Our Staff

Rev. Keith Grogg

Pastor   |   pastor@montreatchurch.org  

Keith Grogg began as our pastor in April, 2014. He had been attending and bringing youth and others to Montreat for conferences each year since 1995. He was the pastor of Carolina Beach Presbyterian Church, 2000-2014, and before that served a shared ministry in Kannapolis, NC, as pastor of Kirkwood Presbyterian Church and associate pastor of Bethpage Presbyterian Church.
Keith received the Master of Divinity degree from McCormick Seminary in 1993. He is currently pursuing a D.Min. in Christian Spirituality through Columbia Seminary. Before ordination, he was a lifelong member of Second Presbyterian Church in Bloomington, Illinois. He graduated from Indiana University in 1989 and spent the following year as a PC(USA) Mission Volunteer, serving St. Andrew’s (Anglican) Church in Bedford, England through the Time for God program. Keith has been married to Vivian Hare since 1992 and they have two young adult children. Vivian’s mother, Clara, is a graduate of Montreat College.

Vivian Hare

Director of Music   |   music@montreatchurch.org  

Vivian Hare became our Director of Music on January 1, 2019, overseeing the church’s music program, playing piano and organ, instituting and conducting the church choir, creating a Children’s Music program, directing special music, interweaving music with other church programs, selecting meaningful and inspirational music, and planning worship with the pastor. 

Vivian is a graduate of Presbyterian College with degrees in music (pipe organ, magna cum laude) and religion (Christian education, magna cum laude). She has a Master of Arts degree from PSCE (now Union Presbyterian Seminary) in Christian Education and is a certified Christian Educator of the PCUSA. She was director of music, organist and choir director of Carolina Beach Presbyterian Church 2002-2015. From September 2016 through December 2018, she held a similar position at Warren Wilson Presbyterian Church. In between, she spent a year serving as pianist/choir director of New Hope Presbyterian Church in Asheville.

Also in Vivian’s background are more than 15 years as a Director of Christian Education at various churches, two years as a Volunteer in Mission in Taiwan, and more than five years serving at the national level of the PC(USA) in Louisville, culminating in the position of Director of the Mission Volunteer (USA) Program, in which she worked among the team that developed the YAV program.

Vivian has been coming to Montreat since before she can remember. She has been married to Keith Grogg since 1992 and they have two young adult children, John and Clara, who also have been coming to Montreat since before they can remember. Vivian’s mother, Clara Moore Hare, is a graduate of Montreat College. Vivian, Keith and Clara live in Montreat.

The Rev. Lynn Bledsoe

Pastoral Visitor   |   visitor@montreatchurch.org  

God has again blessed us with an additional pastoral caregiver! The Rev. Lynn Bledsoe will begin providing limited weekly hours immediately, making visits in our church family and being available for emergency pastoral care when the pastor is unavailable.
 
Lynn retired in late 2021 after several years of providing dedicated pastoral care to the community at Givens Highland Farms, where she was a beloved spiritual presence and pastoral caregiver for many, including many members of MPC. She has been an ordained PC(USA) Minister of Word and Sacrament for two decades. Within an amazing educational journey, work history and record of service to the community, she served for several years as Minister to Older Adults at First Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, AL, has been a Hospice chaplain, and was Visitation Pastor at First Presbyterian-Asheville in 2014-16 before starting at Highland Farms. A harpist, she is certified as a music therapy practitioner and a “Sage-ing” leader, and has also been certified by the Living School of the Center for Action and Contemplation. She studied theology at Vanderbilt University and among other degrees holds an MS in counseling from Oregon State University. She and her husband, retired psychiatrist Bill Ryan, have between them four adult children and four grandchildren.
 
Lynn will have a limited number of hours available for visiting each week, some or all of which may be subject to specific circumstances at any given time, and for obvious reasons, she will not be in a position to say yes to every invitation immediately. She can be reached at 828-989-1399. We are thrilled to have her enormous capability and marvelous spiritual presence, and we give thanks to God for faithful servants and the amazing blessings of God’s providence and provision!

Bonnie

Bonnie Shoemaker

Office Administrator   |   office@montreatchurch.org
Orginally from Alabama, Bonnie is most recently from New Orleans, LA where she worked at St. Charles Avenue Church as the Assistant to the Senior Pastor. After retiring in January 2023, she moved to Fairview, North Carolina with MP3 (better known as Bubba the cat). She is the oldest of five children, a veteran of the U.S. Army, and a graduate of Georgia State University with a B.A. in History and Political Science. You can find her in the office from 9 A.M. – 12 noon, Monday-Friday.