A North Carolina church is apologizing after its executive pastor sent an e-mail to church volunteers requesting "white greeters only." In the e-mail, Pastor Makeda Pennycooke, requested that "only white people" welcome church attendees.

Pennycooke is a black woman and serves as the executive pastor of operations at the Freedom House Church in Charlotte.  She sent the e-mail requesting greeters for a 9 a.m. service.

"I was floored," Carmen Thomas, a Freedom House Church member of 2 years, said in an interview with WBTV. "...it was a jaw dropper. 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."

According to Pennycooke's e-mail, the fall season is exceptionally busy in churches. She wrote that "first impressions matter" and then made her questionable request.

"We are continuing to work to bring our racial demographic pendulum back to mid-line," Pennycooke said in the email. "So we would like to ask that only white people be on the front doors."

Pennycooke's e-mail continued to rationalize her decision. "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 said in the e-mail.

According to WBTV, the local station that first reported the incident, Freedom House Church confirmed Pennycooke as the writer of the e-mail.

Yesterday afternoon, Freedom House Church released a statement:

"One of our longtime pastors, in keeping with our church's desire to be inclusive and intentionally reach out to all races, noticed our front door greeting team was no longer reflecting the racial diversity of our entire congregation, and she wanted potential visitors to see people like themselves upon entering our church. However, she made an error in judgment in requesting all white greeters at the front door, going overboard in placing emphasis on any one race over another in trying to highlight diversity within the greeting team. She admits this was a grave lapse in judgment and is sincerely sorry for her actions. She immediately apologized and has asked our forgiveness. She and senior pastors have made themselves available to meet with any church members who want to discuss this situation with them, and have communicated their true heart in this matter - to be a church welcoming and inclusive to all.  Freedom House believes in a diverse relationship within its membership, reflecting the larger community in which the church resides, doing life together as a church representative of everyone - culturally, ethnically, economically, and generationally."

Before releasing the above statement, Freedom House Church also sent a statement to WBTV:

"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," the statement said. "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."