the third one about montreat (part 1): free day and dance party

Hello folks…Montreat is continuing to go well. we had a rain-free free afternoon yesterday…last year it poured and poured…we had lots of fun yesterday in the dry weather! the theme has been getting better and better as the week goes on. the GOOTH are really connecting to the message, largely because a lot of it overlaps and connects to the experiences they had at NYC two weeks ago. it has really been special and transformative for them to hear the message in another context…thus reinforcing the message of love. Two more days!!!!

Bethany Ringer (10^th grader)

Dear mommy and church congregation,
Montreat has been wicked cool. We sing and laugh and cuddle! Tonight we went to a rave. (OK, it wasn’t a rave…but it was a glow-in-the-dark dance party with blacklights!) I got glow sticks and face paint. I have new friends Sarah and Jeremy. Sarah has pink hair and Jeremy wears girl jeans and is a cutiepie. Our church family is crazy like always. We sing the songs, and cuddle, and love each other up. It’s fun here. I love you mommy.
Peace out,
Bethany

Katie Morris (11^th grader)

Today was another wonderful day at Montreat! The sub-theme for today was “Open the Doors to Our Hearts.” In keynote the speakers and keynote team explored the story of when Jesus heals a paralyzed man. They focused on what the personalities of the man’s friends would have been – were they organizing & setting up things to help their friend, or were they the friends who are always there for one another? We continued that discussion in our small groups, and then it was our free afternoon! We had lunch and then a group of us went rock hopping in the creek. It was quite exciting. The other half of our group opted to stay at the house and nap or go around to the shops here at Montreat. After the strenuous rock hopping and restful naps we all went into Black Mountain. Colleen, Niki, Reva, Beth, Julia, Maggie and I went to a thrift store and then to a cute coffee shop called the Dripolator (aka the Drip). We all got our various coffee or smoothie drinks and then met up with some of the guys. At the end of our time in Black Mountain we picked up pizza for dinner. Back again at Montreat, we went to worship where the theme was love. Part of the back-home devotions talked about this further. Relationships are extremely important as well as loving one another. Our “re-creation” activity for tonight was a dance party with black lights, glow in the dark face paint, glow sticks, and strobe lights. I think we will all definitely sleep well tonight. : )
Love,
A Tired But Happy Montreat-er

Ronda Cooper (Adult)

Montreat is such a place of rejuvenation to begin with….add about 1000 youth and it is even more electric! Starting the morning activities with “energizers” is new…but, I actually like it. Ian told me that there are middle schoolers that are more uncoordinated that me. (Is that good?) Keynote, which for me is a cross between Sunday School, contemporary worship, and Bible study follows energizers and mixed into both of those is music. The music is by far one of my favorite things here. The music itself is both beautiful and fun praise music, but hearing such a large number of young people lifting voices in praise is very moving.

Small groups have smaller groups. How’s that for information? There are about 25 youth and back-home leaders in small groups, but none of the members of small group know each other from home. Our Youth know some of the small groups members they are with because they have met them in years past at Montreat. Every day has a sub-theme from the Keynote and Small Group time helps concentrate on that message and dissect it up a bit. Games and activities are very helpful and FUN! Small Group meets before and after lunch. After the evening meal, we walk to Anderson Auditorium for worship. Then back to our house for more “dissecting”.

I have witnessed pancakes being made, dishes being washed, and schedules being carried out by teenagers!! Believe it! There is, however, not much sleep to go around here…..no problem, we’ll sleep when we aren’t at Montreat…………
Looking forward to tomorrow
Ronda

the first one about montreat: getting into the routine

Hey y’all! this is jay, making an “opening statement.” we’ve had a great first full day! the youth are having a great time, the conference center is so inviting, and the leadership team are off to a great start with the theme of the week! i look forward to sharing the words of the youth with you this week. colleen, katie, and joey wrote the first blog last night after evening devotions. it is now tuesday morning and we just got out of keynote. they are all going to their small groups now. this is the time of day that the previous evening’s posts will most likely be posted. thanks for tuning in!

jay. and now the word from the youth…

Dear Congregation,

Greetings from Montreat! The theme this week is “Throw Open the Doors.” Today was our first full day and it was AWESOME. We had bagels for breakfast and went to Keynote where we danced to energizers and sang along to church songs. Then we went to our separate small groups and had discussions and made new friends. After our first small group we had lunch as a youth group family and it was turkeylicious. Then we went back to small group and we were “locked in” behind doors (get it?!?!? doors! the theme!) and had to perform three tasks in order to break free. After we completed our tasks we got Chilly-Willies (aka Icy-pops) and they were yummsters. We all came back to the house and spent time together as a family until dinner time. For dinner we had tacos and other Mexican-esque foods and Ian ate 4000 chicken and cheese quesadillas. We left the house to go to worship where we explored the mini-theme of “Doors of Possibility.” After worship there was a chance to party hardy and have family time. Once everyone was squeaky clean from showers we had devotion where we shared our feelings about today’s message. Now it is time for beddy-bye but we wanted to blog before bed so that you all could hear about our awesome time.

Love,

Colleen, Katie and Joey