Enlarge Discussion leader Laurence Maher introduces the "Eye To Eye" segment at the November meeting.

Posted: February 25th, 2010 Greg Lacour

In November, Crossroads Charlotte hosted a conversation at International House that drew about 60 Charlotteans of varying ethnic and national backgrounds. It touched off an energetic discussion about the role of immigrants in the community, whether Charlotte’s doing enough to assimilate them and whether they’re doing enough to assimilate.

But none of the organizers expected or wanted the conversation to be the only step. Now, a few months later, comes the follow-up: More Than Talk, a three-part facilitated session that will result in the creation of a community project or projects.

The options are wide open provided the project touches in some way on the six “driving forces” the group identified in November: education; the economy; allocation of community resources; civil engagement and leadership; changing demographics; and land use and development.

“That’s the endgame. In order to get there, we’ve got to make sure the participants are really grounded in the driving forces and the core Crossroads Charlotte concepts,” said Jatrine Bentsi-Enchill, a consultant working with Crossroads. “What we hope … is that it’s an initiative that, when Crossroads Charlotte has gone away, it’ll still be going.”

The three parts will be held at Covenant Presbyterian Church, 1000 E. Morehead St., from 6:30-8:30 p.m. on

• Thursday, March 18
• Monday, April 12
• Thursday, April 29

Want to attend? RSVP via email to Annetta Foard (afoard@communitybuildinginitiative.org) by March 12.

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Posted: February 24th, 2010 Ken Garfield

The Rev. Gregory Moss Sr. of Saint Paul Baptist Church believes that in working to reconcile the community across the great divides of race and religion, we shouldn’t dwell on our differences.

The cause of reconciliation should first celebrate what unites us. “I just believe that we all have one thing in common – God,” says Moss (right), correcting himself in the middle of an impromptu sermon before delivering his honest-to-goodness sermon this Sunday morning. “Two things – God and our humanity.”

Moss, then, comes to Xchange Sermons with a message built on hope, and a long track record of involvement in the spiritual, social and political life of the city.

This Sunday (Feb. 28) at 11 a.m., he’ll preach at Myers Park Baptist Church on “The Mess We’re In” – one of the messes being the economic crisis that touches all people regardless of color.  This, he believes, is one more challenge that calls us to work together. Evidence of that is in the dozens of job support groups started this past year by a wide variety of congregations, many working with the city’s interfaith coalition, Mecklenburg Ministries. 

As spiritual leader of the 5,000-member congregation in the Belmont community for more than a decade, Moss has been one of the faith community’s most outspoken pastors. He has been deeply involved in H.E.L.P. (Helping Empower Local People), a grassroots neighborhood action coalition that seizes on such issues as education, housing and public safety.

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Posted: February 24th, 2010 Meaghan Clark

On Wednesdays, Crossroads Charlotte Correspondent Meaghan Clark will give you a round-up of community-building news and events (click items for full stories):

1. Public housing in the Ballantyne area scratched as developer pulls out from the project. Concerns about how the deal was put together are being raised as two executives quit the Charlotte Housing Authority.

2. Creating jobs, being counted and staying well are the main focus at the Black Elected Officials conference in Charlotte.

3. Outdated equipment and attitudes are just part of the problem with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utilities Department.Residents of Cornelius demand changes.

4. The show goes on at Theatre Charlotte! Executive director Ron Law and his staff reinvigorate the city's oldest arts group on a shoestring and sheer will.

5. Ready for the CIAA? QCityMetro.com and Creative Loafing offer coverage and lists of events.

Got a suggestion or a resource for us to check out? Please leave it in the comments or send an email.

Posted: February 24th, 2010 Crystal Dempsey

On Feb. 21,  the Xchange Sermons featured a pulpit swap between Pastor Floretta Watkins of Seigle Avenue Presbyterian Church and the Revs. Christy Snow and Reneé Leboa of the Spiritual Living Center of Charlotte.

Posts By Greg Lacour and James Willamor

“There are many people and many faiths, but there is one God, and that God is love,” said The Rev. Christy Snow of the Spiritual Living Center during her sermon at Seigle Avenue Presbyterian Church.

It might as well be the official epigram for Crossroads Charlotte’s Xchange Sermons series, and it’s fitting that it came from a faith leader whose pulpit sits in a movement that embraces all faiths, that seeks to reconcile mind, body and spirit.

And the point of the whole thing, of life itself, is love. Love for self, said Snow and her fellow spiritual director, the Rev. Reneé Leboa, and love for others. All day, all the time.

“It must begin with us. It must begin with us,” Leboa told the congregants during her portion of the sermon. “We can’t expect excellence from everyone around us unless we ourselves are living that excellence … There is no destination but heaven, and can’t heaven begin right here, right now, in our hearts?”

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