White Greeters Only: North Carolina Pastor Makeda Pennycooke Asks 'Only White People' Be Greeters [VIDEO]

A black pastor in North Carolina has come under scrutiny for a peculiar email she sent to her congregation. Makeda Pennycooke, the executive pastor of operations at a multi-racial church in Charlotte, asked that "only white people" be at the front door during the church's Sunday service. News station WBTV obtained the email from a disgruntled member of the church this weekend and printed it. The email read: "We are continuing to work to bring our racial demographic pendulum back to mid-line ... [s]o we would like to ask that only white people be on the front doors. We would rather have less greeters on the front door if it means that the few that we have will represent us the best."

Pennycooke is the only black pastor at Freedom House, while senior pastors Troy and Penny Maxwell are white. Carmen Thomas was the member of the congregation who reported the incident to the local TV news outlet, saying she was shocked that a church as welcoming as Freedom House would send such an email to its patrons. "I was floored," she said. "You can put a white face all over the front door. But when you come through those doors, you're going to see African Americans, you're gonna see Asians. You're going to see people of color." The church eventually confirmed that the email had been sent by one of its pastors, apologized and said that the message the email was trying to convey was not communicated correctly.

"The email was sent by one of our longtime pastors in an attempt to emphasize that our greeting team reflect the racial diversity of our entire congregation. However, she admitted it was a mistake to over-emphasize any specific group and sent an apology email within 24 hours of the original email going out. The pastors have been meeting with staff and church members to confirm their commitment to diversity and to ensure nothing like this happens again," the statement said. Freedom Church has four services each weekend. Its website describes it as an "euqipping church, a relationally healthy church, an excellent church, a leadership church and a generous church."