The Encouraging Place

05/30/2026

04/30/2026

🔴 WE'RE GOING LIVE IN 5 MINUTES!

Grab your lunch and pull up a chair — Pastor Jerome Gay Jr. is joining us TODAY for our Virtual Lunch Huddle. We're diving into his book The Whitewashing of Christianity and talking about faith, race, and the hopeful future of the church.

Link to watch in the comments. See you in there! 👇

04/17/2026

A historic Black church that served its community for decades — and somebody wanted to turn it into a bar.

Pastor Phillip Walker doesn't mince words. Gentrification isn't automatically a bad thing — but gentrification without justice? That destroys culture, history, and community.

His message is simple: "This is not a house to take over. This is something that needs to be done in a way that respects who has been here."

Respect the culture. Honor the history. Then we work together.

Watch the full Virtual Lunch Huddle with Pastor Phillip Walker → [https://youtu.be/kUlU0OE_ys0]

04/12/2026

"If it looks like hell, the church should make it look like kingdom."

Pastor Phillip Walker isn't talking about a social program. He's talking about a kingdom initiative — where lives are changed, families are transformed, and the church makes everything around it look like what God intended.

When people move into the neighborhood struggling and walk away knowing how to do better? When their kids can do better? That's where the real impact is. And it starts with relationship.

This is what it looks like when a little church does a gigantic thing.

Watch the full Virtual Lunch Huddle with Pastor Phillip Walker → [https://youtu.be/kUlU0OE_ys0?si=zS_It1OMtkIaqB_5]

03/27/2026

Behind the scenes at The Encouraging Place - two friends, 30+ years of doing this work side by side, remembering the man whose words changed everything.
Reggie and Helen sat down to talk about what the late Dr. John Perkins meant to them - to their friendship, to their calling, and to the work of racial healing that started with his book “More Than Equals” and a simple invitation: let’s read this together.
That conversation sparked something that’s still goin! strong today.
Stay tuned for the full conversation.

03/26/2026

Behind the scenes at The Encouraging Place — two friends, 30+ years of doing this work side by side, remembering the man whose words changed everything.

Reggie and Helen sat down to talk about what the late Dr. John Perkins meant to them — to their friendship, to their calling, and to the work of racial healing that started with his book "More Than Equals" and a simple invitation: let's read this together.

That conversation sparked something that's still going strong today.

Stay tuned for the full conversation. 🦋

03/26/2026

WE ARE LIVE - JOIN US!

03/25/2026

It's happening TOMORROW! 🙌🍽️

Join Reggie and Pastor Walker from Mt. Pleasant Worship and Outreach Center for this month's Virtual Lunch Huddle at 12 PM! We're talking affordable housing, community impact, and what it looks like when the church leads the way in building equity right here in Raleigh.

This is a conversation you want to be part of.
👉 Not registered yet? Don't worry, come anyway, the link is in the comments!

Can't make it live? Subscribe to our YouTube channel so you don't miss the replay.

03/09/2026

Reggie Edwards on why building real relationships is the key to racial healing — and why you can't bail every time it gets uncomfortable. "You can't run off from your wife or husband every time they make you mad." The same is true here. Just stay with it. Watch the full Virtual Lunch Huddle → YouTube.

03/07/2026

Pastor Andy Gray breaks down what racial healing actually requires — and it's more than good feelings. It takes your heart, your mind, AND your strength. All three. Are you showing up with all three? Watch the full Virtual Lunch Huddle on YouTube.