Against all odds, Abram and Annie North rose up from slavery to own a home in Charlotte, N.C., that stabilized their family for generations. After Urban Renewal forced their descendants off their property, the most prominent church in town bought…
Getting rid of Jesus: You don’t have to worry about room in the inn if you raze the inn
Charlotte’s westward expansion — beyond Uptown, Biddleville, Wesley Heights — was in full swing around 1924, when Julia Alexander and her family decided to subdivide and sell off her deceased father’s estate, called Enderly. The old farm would become the…
With annual meeting attendance on the rise again, SBC must switch locations for 2023
The Southern Baptist Convention has outgrown its meeting space for 2023. In a move reminiscent of days of controversy in the 1980s and 1990s, attendance at SBC annual meetings has been on the rise since 2018 — after settling down…
The folly of naming a place you don’t understand
I started getting calls and emails a few months ago from a couple of development companies that were introducing new plans down the street. Their reps were looking for some combination of buy-in, or solidarity, or absolution, all of which…
Frustration, fear and faith inspired youth to March for Our Lives
The diversity and scope of Saturday’s March for Our Lives was as surprising as it was inspiring, say many of the youth involved in the protests against gun violence in American schools that were held in Washington and around the nation. And for some of those, it was their Christian faith which prompted them to participate.
Ready to ‘welcome the stranger,’ Baptist church invites Muslim spiritual leader to preach Advent service
Some folks may be stunned to learn that a Baptist church in Charlotte, N.C., has invited a Muslim to preach from its pulpit on the first Sunday in Advent. But the idea seemed a natural one for the congregation, given its 2017 preaching and formational theme titled “Awakening to Immigration.”
Pastors question roles, emotions when police and protesters clash
It was Charlotte’s turn on Sept. 20, 2016, the day police fatally shot Keith Lamont Scott at an apartment complex. Cops say he was armed. The family said he was reading a book when officers approached. Just as they had…
Destroying our own neighborhoods
The recent uprising in Baltimore has occupied our screens and dominated our conversations for more than a week now. Protestors there pricked the consciences of the nation in their cries for justice for Freddie Gray. At some point, a small…