Our Staff

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 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.

Margaret grew up in Charlotte, NC, graduated from Queens College, and taught school in Atlanta prior to going to seminary at Union Theological Seminary in Richmond. Following seminary she did a year’s residency in clinical pastoral education at Wesley Woods Retirement Community. She was ordained in 1975 by Mecklenburg Presbytery. In 1976 Margaret and Pete each accepted calls as Associate Pastors of the Myers Park Presbyterian Church. In 1984 she and Pete were called by the General Assembly to be Peace Associates for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) where they were posted in London for two years. Upon return from London, Margaret received her credentials as a pastoral counselor and licensure as a marriage and family therapist and entered a pastoral counseling career. When Pete was called as Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, Asheville, Margaret continued her ministry in pastoral counseling in a collegial private counseling practice in Asheville and retired in December 2009. Several months later Margaret served as Parish Associate at the Black Mountain Presbyterian Church from which she retired (a second time!) in 2011. Margaret and Pete have two grown children, Pen and Meg. Both are Presbyterian ministers and both are married to Presbyterian ministers. They are also the proud grandparents of seven grandchildren.