Grace Baptist Church of Statesville, NC

06/11/2026

06/10/2026

https://baptistnews.com/article/how-to-read-the-bible-in-a-time-of-biblical-authoritarianism/?fbclid=IwY2xjawSWVWhleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETFGYnFYS2hPWVpGalROQ21Bc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHp431vo44APgjgAPKoPUbzX3dhc2JBwiB2UKKqciiJrU42Z1C107V0kpbZku_aem_YWdncwBzqbCEBYtK-syNtQ1xAgo1&brid=YWdncwH1Jy8OhRnaAK06_c5A_WZ6

Al Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, has created a stir with his proposed amendment to the Southern Baptist Convention’s constitution. He claims anyone who takes issue with the amendment is opposing biblical authority. The issue is not biblical authority, but biblical aut...

06/04/2026

Carrilea's
Corner
Dear Grace,
What a great kick off to the Season of Grace we had this past Sunday! The question isn't if we are on a journey (because we all are), the question is whether we’re paying attention to it. And who we are becoming along the way? Thank you to Lisa for making the space reflect our theme and for those who helped make the breakfast beforehand possible. I hope you will continue to come a little early for conversation on Sunday mornings!

Here is a poem I came across this week that gave me some inspiration.

A Blessing for a Gentle Summer

by Kate Bowler

For the long days that arrive without asking much of you,
may you let them be what they are—
not a project, not a reinvention,
just time that opens and holds.
For the pressure to make it count,
to travel farther, gather more, become better,
may you set it down somewhere out of reach
and keep what is simple.
For the small, passing pleasure—
light through a window, something growing, a shared meal—
may you notice them
without needing to improve them,
or turn them into anything more.
And when the season slips by, as it will,
may you not measure it by what you accomplished,
but by the moments you were present enough
to feel that this, too, is part of your life.

05/12/2026

Steve Shoemaker's

(Grace Baptist Church's Distinguished Writer in Residence)

latest opinion article:
https://baptistnews.com/article/young-daniel-and-his-three-friends-would-like-a-word/?fbclid=IwY2xjawRv2NpleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEe_R8QHRS96TgMjtrX3Zo2gDQd_eMmP5xdbyiUericxXKZytBhXsMU0oxVbPw_aem_BCCF7B6ct1TFcWtdHMDUxQ&brid=YWdncwHcn9n_IAKInBcX1BWXX7jt

We’ve seen it, the gold-plated 22-foot statue erected at the Trump Doral Golf Club, blessed by one of his court priests, evangelical pastor Mark Burns, paid for by the Presidents Crypto Bros. The pose is his defiant hand raised at the presumed assassination attempt. Another day at the office. The ...

05/10/2026

Steve Shoemaker's latest article in the Baptist World News:
https://baptistnews.com/article/letting-go-of-our-wish-dream-for-the-church/?fbclid=IwY2xjawRtNtNleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETF0ZVhHWjFqRVJxNjBlQkFqc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHjjJqEHgkSqCyrdrGqATrt5VfMCM238T4Kz5AQI7yT3BL5FpM2Tc1bhv6OjW_aem_AFjbO71VxdXczCo-XmhqjQ

From the very beginning, Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s writings centered around the life of the church. The church, its calling and welfare, was his passion. As a young doctoral student, he wrote two dissertations. One was titled, “Christ Existing as Community.” As community! At age 19, he traveled to...

05/07/2026

Carrilea's Corner

Dear Grace,
I’m headed on a kindergarten field trip to Tweetsie. Somehow Wednesday got here super quick! So I don’t have much to say other than I hope you will join us Saturday morning to do a little work of cleaning and sprucing up around the church. Towards lunch time we will have some hotdogs and cake to celebrate Elijah’s 4th birthday. Join us!

04/30/2026

Carrilea's Corner

Dear Grace,
I’ve been sitting with our conversation from Sunday about sharing—and the idea of a shared common life. The conversations that followed were just as insightful.

From an economist (thanks George)...there is unlimited want and limited resources. Where those two intersect—and how they are negotiated—reveals a lot about what a society truly values.

And someone named out loud what many of us were likely thinking:
that trust is required if we are to have a shared common life.

And they’re right. You can’t share your life, your resources, your time, your vulnerability—without trust.

And trust isn’t something we can manufacture overnight.

I keep coming back to this quote from Richard Rohr:

“At this point, at least in the US, it appears that our cultural meaning has pretty much shrunk down to this: It is all about winning. Then, once you win, it becomes all about consuming. I can discern no other underlying philosophy in the practical order of American life today. Of itself, such a worldview cannot feed the soul very well or very long, much less provide meaning and encouragement, or engender love or community.”

If that’s the water we’re swimming in, then it makes sense that trust feels hard. Because we are all trying to function and survive in this culture—a culture that trains us to compete, protect, and accumulate. And yet, at the same time, we are trying to build something different.

An alternative kind of community.
One rooted in sharing.
In care.
In belonging.

There is a lot swirling out there in the world right now. Maybe resistance is as simple—and as hard—as showing up in a community gathered around a different set of shared values.

Gratefully,

Carrilea

04/23/2026

Carrilea's
Corner
Dear Grace,
First, I wanted to say that I'm honored and excited for the journey ahead! I think I've told you this several times, but I didn't see myself going back to preaching. But then I met yall...and you coaxed/loved it out of me. Thanks for loving me and my family so well. We love being a part of Grace!

I also have a few Earth Day Reflections...

At some point in my teenage years, I was told if I wanted to be a faithful Christian I just needed to listen to contemporary Christian music. That was the path. That was the formation. I guess the logic was if I filled my ears every day with “praise” I’d be more holy. Remember all those cringe songs in the 90's?

Meanwhile, no one handed me a shovel and said, tending a garden and caring for creation is vehemently connected to your spirituality. In fact, now I’d go as far as to say that indifference to creation- and the care of creation - is a path towards spiritual bankruptcy. I believe that in our caring for creation, creation is also caring for us.

Y’all know I’m not one to talk much about salvation—primarily because of the connotations it carries that I don’t always resonate with. But if you remember back in January, when I talked about what salvation actually means, I shared that the root word in Greek is sozo, which means wholeness.

Not perfection.

Not flawlessness.

Wholeness.

A life that is integrated rather than fragmented.

A person no longer split apart by fear, shame, or isolation.

Relationships restored—to God, to others, to ourselves, and to the world we belong to.

Salvation, then, is our journey toward wholeness.

And I would also say that our salvation is deeply connected to creation itself. Indifference to creation will not lead us toward wholeness.

So on this Earth Day, as we pause to marvel at this planet we inhabit, I find myself wondering:

What memories do you have of oneness with creation?

What are those touchstone moments that remind you how intricately your soul is tied up with the soul of the earth?

Moments where, in connection with creation, you feel more free, more alive?

I have many. But one I return to often is the summer I spent in a small rural village in Kenya.

There was solar electricity and no plumbing. I carried water for bathing, washing clothes, and everything else. It connected me to the earth in a way I still struggle to fully describe. The sky—especially the night sky—felt like it could swallow me whole.

In a world that is increasingly disconnected from the elements and rhythms of the earth, I can’t help but wonder if that disconnection is also why we sometimes feel like we are losing touch with our own souls.

Perhaps part of our journey back to wholeness is also a journey back to creation.

Gratefully,

Carrilea