Signs of New Life
As we begin the month of April, new life is emerging all around us. Our physical world is teeming with new signs of life. Tree leaves. Flowers. Birdsong. Buzzin...
Finding Belonging
“Do you have siblings?” “Have you been to the beach in the past year?” “Are you a preacher’s kid?” “Have you ever lived overseas?” “Do you e...
A Big Week For Belonging
Dear Beloved Community, Belonging had a big week around First on Fifth. We belonged with a bunch of Baptists over in Greensboro, as our Cooperative Baptist Fell...
All Things New
Dear Beloved Community, Several days have since passed, but the deep and abiding love I experienced alongside you this Holy Week and Easter will not soon abate....
Welcoming Our New Members
Perhaps you have noticed that we have some new members around here. And not just some – to date, we have welcomed 59 new members into the beloved community of...
Crowded Tables
As the Brandi Carlile song goes, “I want a house with a crowded table, And a place by the fire for everyone.” This was exactly the spirit ...
Room at the Table
“There is room for us all And no gift is too small There is room at the table for everyone There’s enough if we share Come on pull up a chair There is r...
Joining the Celebration
Dear Beloved Community, I’ve shared with you before about how a city’s Pride festival has had such a tug on my heart over the years. To take a Christian wit...
Bold and Boundless Love
Three years ago I worked up the courage to attend my first Pride celebration. I wasn’t necessarily nervous about attending so much as before then I’d never ...
Sacramental Thresholds
Do you remember your graduations? Your threshold moments? Your times of transition? Closing one chapter and beginning a new one? That weird liminal space in bet...
Jesus Still Shows Up
On the weekend after Easter many of us gathered at Morrow Mountain State Park for our first church camping weekend. This event was sponsored by the Adult Minist...
Risen and Power-Full Indeed!
Dear Beloved Community, With each passing year of our living, one truth never fades – God is always, always at work making all things new, surprising us again...
Free and Faithful
As you are reading this, many First on Fifth folks are in Charlotte for the annual gathering of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina. Last...
The Long Road
Dear Beloved Community, As I’m writing to you today, I’m flanked with the dearest of friends around me. It’s time for my annual peer learning group retrea...
100th Anniversary Hymnal!
The Apostle Paul instructed the Colossian church that they should “with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God.” And ...
Reflections From Egypt: Taking Care
Dear Beloved Community, Here I am again, writing to you on the heels of a great learning adventure! So before I say anything, I must say thank you. One of...
Finding the Good Life 2025
Happy new year, Beloved Community! I write this new year’s note to you still in the wiles of 2024, in those final days before we meet the babe in a manger. As...
Holy Gatherings
Hello First on Fifth Friends! I recently came across two headlines that gave me pause: “Is this the end of the dining room as we know it?” and “The Death...
Summer Reading List
Dear Beloved Community, Every so often, I use this space in the newsletter to share with you some recent, non-churchy books I’ve read and loved, or podcasts ...
So Much Good Happening Here!
Dear Beloved Community, If you have felt like this month has been full to the brim with wonderful staff news, I have even more wonderful staff news to share –...
Collecting Our Tears
In author Sarah Bessey’s new book, Field Notes for the Wilderness: Practices for an Evolving Faith, she speaks of the wilderness of lament. Far too often, she...
Bold Witness and Stories of Resurrection
Yesterday morning, I gathered with over 150 folks for an optional workshop at the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina’s Annual Gathering. Called ...
The Realm of Possibility
In these weekly letters, I often enjoy the opportunity to write reflectively for you about a happening in the life of the church, or the chance to tell a meanin...
The Word that Rings Deep and True
“What was your star word?,” Cyrus whispered to Pat as they walked back to their seats. “Quiet!,” she responded with a chuckle. “Well that’s approp...
Tender Care
December's whirlwind of presents and parties and performances and places to go are always peppered with complexity. You know them well, I'm sure. "Oh what fun t...
To Gather Together Again
Perhaps you know I have a certain fondness for reunions. I call it a function of being a preacher’s kid whose family put down deep roots wherever we lived,...
An Ordinary Church Business Meeting
I never thought I'd hold such a fondness in my heart for an ordinary church business meeting until the pandemic pressed these onto a screen for years....
Healing from Theological Trauma
There are but a handful of countless stories I've heard in my years of ministry about the trauma that has afflicted far too many Christians -- some even within ...
A Walk in Honor of Generations of Queer Folk
Nineteen years ago this month, I attended my first ever Pride Festival. I was living in Chicago at the time, and many of my new friends in our Master of Music p...