The seasons are changing. Can you feel it? Technically it is still fall, but it doesn’t exactly feel like it outside. Highs have been in the mid-40s this week. There is a definite chill in the air. You can tell that winter is around the corner, even though it doesn’t actually begin until a month...
What a retreat! My family joined about 40 others from Unity this past weekend for our All-Church Retreat to Montreat’s Presbyterian Conference Center. About half of the group had never visited Montreat before, and the other half couldn’t wait to get back. I have a couple of highlights from the retreat that I’d like to...
Happy Halloween! I am looking forward to celebrating Halloween tonight by taking Zoe and Riley trick or treating. They are at an ideal age for this tradition. They are excited about their costumes (a mermaid and a mermaid riding a seahorse) and can’t wait to get lots of candy. I’m looking forward to teaching them...
A community of faith gathered at Unity Presbyterian Church on October 14, 2018 for a Gospel Concert that provided a history of gospel music, including how it has evolved both in the African-American and the white churches. The concert was an outgrowth of a collaborative commitment that seven area churches have made to become better...
Wow, I am thrilled with your responses to the “Celebrate and Dream” forms! This past Sunday, we received tons and tons of feedback. Over the next couple of weeks the staff and session will be compiling all of the responses into common themes. Then we will be sharing with you, the congregation, the main themes....
I can’t wait for this Sunday. It’s going to be really fun. Yesterday we sent out a large mailer. It should arrive at your home any day now. The mailer includes three parts that I hope you’ll spend time reading: 1) A Visioning Letter: This letter explains what we are doing on Sunday: spending time discerning what...
Hello from New Orleans! Well, almost. I’m an hour outside of New Orleans at a conference center. Each year, I take a total of two weeks for Continuing Education. In July, I headed to a conference at Whitworth University that focused on preaching and teaching. Now I am attending a CREDO conference that is sponsored...
This Sunday is World Communion Sunday. Many churches around the world will join together in the Lord’s Supper as a sign of our unity in Christ. World Communion began in 1933 and grew in popularity during World War II. Pastor Donald Kerr notes: “The concept spread very slowly at the start. People did not give...
A couple of weeks ago I had lunch with the Dean of Union Theological Seminary. I met him at the Charlotte campus of the seminary. While walking into the school I noticed a very unique cross on the front lawn. (pictured above). Look closely at the picture of the cross. What do you notice? As...
“You shall love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” -Deuteronomy 10:19 We have all experienced times when we felt like a stranger. Perhaps it was when you traveled to another country where you did not speak the language. Maybe it was when you started at a new school or job...
