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Cincinnati Presbyterian Youth Help with Storm Clean-up
A motor coach load of Presbyterian Senior High youth from Knox Presbyterian Church and Third Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati, OH arrived a day before their conference was to begin so they could “work with Bob Tuttle on a mission project in Montreat,” Margaret Neale said as she recounted the fun they had as they worked.
“We were pleased to have their help and their energy,” said Tuttle, Vice President and Director for the Center for Youth and Young Adult Ministry at Montreat Conference Center. “In fact, a small group of them went with me to the Mountain Area Child and Family Center for work there as well.”“It was such a great experience for our kids,” said David Annett of Knox Presbyterian. Knox and Third Presbyterian Churches are mission partners and, according to Annett, are already thinking about projects they might do when they return in the summer of 2009.
“We cleaned sticks and trash out of the stream,” Neale said, “and it made the stream flow so much better. They worked in the park—Robert Lake Park—gathering sticks and debris from that big wind storm we had. It was work and they complained like all teenagers do, but they had fun, too! You can see that in the pictures of the group working in the park and in the stream.”
The Knox Presbyterian youth have been coming to Montreat for a youth conference since 1983. “They work hard all year raising money to get here,” Margaret said. “They invite youth from other churches to join them, give scholarships where needed, and spend a year raising their money to come. They do musicals, dinners, put flamingos in people’s yards—for money of course—and then take them out of the yards—for more money—so they can get to Montreat.
“One of the guys,” Margaret said, “told me that Montreat is the one place where he feels serene. He loves coming each year because it is a place where he can be by himself or with the group. He feels safe here in Montreat.”
Knox Presbyterian has congregation leaders now—young adults leaders, Elders, and even a staff member—who grew up attending Montreat conferences. “The whole congregation,” says Margaret, “benefits from these young people coming to Montreat. First, they always have a youth Sunday and they teach everyone the songs they learned that week. And even more, these people become the deacons, elders, choir members and Sunday school teachers for the next generation.”
“It is always fun seeing the Knox Presbyterian group arrive in Montreat,” said Tuttle. “We were especially happy to have them come a day early this year to help us clean up from the storm in May. Their help was most needed. And, they have already said they will come a day early again next year, so I guess we didn’t work them too hard!”
Montreat Conference Center, a national conference center of the Presbyterian Church (USA), serves 35,000 people annually who come to the conference center for conferences, meetings, retreats, and vacations. The conference center is noted for its six senior high youth conferences which draw upwards of 6,000 youth and its College conference which brought 800 college students to the mountains of Western NC in January 2008.