Category Archive

Some seventeen years ago, MRA President George Barber delivered a pointed memo to the Board of Directors in which he portrayed the institution’s financial history as one of cyclical failure and recovery. George identified various reasons and rescue strategies that had enabled the MRA to survive, principal among them 1) denominational bailouts and 2) the sale of land.  George’s message was disturbing since he made it quite clear that neither of those strategies would be available going forward.    George’s memo concluded with a call to action for Montreat to “break the cycle.” Soon after, the conference center launched a new …

As I wrote a couple of weeks ago, Montreat Conference Center is in a season of strategic planning. Launched last year, the MRA Board has already devoted significant time to the process during each of its last two meetings, and members of our full-time staff are engaged, as well.   Input from the broad spectrum of our constituency has come from beyond these two groups through interviews and focus groups. We’ve gathered information that is helping to identify trends, preferences, needs, and opportunities. Sorting through the input has sometimes validated our assumptions and sometimes contradicted them, sometimes affirmed our thinking and …

Last summer, noting studies reporting rising rates of unhappiness and mental illness among American teens – and seeing evidence of that trend here – the program staff at Montreat Conference Center scheduled some events for parents in our community. A year later, public consciousness and debate on the causes of the trend and possible solutions are continuing, if not increasing, and so the programs are being offered once again.    Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt raises a prominent voice of concern. In his new book, The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness, Haidt …

Because this past Monday evening was one of those nights when neither my wife nor I wanted to cook, we found ourselves sitting outside a local restaurant, enjoying sunshine, good company, and, importantly, a meal prepared by somebody else.   At some point, Jeannie pointed to the play area crawling with children just over my shoulder. “That’s smart,” she remarked. “Look at all the young families here, thanks to that big pile of sand for the children to play in.”   I took in the scene and joked that perhaps the conference center should open a restaurant at Robert Lake Park.  Though …

“If I have seen further [than others], it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”  Isaac Newton On Friday, June 7th, during the first square dance of the year, we will pause to celebrate the renovation and reopening of the Barn, Montreat’s longest serving facility for the conference center’s ministry of recreation. If you are there, you will see immediately some of the physical upgrades – to the surfaces and windows, to the sound system, to the bathrooms. You may notice another upgrade when you dance – the foundation has been strengthened. It is still the Barn, but it’s …

“Okay, folks, summer is here, and it’s time to roll up our sleeves and get busy!”   Over the last ten years, I’ve learned not to say such silly things, having long ago learned that each and every summer in Montreat represents the product of hard work over months of preparation by staff and volunteers here and afar. Thankfully, we have a promising summer ahead, with programs, recreation, arts, and worship – something for everyone. Some predictions:   The conference schedule remains the same and will attract a similar number of participants as did the summer before. A newly renovated Barn will …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …