Enlarge (L to R) Senior Pastor James Howell, Sarah Stevenson, Bishop Claude Alexander, Dianne English.

Posted: March 31st, 2011 Ken Garfield

How are we to reconcile in Charlotte, black and white?

By dealing with the toxic waste that has poisoned the community for years, a panel of clergy and community leaders agreed Tuesday evening at Myers Park United Methodist Church: Broaden your horizons, Dianne English encouraged the interracial crowd of 75. Expand your connections. Share your story with someone who isn’t necessarily like you, in the spirit of healing old wounds and making new friends.

“Why,” asked panelist Dianne English, “is it so hard now to get along?”

Reconciliation has been a Lenten theme this season at Myers Park United Methodist, a 5,000-member congregation that recently hosted a Get Real 2011 forum to talk about finding common ground amid racial tension and difficult economic times. Tuesday’s panel brought together English, who heads the Community Building Initiative; long-time community leader Sarah Stevenson; Bishop Claude Alexander of The Park Ministries, and Myers Park United Methodist senior pastor James Howell.

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Posted: March 30th, 2011 Greg Lacour

Some stories worth sharing this week:

• Of two votes the Charlotte City Council took Monday night, this – on a proposal to limit the number of taxi companies operating at Charlotte/Douglas International Airport – was by far the loudest, longest and most contentious …


• … but this, on a long-awaited revision to city affordable housing policy, will have a longer-lasting impact on the shape of our city. (More detail on the revision here.)


• Crossroads continues to make news around the Queen City. Here’s a nice Qcitymetro.com story on Jeff Lucky – the brother of Cherica Adams, whose murder former Carolina Panther Rae Carruth arranged in 1999 – winning a $500 A.C.T. grant to produce a public event called “Soul Motivation,” in which he and others will share stories of triumph from tragedy …


• … and check out the marvelous Charlotte Magazine article on Crossroads artist-in-residence Quentin “Q” Talley – featuring a nice opening scene from the January Art In the A.M.!


• And, from the same publication, a fascinating dissection of the Wagnerian opera that spontaneously erupted last fall when The Penguin switched hands. Why do you think a little restaurant and bar in Plaza-Midwood became the source of such intense passion, and what does that say about our city?

Posted: March 29th, 2011 Carolyn Steeves

Last Sunday Pastor Steve Eason from Myers Park Presbyterian Church and Pastor Larry James from Grier Heights Presbyterian Church switched places as part of the Xchange Sermons program. While both churches are Presbyterian, their congregations could not be more different.

Myers Park Presbyterian has several outreach programs in the Grier Heights community. The two churches have crossed paths before, but this is the first time they have ever swapped pulpits. 

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Posted: March 29th, 2011 Greg Lacour

On an already gloomy Sunday afternoon, the lights inside the Lerner Center for Cultural Arts dimmed, and stories began unfolding on the big screen; stories of despair, encouragement, frustration and hope.

They were the four Crossroads Charlotte scenario movies that thousands across Charlotte have seen and pondered. On this day, March 27, they were finding a new audience – about 15 people at the Levine Jewish Community Center in South Charlotte, which showed the films and hosted a panel discussion afterward as an addendum to the Charlotte Jewish Film Festival.

“They did a really good job with the films – the production quality, the acting, making them come alive,” said Debby Block, the festival’s film curator. “They have a universal message that’s for everybody, whether you’re Jewish or not … ‘Help out your neighbors. Don’t be a bystander. It’s not about you, it’s about us.’ No one understands that better than the Jewish people.”

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