At the conclusion of Valarie Kaur’s electrifying keynote address at the College Conference at Montreat on January 4, the tandem lines on either side of Anderson Auditorium were at least ten deep with students all but on fire to have her respond to their questions. Read more »
January 26, 2017
Sikh activist and filmmaker Valarie Kaur electrifies College Conference at Montreat
At the conclusion of Valarie Kaur’s electrifying keynote address at the College Conference at Montreat on January 4, the tandem lines on either side of Anderson Auditorium were at least ten deep with students all but on fire to have her respond to their questions. Read more »
“Hidden Figures”—the movie about a group of brilliant female African-American mathematicians who aided NASA during the space race—took the second spot at the box office in its first weekend of wide release. The movie features the story of Katherine G. Johnson, a longtime Presbyterian and 2015 Presidential Medal of Freedom awardee. 
Stepping again into the pulpit—and alternately striding across the stage— at the College Conference at Montreat in early January, the Rev. Paul Roberts Sr., president of Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary in Atlanta, continued to explore the conference theme, “Beyond Babel,” based on Genesis 11:1-9. 
A group of Christian, Jewish and Muslim faith leaders joined together on Wednesday afternoon to express opposition to President Trump’s executive orders on immigration and refugees. The new president issued the orders to curb immigration by increasing border security and curtailing the acceptance of refugees from other countries such as Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Iraq, Iran, Libya and Yemen. 
The Rev. Tony Aja returned to Cuba last October for only the second time since he fled the country with his father in 1967.
Strolling through his old neighborhood, he remembers all too well how his family and friends suffered during the Cuban revolution, but as a minister of the gospel he clings to the hope that forgiveness and reconciliation, even at the political level, will come eventually. 
When keynote leader the Rev. Dr. Betty Deas Clark began to share her story on the second day of the 2017 College Conference at Montreat, a reverent hush fell over the packed auditorium. 
As over 1,000 college students and their advisors rushed the doors of Montreat Conference Center’s Anderson Auditorium on January 2 for the annual College Conference’s opening worship, Frisbees featuring the logo of UKirk — the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s collegiate ministries network—flew overhead. 
The Ghost Ranch Education & Retreat Center has transferred its operations from the Presbyterian Mission Agency (PMA) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to the National Ghost Ranch Foundation (NGRF). The Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation established in 1972 to support Ghost Ranch as a ministry of the PC(USA), has been providing financial, operational, and volunteer resources for Ghost Ranch. 
Coming of age in New Zealand, Paul Humphreys deeply understood that country’s special, spiritual connection with the land. “As a child, I was often messing around in rivers, hiking, biking, and sailing,” says
Humphreys, who has served as program director for Outreach and Disciple-Making at the Crestfield Camp & Conference Center in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania, for the last two years. Crestfield, the camp and conference center for Pittsburgh Presbytery, is a thriving facility that currently serves over 600 campers in the summertime as well close to 3,000 conference and retreat users. 
Around the world, the stories of students are as diverse as the cultures and lands from which they come. Individuals furthering their education may do so out of a sense of hope for the future, that they might improve their lives and be exposed to ideas that challenge and change them. This period of transformation and growth comes at a time when many students are physically separated from their support networks and communities of faith.