A North Carolina pastor believed that having too many black members is bad for business. Subsequently he asked that “the best” members be greeters at their front doors — meaning white people.
The pastor is now backpedaling better than Michael Jackson after the media found out.
The pastor of Freedom House Church, Makeda Pennycooke, rationalized this dubious decision in an email to members in order to swing the “demographic pendulum” back to more digestible levels for its leadership.
Translation: the congregation has gotten too black.
Worse, Pennycooke, an African-American, sent the email to a group of church volunteers writing “first impressions matter” and that the congregation wanted “the best of the best on the front doors.”
To him, that means white people.
Carmen Thomas, probably wanted to speak in unprintable tongues after her black pastor barred people of color from serving as greeters at the 9 a.m. service during the congregation’s busiest season, according to WBTV.
Thomas told the news station she believed Pennycooke was attempting to attract white worshippers.
“We are continuing to work to bring our racial demographic pendulum back to mid-line,” she continued in the email. “So we would like to ask that only white people be on the front doors.”
According to WBTV, Pennycooke has since apologized for the email along with seniors pastors Troy and Penny Maxwell.
“The pastors have been meeting with staff and church members to confirm their commitment to diversity and to ensure nothing like this happens again,” church officials told WBTV.
“Freedom House believes in a diverse relationship within its membership, reflecting the larger community in which the church resides, doing life together as a church representative of everyone — culturally, ethnically, economically, and generationally.”
