Pastor Emily Harkins
Colorado Native, proud Midwest Transplant, turned Southern Belle by way of drinking Cheerwine and using “Y’all” in everyday conversation.
Passionate about faith, service, relationship-building, learning, and love. Thrives on kindness, travel, advocacy and justice, hard work, community organizing, creative and effective communication, organizational systems, fun stationary, and Diet Coke.
Adores her dogs and tolerates the cat. Currently balancing life as a mission developer, pastor, and full-time human. Actively trying to be her best self, all while loving her neighbor.
Lead Pastor & Mission Developer
Emily Harkins was ordained as a Pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) in May of 2020 and serves as the Lead Pastor and Founding Developer of this new community of faith, The Dwelling.
Since 2013, Emily has worked alongside persons experiencing homelessness through the City with Dwellings Emergency Overflow Shelter at Augsburg Lutheran Church in Winston-Salem and the City with Dwellings Community First Center. She also was one of the founding board members of City with Dwellings and continues to serve as an advisor to the organization.
During the last seven years, Emily has provided pastoral care to her neighbors and has heard their requests for a deeper community of faith. So, here we are.
Contact: emily@thedwellingws.org
DEACON BROOKE De JONG
Brooke (she/they) is a proud Minnesotan who still unironically uses ufda and ope. And she is glad to be adopted by the people of North Carolina to escape the cold winters and be closer to the mountains.
Brooke is an avid hiker and backpacker and they love trying new ways to stay active. She has done everything from Mau Thai to aerial acrobatics to rugby. But for the past two years you can most often find them in the gym training for their next powerlifting meet. Brooke also loves crafts and on Sundays you might catch her working on her latest crochet project while listening to the sermon.
Brooke’s call to ministry was discovered among the trees and around campfires in South Dakota, shaped by the people and contexts she served in Chicago and informed by her work in education and public witness across the ELCA with ELCA World Hunger.
Brooke’s passion for serving alongside her neighbors experiencing homelessness comes from her time as a hospital chaplain in the southwest suburbs of Chicago and as an administrator and grant writer for HUD and Ryan White grants with Heartland Alliance Health in Chicago.
Brooke is an ordained deacon in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Brooke received their Master of Divinity from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. Brooke’s call as a deacon is to help tell our shared story in Christ and activate others to help to live out that story to create safe, sustainable, thriving, livelihoods for all. They have a passion for faith formation that is culturally sensitive, trauma informed, socially responsive and aimed at creating lifelong, engaged faith leaders.
Contact: brooke@thedwellingws.org
Deacon for Advocacy, Education, and Development
Joseph hedrick
Minister of Meals (M.O.M.)
Hailing from the BBQ capital of NC, Joseph left for Nashville, TN, at the age of 18 to pursue degrees in Religion and English. Post-graduation, he found himself turning compost and packing CSA boxes at Bells Bend Farm with no knowledge of how to cook the produce in front of him. His curiosity for the culinary arts was born. Since then, food has brought awareness to his privilege as well as broader issues like food injustice and disparities.
Part vagabond, Joseph has spent the last 15 years from the mountains of Oahu to the canyons in Utah as a cook, seasonal farmhand, backpacking guide, and mechanical technician. Now rooted in Winston Salem, he, with his wife Christine and pup Rocky, is remodeling his food truck, “Buddy System,” aiming to enhance food accessibility in the Triad, bringing attention to seasonality, preservation, and utilization of regional produce. Otherwise, you can always find him playing music, riding his bike, fly fishing, reading, or playing games (chess, bones, or backgammon).
Brother Joseph is grateful to be serving the Dwelling as Minister of Meals (M.O.M.). He sees the act of cooking as sacred and alchemic, a force for justice. This role answers a profound calling to cook and nourish all.
Contact: joseph@thedwellingws.org
Minister of Facilities
Nick childress
Nick is the glue that keeps the beautiful chaos at The Dwelling in order. He cares deeply about the safety and wellbeing of all who call The Hub home and takes the time to learn the names and stories of all who walk through these doors. Nick not only stewards the physical space of The Dwelling but takes the time to invest in leaders who steward the space alongside him.
Contact: nick@thedwellingws.org