Thank you to everyone who submitted stories through Community Announcements to our question, “Did you find love in Montreat?” We received stories from as long ago as 1932 to as recently as 2009. Four of our stories came from one family alone! Here are some excerpts from the stories we received. From Mary Jo Wright: One family; four Montreat love stories. Tom Wright and Ella Gaines Wardlaw met in Montreat during the Depression. They married in 1934 in the Chapel of the Old Auditorium. Heath Whittle, Sr. met Daisy Southerland in Montreat in 1932. Daisy was the Junior Girls counselor …
A Temporary New Normal
A Devotional from Rev. Bridgett Green Temporary new normal. Getting back to normal. In this time of surviving the spread and mitigation of COVID-19, these are common refrains in daily conversations. They help us as adjust to a life of social distancing and staying at home. Maybe in a few weeks or a few months, we will return to normal. Or maybe, we won’t. Lately, I have wondered whether I want to return to normal. Do I want life to return as it used to be? Regardless of my preference, living through this pandemic is changing me. I imagine that it …
A Lenten Devotional
A devotional from staff member Martha Sloan Written from a study her church has been reading, “Lent in Plain Sight” by Jill Duffield. In the book, Duffield takes common objects like coins, sandals, oil, etc. and uses them as the basis for her Lenten meditations. In Martha’s devotional, the object is “coats.” Exodus 28:4-5 “These are the vestments that they shall make: a breastpiece, an ephod, a robe, a checkered tunic, a turban, and a sash. When they make these sacred vestments for your brother Aaron and his sons to serve me as priests, 5 they shall use gold, blue, purple, …
#ConfessionsOfAPastor – Psalm 51
A devotional from Rev. Dr. Aram Bae I’m tired of this. We’re three weeks deep, and I am over this (truth be told, I was over it after day 3). I’m having a hard time with this stay at home, work from home, take an afternoon stroll, Zoom everything, FaceTime some things, record this and that, email non-stop because everything is an emergency and changes quickly, must stay in front of the situation and not behind, do this and that creatively and online, look at the screen, multiple screens at the same time, grab your earbuds, where the heck are …
“Be still, and know that I am God!” Psalm 46:10
A devotional from Lewis Galloway March 24, 2020 One of the hardest things to do in a crisis is to be still! As a confirmed extrovert, I have never found, even in easy times, stillness and quiet to come easily. Being told to be still is a bit like being told to calm down when the mind, heart and body are on fire with anxiety. The words of W. B. Yeats, “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;/Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world… (The Second Coming)” fit our time. The lives of loved ones are threatened by a …
SO, WE DO NOT LOSE HEART
A devotional from the Rev. Eileen Lindner The following is a reflection on 2 Corinthians 4:7-18. Offered at the MRA Board Meeting, March 17, 2020 In this fraught moment of the coronavirus pandemic Paul reminds us that we “have these treasures in clay jars…” Today all over the globe these clay jars are sickened, shattered and broken by the coronavirus. We know that as the clay jars break so to do human hearts. For such a time as this did Paul write these words of courage, faith and hope. “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed but …
A Thin Place
What does a thin place mean to you? Reflect by Lake Susan, worship in Anderson Auditorium, relax over breakfast in the Galax Dining Room… It’s easy to see the natural beauty of a thin place when the conference center is nestled in between the rolling hills and tall oaks… Read more.
“Montreat Mural” Rededication
On December 12, 2018, Montreat Conference Center hosted a service of rededication for the “Montreat Mural,” a gift to the conference center from the family of Margaret Willcox and Wilbur Hoke Currie. This unique work of art was designed and created by James David (Jim) Southerland, Assistant Professor of Art at Montreat College and former Director of the Wilbur Hoke Currie Craft Center in Montreat. The mural is made of stoneware clay, multi-fired, multi-glazed, and lustered and features the following Montreat Motifs: Water–lake and streams; Trees–woods and forests; and Flora–dogwood, azalea, rhododendron. The “Montreat Mural” was commissioned in loving memory …
On Remembering and Repentance
As we prepare for the coming summer, I offer the following statement to remind all who love Montreat of the MRA’s continuing commitment to become more hospitable to all of its guests and conferees. Richard DuBose, President, Mountain Retreat Association “And he said to them, ‘Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.’” (Matthew 13:52) This passage suggests that Christian community has a treasure, a gift of God that contains both what is old and what is new. We …
Montreat Conference Center Remembers Rev. Billy Graham
We are deeply grateful for the Reverend Billy Graham and his life in ministry, which stands as a testament to the power of Christ, evangelized honestly and authentically by a man so gifted for that purpose. To millions, Reverend Graham was the world’s most famous and influential Christian leader. Montreat, however, was home; he and wife Ruth chose this valley to raise their family and to rest and retreat from the rigors of their very public lives. Here in the valley, on those occasions that he ventured into town, Reverend Graham’s reputation as a neighbor of humility and warmth had …
All Are Welcome Here: A Few Things To Know About Montreat Conference Center
Montreat Conference Center hosts over 30,000 guests in Montreat each year. We are fond of saying “All are welcome here.” Below is an FAQ that helps to explain the commonalities, distinctions, and differences of the three largest institutions that inhabit the Montreat valley. As Montreat Conference Center, we continue to strive to demonstrate intentional hospitality to all who enter the Montreat gate and to be good neighbors to everyone in the valley. 1. Okay, first things first. Who are you? We are the Montreat Conference Center. You may sometimes hear of us as the “Mountain Retreat Association,” our corporate/legal name …
Montreat to Provide Staging Area and Housing for WNC Firefighters
Montreat Conference Center is working with the North Carolina Forestry Service to provide a staging area and housing for approximately 47 firefighters who have been dispatched to Western North Carolina during this extremely dry period. The crews will be here for a 14-day rotation, beginning Saturday, November 5. You will likely notice Forestry Service equipment and personnel in Montreat throughout this period. As a reminder, there is a burn ban in effect for Buncombe County. If you see a fire, please call 911. We will keep you updated as relevant information becomes available.
All are welcome here.
As you may have heard, on Wednesday the “Public Facilities and Private Security Act” was passed and signed into state law. The Montreat Conference Center is a private Christian institution that strives to demonstrate intentional hospitality to all. As a key part of that commitment, we will not tolerate on our campus discrimination against any child of God, including discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. We will continue to invite our conferees, guests, and visitors to use the restrooms in which they feel most comfortable. Personally, I am dismayed that making such a statement is even …