11:15 am | Shalom Hall
Format | Guest Speaker, Topical Lectures
Audience | Adult - Large Group
Led by | Bruce Elliott

What can our community leaders and influencers teach us as a people of faith? Join us for guest speakers each week who will cover a variety of topics to challenge us to live out our faith in community. We draw heavily on the arts, literary, social and spiritual issues as viewed from a faith perspective. 

NOTE | Registration is not required for this class, but if you’d like to stay in the loop, you can join our email list. We’d love to have you with us!

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This Sunday

We will not meet on Sunday, November 16 so that everyone may attend the Congregational Lunch and Conversation with the Transition Team.

Next Sunday

Date | Sunday, Nov 23 
Time | 11:15 am - 12:15 pm 
Place | Heaton Hall 
Speaker | Manuel Betancur Montoya (Manolo) 
Topic | His purpose-driven bakery and advocacy for others less fortunate

Entrepreneur, Artisan Chef, Outstanding Citizen—Manolo Montoya is All These and More

Manuel Betancur Montoya, known as “Manolo,” is leading a most extraordinary life. You might say he is on a mission, and so is his incredible bakery.  

Born and raised in Colombia, Manolo (pronounced ma NO lo) moved to Charlotte in 1997, looking to establish himself as a citizen of our city, and one who makes a difference. He founded Manolo’s Bakery on Central Avenue, and with entrepreneurial spirit and keen business acumen, his company has become a thriving, highly respected and now nationally recognized bakery. 

His bakery’s success is such that the beloved PBS TV show, North Carolina Weekend, did a segment about Manolo’s Bakery on one of their episodes. You can view the segment here.

Manolo graduated from Presbyterian-affiliated King University in Tennessee and later completed a business entrepreneurship program at Stanford University.  

Manolo’s Bakery is celebrated for its mission: "We Are Our Bread, We Stand for Our People, We Believe in Our Future." Manolo put his faith in action during the pandemic, partnering with World Central Kitchen to provide hot meals for low-income families, and in recent years he has delivered humanitarian aid in Ukraine through The We Care Initiative. 

This year Manolo’s Bakery has been selected as the 2nd best bakery in the nation by USA Today’s prestigious Readers’ Choice Awards. 

Bread of Life 

In many places in scripture, we are reminded of how essential bread is to sustain human life, physically and spiritually. To illustrate, we will have some of Manolo’s freshly baked artisanal bread, and some of his bakery’s renown tres leches desserts available to enjoy. 

What a celebratory way to start off Thanksgiving week, and you are invited to join in!

Upcoming Sessions 

Stay tuned. Information coming soon.

Previous Sessions 

Sunday, October 26, 2025 
Place | Shalom Hall 
Speaker | Sofia Bartholomew 
Topic | Our Evolving Relationship to Nature: An Indigenous and Holistic Way of Seeing  

MPBC’s own Sofia Bartholomew will guide us on an exploration of eco-spirituality, environmental action, and ecological consciousness in the award-winning book Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Originally published in 2013, this book has been a publishing phenomenon. It has sold nearly 3 million copies, been on the NYT bestseller list for 4 years, is published in 20 languages, and achieved all this without benefit of a major publisher. The book’s popularity has been as surprising as it is welcome.  

Kimmerer is a leading botanist and superlative writer who teaches at SUNY in Syracuse, NY. She is a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation and is well-steeped in scientific knowledge as well as indigenous ways of understanding the natural world. One of her core beliefs is that each of these ways of knowing is essential to crafting sustainable ways of living.  

We must create new models that integrate indigenous philosophy and scientific tools on behalf of land and culture. She emphasizes that the long-standing western way of looking at nature is from a place of dominance and exploitation, and that this must change to an ecological ethos of acknowledgment and reciprocity with the natural world. Our attitude must be marked by a recognition of all the natural world provides us—including our ability to sustain our communities and our very lives. When we come to understand how dependent we are on natural world, we are more likely to feel gratitude for all she provides us.  

We’ll listen to a portion of Kimmerer's talk on Emergence Magazine’s podcast and discuss how our own community can live in closer connection with the earth’s rhythms and seasons of life, and to recognize how completely all life on earth depends upon them.  

Sofia is the eldest daughter of Julie and Rene Bartholomew and a student at Queens University and a member of MOJO’s Environmental Justice group. She is pursuing multiple majors, including a B.S. in Conservation Biology and is also working to revitalize the student sustainability club at Queens. 

Sunday, October 19 - No class

October 12, 2025
Location | Shalom Hall
Speaker | Elaine Jones, RDN, LDN
Topic | Nutrition and its Power for Healing and Health

In the mid-20th century, doctors and other healthcare professionals working for the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture established the ideal food pyramid--foods we should eat from less healthy to most healthy. In 2025 we know so much more about health and nutrition than in those earlier days. Greater scientific knowledge and generations more of experience have given us a far more nuanced and detailed understanding of what foods are best for us, how to prepare them for maximum nutrition, and when is the best time of day to eat them. In fact, it can be confusing for a layperson to sort through it all. But you don’t have to resort to sketchy sources to get the information that can help you. This is your chance to listen to a real expert on health and nutrition.

Elaine Jones (RDN, LDN) is the community engagement manager at Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute. She is committed to talking with patients at Sanger and also with people around the metro area about health and nutrition—and she has a way of explaining these that will make the information clear to those of us not steeped in the health sciences. And we can gain the confidence that comes with getting our information from an expert in the field rather than someone on YouTube whose main goal is to sell you some wonder supplement. Elaine Jones wants people to know that nutritious eating doesn’t rely on complicated diets or high-end food stores and supplements. She wants people to understand that while healthy eating is crucial, it’s simple and it’s for everyone.

We will also learn more about the power of food to change the course of a disorder or disease, and sometimes to prevent them from occurring in the first place.

It has been many years since we have had a program on nutrition, so make plans to join us for what is sure to be a very enlightening and helpful program to better understand what healthy nutrition is, and how it can improve your health and overall quality of life.

In 2018, Elaine Jones was awarded the Pinnacle Award, which recognizes Atrium Health teammates who best exemplify Atrium Core Values: Caring, Commitment, Integrity and Teamwork. Elaine was selected from among 65,000 Atrium Employees because of her devotion to spreading loving kindness, humility, and compassionate concern for others.

She was named a No Kid Hungry Hero for the Kids Eat Free Program in Charlotte/Mecklenburg – there are only five such awards given to similar programs each year throughout the nation.

October 5, 2025 
Location | Shalom Hall
Speaker | Judge Alyssa Levine
Topic | The Role and State of Today’s Judiciary

Mecklenburg County District Court Judge Alyssa Levine will join us to talk about North Carolina’s Judicial Branch of government. She will provide us with an overview of our state court system and explain why our courts and judicial elections matter so much.

She will also explain the crucial importance of the rule of law to maintain a healthy democracy--and what we citizens may do to support and strengthen the independence of our judicial system during this time of unprecedented stress on the judicial system.

About Our Guest Speaker 
Alyssa has deep roots in our community. She is a native Charlottean and proud third-generation Mecklenburg County attorney. Her long road to practicing law began at the Charlotte Jewish Day School and Charlotte-Mecklenburg public schools. She later graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill and earned her law degree from North Carolina Central University School of Law.

Since being sworn in as a district court judge in January 2023, Alyssa has presided over civil and criminal cases in district court. She hears domestic cases as a designated Family Court Judge, and conducts bench and jury trials, first appearances, and probable cause hearings. 

Alyssa is an active community leader who has served on and chaired many nonprofit boards. Alyssa currently serves as a member of the Mecklenburg Bar Foundation Board of Directors and also Larry King’s Clubhouse Board of Directors. Larry King’s Clubhouse is the children’s play and care center at the Mecklenburg County Courthouse, serving children ages 6 weeks to 12 years old while their caregivers address courthouse business. Alyssa also belongs to numerous legal and community organizations, is active in Jewish Federation’s Women’s Philanthropy, and a member of Temple Israel and the Sandra and Leon Levine Jewish Community Center.

September 28, 2025
Location | Shalom Hall
Speaker | Tom Hanchett, author
Topic | Charlotte's Affordable Housing Shortage

Charlotte has undergone explosive growth in the 21st century—in 2000, Charlotte’s population was about 577,000. As of 2025, the population stands at 945,000. That’s a 61.2% increase in just two and a half decades. Charlotte’s housing builders have fallen far short in producing the housing necessary to keep up with this rapid growth. Charlotte has needed to build approximately 10,600 affordable housing units annually to keep pace. Since 2017, housing prices in Charlotte have surged by 72%, far outpacing income growth. 

Tom Hanchett, former Executive Director of the Museum of the New South (1999-2016) -- and Charlotte’s best-known historian, -- will discuss the various factors that have helped to cause this imbalance, proposals to boost affordable housing, and the success stories we have had so far. His new book, Affordable Housing in Charlotte: What One City’s History Tells Us About America’s Pressing Problem thoroughly addresses this issue and will be the basis for his talk with us. 

Dr. Hanchett enjoys working with community groups on neighborhood histories, museum exhibitions, and walking tours. Educated at Cornell, University of Chicago, and UNC-Chapel Hill, he is best known for his Charlotte history book Sorting Out the New South City.

September 21, 2025
No class so that everyone could attend the Congregational Lunch and Conversation

September 14, 2025
Speaker | Lew Powell 
Topic | Memorabilia from the Tar Heel State

Former Charlotte Observer Editor and writer Lew Powell will be with us to talk about his long-standing passion for collecting memorabilia from around the Tar Heel state. He has collected hundreds of items that have historical and cultural interest covering a wide range of subject matter. Lew donated much of his collection to UNC-Chapel Hill’s Wilson Library where the items can be viewed by the general public. 

Lew has curated some of these items and will be telling us some of the stories behind them and how he came across them in his travels around our state. Join us as we open the 4th season of the Faith and Community Forum!