“Faithful Mission in a New Age” Lecture Series in Montreat, July 20-24

Columbia Theological Seminary, in cooperation with Montreat Conference Center, the Presbyterian Heritage Center, and Montreat’s Adult Summer Club Program, will offer a series of five lectures, “Faithful Mission in a New Age,” July 20-24, at Montreat Conference Center. The lectures will be presented from 2:00-3:30 PM each afternoon, with a special Adult Summer Club program, “Hymns of the Mission Field,” on Wednesday evening at 7:00 PM. All afternoon lectures take place at the Presbyterian Heritage Center. The Wednesday evening program will be in Assembly Inn’s Convocation Hall. All programs are free of charge, and the public is welcome.

The presentations for this series will address the ways in which the Presbyterian and Reformed tradition has and continues to engage mission both in North America and around the world. “The lectures promise to help us learn from the past and cast a new vision for the future,” said series organizer Charles Raynal. “We are very pleased with the speakers this summer,” he added. The schedule features a slate of respected presenters:

• Monday, July 20, Darrell Guder, “Missional Church Theology and Praxis in the Global Church.” Dr. Guder is the Academic Dean and Henry Winters Luce Professor of Missional and Ecumenical Theology, Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, NJ.
• Tuesday, July 21, Bruce Reyes-Chow, “Presbyterian Mission in a New Generation.” The Rev. Reyes-Chow is the founding pastor of Mission Bay Community Church, San Francisco, CA, and Moderator of the 218th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A).
• Wednesday, July 22, Linda Bryant Valentine, “Patterns of Global Mission – Past, Present, and Future.” Dr. Valentine is Executive Director of the General Assembly Council (GAC), the national mission program arm of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
• Thursday, July 23, James A. Cogswell, “Mission in a World of Hunger.” The Rev. Cogswell, former missionary to Japan and retired minister of the PC(USA), served as the Director of the Task Force on World Hunger, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), beginning in 1971.
• Friday, July 24, Erskine Clarke, “John Leighton Wilson’s Mission Vision.” Dr. Clarke is Professor Emeritus of American Religious History, Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur, GA.

The Montreat lecture series is part of Columbia’s program in Presbyterian and Reformed History and Theology and is offered through the seminary’s Center for Lifelong Learning. The 2009 series is sponsored by Columbia Theological Seminary, established in 1828 in Decatur, GA, and one of 10 theological institutions of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.); Montreat Conference Center, a national conference center serving the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and visited annually by over 35,000 people; the Presbyterian Heritage Center, an organization dedicated to education about the history of Presbyterian and Reformed heritage and its worldwide mission, as well as the special history of Montreat; and the Adult Summer Club Program at Montreat.

For more information about the lecture series, call the Presbyterian Heritage Center at 828.669.6556, or visit www.phcmontreat.org. 

New Director of Maintenance and Grounds at Montreat Conference Center

Montreat Conference Center recently announced the promotion of Rick Cook to the position of Director of Grounds and Maintenance. “Rick is a natural leader,” said conference center president Pete Peery. “He and his staff – Don Allen, Jerry Barlow, and Jim Mitchell – are a strong team fully capable of meeting the many challenges presented by this historic facility and its beautiful grounds.”

Cook has been a part of the maintenance department at Montreat Conference Center for the past five years. “Rick has earned the respect and admiration of his co-workers,” commented Mike Morse, Vice President for Hospitality. “His easy-going manner and willingness to work hard, coupled with his skill and experience, have made him a valuable asset. Rick is the kind of guy,” Morse added, “who isn’t going to ask you to do anything he wouldn’t be willing to do himself.”

“I’m honored to have been offered this position,” Cook responded. “And I’m looking forward to stepping up and working beside the wonderful people here at the conference center, especially now as our summer season approaches. We have a lot to do, and I’m ready to get started.”

Montreat Conference Center, a national conference center serving the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), annually hosts approximately 35,000 guests for conferences, retreats, meetings, and recreation. In addition to lodging, dining, meeting, and recreational facilities for its guests, 2,500 of the conference center’s total 4,000 acres is protected wilderness. 

Montreat Conference Center Receives New Electric Car

Montreat Conference Center recently received a grant for the purchase of an electric passenger vehicle. The $10,000 grant was presented to the conference center on Sunday, January 25, by First Presbyterian Church and the D. Thomason Grant Committee in Shreveport, LA. “First Presbyterian Church of Shreveport has a long-standing appreciation for and relationship with Montreat Conference Center,” said the Rev. Pendleton B. Peery, pastor of the church. “Our ministry has been edified by the time we have spent being nurtured in the beautiful mountains of western North Carolina. The D. Thomason committee and the Session feel privileged to provide support to Montreat so that more congregations may benefit from its mission to strengthen the members and congregations of the Presbyterian Church.”

The vehicle, a Tomberlin E-Merge, is a fully electric, street legal passenger vehicle with seating for four and a top speed of 25 miles per hour. “Montreat is basically a pedestrian community, but there are places where walking is a challenge for some of our guests,” explained Montreat Conference Center’s president, Pete Peery, who was present at the Shreveport church to accept the gift. “This new vehicle is a two-fold blessing,” he continued. “Thanks to the support of our friends at the church in Shreveport, we are now able to transport older visitors and those with disabilities safely and comfortably, and in our on-going commitment to being good stewards of God’s creation, we are now using a transportation alternative that will do minimal harm to the environment.” Plugged into an electric power source instead of a gasoline pump, the vehicle will go 30 miles on a single charge. Operation is almost silent, and there are no greenhouse gas emissions that would impact the community’s air quality.

Montreat Conference Center, the Town of Montreat, and Montreat College, collaborating through Montreat Landcare, a newly formed grassroots conservation group, have also received a grant from the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources for the purchase of an electric utility vehicle to be shared between the three Montreat entities. “Each step we take, both individually and in partnership with the town and the college,” concluded Peery, “is a positive step toward responsible earth stewardship in our community.”

Planning Underway for Summer Worship at Montreat Conference Center

The start of the 2009 Summer Worship Series at Montreat Conference Center is months away, but on a recent wet, chilly afternoon in December, plans were already being made. “Few people realize how early we start planning,” explained Worship Team member and Vice President of Program Development and Marketing Merri Bass. “Some of the finest preachers in the country are invited to be our guests for worship each summer, and we often begin making our contacts two years in advance.”

Bass went on to say that a team from Presbyterian College in Clinton, SC – Ron Davis, Andrew Morehead, and Porter Stokes – will coordinate the music for each of the eleven summer services in 2009. “Bob Keener, former Summer Music Director at Montreat, worked tirelessly for over two decades to enhance our summer worship experience with talented choirs and musicians,” said Bass. “We are deeply grateful for the gift of Bob’s ministry. Our partnership with Presbyterian College will continue Montreat’s tradition of excellence in new and exciting ways.”

A passion for engaged hymn singing brings Dr. Ron Davis to Montreat Conference Center. Associate Professor of Music, Music Theory, and Organ at Presbyterian College, Davis has served as a church musician and organist for more than 30 years. Andrew Morehead, a Sacred Music major from Greer, SC, is currently studying organ, harpsichord, and voice. He has served as a substitute organist and vocalist in churches around the Upstate. Dr. Porter Stokes is the Chair of the Department of Music and Director of Choral Activities at Presbyterian College. He holds degrees from the University of South Carolina and the College-Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati, and brings more than thirty years of experience in church choral work to the summer worship experience at Montreat. The conference center is also pleased to have Josh Robinson, a senior M.Div. student at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, serving as summer liturgy writer.

“Each element of a worship service – the sermon, the liturgy, and the music – enhances our worship of God and influences us as worshipers,” said the Reverend Dr. Pete Peery, President of Montreat Conference Center. “I am very thankful to have a gifted team like this working with us on worship for the summer of 2009.”

Learn more about summer worship at Montreat Conference Center.

Former VP Returns to Montreat Conference Center

It was announced today that J. William “Bill” Straughan, Jr. has been named Vice President for Development at Montreat Conference Center. Straughan, who headed the development office from 2001 until his retirement in 2006, has continued to play an active role at the conference center as Executive Director and then Chair of the Montreat Conference Center Development Foundation until 2007. Most recently, he has served as interim Vice President for Development.

“We can’t be more pleased about Bill’s return,” said conference center president Pete Peery. “His knowledge of Montreat, the many close personal ties he has with the community of friends that supports us, and above all, his great love for this place and its ministry all make Bill a cherished asset to Montreat Conference Center.”

Montreat Conference Center Board of Directors chairman Frank Spencer agreed. “We were sad to see Bill go when he retired two years ago. His willingness to return now and take up the challenge of growing support for the conference center in such turbulent economic times is a gift for which we are extremely grateful.”

Straughan has agreed to a two-year tenure, during which time he will focus on strengthening individual and church support for the conference center. He will also direct the conference center in preparation for the launch of a long-awaited capital improvements campaign. As he recently commented, “It will require the diligent work and assistance of everyone who loves Montreat and the mission of the conference center to meet our goal. Regardless of the current financial climate, people of faith will prioritize the work they are called to support.”

Before coming to Montreat, Straughan successfully completed a $900 million fundraising campaign at Ducks Unlimited, Inc. Prior to that, he was president of World Book Encyclopedia, Inc., was Assistant Executive Director/Director for the American Bar Association Fund for Justice and Education, and was Vice President for Development and Associate General Counsel at Wake Forest University. Straughan is an ordained elder in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and a graduate of Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC. He received his M.Div. degree from Union Theological Seminary in New York, and a J.D. degree from the Wake Forest University School of Law. In addition, he is a graduate of the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School, Boston, MA.