The birth of a bilingual church
Plus: Home sale prices fall; First Citizens buys Silicon Valley Bank assets; City Council member emphasizes that CATS is safe; South Charlotte on edge awaiting CMS school assignment map; BofA job cuts
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As some churches shrink, a pastor from Costa Rica finds fertile ground among immigrants in east Charlotte; worship songs and bulletins in Spanish and English
Vive Charlotte Church previously met in this Sharon Amity house that served as the church’s home for a year. It will now gather at its new location at St. Thomas Lutheran Church, just three minutes down the road.
by Lindsey Banks
Last Sunday morning, over two dozen people crowded into the carpeted living room of a four-bedroom house on North Sharon Amity Road for a Vive Charlotte Church service. Rev. José Portillo began the service with a bittersweet announcement, first in English and then in Spanish.
“Today is our last Sunday here,” he said, gesturing to the white walls of the east Charlotte house, which has served as the church’s home for the past year. Now, starting March 26, Vive Charlotte Church will gather at St. Thomas Lutheran Church, a much-larger meeting space just three minutes around the corner on Shamrock Drive.
St. Thomas Lutheran Church’s congregation is the smallest it’s been in all of its 65 years, Portillo said — one example of the pandemic’s shrinking effect on many churches nationwide.
But for Vive Charlotte — a Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) church born during the pandemic — the congregation is growing. It became an official church in May 2022, and almost a year later, nearly 50 people call Vive Charlotte their home church, with an average of 30 people attending services each week.
Portillo has had to be flexible with gathering spaces, starting out in his backyard and temporarily moving into an old Eastland Mall site. Now, Vive Charlotte is partnering with St. Thomas Lutheran Church to keep both churches alive as attendance numbers bounce back after the pandemic.
Vive Charlotte is a bilingual church. Last Sunday, Portillo said each sentence first in English and then in Spanish. Bulletins in both languages were passed out before the service, and each worship song alternated between English and Spanish verses. Wednesday evening services are entirely in Spanish.
Nationally, church membership has fallen from around 70% of American adults in the late 1990s to less than 50% today. Surveys show that the pandemic accelerated a decline in church attendance, particularly among young people.
The concept of a bilingual church may not be revolutionary, but Vive Charlotte’s uniqueness lies in its pastor.
Jimena Ydrogo, 26, first heard Portillo preach a couple of years ago at a service at Uptown Church. Ydrogo, who was born in Peru and moved to Charlotte when she was 6 years old, said she had never seen a Hispanic Reformed pastor. (Reformed is a type of Christian theology.)
When she discovered Portillo was starting a church, Ydrogo didn’t hesitate to join. Her mother and stepfather also attend services with her.
Vive Charlotte also holds fellowship before and after services and offers Bible studies and dinners throughout the week to build the church’s sense of community and support for Charlotte’s Hispanic immigrant community.
Journey to east Charlotte: For Portillo, Vive Charlotte has been a long time coming. He was born in Costa Rica and spent the first 14 years of his life in Central America. He and his family then moved to Texas where his father, William Portillo — also a reverend — worked in outreach ministry for the Hispanic immigrant community in Texas.
“I joined (my father) in the work, where I gained a big appreciation and not only for the immigrant community, but for the children of the immigrant community, the sons and the daughters, who are born here, who speak English, and yet who find themselves disconnected not only from the first generation culture but from the American culture,” Portillo said.
After earning his undergraduate degree, Portillo joined a part-time seminary program at Reformed Theological Seminary Houston and continued working with his dad’s church. He moved to Charlotte in 2016 to finish seminary and graduated with a master of divinity from Reformed Theological Seminary Charlotte.
He met his wife, Anna, in seminary. They got married in 2016 and now have four children, all under the age of 6.
“Coming to Charlotte, I discovered a first-generation, immigrant community that is just completely detached from church,” Portillo said. “If I want to follow my heart to care for the sons and the daughters of the immigrant community and the diversity of the community, I need to now care for people that are here. In doing so, our small community is multiethnic and multilingual.”
Portillo and his wife moved to Houston for two years shortly after they were married, but an opportunity opened up to move back to Charlotte in 2019 and work toward planting a church for the immigrant community.
Fighting the pandemic: At the beginning of 2020, they decided it was time to start their own church. But then Covid hit and quickly altered their plans.
“Even during Covid, the surprising thing is that I met more people,” Portillo said. “I began getting to know people in the community and campus neighborhoods, everywhere I could find people opening their door to meet me and talk about what it would look like to start a church.”
By the end of 2020, Portillo said over 60 people gathered outside of his home wearing masks to express interest. It gave him the clarity he needed to plant a church in east Charlotte.
He named the church “Vive Charlotte,” meaning “live” in Spanish, but more than that, “He lives.” In March 2021, Portillo held an interest meeting in a University City hotel and about 80 people turned out.
They set a goal to open the church to the public in the fall of 2021, but Covid struck again. A new variant caused Vive Charlotte to lose momentum.
They held outdoor gatherings for a few weeks until Portillo was approached by Forest Hill Church in its former Eastland Mall site with an offer to use their space. Portillo expected to need the space only for a few weeks, but that turned into seven months.
They held an outreach event in November 2021, and 40 families showed up. Portillo said about 80% spoke only Spanish, which proved to him that there was a need for Vive Charlotte.
“I discovered that I needed to go beyond contacting people and beyond becoming acquaintances by becoming a neighbor to them,” Portillo said. “The more and more I become a recognized neighbor, it seems that I get the opportunity to share and invite people into what the Lord is doing.”
In April 2022, Portillo found an empty house on North Sharon Amity Drive in east Charlotte. He spoke to the owners, who eventually had plans for a development project on the property, but they told them they could offer him a short-term lease.
Portillo and his church family got to work cleaning out the house and preparing it as a temporary meeting place. Vive Charlotte Church opened officially to the public in May 2022.
Kyshia Whitlock is a founding member and serves as the church’s community ambassador. She’s a missionary who served in Honduras for 40 years — and she says Vive Charlotte has continued to support her missionary work.
“They really embraced me,” Whitlock said. “It’s a place of safety and inclusion.”
In the future, Portillo hopes to grow Vive’s children’s ministries and put together a translation team so that church-goers can put on headsets and listen to the services in their language.
Lindsey Banks is a staff reporter for The Ledger: lindsey@cltledger.com
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… and the Charlotte Museum of History, which is hosting the Charlotte Gem Preservation Awards on May 11 — honoring the people and organizations that are saving Charlotte’s history.
First Citizens Bank buys much of Silicon Valley Bank; Deal doubles First Citizens’ assets and makes it a top 25 bank
Raleigh-based First Citizens Bank is buying big chunks of failed Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said early this morning.
First Citizens, with nearly 20 branches in Charlotte, is the No. 4 bank in the Charlotte region by deposits, according to the Charlotte Business Journal’s Book of Lists.
First Citizens will assume $110B in assets, $56B of deposits and $72B of loans from SVB, Reuters reported.
The purchase nearly doubles the size of First Citizens’ assets and makes it one of the top 25 banks in the country. It had been No. 30 as of Dec. 31, the Wall Street Journal said.
Bloomberg News had reported last week that First Citizens was interested in buying some of SVB’s assets.
It seems like an odd pairing between a buttoned-down North Carolina bank and a California bank that served tech companies and venture capitalists, but the move helps First Citizens grow and move into a new market.
Boost for ‘Silicon Valley of the South’? Raleigh-area boosters were already salivating last week at the prospect of increased visibility that a First Citizens-Silicon Valley Bank deal might bring: “I’m imagining a lot of people in San Francisco suddenly realizing what Raleigh is,” one Raleigh tech CEO told tech publication Triangle Inno. A startup investor from the Triangle said a deal could “bolster our growing reputation as the Silicon Valley of the South.” LOL. —TM
Shock: Charlotte-area home prices fall as market continues cooling; closings way down
The median sales prices of homes in the Charlotte region fell in February, the first year-over-year decline in at least four years, according to data released last week.
Sharply higher interest rates are keeping buyers away and taking the air out of the local housing market, which in the first half of 2022 routinely posted price increases of 20% or more compared with prices a year earlier.
In February, the median sales price in the 16-county Charlotte region fell by 1.9%, from $360,250 in February 2022 to $353,550 last month, according to figures from the Canopy Realtor Association. It’s the first such drop in at least four years and probably longer, but records online go back only to 2019.
The median sales price in Mecklenburg inched up by 3.6%, to $399,000. Prices fell in Cabarrus, Iredell and York counties.
Real estate agents tell us that people who bought or refinanced when rates were low are reluctant to look for new houses, because they would pay sharply higher mortgage rates. The number of closing plunged in February by 28% compared with a year earlier. —TM
Related Ledger articles:
“Home sale prices fall in some local counties” (Feb. 27)
“A property revaluation at the housing market’s peak?” (🔒, Jan. 13)
City Council member who heads transportation committee: CATS is safe, and the city is on top of it
As more details of troubles at the Charlotte Area Transit System emerge, the head of the City Council’s transportation committee wants people to know that the city is working to address the problems.
Council member Ed Driggs, who chairs the council’s Transportation, Planning and Development Committee, called us Saturday because he said he wanted to set the record straight about the nature of the problems at CATS and the city’s efforts to fix them.
Interim CATS CEO Brent Cagle disclosed publicly on March 13 that a CATS light rail train derailed last May. Last week, Cagle disclosed other problems, such as missed inspections on bridges and parking decks.
Driggs said he doesn’t want to minimize the problems at CATS but suggested he has found some of the media coverage overblown — and that he wants to correct the possible perception that public transit is unsafe and that the city isn’t doing enough.
“There is definitely a challenge in terms of public trust,” he said. “I’m just trying to make sure the reporting is balanced. There is no safety issue here. There could be a trust issue related to the disclosures that took place.”
He said he wants the public to know that “the city is taking aggressive action to address the concerns that have come to light.”
He said his committee will receive updates and will ensure that CATS enacts reforms, that the city plans to hire an outsider to investigate and that in the meantime, the city is following the recommendations of Cagle, who took over management of the department in December after former CEO John Lewis resigned.
Driggs said the May 2022 derailment wasn’t publicly reported because CATS officials didn’t believe it was anything other than a routine maintenance problem. A faulty piece of equipment caused a wheel to lock up, the driver slowed and stopped the train and passengers disembarked without incident, Driggs said. The city is working with the manufacturer to correct the problem on all 42 trains, which now operate at reduced speeds.
“I think there was an attitude — not a good attitude — but an attitude that this wasn’t a big deal,” he said. “They didn’t realize how incendiary the term ‘derailment’ was.”
Asked about the N.C. Department of Transportation’s assessment that CATS’ response to the derailment was “unclear, insufficient, and is not acceptable,” Driggs said the CATS official who communicated with the state disagreed with the state’s conclusions and had a “contentious relationship” with NCDOT. He said that official no longer works at CATS.
“We don’t take lightly the things have happened at CATS,” Driggs said. “But I want the public to understand the trains are running, the buses are running, it’s safe. We will deal with the problems that have caused this flow of information from CATS.” —TM
Intrigue builds on south Charlotte school reassignment; details start leaking out
South Charlotte is starting to buzz about the new student assignment map that Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools is expected to release today.
The word is starting to filter out that the map will call for students who attend Sharon Elementary and Carmel Middle to go to South Meck instead of Myers Park, and that the Olde Providence area will go to Providence High instead of Myers Park. There’s also concern about the potential for a high percentage of low socioeconomic status students at South Meck under the plan. Some parents who say they are familiar with the maps have started posting details on social media and on a Change.org petition. Those details align with what we’re hearing from well-placed sources.
CMS has said the changes could potentially affect up to 43 elementary, middle and high schools. It is redrawing the lines because of a new high school under construction in the Ballantyne area and a proposed middle school near Rea Farms.
There’s a meeting tonight at the Myers Park High cafeteria at 6:30 p.m. The school board is expected to vote on a new map in May. —CB, TM
➡️ Stick with The Ledger for timely and comprehensive coverage of this south Charlotte school boundary change. We’ve been on top of this issue from the beginning, and we’ll keep going. If you’re not a Ledger member, why not join?
Related Ledger articles:
“Parents pepper CMS officials with south Charlotte reassignment questions” (🔒, March 17)
“CMS South Charlotte boundary talks rev up” (🔒, March 15)
Golf course assessments to be discussed
Mecklenburg County commissioners are expected to receive information at their meeting next week about the taxation of golf courses, WFAE reported Friday.
That follows reporting by The Ledger and WFAE that the values of several Charlotte country clubs had dropped since 2019 and seem low compared with residential properties.
Quail Hollow Club, which hosts international golf tournaments and sits on 260 acres surrounded by multi-million-dollar houses, was valued at less than $10M. That’s less than the unsightly 19-acre undeveloped nearby “pit” at the corner of Park and Gleneagles roads, which is valued at $16M. —TM
You might be interested in these Charlotte events
Events submitted by readers to The Ledger’s events board:
THURSDAY: Charlotte Area Chamber Business Expo 2023, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. The Park Expo & Conference Center, 800 Briar Creek Road. Local and regional business professionals will come together at the Charlotte Area Chamber Business Expo to support each other’s businesses, make connections and grow their businesses. It’s a fantastic opportunity for businesses in the Charlotte area to network and showcase their company and brand. Free to attend, with registration.
➡️ List your event on the Ledger events board.
In brief:
BofA trims banking and lending group: Bank of America is cutting jobs in its wealth management, banking and lending group, Bloomberg News reported, citing anonymous sources. “Fewer than 200 staffers were offered different roles in other parts of the company while a handful, including some loan officers, were let go,” Bloomberg said. Bank of America said in a statement: “As our business and client needs grow and evolve, our focus continues to be on aligning our team to areas of greatest need.” (Bloomberg News)
Ex-council members named to App State board: The Appalachian State University Board of Trustees appointed two former Charlotte City Council members, Andy Dulin and Larken Egleston, to the school’s Board of Visitors at a meeting on Friday.
Folwell running for governor: N.C. Treasurer Dale Folwell announced Saturday that he is running for governor in 2024. He’s expected to face Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson in the Republican primary. Folwell, 64, is from the Winston-Salem area. (WRAL/AP)
Former UNC player’s cancer diagnosis: Former UNC Chapel Hill basketball star Eric Montross says he is being treated for cancer. Montross, 51, was the starting center on the 1993 national championship team. He didn’t specify the type of cancer. (ESPN)
Knight Foundation president to retire: The president of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Alberto Ibargüen, announced he is retiring from the organization. During his tenure, which began in 2005, the Knight Foundation has invested $89M in Charlotte, which is one of 26 communities once served by Knight-Ridder newspapers. Beneficiaries include the new downtown library, the Historic West End area, the Levine Museum of the New South, the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture and the Mint Museum.
Tillis explores political future? A New York Times political reporter says that Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina will be appearing in some early presidential primary states, according to an unnamed source familiar with the planning. “He’s expected to focus on the military and governing, but his visits are likely to be taken note of,” Maggie Haberman said on Twitter.
Taking stock
Unless you are a day trader, checking your stocks daily is unhealthy. So how about weekly? How local stocks of note fared last week (through Friday’s close), and year to date:
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Executive editor: Tony Mecia; Managing editor: Cristina Bolling; Staff writer: Lindsey Banks; Contributing editor: Tim Whitmire, CXN Advisory; Contributing photographer/videographer: Kevin Young, The 5 and 2 Project