Presbyterian Mission Agency Education Archives

Honoring the life and legacy of a true ‘lover of people’

Posted January 8th, 2020

Dave believed so strongly that in life and in death, we belong to God,” said Mary Katherine Robinson, pastor and head of staff at Black Mountain Presbyterian Church in Black Mountain, North Carolina, the home church of the Rev. David Vines Miller and his wife, Polly, since their retirement from mission service in 1994. “As a missionary of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) for 40 years in Africa, he spread that good news all over Congo, Lesotho, Zimbabwe and every corner of the world he touched!” Robinson said of Miller, who died at his home in North Carolina, surrounded by family members, on Dec. 23, 2019 at age 93. “Even though our hearts are broken over the loss of this vibrant and faithful servant of God, may we continue to be a people of hope as we witness to the resurrection.”

The language of aspiration and inspiration

Posted January 6th, 2020

Preaching from Deut. 6:4-9, a text she described as both aspirational and inspirational, the Rev. MaryAnn McKibben Dana sent about 900 people attending the College Conference at Montreat home Sunday morning with a closing worship message focused on Sabbath and remembering.

Resistance as Sabbath

Posted January 5th, 2020

Anxiety may be rampant in modern culture, but it’s not unprecedented. Take, for example, the enslaved people of Israel described in the Book of Exodus.

‘We are not going to change the world. God is’

Posted January 5th, 2020

Before delivering the final keynote address to the Collegiate Conference at Montreat Saturday, the Rev. Jimmie Hawkins addressed the elephant in the room: the fact that the nation could well be on a path toward war.

Receiving rest and direction from God

Posted January 4th, 2020

It was Friday’s happy task for the Rev. Rachel Hébert and A Williams of Williamsburg (Virginia) Presbyterian Church to help busy college students find delight in Sabbath-keeping.

Silence and Sabbath

Posted January 4th, 2020

The 900 Presbyterians attending the Collegiate Conference at Montreat entered Sabbath together in silence Friday evening following vibrant, thoughtful worship with communion led by conference preacher the Rev. MaryAnn McKibben Dana and the Rev. Dr. Alonzo Johnson, coordinator for the Presbyterian Committee on the Self-Development of People.

Freed from mermaid captivity

Posted January 3rd, 2020

On Friday the Rev. Dr. Lauren Winner, who teaches at the Duke Divinity School and is vicar at a small Episcopal church in North Carolina, told about 900 people attending the College Conference at Montreat a story “it took me many years to tell with a straight face.”

Keeping the Sabbath is simple, but not easy

Posted January 2nd, 2020

About 900 Presbyterian college students have gathered at the close of their Christmas break for the 2020 College Conference at Montreat. They’re here to rediscover the importance of keeping the Sabbath.

Partnership lifts seminarians’ experience to new heights at Montreat music conference

Posted December 19th, 2019

As the year draws to a close, the Presbyterian Association of Musicians and the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s Financial Aid for Service are reflecting on a flourishing partnership that resulted in a half dozen seminarians being sent to the annual Worship and Music Conference in Montreat, North Carolina earlier this year.

Documenting the Church’s role in peacebuilding

Posted December 12th, 2019

For the Rev. Shelvis Smith-Mather, the road to the majestic halls of Oxford University took a journey of nine years and three continents. But it is, he says, a “crazy, wonderful, beautiful story.” “And… a long story, but the details of the many stops and starts along the way speaks to how it has come together now in God’s time,” he said.