Montreat Conference Center is pleased to bring you This Week in Montreat, our summer publication which provides weekly updates and information about activities in the Montreat valley. This week, we are talking about the process of inviting pastors to preach for our Summer Worship Series, the Fourth of July in Montreat, and the world of Montreat Clubs. Find these, along with other important announcements, using the link below. Read This Week’s Edition Sign Up for the Email Version
A Week in the World of Clubs
If you’ve spent a summer day in Montreat, you’ve probably heard the Clubbies before you’ve seen them. Throughout the week, you’ll find them shouting with joy as they run across Moore Center Field, splashing in the pool with their friends, or belting out camp songs in the barn. I got to spend time with these “Clubbies” (the spirited campers of Montreat Clubs) and over three days, I had the chance to step into their world. Montreat Clubs is a day camp that runs all summer long for kids who have completed kindergarten through those who have recently graduated high school. …
On Preacher Selection for the Summer Worship Series
As this, my eleventh summer, dawned in Montreat, a friend remarked: “Ten summers…so that means you have picked 100 preachers for Sunday morning worship, right?” His math was correct, more or less – ten years times ten preachers – but the follow-up question was harder. “How’d you pick all those preachers?” The short answer is that I didn’t pick them, and below, I’ll try to give the longer answer. Pastors are invited to preach for our Summer Worship Series in Anderson Auditorium by a committee composed of staff members and members of the community. I serve on the committee, but …
This Week in Montreat – June 20, 2025
Montreat Conference Center is pleased to bring you This Week in Montreat, our summer publication which provides weekly updates and information about activities in the Montreat valley. This week, we are talking about the conference center’s plans to develop new lodging, The Montreat Store experience, and Fourth of July parade applications. Find these, along with other important announcements, using the link below. Read This Week’s Edition Sign Up for the Email Version
Waiting with Purpose, Patience, and Hope
Over the past several months, Wednesday has become a notable day of the week in our offices at Freeland Hall. It is on the first and third Wednesday of each month that the North Carolina Court of Appeals files its opinions in cases pending in that Court. This past Wednesday passed without news of the Mountain Retreat Association (MRA)’s appeal before that Court that seeks to reverse the decision of the Buncombe County Superior Court in September of 2023, which set aside the decision of the Montreat Board of Adjustment to issue a Special Use Permit (SUP) to the MRA …
Behind the Counter: A Week at The Montreat Store
A favorite pastime for many of Montreat’s summer visitors involves making a visit to the rocking chairs at Moore Center. There, you will find many a “Montreater” donning a new Montreat T-shirt, sipping on a cool, crisp Cheerwine, or simply listening to the hum of the Lake Susan Dam as they rock. Tucked behind the lake and nestled beneath the trees at Moore Center, The Montreat Store is more than just a place to grab a sweatshirt or a sticker; it’s a cornerstone of Montreat magic. I spent three days shadowing the Montreat Store staff this summer, which allowed me …
This Week in Montreat – June 13, 2025
Montreat Conference Center is pleased to bring you This Week in Montreat, our summer publication which provides weekly updates and information about activities in the Montreat valley. This week, we are talking about the impact of our last fiscal year, different ways to connect spiritually while you are here, and how Summer Staff supports Montreat Youth Conference. Find these, along with other important announcements, using the link below. Read This Week’s Edition Sign Up for the Email Version
A Ministry Stronger Than Ever
With the summer season now in full swing, the valley is once again alive with the sounds of singing, laughter, and meaningful conversations that so often accompany connecting and reconnecting. It’s always a joy to see familiar faces return and new ones discover what makes this place so special. Before we step too far into the season, I want to update you on Montreat Conference Center’s recently completed fiscal year, which ended April 30th. As we gather thousands of people, it’s fitting to observe, by the numbers, how thousands of people came together this past year to make the summer …
A Closer Look at Conference Support
Down a gravel path, in the basement of the Allen Building, behind a locked door covered in caution tape and handmade “do not enter” signs, you will find the Conference Support Summer Staff. Their home is known as the “Cloffice” (closet office), and it is exactly what it sounds like; a windowless room packed with everything from flashlights to pool noodles. If you have ever been given a paper packet in your small group or been served communion during youth conference worship, the Conference Support team is to thank. I was given the opportunity to shadow the team and quickly came …
This Week in Montreat – June 6, 2025
Montreat Conference Center is pleased to bring you This Week in Montreat, our summer publication which provides weekly updates and information about activities in the Montreat valley. This week, we are talking about the ways Summer Staff make a difference in our community, creative ways to document your summer, and our first barn dance of the season. Find these, along with other important announcements, using the link below. Read This Week’s Edition Sign Up for the Email Version
The Impact of Summer Staff
Welcoming summer staff each year signifies for many “the real beginning” to the summer season. That’s because it is hard – perhaps even impossible – to articulate the full impact of the summer staff tradition on Montreat summers – both on those who participate and on Montreat itself. Among the many portals into the Montreat community, few have endured longer or been more influential than the work and legacy of our summer staff. Last year in this space, I sounded a note of caution as we entered the season projecting lower levels of staffing than we’d previously experienced. In the …
How to Document Your Summer in Montreat
This week, our Marketing Assistant, Kayden Foyles, began shadowing and working with summer staff from other departments to get an idea of how their work supports the Montreat experience. To help her communicate and share what she is experiencing, Kayden has been trained to collect information using a variety of creative writing techniques. Today, I would like to share a few of the strategies that she is utilizing in case you are interested in using them to document your own Montreat experience this summer. Keeping a Visual Journal The first tool that Kayden is using is a visual journal. Here, …
Sharing Stories from a Place Set Apart
It’s a bright, clear day as I walk out of The Huckleberry holding a cup of ice cream one afternoon in late May. I hear the leaves rustling in nearby trees and see ripples on the surface of Lake Susan as a light breeze blows past. As I walk by, a pair of summer staff who have just arrived comment on how good the lake looks while, just ahead of me, three young children follow their mother around the lake. They run and laugh, overjoyed that school is out and summer is here at last. I’m sure that for many …
A Season of Restoration and Rejoicing
The time is at hand to welcome another vibrant summer in Montreat, to greet returning friends and new faces alike to sacred spaces here in the valley for a time of renewal, connection, and joy in our beloved mountains. This summer’s schedule is familiar with six Youth Conferences, Presbyterian Association of Musicians’ two Worship and Music Conferences, the Fourth of July Week, and nine weeks of recreation programs, all framed by ten worship services between May and August. Registrations indicate a similar number of participants of all ages are readying for the multitude of opportunities for worship and learning, exercise …