About the Event
Small GroupSpiritual Growth
11:15 am | Heaton Hall
Format | Guest Speaker, Topical Lectures
Audience | Adult - Large Group
Led by | Bruce Elliott
Join us for weekly guests from Charlotte who are connecting faith and their worlds. Guests range from local authors, non-profit leaders, academic scholars, and more!
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This Week
Sunday, February 16, 2025
We won't meet this week. Please make plans to join us February 23!
Next Session
Sunday, February 23, 2025
Sunday Forum with Jennifer Roberts
Theme | Strengthening Democracy and the Environment
Many of us remember former County Councilman and Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts from her terms served in office during the mid-2000s and as mayor from 2015-2017, respectively. She is the only person ever to have been elected as County Chairman and Mayor of Charlotte.
In the years since, she has continued to serve our community in roles working for nonprofits. Since 2021, Ms. Roberts has served as the North Carolina co-lead for the Carter Center’s Strengthening Democracy Project. In 2024, Roberts and her co-lead former NC Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr, traveled across North Carolina and took part in political meetings between members of the NC Republican and Democratic party leaders at the local level. They set up meetings for local leaders to have discussions on the issues and to do so with respect and honesty, with an eye toward restoring faith in established democratic norms. The results they observed may surprise you as we hear their boots on the ground observations and what it bodes for the future.
A lifelong environmentalist, Ms. Roberts has worked for nationally known environmental non-profit ecoAmerica, running their Communities Program on climate solutions. While she was mayor, Ms. Roberts was recognized for her work on sustainability and equality. And she is familiar with the podcast series Broken Ground that has been one of our Spiritual Growth offerings since late January, and which focuses on key environmental issues facing North Carolina. Ms. Roberts will offer her views on these issues as well.
Less well-known yet important roles she has served include as high school math teacher, a diplomat with the U.S. State Department, an international banker, and an adjunct professor at UNC-Charlotte. She currently serves on numerous community boards and commissions, including serving as treasurer of MeckMIN (Mecklenburg Metropolitan Interfaith Network) as well as on the Creation Care committee at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church and Caldwell Presbyterian Church.
Over the span of her career, Ms. Roberts has received numerous awards and recognitions, including the Maya Angelou Women Who Lead Award and Equality North Carolina’s Ally of the Year Award.
Please join us and bring friends and family with you for this special occasion with one of the most prominent public servants in Charlotte over the past quarter century.
Previous Weeks
Sunday, February 9, 2025
Theme | Abraham Lincoln
Lincoln’s Formative Years—From Wilderness to Washington
February 12 will mark the 216th anniversary of Lincoln’s birth. We will honor the man that many professional historians and ordinary citizens alike consider not only the greatest President, but also the greatest American who has ever lived. In the decades after his death, he became known throughout the world and was even championed by the great Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, who called him a “universal man.”
Have you ever considered how a young boy came from nearly nothing—little formal education, family members that could barely read, little money or status, and yet over the course of his adult life would reach the office of the Presidency at the darkest period in our nation’s history? It’s a life story that if written for a Hollywood movie, would not be believed.
Consider: born into poverty, at the age of 9 his beloved mother died. Within weeks, his father left he and his younger brother and 11 year old sister alone for 1 year while he travelled to another village to search for a new wife. The Lincoln family had a couple of cousins in the area who occasionally came around to check on the children, but they were practically on their own during this period of time.
For this and other reasons, the odds were stacked against Lincoln ever doing anything of major note with his life. And yet, when he became President in 1861, he would labor around the clock to meet the many challenges of those four years, and in the end, his Herculean efforts and gritty perseverance would save the Union. We will take a look at some of the key events of his childhood including looking at his inner life and the way he responded to the many challenges he met and to the tragedies he suffered. And we will discover some of his principles and values as a young man that guided him throughout his life. Please join us for this illuminating session on the character formation of one of the most revered world leaders of the past 200 years.
Sunday, February 2, 2025
Theme | Martin Luther King—His Evolving Vision
Any list of the world’s most well-known people of the 20th century has to include the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. For most of us, the first images that come to mind when we think of him, are the photographs of him leading a protest march in cities in Alabama and other parts of the South. We also can see him at the huge rallies where he spoke to crowds of people hungry for his words, his energy, and the hope that he generated.
Dr. King was an epic man, possessed of an idea and vision as well as the energy, intelligence, and compassion to move that vision towards becoming reality. His willingness to sacrifice so much for the benefit of so many, changed his life and cause into something sacred and undeniable.
In this talk, we will take a look at the less widely known aspects of his personality during his most active and intense years, from 1955-1968.
Besides being a great visionary, Dr. King was also a deep thinker who studied some of the world’s great philosophers from ancient times to his present day. Along with his devout Christian beliefs, this gave him a rock-solid foundation from which he could respond to every challenge from those who said he had no right to demand such major change to the racial status quo.
We will watch a 26-minute video of Dr. King being interviewed by an NBC News reporter at his church in Atlanta in 1967. This interview is so skillfully done that elements of Dr. King’s genuine views, calmly spoken, show us how and what he actually thinks on serious issues. It’s a radically different way of conducting interviews than are done by most major news media outlets today and shows how thoughtful and serious people publicly discussed the moral and political issues of that time.
Our talk today will of necessity be limited to certain elements of Dr. King’s vision and life’s work. His life’s work was so large and full that it would take many hours to take a more comprehensive look. Come prepared to learn some new-to-us things about Dr. King’s vision and mission—things not normally covered by the major news media.
Sunday, January 26, 2025
Theme | MPBC’s Realm System: You’ve Got Questions, We’ve Got Answers
Join us for our program that will be dedicated to learning about the Realm system we all have available to use for communicating messages to groups and individuals in our congregation. Scott Crowder has graciously accepted the invitation to lead this session to demonstrate the step-by-step procedures needed so that we can use this system as an effective communications tool. Also joining Scott to demonstrate Realm essential functions will be MPBC member, MPBC staff member, and Cornwell Center staff member, Valarie Kovolski, who has a deep understanding of this system and can help us to develop a better understanding too.
Please bring your laptop, iPad, cell phone or similar device so that you can follow each step and gain some practical experience that you can continue working on at home.
Sunday, January 19, 2025
Theme | Professor Mark West returns to talk about President Jimmy Carter's literary legacy.
There has been plenty of news coverage of President Jimmy Carter since his recent passing. These include articles, reviews of his Presidency and post-Presidential years, and interviews from different periods of his life. But few if any news outlets have written or spoken at length about his literary legacy.
As fate would have it, a brand-new book has just been published that goes into great detail about President Carter’s literary legacy, and it is co-edited by two men who have spoken in person to our congregation in the past 9 months: Mark West and Frye Gaillard.
Author and journalist Frye Gaillard spoke about his 2017 book A Hard Rain last spring on a Thursday evening at Heaton Hall and UNCC Professor Mark West spoke to the Faith & Community class in October about The Wizard of Oz. The two of them spent years curating many essays from over 30 writers about Carter and his literary works.
One of the most surprising things to emerge is the depth and breadth of literary genres in which Carter wrote. He penned over 30 books that covered non-fiction, memoir, fiction (a novel about the Revolutionary War), poetry, and children’s literature. All but two of his books were written in his post-presidential years. Throughout his multiple careers, Carter rarely if ever used a ghost writer. So, his own voice comes through clearly and distinctly in all his writings. “Writing was a primary, if not the primary, source of income for Jimmy Carter’s post-presidency,” said Gaillard. “He decided that he liked that better than going around charging a lot of money for speeches.” Carter also had little interest in golfing or sitting on corporate boards. When he wasn’t writing he was building houses for Habitat for Humanity or working for other charitable organizations on behalf of peace initiatives.
Please join us for what promises to be an informative and fascinating discussion on the writings of our 39th President and possibly the one with the deepest and certainly the longest humanitarian post-presidency in American history.
Sunday, January 12, 2025
Theme | Incoming Board Chair Scott Crowder talks MPBC in 2025 and A Retrospective on President Jimmy Carter
Incoming Board Chair Scott Crowder talks MPBC in 2025
Scott Crowder has been a member of MPBC for many years and has served on the Board of Deacons for the past 3 years. Starting this month, Scott will serve as the Board Chair for 2025. Originally from Kannapolis, NC, Scott has a background working in the communications field and is adept at planning and project management and establishing collaborative working relationships. We are glad he will be our next Board Chair and welcome him to our Sunday Forum. Please join us for this opportunity to get better acquainted with him and to learn of his outlook for 2025.
President Jimmy Carter: A Retrospective Look
Our 39th President was born and raised in a small town in rural southern Georgia. He came of age during the Great Depression and the war years of the 1940s. His father taught him the value of a strong work ethic and how to think in practical ways and to solve problems. His mother taught him values that flowed from a deep commitment to genuine Christian teachings. She lived out her commitment to the basic tenets of the Christian faith, showing a quiet resolve to treat Black people with the same dignity, respect and compassion that she did people of her own race. She also taught her son that poor people of any color should not be looked down upon, as they might well be in circumstances beyond their control.
We will take a brief look at President Carter’s life and career, focusing on his time as President and his post-presidential years. Mr. Carter lived the good life—not one based on conspicuous consumption, materialism and superficial ways, but one based on living a life of purpose and meaning. He exemplified a life of faith, integrity and humility in service to others.
We will take a look at a couple of short videos that capture some of his years of service during and after his Presidency and talk about them as well. Like most of you, I remember his presidential years and as well as the years since and have my own memories of these times. You are welcome to bring yours too and share them during this retrospective of a most remarkable man.
Sunday, November 17, 2024
Theme | The Effects of Light Pollution on Night Skies and in Our homes
Speaker | Ken Steiner
After many years of research and experimentation by scientists and inventors in the U.S., Canada and several European countries, the first long-lasting incandescent light bulb was invented by Thomas Edison and his team at their lab in Menlo Park, NJ in 1879. Neither Edison nor his contemporaries could have foreseen the long-term impact that this invention would have on people’s lives. It has made possible the expansion of the industrial base which grew exponentially in the late 19th century through the mid-twentieth century. It lit public spaces like museums, ballparks, theaters and churches which enabled us to enjoy more cultural experiences by increasing their hours of access. And later, lights lit our way, guiding us safely back home after dark. And our homes themselves seemed more warm and cozy, while improving nighttime reading.
In more recent decades, we have come to understand that not all of the impacts of artificial light have been beneficial. The excessive or inappropriate use of indoor and outdoor artificial light adversely affects human health, wildlife behavior and our ability to observe the sublime beauty of the moon, the stars and our own Milky Way galaxy.
Ken will also tell us how too much of the blue light--emanating from bulbs, computers, TVs, cell phones and other devices--is detrimental to our own physical and mental health. As we learn how these artificial light sources can harm us, we will also discover steps we can take to mitigate our exposure to blue light and lower our risks. Ken will have some impactful slides as part of his presentation, helping illuminate this 150-year history of artificial light and its effects on our earth and its inhabitants.
Sunday, November 10, 2024
Theme | Chasing the Story
Speaker | David Whisenant, longtime WBTV reporter
Join us as former WBTV reporter David Whisenant discusses his new book, Chasing the Story: The Stories and Events That Shaped the Life of a Veteran News Reporter.
In October 2023, David announced his retirement from WBTV after working for the station since 1991. His new book chronicles David’s 32-year career as a field reporter for WBTV.
David covered a wide range of stories in the Carolinas and beyond—including encounters with celebrities, well-known crimes, the death of Queen Elizabeth II, community disasters and inspirational people. David brings these stories to life with sensitivity and some humor.
The book also deals with the suicide of David's father and how he leaned on his Christian faith to work through the trauma and eventually found meaning in promoting mental wellness.
David will also touch on some issues that face journalists today, including social media, the changing reliance on local news and the lowering levels of trust in the news media in general.
Please join us for this insider look at the news media today.
We will have copies of his book available from Park Road Books.
Sunday, November 3, 2024
Theme | Surviving Helene and Pathways That Transform Us
Speaker | Pastor Mike Morrell
In these tumultuous times in which we live, many of us feel tense and troubled about what may happen during and after the election, and what may happen to our world in the future even as we deal with multiple crises in the present.
Mike Morrell is a progressive theologian who knows how to take complex ideas and put them in language that lay people might understand and learn from. He has an extraordinary mastery of English, both in writing and speaking to general audiences. He is a leader in the progressive church movement who leads retreats and seminars in the U.S. and internationally. He has worked closely with the world renown scholar and Franciscan Friar Richard Rohr, even co-writing with Rohr the 2020 book The Divine Dance. Like Fr. Rohr, Mike has a contemplative, intelligent and holistic approach that seeks to find truth, grace, and transformation both individually and in community.
He will also introduce us to the process of spiritual composting. It’s a way to help us recognize some of our old patterns of thinking and being which no longer serve us well. When released, we can find deeper meaning and connection, and the grace that frees us to have more compassion and less judgment. As we begin to practice these virtues, we develop the inner resources to deal with life’s challenges, and to make a positive impact on our shared future.
Mike, his wife, and two daughters live in Asheville and were there when tropical storm Helene roared through WNC. He will share what this experience was like and the aftermath in the weeks since. Their house was significantly damaged by the storm, and they are currently living with friends in Charlotte while working through the trauma and tremendous upheaval in their lives. Please keep them in your prayers and join us in person to offer Mike and his family our deepest hospitality and attention, something we at MPBC have long been in the forefront of doing. In next week’s email, I will detail ways that we might assist Mike and his family.
ABOUT OUR SPEAKER
Mike Morrell is the Communications Director for the Integral Theology think-tank Presence International, co-founder of The Buzz Seminar, and a founding organizer of the Wild Goose Festival, held each summer in gently rolling fields outside Statesville, NC. It’s an event that draws 1,000+ people from around the U.S. and hosts world renown speakers such as Brian McLaren, Diana Butler Bass, Barbara Brown Taylor, Jacqui Lewis and many others.
Sunday, October 20 & 27, 2024
Theme | “Today’s Mainline Protestant Churches Are Dying.” . . . Oh Really?
Speaker | Pastor Dale Mullenix
This narrative can be found in many places: in the local and national news media, in think tanks and even in some churches. But is the very real drop in church attendance over the past two decades completely attributable to these big trends we hear about? Are all our efforts to make changes and adapt merely the equivalent to rearranging seats on the Titanic? If any of these thoughts have ever crossed your mind, then you may want to participate in this program, led by Pastor Dale Mullenix.
Renown pastor, writer, retreat leader, and church expert Diana Butler Bass undertook a three-year exploration of non-evangelical Protestant congregations around the U.S. She came away with some surprising discoveries that directly contradict the prevalent narrative of church decline. While her book Christianity for the Rest of Us came out in 2006, much of what she discovered applies to congregations today, for the characteristics of healthy and fruitful congregations are relevant across generations. Some of the specifics of how to create and apply these may require new and innovative ways of being, but Diana Butler Bass makes clear that today’s situation is far from hopeless. Some churches are thriving and doing so without resorting to a false fundamentalism or the insidious prosperity gospel message.
Join us for two Sundays of this presentation and opportunity to discuss the hopeful emergence of an authentic, nonjudgmental, and more holistic Christian spirituality.
Sunday, October 13, 2024 - No class
Sunday, October 6, 2024
Theme | The Enduring Appeal of the MGM Classic Film the Wizard of Oz
Speaker | Mark West, English Professor at UNCC
August 2024 marked the 85th anniversary of the original release of The Wizard of Oz. To the casual movie viewer, the plot and theme of the movie are as simple as they are familiar. Yet a closer look at this film reveals a deceptively simple plot—one not as simple as it may first seem. In other words, there is a lot more going on in this film than first meets the eye.
From start to finish the film is a visual feast. Special effects were yet in their infancy, but the filmmakers managed to create effects that were so persuasive that they hold up to this day. The scene where the distant twister approaches and crisscrosses its way over the fields, drawing ever closer to the farm of Dorothy Gale’s family--still sends chills up our spines because it looks and sounds so menacingly real.
The story has multiple meanings that remain as relevant today as they did in 1939. America was just starting to make a real and sustained recovery from the Great Depression, and Europe, which had been very tense for several years due to the dire economy and the march of totalitarianism, was mere days away from plunging headlong into a cataclysmic war. The world seemed to be falling apart, and people were searching for stability, meaning, and hope for a new way forward.
UNCC English Professor Mark West will talk about some of the meanings found in the film as well as analyzing the characters in the L. Frank Baum book and comparing them to the characters portrayed in the film. He spent years compiling and co-editing a recently published scholarly edition of the book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. This program will surely be a delight for anyone who has ever been captivated by the film’s intrepid journey from the fertile fields of Kansas to the magical Land of Oz and back again. Adults of all ages and backgrounds are welcome, so please plan to join us.
Sunday, September 29
Theme | From Queen Charlotte to Slaves: The Pivotal Role of Women in Charlotte’s Founding
Speaker | Michael Jeffcoat, forensic historian
Long-time Charlotte resident, Michael Jeffcoat, made his living in real estate and has spent years working as a forensic historian. He has extensively studied and researched Charlotte’s early history and has documented a fascinating and little-known story of women involved in the city’s founding. This is a story with a very unexpected revelation: women played a vital role in bringing about Charlotte’s founding and in shaping its values of freedom, education, and religious teachings for daily life. And they were not alone. Prior to the Revolution, groups of women in several colonies began efforts to bring these values to the forefront of political and social life. Queen Charlotte (who may have been the Jacqueline Kennedy of her time) was the patron for these groups, but they also included women who were not part of the ruling class--and even included several slaves. The common thread among these women was their strength of character and similar values. Some were well educated, including Phyllis Wheatley, a slave from Boston whose owners recognized her strength of character and intelligence early on and provided her with extensive educational instruction.
Wheatley (who became a household name throughout the colonies and in England when she published a book of her poetry in 1773) has an astonishing story. Mr. Jeffcoat will explain how she inspired the nascent abolitionist movement in England and New England and her ties to the Carolinas and one of his ancestors.
He will also bring the story of these remarkable women to modern times and their connection with women in Charlotte and beyond—some of whom were world-renown—including Eleanor Roosevelt. Please join us for a remarkable story most have never heard and one which affirms the timelessness of some values we still hold dear.