Greetings from Montreat! We ended 2025 in a flurry of movement and did our best to keep you all up to date. Wise perhaps to begin with an “in case you missed it” update on happenings during the last quarter of the year before casting our attention to the new year. ICYMI Updates Lilly Endowment Grant Awarded: In early October, we received the exciting news that Lilly Endowment Inc. has awarded the Montreat Conference Center a second grant of nearly $1 million to continue and expand our Thriving Congregations initiative for another five years. Over the first five years of the program, 30 congregations have taken part in the program, and participants are reporting reengaged congregations, revitalized mission initiatives, and in some cases, growth in membership and …
Erdelyi Family’s Montreat Story
The First Visit The Erdelyi family first discovered Montreat when Mike volunteered to join his church’s youth director, Michelle Thomas-Bush of Riverside Presbyterian Church – Jacksonville, FL, at the 2000 Montreat Youth Conference. It was the Sunday after leaving his job at UPS to be a stay-at-home parent, allowing Susan to focus on her role as the City Attorney for Jacksonville Beach. So, he packed their two girls, Alexis (8) and Laura (6), into the car and headed to the mountains. Their first impression was of both excitement and welcome. As they pulled up to the Currie Craft Center, the first person they saw was Ann Laird Jones, their church’s former interim youth minister. She joyfully shouted, “Welcome, Erdelyis!” From that moment on, they were “totally in heaven.” The girls felt like rock stars playing on stage in Anderson Auditorium, and they loved their time in clubs. Mike was really impressed with how well the …