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, below.

A Ministry Stronger Than Ever

by Richard DuBose, president of Montreat Conference Center

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...

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 Conference Support. 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...

This Sunday in Montreat

We are delighted to welcome leading preachers from across the country as they join with visual artists, musicians, and volunteers in a service of worship open to the surrounding community. All are welcome and all are invited.

This Sunday, June 15, we will be joined by Rev. Dr. Thomas Daniel, senior pastor at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Austin, TX. Services will begin in Anderson Auditorium at 10:30 am.

Immediately following the service, lunch will be served in the Galax dining room of Assembly Inn. Find the lunch menu and meal costs here.

• Join the Worship & Music Conference for worship and evening events this week! Worship will begin at 11:00 am Monday through Friday. Meanwhile, evening events will begin at 7:30 pm in Anderson Auditorium. All are welcome!
• The Presbyterian Heritage Center is offering a Weekly Writing Class - "Stories from the Storm." Classes will be taking place every Wednesday through July 23 at 2:30 pm. Click here to register and learn more!
• Looking for ways to engage spiritually while at Montreat this summer? Click here to find a guide full of activities that invite you to engage all your senses and foster a healing relationship between yourself, the natural environment, and the divine Spirit.

• Attention hikers: Montreat Conference Center will soon begin suggesting a $5 contribution for use of parking spaces at the trailheads around Lookout and Graybeard Trails. This money will support the Wilderness Maintenance Fund. For more information about the trail system, or to review rules and regulations, download a free map, or make a donation directly to the wilderness fund, click here!
• The Montreat Pool will be open to the public weekdays beginning June 16. Click here for information about hours and price.
• The Sanctuary and Julia Woodward trails are now officially open! Thanks to the good work of volunteers and Montreat Rangers, we have now reopened 18 of our 20 miles of trails.

• The Sally Jones Pottery/Currie Craft Center has new Artists-in-Residence and staff arriving this week to teach some great classes!
• Garret Smith is a professional potter from Pittsburgh, PA. His love for incorporating beauty into the forms he makes, as well as into the process for making them, has continued to grow. He considers himself lucky to be a part of the quest to understand and foster the relationship between humans and clay.
• Annie L'Esperance is a sewer and fabric artist who loves Montreat and brings her fun and colorful fabrics to teach and share. Join one of her classes to have fun playing with color and pattern!
• Jerome H. Keeler has traveled the world with his camera ever ready. He has joyfully shared his photos, stories, and photography skills with students in the craft shop for many years.
• Also join us in welcoming incoming staff: Cathy Steward, Christina Carlisle, and Nat Scott.
• Registration for all classes offered at the Currie Craft Center and Sally Jones Pottery Studio can be completed online. To find a complete schedule of offerings, click here.

• What does the Montreat Fund do? The Montreat Fund supports the programs that create the Montreat experience! Summer wouldn’t be complete without big circle mountain dances at the Barn! Gifts to the Montreat Fund provide live bluegrass music and “calling” each Friday night in the Summer!
• Make a gift to the Montreat Fund today!

Montreat Conference Center, a ministry of the Mountain Retreat Association, is a national conference center located in Western North Carolina with roots in the PC(USA). More at www.montreat.org.