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Navigating Periods of Transition in Youth Ministry

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Building a thriving youth ministry can be hard work, and it can feel even harder when your church or ministry is experiencing a significant change. In this article, we outline some helpful resources for groups in periods of transition.

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A Tale of Two Projects

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This August we will celebrate a birthday of sorts, the one-year anniversary of the reopening of the new Huckleberry at Moore Center. The milepost will prompt renewed appreciation of what the Huck staff has accomplished, and also an evaluation – of food and beverage, certainly, but also the quality of and general atmosphere of the dining experience, the ease and efficiency of operation, and financial performance.   Planned to open by June of 2022, the new Huck’s debut was delayed last summer for a variety of reasons, including an inspection that concluded, rather late in the timeline, that the project’s scope …

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Revisiting Patrons 2023

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For the third year in a row, the Annual Patrons event was too large to host in its traditional setting, and so the event took place out under a tent on Moore Center Field. For the third year in a row, organizers did a masterful job. The intergenerational 390 individuals and families in attendance enjoyed the casual and festive atmosphere and fare, and all were lucky that the weather cooperated (for the most part).   Vice President for Development Seth Hagler kicked off the short program by thanking all attendees and donors, and by paying particular tribute to the 315 …

Remarks and Thank Yous from Montreat’s Patrons Event

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Good evening, and welcome to the Montreat Patrons Reception. It continues to be such a privilege to stand before our Montreat Patrons and express thanks on behalf of the staff and board and hundreds of volunteers who make Montreat possible for our conferees and retreat groups, for children and youth and families, for campers and hikers, and literally thousands of others. I want to express directly to you how much your support means to everything we do here.   This year, I’m here to thank you for helping us complete a fiscal year that was, seemingly, perfectly normal! We outperformed our …

The Living, Breathing Spirit of Montreat

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Written by Montreat Conference Center’s 2023 Marketing Assistant, Molly Fore Six months ago, I had never heard of Montreat, North Carolina, let alone Montreat Conference Center. It wasn’t until the head of my department in college forwarded an email to me about a summer staff position that I heard of such a place. Upon reading the email, I was shocked to find out that Montreat was not a town in my humid, yet comfortable home state of Georgia, but rather is a small community nestled in the mountains of North Carolina. I felt stuck by the stagnancy and familiarity of …

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Going Clubbing in Montreat

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My colleague, Kathy Russ, returned from her lunchtime walk the other day full of cheer, this time having happened upon the gleeful sounds of children coming from a neighbor’s porch. She’d walked by a home and heard the sounds of two happy Clubbies, delightfully recounting their morning’s activities with much excitement and singing a Clubbie chant – “Hear me roar!” – at the top of their lungs.   Through the years the magic of Clubs in Montreat endures…which makes the following story a little awkward, I guess, because I remember well my first week of Clubs. Back in the summer of …

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Supporting Our Youth in an Changing World

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A few summers ago, a parent scheduled a meeting with me to deliver a message. When we sat down, he opened directly and succinctly: “Montreat failed my child.” I won’t share details, but in a moment like that, you don’t argue the point. You accept it, empathize with it, and apologize as you are able. I hope I did all three, but I mostly remember feeling as if I had been struck across the face.   Ultimately, I believe that feeling led me into closer attention to a question that now attracts national notice: What’s happening with American teenagers? It’s a …

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Longevity and Legacy: A Mid-Summer Appreciation

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One of the annual customs in Montreat that I most enjoy occurs beyond the view of many. At the fall meeting of our Board of Directors, we host a lunch and acknowledge the work anniversaries of long-term employees. Such recognition is given for every five years each staff member has served as a part of our team.   Obviously, the five- and ten-year anniversaries outnumber the others, but mention and applause is particularly warm for the longest-serving staff members. A good many have served for more than a decade, including Jane Bannerman, manager of the Montreat Store, who has surpassed forty …

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A Montreat Worth Preserving

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This Sunday morning will mark the fourth service of the conference center’s summer season of worship, and we will welcome to the pulpit the Reverend Anna George Traynham, pastor of the Shallowford Presbyterian Church in Atlanta, Georgia.   That’s a joy on many levels, one of those being that Anna is about as “Montreat” as a Montreat preacher can be. The daughter of cottagers Beverly and Harry George, Anna’s roots here run deep. She spent several summers working for the conference center and has continued to serve in various ways over many years, as has her sister, Claire, and many other …

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On Wildlife and Hospitality

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Over my first thirty-or-so summers in Montreat, I never saw a bear. This summer alone I’ve seen several, including the little dipper that parked itself in a tree outside our office window the other day. Generally, the number of bear sightings is up around town. Bear-related anxiety seems to be on the rise, too…as is, paradoxically, the desire to spot a bear. Last Sunday’s preacher, tongue in cheek, professed that the family had yet to encounter a bear despite almost 24 hours in the valley. Clearly, bears are a hot topic. What’s actually happening here?   In setting out to answer …

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Shaping a New Story Together

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Once again, the arrival of the first youth conference of the summer has surprised me with its power to lift our staff, our campus, and community into higher gear – in activity and in spirit. The sight of youth groups walking our streets with laughter, the sound of voices singing in unison in Anderson Auditorium, and the energy of their presence sends a charge through me and I hope it does you, too.   For me, the charge was amplified by an exchange I had on Sunday morning with our preacher. Just as the service was about to begin, he relayed …

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Summer in Montreat is Here

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A fittingly Scottish rainy morning greeted the annual gathering of Kirkin’ o’ the Tartan Worship Service in Anderson Auditorium on Sunday morning. Summer staff are landing and settling into lodging arrangements, adjusting to new work responsibilities, and making new and renewed connections with each other. Memorial Day has been observed, and despite the chill in the air, the green flag of summer is waving everywhere. Summer in Montreat is here. As always, the conference center’s programming portends much of the familiar. The conference schedule remains very much the same, highlighted by a Women’s Connection in early August that promises to …

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The Perfect Church

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Back in the 1980s, right after I moved to Atlanta, I attended a lot of Braves games. The route between home to stadium was quick and passed by a Krispy Kreme calling out with “Hot Donuts Now.” The most notable landmark, however, sat at the corner of Gordon Street and McDaniel Street. Above its front door, in white lettering, read the sign: “The Perfect Church.”    If I was traveling with a companion, The Perfect Church never escaped a mention. To my father, an active pastor over four decades, I’d sometimes point at the sign and suggest, “I’ll bet you always …

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The Gift of Being Together

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Among the books, photos, and flotsam and jetsam that accumulate on my office shelves, one item qualifies as an automatic keepsake. It’s a framed certificate presented to “Miss Jane P. Holt” from 1962, signifying her status as a “Charter Patron” of Montreat.   Signed by Tom Belk, the original chair of the Patrons program, the certificate reminds me of Jane’s enduring commitment to Montreat, just as it represents for me the generous, faithful commitments to Patrons on the part of so many others over the last sixty years. The certificate reminds me that the true strength of our ministry lies in …

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Reality Check

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As you may know, roughly one year ago the conference center announced its intention to pursue a special use permit (SUP) from the Town of Montreat to build a new lodge on its campus, replacing three lodges on the same site.   A year later, signs and fliers still dot the Montreat landscape. This summer’s edition includes the claim that pollution to our valley will occur if the lodge comes to pass. This is simply not true.   The stringent ordinances and regulations that apply to this project, along with the inspections and reviews that are part of any modern construction process, …

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Thank God for Model Trains

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Once upon a time, model train sets represented one of the crown jewels of a toy store’s inventory. Ads for train sets took up pages in every Christmas catalogue. Alas, the sun long ago set on the heyday of model trains. Today, in the minds of my own adult children, the words “model train” are more likely to conjure memories of this scene from the movie “A Mighty Wind” than of any playtime on the den floor.     So, I was intrigued when I learned that a new model train display was attracting attention at the Presbyterian Heritage Center (PHC) this …

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Happy Fourth and the John Collins Society

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One morning in early June while driving down Assembly Drive, I slowed as I approached Pratt Park on the right, eyeing a car parked just off the pavement not where a car usually parks. As I passed, I saw two volunteers knee-deep in a garden area outfitted with gloves, tools, and plenty of sun protection. I knew immediately that the John Collins Society was again hard at work attending to its duties.   For those unfamiliar with its existence, the John Collins Society was established to honor and foster our appreciation for the reverend John Collins, justifiably considered the founder of …

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No Two Days Alike

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As much as Montreat seems changeless for some, the one constant at the conference center is this: no two days are alike, and the opportunities and challenges sometimes present themselves from the most unanticipated angles. Stuff happens.   I recently spent a morning, for example, reading up on Canada geese because a family of them has decided to summer in Montreat around Lake Susan. While Canada geese are found in Canada, of course, they are also prevalent in the United States. Numbers of Canada geese were in serious decline in the early 20th century, but a recovery program has proved successful. Thanks …

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Who was Lake Susan named for?

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In the spring of 2015, I was giving a tour of Montreat to leaders of other Western North Carolina conference centers. As we walked across the dam, one of my peers asked a perfectly reasonable question: “Who was Lake Susan named for?”   I turned around, searching memories of a lifetime in Montreat: “Um…Susan?” If you ever find me on Jeopardy, bet against me. Embarrassed enough, I vowed never to take Lake Susan for granted again.  You can read a short history here about the boating and the swimming and Lake Susan’s place in our community life. Just as rich is …

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We’ve Come a Long Way

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On a Sunday afternoon last August 1st, I had just gotten home from church when I received a text from a staff member reporting that several of our Clubs’ groups and their counselors should now consider themselves exposed to Covid. It had been a quiet summer to that point but now the Delta variant was announcing its arrival. I soon found myself back at the office, meeting with staff, consulting with a health department official, and ultimately making decisions that led to the testing of dozens of staff and the cancellation of several activities the following week.   We’ve come a …

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Looking Forward, Together

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Welcome to the summer of 2022 in Montreat! As the season beckons us together, our staff and volunteers are making ready for a season that should look and feel remarkably like summers past. Thanks be to God! While gratitude is in order every summer, we are particularly mindful of our blessings now in consideration of what togetherness meant over the past two years. In the summer of 2020, being together often was confined to a passing greeting on the street – at a distance. 2021 brought us more together, but often behind a mask. This summer, we anticipate further steps …