The Rev. Cassandra Jones stood in the pulpit at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, a guest pastor with a message of grace and salvation through humility. Jones, an African-American who on most Sundays may be found serving as associate pastor at Friendship Missionary Baptist Church, spoke to the largely white audience at The Plaza’s Holy Trinity on Sunday, March 25. Her theme focused on a... read more

A different sort of collaboration is broadening Xchange Sermons. More than 60 pastors, imams and rabbis last year and dozens more this year have swapped pulpits – affirming by their words and presence the importance of reconciliation. Now, the Rev. Nancy Ellett Allison and Rabbi Jonathan Freirich hope that two upcoming gatherings foster even more understanding in this often divided... read more

"You're not Tom Latimer," said a parishioner of St. Stephen United Methodist Church to the Rev. Donnie Garris. "No, I am not," Garris replied, as he relayed the occurrence to the congregation with a chuckle. Taking over the pulpit from the Rev. Tom Latimer, the Rev. Garris left his usual spot at the predominately African-American Antioch Missionary Baptist Church to preach at St. Stephen, a... read more

We’ve all heard the story about how Jesus, in a moment of fury, rampaged through the Temple at Jerusalem, so incensed was he that his Father’s house had been turned into a marketplace. Men were selling livestock and moneychangers had set up tables, even as Passover was approaching. Jesus, making a whip from cords, drove out the animals and overturned the tables, scattering the... read more

It’s hard to know how much of Sunday’s sermon at First Christian Church Them Siu was able to absorb. A native of Vietnam, Siu doesn’t speak much English. But God was in His house, and that was good enough for Siu. First Christian played host Sunday, Feb. 19, to The Rev. Nicole Massie Martin in a sermon exchange. Massie Martin’s home church is off Beatties Ford Road. She... read more

The hope of Xchange Sermons is that swapping pulpits is just the beginning of a beautiful friendship. In this third year of the campaign to inspire reconciliation among people of different beliefs and backgrounds, there is mounting evidence that relationships are flourishing long past the last words of a sermon. Among the 60 participating congregations, Temple Beth El has established an annual,... read more

At first glance, it looked like any other Sunday morning in the pews at Providence United Methodist Church: A largely white congregation gathered to worship God – very friendly and slightly older, which is typical now for mainstream, moderate congregations in Charlotte and beyond.    But what was different on the pulpit on this Sunday (Jan. 15) told the story of Xchange Sermons,... read more

Xchange Sermons began Friday night (Jan. 13) as it should: Christians and Jews, blacks and whites, side by side at Temple Beth El, sharing prayers of brotherhood and songs of peace. Sharing, as Rev. Dennis Hall said to several hundred worshipers, a yearning for Shalom. Peace. A partnership of Crossroad Charlotte, Mecklenburg Ministries and Temple Beth El, Xchange Sermons offers clergy of... read more

Xchange Sermons, the faith community’s grand crusade to bring us together, begins again Friday, Jan. 13, in and around Charlotte. The concept is simple, yet soaring: Clergy of different faiths, backgrounds and color swap pulpits one or more times, showing by their words and deed that God loves us all, equally. This collaboration of Crossroads Charlotte, Mecklenburg Ministries and Temple... read more

Maybe this is the most powerful evidence that Charlotte is making racial progress: Two of the city’s best-known pastors – one black and one white – swapped pulpits this past weekend, and neither dwelled on race. Instead, the Rev. Clifford Jones of Friendship Missionary Baptist Church preached at Forest Hill Church on hope – the black pastor of a 7,000-member... read more

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... read more

A shared passion to be of community good in Huntersville has led the Revs. Byron Davis and Mike Moses to forge a bond that has grown now to include their latest campaign. Exchanging pulpits.  “Community good” is the phrase Moses uses to explain what drives these two clergy friends to take the gospel of reconciliation where it is needed most: Out of the church and into a world... read more

This was a strange kind of dialogue, one that began with about 45 minutes of dead silence. The site was Discovery Place, specifically an exhibit titled “RACE: Are We So Different?” On the late morning of Feb. 24, 14 clergy from an assortment of Charlotte-area churches viewed the exhibit at the request of Crossroads Charlotte and Mecklenburg Ministries, then took part in a facilitated... read more

Exchanging pulpits isn’t the half of it. In a faith community where pastors preaching in a church of another color is considered trailblazing, two very different congregations are pursuing racial reconciliation to a degree rarely seen around these parts. Faith Memorial Baptist is a black church of 700 in the Lakewood community off Rozzelles Ferry Road north of uptown Charlotte. Grace... read more

In a community desperate for conversation across the dividing line, faith leaders find themselves with a golden opportunity to talk. And listen. The Xchange Sermons program has returned for a second year, offering Charlotte-area clergy of different backgrounds and color a chance to swap pulpits on a given Sunday. As part of the initiative, on Feb. 24, participating pastors are encouraged to view... read more

It might seem an odd exchange – a black Baptist minister delivering a sermon at a synagogue, a rabbi doing the same at a Baptist church – but the two faiths and their histories share more than you’d think. So when Rabbi Judy Schindler of Temple Beth El and Dr. Ricky Woods of First Baptist Church-West swapped pulpits on the weekend before Martin Luther King, Jr. Day – a... read more

Crossroads Charlotte's Xchange Sermons is built on the belief that one great way to bring about reconciliation tomorrow is for preachers of different colors and faiths to swap pulpits today. But it’s not just about the future. Some of these 31 pulpit swaps are built on a beautiful heritage, a proud acknowledgment by pastors that they walk a righteous path blazed by others. On Sunday,... read more

What life experiences have shaped your emotional and spiritual life? That's the first question Rod Garvin, a community activist, seminary student and member of Friendship Missionary Baptist Church, asked his table March 17 during an Xchange Sermons luncheon at Charley's in Cotswold Shopping Center. For Garvin, the news that he would be a father "changed the course" of his life. Steven... read more

Two preachers whose voices have long been raised in praise of reconciliation will take to the pulpit once more to call us to each other’s side. With all due respect, praise the Lord and turn up the microphone, there will be no muffling of Revs. Russ Dean and Casey Kimbrough. The two pastors – Dean is white, Kimbrough is African American – are doing their Xchange Sermons... read more

In any Crossroads Charlotte endeavor, dialogue is great, but it’s only the first step. For the past two months, Crossroads has organized Xchange Sermons, in which 31 houses of worship have exchanged pulpits to try to bridge gaps among faiths and congregations. It’s led to some passing of knowledge and understanding, and some new friendships. Now, of course, comes the hard part:... read more

Isn’t this the way it often works? You set out to change the world, and the world gets changed one life at a time. Such has it been with Xchange Sermons, a Crossroads Charlotte initiative in which clergy at 31 houses of worship have exchanged pulpits in the name of racial, religious and cultural reconciliation. While their sermons – and the richly symbolic act of delivering a sermon... read more

The Rev. Kate Murphy had a confession to make: There’s a section of Scripture, specifically Mark 7: 24-30, that’s bothered – even offended – her since her first year in Seminary. It’s the story of a Gentile woman who approaches Jesus as he hides in a house. The woman’s daughter is possessed, and she begs Jesus to expel the demon. Jesus declines. It is not right, he... read more

University Park minister Nicole Massie drives past First Christian Church everyday on her way home, but until Feb. 28, she’d never set foot in the church on East Boulevard. Massie delivered the sermon at First Christian Church as part of the Xchange Sermons. “It was an amazing, amazing experience,” said Massie. “That sermon embodied what we should be about as Christians,... read more

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... read more

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... read more

A couple weeks ago, I was awakened by a man’s voice. I opened one eye and then the other, and was pleased to see that the voice I heard was coming from the television – and not from anywhere else. The voice was that of a young man being interviewed about leading a congregation of "non believers” on his college campus. This young man said that he and other atheists should... read more

By Ayofemi Kirby and Tonya Jameson On Valentine’s Day, while couples around the country expressed their love for each other, two faith leaders encouraged congregations to explore the ways they could express their love for God. As a part of the XChange Sermons program, on Feb. 14, Pastor Nancy Kraft of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church spoke to Unity of Charlotte while the Rev. Nancy Ennis... read more

As Dr. Al Cadenhead Jr. and Imam Khalil Akbar got to know each other a few weeks ago, Cadenhead made a deal with him: I promise not to assume you have a bomb strapped to your belt if you promise not to assume I’m a member of the Ku Klux Klan. It was a joke, of course. But it underscored a serious point. Christian denominations can be suspicious of each other; Christians and, say, Jews can... read more

Two Charlotte houses of faith that long have stood for reconciliation will swap pastors this weekend. At around 11:10 a.m. Saturday (February 13), Dr. Ricky A. Woods of First Baptist Church-West will preach at Sabbath worship at Temple Israel. The following morning, Rabbi Murray Ezring will share his heart with the congregation of Woods’ African American congregation at the 11 a.m. Sunday... read more

They were Jewish, Christian, Catholic, Muslim and undecided. They were mothers, fathers, youth directors and spiritual leaders. They reflected the changing face of faith in Charlotte, and Wednesday, Feb. 10, they met for lunch to talk about those changes. They are us — the collection of transplants and natives who call this growing New South city home. The discussion at Sonoma Modern... read more

Of all the combinations that the Xchange Sermons series is setting up, this may seem to some people an unlikely one: a Muslim Imam at a Baptist church. On Feb. 2, a cold, rainy morning, Imam Khalil Akbar told Providence Baptist Church staffers that, as far as he’s concerned, they’re not terribly different. “The Qur’an talks about one God,” said Akbar, the resident Imam, or prayer leader, at... read more

As a child, I was fortunate to have a wonderful pastor, B. Gene Williams, who entertained all of my questions about faith and religion as seriously as he would any other question from any other member of our church. Unfortunately, as pastors do, he eventually moved on to another congregation. No other pastor has, to this day, taken my sincere curiosity as seriously. Until I was about 16,... read more

Exchanging pulpits is fine on Sunday, two of the pastors participating in the Xchange Sermons believe. But it’s not nearly fine enough, they share, in a society in which fear and false assumptions can only be shattered by one thing. “Building relationships,” says the Rev. Donnie Garris of Antioch Missionary Baptist Church. This Sunday (Jan. 24), Garris (right) will take another step in... read more

It is not just the pastors swapping pulpits who are taking a stand for reconciliation. In welcoming a preacher of a different color through Xchange Sermons, the Rev. Tom Stinson-Wesley of Pineville United Methodist believes his congregation and others are making the same powerful statement. He said as much in the sermon he delivered Jan. 17 to the African-American congregation at C.N. Jenkins... read more

The Xchange Sermons series kicked off Jan. 15 with a rousing sermon by an African-American university president in a Jewish temple on Shabbat. The president was Dr. Ron Carter of Johnson C. Smith University, the occasion Temple Beth El’s annual Shabbat service honoring the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., himself a Baptist preacher. Temple Beth El has held an MLK Shabbat service... read more

"Faith is taking the first step, even when you don't see the whole staircase." Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. We are one day away from our month-and-a-half long series of sermon exchanges, in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Clergy in Charlotte have occasionally spoken at each others' houses of worship, on a limited basis, but through the efforts of Crossroads Charlotte and in partnership... read more

In a sense, Rabbi Judy Schindler’s involvement in the Xchange Sermons is a sermon in itself, for the new initiative embodies the message to which she has devoted her life and ministry. “This helps build bridges of connection,” says Schindler, among the first clergy to swap pulpits through the Crossroads Charlotte/Mecklenburg Ministries program. “We open our doors and we open our hearts, and,... read more

What would happen if the city's faith leaders exchanged places for the next six weeks? See for yourself by attending the Xchange Sermons, a series of citywide events co-sponsored by Mecklenburg Ministries and Crossroads Charlotte. Clergy from diverse religions will swap pulpits in an effort to build trust and understanding. So far, 14 exchanges are planned through Feb. 28. The sermons kick... read more

The Charlotte Post is the first of what we hope will be many media outlets to announce our upcoming Xchange, which is entitled Xchange Sermons. The event is co-sponsored by Crossroads Charlotte and Mecklenburg Ministries. To read more click HERE.