In his 14 years at the Asheville church, Peery led a major renovation of the church’s buildings, a broadening and deepening of the church’s educational program, and a recommitment of the congregation’s mission in the arenas of homelessness and housing, in international partnerships, and in the stewardship of the environment. An ordained minister of Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Peery has served congregations in Georgia and North Carolina for more than thirty years. He also served on the board of directors for St. Andrews Presbyterian College for more than a decade.
“Montreat Conference Center’s fingerprints are all over thousands of people: lay leaders, educators, musicians, and pastors across the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.),” said Peery. … “I believe God is not yet finished with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) that is emerging — a church that is different than the one we have known in the past,” Peery continued. “Through Jesus the Christ, it is still a church God is calling into faithfulness. Montreat Conference Center remains in a unique position to imprint young and old alike. It is being given the privilege to shape people who will lead and serve the church, participate actively in Christ’s body here and now and in the years to come.”
Pete is married to the Rev. Margaret Barnes Peery whom he met in seminary. Early in Margaret’s ministry, she was elected to the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches. Pete was able to participate with her in ecumenical gatherings of Christians at home and abroad. After serving with Pete in parish ministry and in their ministry abroad, Margaret has focused her ministry as a pastoral counselor for the last twenty years. Currently she maintains a pastoral counseling practice in Asheville, N.C. Pete and Margaret have two grown children, both ordained ministers in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and both married to ordained ministers. Pen, their son, is the pastor of First Church of Shreveport, La. Meg, their daughter, is associate pastor of Village Church of Prairie Village, Kan.
“I feel a little like Dorothy, waking up and realizing that, after searching all over the country, the answer was right here in our own backyard,” said Frank Spencer, chairman of the Montreat Conference Center Board of Directors. The search committee, co-chaired by Phil Shannon of Memphis, Tenn., and Anne Rogers of Montreat, N.C., also included Frank Spencer, Charlotte, N.C.; KK Cooper, Tampa Fla.; Gilmour Lake, Winston-Salem, N.C.; and the Rev. Jonyrma Singleton, Cleveland, Ohio.
