Every summer, thousands of young people travel to Montreat, NC and Maryville, TN to experience worship, recreation, music, and meaningful connection during Montreat Youth Conference and Montreat Middle School Conference. What many participants don’t know is that these events have been years in the making, directed by passionate groups of volunteers serving on conference Planning Teams. Montreat Youth Conference and Montreat Middle School Conference would not be possible without them! Planning Teams are made up of youth and adults who work together to shape nearly every aspect of the conference including selecting the theme and designing worship services, recreation events, keynote experiences, and small group activities. Organized approximately two years before each conference takes place, Planning Team members collaborate through virtual …
Adult Involvement at Youth and Young Adult Events
This month, Montreat Conference Center is taking time to highlight upcoming events for those between the ages of 11 and 32. This might cause you to wonder, “where do I fit into all of this?” While adults are not the primary audience for events like Montreat Youth Conference and Middle School Conference, they still play a vital role in their success. Each year, over one hundred adults volunteer as Small Group Leaders, another 16 serve on event Planning Teams, and dozens more attend conferences alongside youth, serving as guides and chaperones for those in attendance. Through these various avenues, we’ve …
How Planning Teams Shape Montreat Youth Conference
Each summer, hundreds of youth travel to the mountains of Western North Carolina for Montreat Youth Conference, an event which welcomes nearly 4,000 high school youth annually. While in attendance, they enjoy a week of worship, music, recreation, and spiritual connection. However, many are unaware of those working behind the scenes to make the conference happen. They are the heart of the operation: the conference planning team. This group of youth and adults don’t just help the conference run smoothly; they create the experience together from the ground up. There are three planning teams responsible for organizing the conference each …