr. Marcia Mount Shoop, Dean

The Third Annual Montreat Multicultural Institute, sponsored by the Presbyterian Multicultural Network (PMN) and the Office of Multicultural Congregational Support (OMCS), offers courses to enable and inspire clergy and laity in cultivating God’s biblical vision to gather people of diverse identities into inclusive communities of faith.

Courses focus on the skills and proficiencies needed for cross-cultural ministries and transforming relationships.
This year’s Institute offers Spanish Immersion, Cultural Proficiency, The History of Race In America, Embodying the Faith, and Multicultural 101.
The Institute also includes empowering and illuminating group activities and inspiring and embodied worship each day.

Learn More. Register Today.

Interested in learning more about the Montreat Multicultural Institute, including how to register online and reserve housing? Details are available at our website.

If you have questions regarding curriculum or scholarships, contact the Institute's dean, Marcia Mount Shoop.

Take a Peek at What's in Store this Fall at Montreat Conference Center

2012-09-04T09:31:00.000-04:00

September

Road Scholar programs at Montreat, offered September 9-14 and September 30-October 5, include programs on Reaching for the Stars: Earth, Sky, and Into Space; America’s Foreign Policy/America’s Global Competitiveness/Inspirations from Our Past; Travel Back In Time: The History Of Trains and Customs of the Southern Appalachians; US Policy in the Middle East/Human Rights in Our Time/This Land is Your Land; and The Biltmore Estate and Beyond: Discover the Wonders of Western North Carolina. Learn more.

Healthy Congregations Facilitator Training, September 24-26, will help participants lead a congregation toward a healthy and faithful life together. Learn more.

The Montreat Artists' Series, September 30-October 5, will offer two courses: Pottery and Stained Glass. Both courses are open to any skill level. Learn more.

October

Are you ready to challenge the ordinary with something all-together extraordinary? Montreat's Institute for Church Leadership, "Leading with Bold Imagination," takes place October 15-18, and is designed for church professionals and "possibility thinkers" in the church. See what can happen when, with God's help, we boldly and faithfully step forward. Learn more.

Wee Kirk Conference, October 22-24, is specially geared to address the unique and wonderful nuances of the small membership congregation (thus the name “wee kirk”).This gathering is for those wishing to be “biblically faithful and missionally minded” leaders of small membership congregations. Pastors, lay leaders, CLP’s and spouses are encouraged to attend. Learn more.

Exploring Wisdom's Wonder, offered October 25-28, is part of Columbia Theological Seminary's Spiritual Formation Program. Come and explore the mysterious power and relevance of Wisdom's Wonder found throughout Scripture. Learn more.

November

The third annual Presbyterian Multicultural Institute, November 5-9, offers courses to enable and inspire clergy and laity in cultivating God's biblical vision to gather people of diverse identities into inclusive communities of faith. Offerings include Spanish Immersion, Cultural Proficiency, Biblical Foundations, and more. Learn more.

Road Scholar programs continue in November with a visit to the breathtaking Biltmore Estate. Offered November 25-30, The Biltmore Estate at Christmas: The Vanderbilts and Others Who Dreamed Big will give an insider's look at the famous Vanderbilt family and their awe-inspiring home here in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Learn more.

Looking for other Montreat conferences and programs? The latest information is always available on our website.

Quarterly Report: July 2012

2012-08-30T15:55:00.000-04:00

Download the July 2012 Quarterly Report

Pete Peery

It Will Happen!

The challenge seemed huge. Renovation of Assembly Inn would cost $6.2 million. At the March meeting of the MRA Board of Directors, the “Building On the Tradition” campaign had received gifts and pledges of $2.4 million that could be used toward that renovation. We yearned to begin the project this fall, knowing that the sooner the Inn was in good shape, the more effective our efforts would be to retain existing participants in our conferences and congregational retreats and attract new participants. But the board, rightfully, was cautious and clearly did not want to do anything that would jeopardize the fiscal health of the institution. Therefore, the board declared that if gifts and pledges dedicated to the Inn renovation reached $5 million by the end of August, it would authorize proceeding with the renovation. That meant a climb of $2.6 million in the five months that lay ahead.

The challenge was huge. But - thanks be to God and to every one of you who has made this dream come true - the $5 million goal has been met! We still need to reach the $6.2 million to fully fund the Inn project. We still desperately need a new roof and better ventilation at Anderson Auditorium and private baths in Reynolds Lodge. (The campaign has already funded the air conditioning of Reynolds.) We still need increases in the Montreat Fund and our endowment. Yet the response of individuals and congregations dedicated to the ministry of Montreat Conference Center means the renovation and refurbishment of Assembly Inn will begin in just a few weeks.

This is huge for Montreat. It truly means this institution is well set to serve the church in the decades ahead. Montreat will continue to be a place set apart, where persons are nurtured in faith, where God’s call is heard, where Presbyterians, as well as other believers, find their connection in the Church of Jesus Christ, and where they find that the Church is much more vast and vitally alive than they ever imagined.

I invite you to enjoy watching the construction work that will start soon.

Grace and peace,
Pete Peery

Carol Howard Merritt on "Leading with Bold Imagination"

2012-08-09T14:04:00.000-04:00

This article is cross-posted from Carol Howard Merritt's series on The Christian Century blog.
Find her original posts here: pt 1, pt 2, pt 3.

Montreat's Institute for Church Leadership
October 15 - 18, 2012
Learn more and register at Montreat.org

Most people who serve as church leaders realize what an important time it is in our religious landscape. Because of demographic, generational, technological, and economic shifts, we realize that many churches are coming to the end of their seasons. In this important moment, we will need leaders who can experiment, create, test, and plant. In this spirit, Montreat's Institute for Church Leadership is holding a Leading with Bold Imagination Conference. Because I'm the conference preacher, they asked me a few questions. Here are a couple of them.

Montreat: What makes your ministry “imaginative”?

Carol Howard Merritt

Carol: An amazing network.

When I began in the ministry, I was a nervous twenty-something pastor, serving a small congregation. My father eased my concerns when he said, “Carol, you don’t have to know everything. You just have to know whom to ask.”

Throughout my ministry, whether my work has to do with reading an ancient text, handling a complicated administrative matter, understanding a social justice issue, or dreaming about the future, I relied on the wisdom and knowledge of others in order to navigate leadership. I learned from colleagues, as we sipped strong coffee in our lectionary groups. I gleaned from denominational resources, as ruling and teaching elders gathered for meetings on cold folding chairs in fellowship halls. And I received wisdom of women who blazed the trail before me, as my questions peppered our picked-over lunch salads.

Now that physical network has been enhanced with social media. This digital age allows me to rely on colleagues more readily, and my on-line networks often spark my imagination and inspire me to dream.

Montreat: As an innovator and a “possibility thinker” within the church, what are your greatest challenges?

Carol: Bridging the quick passion of the Internet culture and the long-term devotion of the denominational culture.

Clay Shirky wrote a book entitled Here Comes Everybody in which he writes about the Internet’s unique power of organizing without an organization. Shirky points out how, with great fervor, movements swell along our social networks. We’ve certainly seen how things like the Occupy movement sprang up in urban parks and their message spread through Twitter and Facebook. They called out for economic justice in a society where the gap between the rich and the poor increases every year.

"We work with strong structures, bureaucracies and committees, but we can lack the nimble vigor of the Internet culture."

This is much different from the world in which most of us move. Denominational bodies have great organization. We work with strong structures, bureaucracies and committees, but we can lack the nimble vigor of the Internet culture. Church leaders often meet in order to discuss how we will be doing everything next year exactly the same way we did it last year.

In my work, I often straddle these two worlds: 1) the fast-paced and passionate world fueled by the Internet and 2) the wise and steady world of organizations and committees. I understand the strengths and weaknesses of both, and I wonder if there is any way to marry the two.

Can people with organized structures (and—let’s be frank—often they are the people with money) begin to listen to the ardor of those who change their Twitter avatar in the hope that their voice might be heard? Can established organizations learn from social media how to spread the message of what they accomplish among a new generation?

And, can those with strong social networks realize that substantial change takes time? Can we learn how to buld trust and apply pressure over the long run? Can the quick fervor of Internet culture use some of the wisdom that comes from prolonged organization?

We have much to learn from one another.

Montreat: What inspires you and gives you the courage you need to break with the ordinary?

Carol: I draw from Paul Tillich a great deal here and remind myself that 1) breaking from the ordinary means very small changes, 2) without creativity, we can fall into indifference or antipathy, but 3) acting creatively leads us to spiritual meaning.

Breaking from the ordinary means very small changes. I’ve always been inspired by Tillich’s understanding of creativity in The Courage to Be:

Creative... has the sense not of original creativity as performed by the genius but of living spontaneously, in action and reaction, with the contents of one’s cultural life. In order to be spiritually creative one need not be what is called a creative artist or scientist or statesman [sic], but one must be able to participate meaningfully in their original creations. Such a participation is creative insofar as it changes that in which one participates, even if in very small ways.

Tillich reminds us that breaking with the ordinary does not mean that we need to quit our day job, become a full-time artist, and overturn every aspect of our lives. On the contrary, as creatives, we make small changes within our own cultures that change us as wel as our surroundings. Since I'm not a particularly bold person, this is a great comfort to me. When working in church contexts, those very small changes can often revise the course of congregational life for decades to come.

Without creativity, we can fall into indifference or antipathy. Tillich also cautions that when we are cut off from creativity, that ability to change things, then the love for the creative vanishes, and our passion turns into indifference or aversion.

How many times have we seen that in our ministries? It plays out time and time again.

The new committee chair brims with ideas, until his excitement is met with furrowed brows, folded arms and “We’ve tried that before. It didn’t work.” In a few months, we watch as he begins the meetings with deep sighs and a discouraged resignation.

The seminary graduate has a passion for starting an additional service. She is given the permission, but is not given money for musicians or support for administration. The service is quietly strangled before it has a chance to flourish and she becomes frustrated with a calling that once gave her life.

Acting creatively leads us to spiritual meaning. On the other hand, Tillich also reminds us that breaking with the ordinary ignites a love for “the contents” and for ourselves. To transfer that into the context of our congregational life, if a church leader can begin to act creatively, even in those small ways, she begins to have spiritual self-affirmation as well as a blossoming love for her community of faith.

We have also watched this happen in our congregations.

A person lives with the drudgery of his retail position, where the placement of each item has been mapped out and his every word has been scripted. But he finds refuge in the church, where he sings in the choir. The melodies present new challenges and he finds resonance with each note. Week after week, the director encourages him to soar in ways that he didn’t even realize were possible. He begins to move beyond the redundant toil of his job and finds a sense of meaning in being a part of something creative.

And with that sense of meaning, a deep love for the music and his community of faith (what Tillich refers to as the contents) begins to root. But not only that, he begins to have that spiritual self-affirmation that Tillich identifies. This is extremely important. In a new generation, where many people work in big-business, where the corporate office dictates an employee’s every move, our churches give opportunities to act creatively, which is an amazing gift.

Montreat: Are there colleagues, mentors, other leaders with whom you have the freedom to dream big dreams? Where do you find support for and assistance in implementing an imaginative ministry?

Carol: Right now, my biggest source of inspiration and collegial support has been with Unco (short for Unconference). This is an open-space gathering and ongoing community where we dream about the future of the church. We like to think of it as a percolator for new ideas. We have organized over the Internet (particularly through Twitter, Facebook, and blogs) and worked in partnership with established institutions like Stony Point Retreat Center, National Capital Presbytery, Auburn Seminary, and San Francisco Theological Seminary. The gatherings are usually small (35 to 75 people). And we spend three intense days brainstorming, discussing, and planning. We try to provide a community for those who are starting new ministries, in the form of technical support, advertising, and collegial networks.

Montreat: What would you consider one of the greatest triumphs in your ministry? What would you name as one of your greatest disappointments?

"That may sound strange, but I simply had this sense that my creative life would be pulling me beyond my particular faith community."

Carol: About eight years ago, when I was walking and praying, I felt a call to ministry outside of my local congregational context. That may sound strange, but I simply had this sense that my creative life would be pulling me beyond my particular faith community.

I went home and wrote the experience down in my journal. Other than having that spark of intuition, I was thoroughly confused. So I began to buy beautiful silk and learn how to embroidery. I figured that I would begin to learn how to design and sew liturgical art, and that would be my ministry beyond the local church. I also began to write every morning, mainly so I could get some ideas for stoles and banners. Soon I got tired of my needle and thread, but I never tired of that pen and paper.

I never imagined that I had much to say or much to offer. And—believe me—I’m not trying portray any sense of false humility. In academic settings, I had always been discouraged in my writing, so I really didn’t think I had it in me. But as I kept picking up that pen and paper, a library began to develop inside of me and I couldn’t stop writing. That’s been my greatest achievement: that regular pounding on the keyboard in the wee hours of the morning.

My greatest disappointments have been that I didn’t stay at my first two pastorates long enough. I served two small churches for three-and-a-half years each. There were many factors that led to me leaving, but I cannot shake the fact that in both places, I quickly folded to the concerns and pressures that we didn’t “have enough money” in search of a place that had “enough” to support a pastor. My deep fears of scarcity mingled with my shallow feelings of self-worth, and I allowed that toxic combination to dictate when I needed to move.

Montreat: What would you say to others who might follow your lead as innovators and imaginative risk-takers within their own faith communities?

Carol: This is a difficult time in ministry. There are generational, technological, and cultural shifts occurring right now—and the church is not faring well in most of them. Many people look at decades past and imagine that church leaders must have been much more awesome forty-five years ago.

Yet, I tend to see things a bit differently. God has called us in this particular season of the church because we are innovators and imaginative risk-takers. The Spirit is moving among us, giving us the prophetic imagination that we need to lead. We are enough. We have enough. And I’m excited to see what happens in the decades to come.

This article is cross-posted from Carol Howard Merritt's series on The Christian Century blog.
Find her original posts here: pt 1, pt 2, pt 3.

Katherine and Thomas Belk Family Presents $1 Million Challenge Gift to Montreat Conference Center

2012-08-08T07:13:00.000-04:00

The soon-to-be-renovated Assembly Inn

A challenge gift of $1 million was given to Montreat Conference Center’s “Building on the Tradition” campaign on June 8 of this summer. The gift, made in support of a $6.2 million project to renovate the conference center’s historic Assembly Inn, was given by Katherine Belk and her children through the Katherine and Thomas Belk Foundation of Charlotte, and challenges Montreat Conference Center to raise $500,000 in new gifts and pledges (that may be paid over five years) by August 31. “This is a wondrous and transformative challenge,” stated conference center president Pete Peery, “but the family has made it clear that we must meet it to receive the full $1 million.”

Assembly Inn, built in 1929, is the stately centerpiece of Montreat Conference Center and has hosted virtually hundreds of thousands of guests, conferees, and retreat groups over the years. Bill Scheu, campaign chair, explained that extensive renovations to the Inn’s guest rooms and public spaces will position it to continue playing a vital role in “nurturing and shaping leaders in the church in future decades just as it has done so well in past decades.” He added: “Kat Belk, her daughter, Katie Morris, and her sons, McKay, Tim, and Johnny Belk, all have a great love for Montreat and recognize the significance of the Inn in Montreat’s ministry.”

“We’re excited to join hands with others in support of this vital campaign to fund the much-needed renovation of Assembly Inn,” said Kat Belk. “We hope that our challenge gift will encourage those who care deeply about the future ministry and work of Montreat Conference Center to contribute to the $500,000 match so that we can give our full gift and move the ‘Building on the Tradition’ campaign forward to continued success.”

The two-phase project, expected to be completed by 2014, will include heating and air conditioning, Wi-Fi access throughout, lighting and plumbing upgrades, new windows, and redecorated guest rooms and public spaces. Careful attention will be paid to environmental stewardship, safety, and preservation of the Inn’s historic ambiance. For the duration of the project, Assembly Inn will remain open for business, and care will be taken to have as little impact on the travel plans and comfort of guests as possible.

“Kat Belk and her children have given us a moment,” said Peery. “It is a moment within which we may transform Montreat, equipping it afresh for service to the church for the next generation. Will you join them in claiming this moment?” he challenged the guests gathered at the recent annual Patrons Banquet.

“The challenge is one all of us, as supporters of Montreat, should take seriously,” agreed Scheu. “We are deeply thankful for the guidance of people like Kat Belk, who demonstrate their love of this place with such open generosity.”

'Perfectly Imperfect' Week 6

2012-08-07T13:43:00.000-04:00

Wow. Six weeks of Montreat Youth Conference, finished already? We were floored by the passion and energy throughout this Perfectly Imperfect summer, and we already can't wait to see you next year for Here and be Heard! We've celebrated God this summer through creative and interactive worship, focusing on the God who accepts us just as we are and calls us to discipleship where we are.

View the slideshow from Week VI above, and make sure you check out all the photos on Flickr. Music, recreation, and worship resources are available now on the 2012 Youth Conference resource page.

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