July 20-26, 2025
REGISTRATION WILL open on or about december 1, 2024.
Family camp meets continuing education at this
conference for all ages of worship leaders.
Whether you are ordained or a layperson, staff or volunteer or congregant,
there are plenty of opportunities to learn, practice, and worship together.
Questions? Contact Colleen Earp, Program Director, at colleen@massanettasprings.org.
Resources will include all worship liturgy and bulletins, recordings of Bible Study and sermons, communion bread recipe, and more. Questions? Looking for something in particular? Contact Colleen Earp, Program Director: colleen@massanettasprings.org
REGISTRATION OPTIONS
Registration will open on or about 12/1/2024!
Participants register for the program, housing, and meals separately. Register online (below) or contact Registrar at 540-434-3829 for assistance registering.
Group registration (such as for a church choir—must be 6 or more people) instructions below. Discount $35/person.
$40 discount for all who are fully registered by Monday 3/24/2025—fully registered means all forms have been filled out and the $150 deposit has been made for the person(s) or group. Full payment for the conference is required before the start of the conference on 7/20/2025.
To register for Homecoming Day only, visit that tab on this page.
2024 Program Fee
Adult Participants: $245
Youth and Children: $200
Refund Policy
Folks that cancel before May 15 will receive a full refund less the credit card processing fee. After May 15 will receive a 50% refund up until 10 days prior to the start of the conference start date. Generally, there are no refunds for cancellations within 10 days of the conference start date.
2024 Housing options (prices per room, not per occupant)
Hubler lodge Single Occupancy (full room to yourself) $840
Hubler Lodge Double Occupancy (sharing the room with someone else) $420 per person
Richardson Single Occupancy (paying for the bed—sharing the full suite with others) $366
Richardson Double Occupancy (room to yourself, but sharing the bathroom) $534
Richardson Private Suite (room and bathroom to yourself) $729
Richardson Full Suite (full suite in Richardson, typically reserved for families) $924
Cabin (renting full cabin—8 beds, shared separate bathhouse) $600
RV site (electric and water available, no dumping, shared bathhouse) $228
Tent site (shared bathhouse) $108
2024 Meal options
Lunches only (suggested for commuters): $70.00
All meals for 13+: $235.00
All meals for 6-12 year olds: $142.50
All meals for 3-5 year olds: $106.25
No meal charge for guests 2 and younger.
HOW TO REGISTER
Individual Registration (group registration below)
1. Log into OR create a Participant Profile on Campwise: Participant Link
2. Click “Register New” button
3. Click NO for “GHD ID” if you are coming as an individual.
4. Choose Bible / Church Music Conference Attendee. (This helps us plan music purchasing, but does not restrict participants from attending any sessions or workshops offered during the week!)
5. Enter the number of attendees for each category (if you’re not coming with children, type 0)
6. Either check “pick from contacts” OR write in the information prompted at the bottom of each category.
7. Review and accept the charges for each of the following:
Registration/ Per Person Fees
Lodging
Meals
Other
Please choose EITHER church music or Bible conference, which helps us with music ordering but does not limit participation in any offered programing
Select whether or not you would like a conference t-shirt
8. Review your registration fees and details
9. Complete the following forms:
Media Release
Camper Profile
Participant Form
10. A $150.00 deposit is required when registering. You will not be considered registered for the conference until the fee has been paid. Payment can be made online through Campwise OR by sending a check to Massanetta Springs with “Bible Church Music Conference 2023” in the memo line. If your church is paying for the conference, please have them send a check with “Bible Church Music Conference 2024” and your last name listed in the memo line.
If you have any questions about the registration process, please contact Sarah Grace Hall at sarahgraceh@massanettasprings.org or by calling 540-434-3829.
Group Registration
Step 1: Your church/group leader must fill out this form with general group information and estimated numbers to reserve spaces for your group. We will then generate a “group hold code” and send it to your leader. If you have questions, please call 540-434-3829 to speak to our registrar.
Step 2: Once your church/group leader has the “group hold code,” they will distribute it to your group. Parents/guardians will be able to register their youth (completed 5th - 8th) and adult advisors will be able to register themselves using that “group hold code.” They will not pay individually online. The church/group leader will pay for everyone registered at once through the separate leader account.
Step 3: For church/group leaders only. Leaders will be able to log into their separate account to view who has registered and the remaining bill for the group. This is where the full group payment will be made.
Step 4: Your church/group leader will receive an information packet. It is also linked below. The church/group leader and all adult participants and parents should read this information packet in FULL. It contains critical information about the conference and registration.
For questions or to request a scholarship, contact Colleen Earp, Program Director, at colleen@massanettasprings.org or 540-434-3829.
first time attendees
We are pleased to waive the program fee for first time conference attendees. Just notify Colleen that you’re joining us for the first time so we can apply this discount to your registration!
UNDER 40 CROWD
We have a special scholarship fund to support 20- and 30-somethings attending the conference. The fund is limited and will be shared on a first-come, first-served basis.
Not available the whole week but still want to join in on the fun, fellowship, and learning? Come home to Massanetta Springs on Wednesday, July 23, 2025 and celebrate all things Massanetta! We enjoyed hosting the Centennial Day so much in 2022, we decided to make it a permanent part of the Bible and Church Music Conference.
$40 includes programming for the day as well as lunch and dinner.
Program highlights to be announced. Registration will open in December 2024.
The schedule will be released in spring 2025. Until then, check out last year’s schedule for an idea of all that goes on at this historic conference!
Rev. Gail Henderson-Belsito
Charlotte, NC
Rev. Tony Larson
Surfside, SC
The planning team is hard at work lining up the 2025 leadership. Check back for updates!
Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow
Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow is an active speaker and writer on topics of faith, culture, race, and technology. He writes and podcasts on Substack through his newsletter, “The Amalgamation” and has authored five books most recently, “In Defense of Kindness: Why It Matters, How It Changes Our Lives, and How It Can Save the World” (Chalice Press, 2021) and "Everything Good about God is True: Choosing Faith" (Broadleaf Books, 2024).
While his speaking has taken him to The Philippines, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Australia, and Canada and he has also been active in local politics and community organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area for nearly three decades. He has been an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA) since 1995. In 2008, he was elected Moderator of the Presbyterian Church USA, 2008-2010, the youngest and first Asian American to hold that office. He is also a Senior Consultant and Coach with Convergence and is a Gallup-Certified CliftonStrengths Coach. Reyes-Chow and his spouse have three adult children, two dogs, way too many houseplants and live in San Jose, California.
Bruce has an active online presence and can be found on most social networks via @breyeschow with all current links here: https://linktr.ee/breyeschow.
HISTORY OF THE SPEAKMAN CHAIR OF PREACHING
Frederick B. Speakman began coming to Massanetta Springs in 1953. Over a forty year period, he inspired young ministers and ministered to many while on the platform at the Bible Conference. Fred graduated from the University of Oklahoma, Harvard University (M.A.) and Princeton Theological Seminary (B.D.), and in 1950 he received the honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Washington and Jefferson College in Washington, PA. He served three churches: Central-Brick in East Orange, NJ, Third Church in Pittsburgh, PA, and Westminster Church in Dayton, OH. Fred was also an author and wrote three books of sermons: The Salty Tang, Love is Something You Do, and He Dwelt Among Us.
In 1957 Fred purchased a home in the Cottage Community, on the Massanetta Springs grounds, and in 1983, he and his wife, Zoe, retired and moved to the Cottage Community. With Fred in mind, a family in the Cottage Community began an endowment to which others have added, to ensure that the quality and name recognition of preachers for the Bible Conference will continue to be of the highest quality as has been in the past! This endowment supports the Fred Speakman Chair of Preaching. Each year one or more outstanding preachers are brought to Massanetta during the Bible Conference by the proceeds from the endowment.
PREVIOUS SPEAKMAN CHAIR OF PREACHING RECIPIENTS:
2024: Rev. Shannon Johnson Kershner
2023: Rev. Dr. Roger Nishioka
2022: Rev. John Bell
2021: Rev. Dr. Karoline Lewis
2020: Speakman Online Series: Rev. Dr. Karoline Lewis
2019: Bishop William H. Willimon
2018: Rev. Drs. Kimberly Bracken Long and Thomas G Long.
2017: Rev. Dr. Luke Powery
2016: Rev. Dr. Steve Eason
2015: Rev. Michael Lindvall
2014: Rev. Dr. Debra J. Mumford
2013: Rev. Dr. James C. Howell
2012: Rev. Dr. Brian K. Blount
2011: Rev. Dr. M. Craig Barnes
2010: Rev. Dr. Joanna M. Adams
2009: Rev. Dr. William J. Carl III
2008: Rev. Dr. Anna Carter Florence
2007: Rev. Thomas G. Long
2006: Rev. Dr. Frances Taylor Gench
2005: Bishop William H. Willimon
2004: Dr. Stephen D. McConnell
2003: Rev. Dr. William Powell Tuck
2002: Dr. Ben Lacy Rose
2001: Dr. Jerold D. Shetler
2000: Dr. Paul T. Eckel
1999: Dr. Myron Augsburger
1998: Rev. Dr. Thomas K. Tewell
1997: Rev. Dr. Ernest Campbell
1997: Rev. Dr. Ernest Campbell
Rev. Dr. Safwat Marzouk
Dr. Marzouk is an Associate Professor of Old Testament at Union Presbyterian Seminary. He is an Egyptian Presbyterian whose research interests include thinking theologically about monsters in the Bible, Ancient Near East, and popular culture; Constructing the Other in the Old Testament; Middle Eastern Christian Hermeneutics; and Immigration and the Bible.
He was ordained as a pastor in 2002 by the Delta Presbytery of the Synod of the Nile (the governing body of the Presbyterian Church in Egypt), and in May 2021 he joined the Wabash Valley Presbytery of PC(USA). As a Christian Egyptian and migrant to the U.S., he interprets the Bible in ways that are interreligiously and interculturally sensitive seeking God’s shalom and justice for the vulnerable and the marginalized.
More details about theme and Bible Study coming soon!
Paul Vasile, Adult Choirs
Paul Vasile (he/him/his) is a church musician, teacher, and composer who finds his greatest joy in collaborative and community-centered work. Committed to modeling expansive, imaginative, and hospitable experiences of music making wherever he goes, Paul's leadership builds trust, invites spaces of creativity, vulnerability, and play, and supports practices of reflection and holistic learning.
Paul is an inspiring teacher and has been a guest lecturer and worship leader at The Candler School of Theology, General Theological, Princeton Theological Seminary, Union Theological Seminary (NYC), Union Presbyterian Seminary, Vanderbilt Divinity School, and the Yale Institute of Sacred Music. He has also curated notable concert series, arts events, and educational programs exploring the intersection of music and spirituality. He led a Hymn Festival for The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada in 2018, as well as a workshop for the Christian Congregational Song Conference in Oxford, England in 2021.
Committed to expressing and exploring faith in new ways, Paul composes sacred music that expands and enriches the church’s language of praise and prayer. His music is represented in Glory to God, All Creation Sings, and Voices Together, as well as The Hymn Society resource, Songs for the Holy Other. Through a long association with the international theater collective Compagnia de' Colombari, he has also composed and arranged music for innovative, site-specific performances that juxtapose and blend cultures, traditions, and art forms to bring fresh interpretation to the written word. For the last decade he has collaborated with Artistic Director Karin Coonrod in the creation of Judith, a chamber opera inspired by an epic, Old English poem.
Kaitlyn Davros, Youth Choir
Kaitlyn Davros serves as Assistant Director of Music Ministries at First Presbyterian Church, Charlotte, accompanying the adult choir and directing youth handbells and youth choir. She enjoys working collaboratively to build inclusive and creative church music programs. Her passion and joy is working with children and youth music programs, creating spaces where all are welcome and feel safe to be creative and vulnerable in offering their voices in praise to God. Kaitlyn is an inspiring and engaging director, teacher, organist, and pianist, creating a warm and fun environment for music making and faith formation where everyone feels like they have something to offer.
Kaitlyn holds a M.M. in Sacred Music from Westminster Choir College at Rider University and a B.M. in Organ Performance from Hope College in Holland, MI. She has studied at the Choral Music Institute at Oxford University, England and holds the Director of Young Singers certificate from the Choristers Guild Institute. Kaitlyn currently serves on the Presbyterian Association of Musicians Board. She has served churches in Michigan, Western Colorado, and Charlotte, NC.
When not making music, Kaitlyn enjoys watching football, running, hiking, traveling, and spending time with her family.
Darla Meeks, Orff
Darla Meek serves as Lecturer and Coordinator of Music Education at Texas A&M University-Commerce teaching graduate and undergraduate music education courses and supervising student teachers. Certified in both Kodály and Orff Schulwerk, she is a teacher trainer for both Movement and Basic Pedagogy I for Orff Levels courses. Darla presents professional development sessions at the district, state, regional, and national levels, and her resources for elementary music specialists have been published through The Choristers Guild and Sweet Pipes, Inc.
Austin Beasley, Children’s Choirs
Austin is an elementary school Music teacher in Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools, NC. He also serves as the accompanist and Children's Music Director at Clemmons Presbyterian Church, Clemmons, NC. He enjoys leading his 100 person before-school Chorus program, producing exciting musicals, and preparing children to lead Worship. The best part of making music is that we create something beautiful together!
Austin earned his Bachelor's of Music degree in Music Education from Gardner-Webb University. He is originally from Mount Airy, North Carolina (you may know it as Mayberry).
When time allows, Austin enjoys running, hiking, and spending time with friends and family, and his 2 year old Goldendoodle, Mozart.
Professor Carlos Rivera-Aponte, Handbells
Regarded as one of Puerto Rico’s foremost handbell masters, Carlos has had a fruitful career of more than thirty years as director of various handbell programs in Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, and Colombia.
Carlos received a Bachelor of Arts with a major in education and music from the University of Puerto Rico. He later received his master's degree in music education with an emphasis on choral music at Florida State University’s College of Music in Tallahassee, Florida.
He is an active handbell clinician and has inspired many people to become involved in handbell ringing and musicianship. He describes himself as a handbell missionary, in his belief that “there are so many people who have not been able to be in contact with this wonderful instrument; once they do, they’ll fall in love with it”.
He served two years as an at-large member of HMA National Board and now is the HMA Area 4 Chair-Elect which serves Georgia, South Carolina, Florida in the USA, The Bahamas, Puerto Rico and de USA Virgin Islands in the Caribbean. Carlos currently works as Assistant Dean of Student Affairs, music professor and choral conductor at the University of Puerto Rico-Carolina.
Bible COMMITTEE
Rev. Kelly Kaufman, Tabor Presbyterian Church, Tabor, VA
Rev. Clay Macaulay, River Road Presbyterian Church, Richmond, VA
Alex Pickell, MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, Arlington, VA
Church Music COMMITTEE
Jennifer Volkmann, First Presbyterian Church, Winchester, VA
Tucker Samuelian, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Fayetteville, NC
Zach Bowyer, South Mecklenburg Presbyterian Church, Charlotte, NC