Montreat Conference Center Unveils New “Center for Faith and Life”

At the fall meeting of the Mountain Retreat Association Board of Directors, November 1-3, 2009, final approval was given for the launch of Montreat Conference Center’s new Center for Faith and Life (CFL). As a key component within the institution’s newly adopted 5-year Ministry and Mission Work Plan, the CFL will focus primarily on a restructured adult programming strategy designed to serve the 21st century challenges and opportunities of the emerging church and world.

The first challenge for the new Center was establishing a Master Planning Team that would be charged with developing conference topics and recruiting leadership. “Calling together the right team was crucial to the on-going success of this huge restructuring process,” explained Merri Bass, vice president for the new Center. “We needed and found bold, visionary, highly visible leaders from across the church.” Nine members – the Rev. Thomas R. Daniel, Pastor, Kairos Church, Decatur, GA; Dr. David A. Davis, Nassau Presbyterian Church, Princeton, NJ; the Rev. Rhashell Hunter, Director, Racial Ethnic and Women’s Ministries, General Assembly Mission Council, Louisville, KY; Dr. John McCall, Pastor, Westminister Presbyterian Church, Greensboro, NC; Dr. Stephen R. Montgomery, Pastor, Idlewild Presbyterian Church, Memphis, TN; Dr. Rodger Y. Nishioka, Benton Family Associate Professor of Christian Education, Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur, GA; Dr. Cynthia Rigby, W.C. Brown Professor of Theology, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Austin, TX; Dr. Byron Wade, Pastor, Davie Street Presbyterian Church, Raleigh, NC; and Dr. Barbara G. Wheeler, Director, Center for the Study of Theological Education, Auburn Theological Seminary, New York, NY – have accepted the conference center’s invitation to serve three-year terms. The team will serve under the guidance of Bass and conference center president Pete Peery.

The proposed strategy for streamlining Montreat-planned adult programming at Montreat Conference Center will begin in 2011 and will spotlight two larger annual conferences planned by Montreat – a single-topic signature conference and a newly created “Montreat Institute for Church Leadership” conference that will feature parallel tracks incorporating some of the conference center’s most popular leadership conferences. In addition, under the conference center’s mission headings, “Celebrating Relationships,” Nurturing Congregations,” and “Deepening Discipleship,” several smaller non-repeating events will be offered each year. The CFL will also pursue church retreats, customized programs for individuals and small groups, and partnerships with organizations and institutions. These partnerships will further broaden Montreat’s capacity to plan and host conferences in ways that will serve the whole church.

“The church has changed,” said Peery. “So Montreat Conference Center must change to serve the church that is emerging. Furthermore,” he added, “we are affected and must respond to today’s realities – people’s limited discretionary time; tight budgets, both personally and institutionally; and competing activities and opportunities. This new Center for Faith and Life and its Master Planning Team will address all of these things.”