Pastor Emily’s Blog

For years, she has anchored the corner of Fifth and Spruce. Quintessentially Southern, deeply rooted in our space and place, a flowering gift of substance and beauty for all caught in her broad reach. The story of our magnolia tree remains a bit of a mystery to those...

Last night, I watched as you shuffled forward: hands grasped around your promises, heads bare and ready for an ashen smudge, bellies hungry for God’s grace abundant at the table, God’s beloveds gathered together. On the slips of paper you carried were three words of...

Last Wednesday night, I had the distinct honor of sitting with our dear Lenwood Ammons for a final visit. Lenwood, you see, had received a clear word from his doctor that he was nearing the end of life. His almost-102 year-old body had reached its limits, and soon he...

If you happened to have wandered into the Commons yesterday, here’s what you might have heard: The cover was white, kind of a papery, plastic-y material, with Precious Moments characters dressed up as biblical heroes. It was the one I used for sword drills: hardcover...

I’ve got friendship on my mind this week. From the unexpected gift of a midday phone conversation with a soul friend, a few days at my annual ‘preacher camp’ with the dear friends and fellow pastor colleagues in ministry, an anticipated upcoming baby shower with...

Over the past few weeks in worship, we’ve been talking together about calling -- Jesus’ calling of the disciples and his own call as God’s presence in this world. These past few days, I joined with about 30 other Baptist women in ministry to inaugurate a season of...

The assistance started immediately. Edith’s unexpected paralysis was a total life change for the Carters. They had to reimagine every moment of their days, every rhythm they’d grown accustomed to, every way they tended their relationships and spaces. How would they...

I’ve spent the past couple of days in Durham, gathering with a most dynamic group of Christian leaders to imagine how the institutions we lead might flourish with God’s abundant life. Called A Convocation of Christian Leaders, this group of pastors, denominational...

Somehow, as if by accident or chance, the area around the lamp on my office desk has turned into a space for artifacts to orient my day. Over the years, I’ve gathered these small tokens of encouragement to anchor my working space with reminders of who I am and who I...

Greetings from the second day of the year, beloved community! I pray this note finds you and yours awash in the hope, peace, joy, and love that has come to us in Christ! Knowing that sometimes the holidays are filled with more stress or different people or unfamiliar...

Last December, I shared with you about Liam’s rearranging of our family’s nativity scenes, moving the animals to a front row manger seat because to him, they wanted “to smell the baby.” Just a few days ago, I was cleaning up around our house when I noticed two of our...

Each year of my life as a choral singer, my Christmas season has started in the fall. That’s when the Messiah scores, the lovely anthems, the carol arrangements all come out in rehearsal. Notes are hammered out, rhythms are clarified texts are explored, vowel...

“The bacon special, chunky hash browns, scrambled eggs, no toast.” “I’ll have the same thing as her, but add the wheat toast to mine.” “I’ll have the bacon special too, but grits in a bowl instead of hash browns. And a small orange juice.” “Egg whites scrambled on dry...

O taste and seethe goodness of God who calls us to the table and meets us in every feast. -Jan Richardson Happy Thanksgiving, beloved community!As we gather around tables this week, I give thanks for the goodness of God who meets us there, no matter their shape or...

On January 19, 2007, the beloved community of First Baptist Church on Fifth gathered in the Sanctuary for a prayer vigil. The Sanctuary was being renovated, as some of you remember. The pews had come out, the carpet had been ripped up, and the space bore signs of care...

Six months ago, it was my joy to announce to the congregation the launch of our John 3:16 Innovation for Ministry Fund, First Baptist’s primary source for resourcing Christian creativity and innovation to serve the kingdom of God through the ministries and mission of...

Several brief words for you on a stormy Halloween! First of all, I don’t know about you, but I am still aglow from Saturday’s Fall Festival on Fifth, right in our backyard! It was a celebration for the ages, and I am overwhelmed with gratitude for so many of you who...

This Saturday, we are going to love our neighbors, right in our neighborhood. That’s what our Fall Festival coordinator Kim Wilkinson has said all along. And that is exactly what we are going to do.   Unless you’ve been traveling the world these past weeks, you surely...

In Sunday’s Quarterly Church Conference presentation on the 2020 budget, several of you named a desire to read more in print regarding the church’s financial landscape in this season of budgeting and building work, beyond that which you have regularly seen and heard...

As part of his wise teaching for our Wednesday night crowd yesterday, Dr. Bill Leonard asked us: “have you ever had an experience of being ‘other’, where you were clearly different than everyone around you?” Lots of nods, I noted, scanning quickly. I certainly had --...

In worship this Sunday, we will gather around the table alongside Christians of all kinds, all nations, all expressions. We call it World Communion Sunday, a day when we orient ourselves to the oneness we share in Christ, a oneness made known intimately around...

On Monday and Tuesday of this week, I had the honor to travel to Washington, DC as part of my work on the board of directors for the Baptist Joint Committee on Religious Liberty, or BJC for short. I was there to represent you and other CBF Baptists from North Carolina...

Cheerful balloons dotted the railings. Volunteers staffed tables in droves, ready to be helpful to each guest. Staff members were planted in their spaces, eager to envelope every visitor into the vision their space makes possible. Food trucks, Italian ice, the silent...

As I’m sure you know by now, this Sunday, our church family ‘moves back in’ to the Sanctuary after several months away! We celebrate that the repair work has ended, and that we can return to this beloved space which bears decades of witness to God’s work of Love...

Like some of you I’m sure, I have found myself unable to look too far away from news reports of Hurricane Dorian’s landfall. I write today from my back porch, where every gust that rustles the trees, every siren that screams in the distance, every sound and rumble and...

With heart and voice, colorful balloons and homemade bread, logo-dotted sweets and a community filled with the Spirit of hope and abundance, Sunday’s fall kickoff launched us into a bold and boundless year ahead! Bold love and boundless compassion, as many of you...

I think my love for a working place to dream started, oddly enough, in hotel rooms as a kid. Our family traveled occasionally for short stays while at a conference with dad or on a non-beach vacation. I’d enter the room, put my things down, and go straight for the...

I’m feeling a bit nostalgic in these summer weeks amidst this, the 10th anniversary of some major markers in my life. In June of 2009, I graduated from Wake Forest with my Master of Divinity degree. Two weeks later, I moved to Louisville, bought my first house, and...

“It’s like we’re not even reading the same Bible.” That comment, made last night in an Adult Ministry Team meeting in response to a question about what cultural conversations most press upon our people, prompted vigorous nods around the table. Lamenting the divisive...

There is a special kind of magic that seems to hang in the air at youth camp. Unlike many of the cultural rhythms of their everyday life, campers aren’t geared incessantly towards productivity and perfection and management about what comes next. One meaningful change...