Sue was ordained to ministry in 2023, which is surprising given that she …

… once believed that she’d never leave the Roman Catholic Church

… left the Roman Catholic Church and believed she’d never leave the Episcopal Church

… realized she was gay, left the Episcopal Church, returned to the Roman Catholic Church, then left it again, figuring that all of institutionalized Christianity was such a mess that she was done with church

… cusses every now and again.

Truth is, it’s not all that surprising. Ordained ministry is what Sue has always been called to, and in many ways, she’s been answering that call all her life.

After spending a decade in her twenties as youth and pastoral care minister, serving on the parish vestry, and discerning a call to the Episcopal priesthood in Southern Pines, NC, Sue decided the timing wasn’t right for ordination. She raised two (amazing!) sons and embarked upon an eclectic career journey where, without quite realizing it, she honed many pastoral skills as a writer, teacher, principal, artistic director, business consultant, and CEO of several startups, including one in the end-of-life space where she found her desire to support people in their grief renewed and deepened. Sue has spent decades studying scripture (canonical and non-canonical), reading the mystics, and inhabiting the dark night of the soul more than once. Her faith life has alternated between working to be devout in traditional Christian contexts and deconstructing her faith to find deeper and bigger meaning. Arriving at Common Thread in 2019, both she and her beloved wife Maria found a space where they could spiritually thrive with integrity. Three years in, Sue renewed her discernment process through intense and ongoing wisdom school studies and devoting her life to ministry at Common Thread. This led to her ordination in 2023 and succeeding Doug as our new pastor in the fall of 2024. She’d love to connect with you and learn about your spiritual journey!

Doug has been a minister a long time. Which is surprising given that he …

… has been excommunicated once,

… was fired from his first minister gig,

… is deeply disillusioned with organized religion,

… cusses from time to time.

Doug moved to Raleigh in 1995 from a megachurch in L.A., gathered a bunch of also-disillusioned folks, and started Common Thread. They spent years, not being a church, but a lab, trying to figure church out. They tried new ideas, new practices, tweaked stuff, then did it all again. Then Doug wrote a book about what they’d learned—which got him excommunicated, and our building taken away.

But, we do have a healthy way to be spiritual community.

It’s not perfect. But we love what we have.

And now Doug’s old.

At the age when old men plant trees they’ll never sit under.

He’s supporting Sue and new leadership as they navigate Common Thread’s future.

And to give away what we’ve learned.