We are a curious, inclusive, and diverse gathering of imperfect people united by our common hope in Jesus Christ. Through worship, study, and service we seek to know and show the transformative love of God found in the pages of scripture and revealed in the person of Jesus. No matter who you are or where you are on your spiritual journey, know that you are welcome here.  

Welcome Tim Walsh

We are pleased to welcome Tim Walsh as our part-time Interim Director of Christian Education. Tim will serve in this role for an anticipated 10–18 months, providing leadership and support for our ministries with children, youth, young adults, and adults while helping to ensure continuity and growth during this interim period.

Many of you already know Tim, as he has been a familiar face at First Presbyterian Church. He has helped with Vacation Bible School, taught Bible studies, and shared children’s moments during Sunday morning New Song worship.

Tim served as Youth Group Leader and Sunday School Teacher at Old Stone Church in Rockton, Illinois, from 1992–2001. He also served on the Young Life East Manatee Advisory Board from 2008–2018 and currently serves as Advisory Board Chair for the Young Inventor Challenge, an international toy design competition for children and youth ages 6–18.

Please join us in welcoming Tim to this new role and offering your support as he helps nurture and strengthen our Christian education ministries at First Presbyterian Church!

Last Week of the Summer First Connect Bible Study:

Revealed – The Word and Work of Christ in the Gospels  

The 8-week summer Bible study continues this week. (2 weeks left) This discussion-based study moves beyond traditional lectures, inviting participants to engage deeply with Scripture, explore its context, and discover the nature of Christ through his words and actions. 


We will begin by examining Jesus’ personal, face-to-face encounters with individuals and what they reveal about his character, mission, and love.

All are welcome, join in the library on Sunday, August 9 (10:00-10:55 a.m.)

New Adult Sunday School Class: Aging as a Spiritual Journey

Beginning Sunday, September 13, Dent Davis and Mary Ziegler will lead a six-week adult Sunday School class, Aging as a Spiritual Journey.

As the Bible reminds us, "Let days speak, and many years teach wisdom" (Job 32:7). Aging is more than a physical process—it is also a spiritual journey filled with opportunities for growth, reflection, and deeper faith.

Together, we will explore stories from the Bible, history, and literature, drawing on insights from gerontology and psychology to discover how spirituality enriches the aging experience. Participants will also have opportunities to reflect on their own journeys and gain practical wisdom for navigating the joys and challenges that come with growing older.

Aging brings both gains and losses, joy and sorrow, meaning and uncertainty. Since aging is a journey we all share, there is much to learn from one another.

The class meets Sundays from September 13 through October 25 (no class on October 4) at 10:00 a.m. in Room 203.

All are welcome.

You can also watch the Sunday sermons on our YouTube channel

Thank You for Supporting Our Brentwood School Supply Drive!

Our annual Brentwood School Supply Drive has been completed, and we are so grateful for the generous donations from our congregation.

Thank you for helping provide Brentwood students with the supplies they need for a successful school year!

The donated supplies will be delivered during our Back-to-School Welcome Breakfast for Brentwood teachers, where we will celebrate and support the educators who serve our local students.

Memorial Garden Renewed



We are pleased to announce the completion of the renovation of our Memorial Garden, a beautiful and peaceful space renewed for reflection, prayer, and remembrance.

This special area continues to provide a meaningful place to honor and celebrate the lives of loved ones while offering a quiet setting for members and visitors to pause, remember, and spend time in prayer. Great care was taken in preserving the sacred nature of this space, honoring its significance as a place of dignity, peace, and spiritual connection for generations to come.



Through thoughtful planning and the dedication of many individuals who helped bring this renewal to life, the Memorial Garden has been beautifully restored as a lasting gift to our church community. We invite you to visit this sacred space and experience the beauty, serenity, and reverence it offers.

Join Our Tech Team!


We're looking for volunteers to help support our worship services by serving on our Tech Team. Opportunities include running slides, operating cameras, and assisting with sound and live streaming. No prior experience is necessary—we'll provide training.

If you'd like to use your gifts in this important ministry, or would like to learn more, please contact Jimi Camastro jimic.thesoundlounge@gmail.com

Your help can make a meaningful difference in our worship each Sunday!

Vacation Bible School

Vacation Bible School

Last month, with the generosity of our congregation, we were able to successfully place a food order through Supermarket 23. The pastor and session of Juan G. Hall have expressed their sincere gratitude. And despite the daily difficulties in Cuba, the congregation continues to be faithful in carrying out the ministries of the church.



Recipients of the Bethlehem Light ministry enjoy meals and social activities three times a week. Those who are homebound are served their meals, with a time of fellowship, in their home. 

Prayer for Cuba from Josué Montejo Bayola, pastor of Juan G. Hall:


Shortages have become part of daily life: prolonged blackouts that plunge families into darkness—not only the darkness of the night but also the darkness of daily life—fill us with uncertainty. Questions arise hand in hand with the needs of each household: What to cook? What to cook with? (charcoal, firewood, sawdust, among others). The absence of drinking water limits the essentials and brings despair and conflict among neighbors. The lack of medicines turns common illnesses into true death sentences. Insufficient wages, faced with abysmal inflation, mean that even professionals with higher salaries live in vulnerability. Desolation hangs over our nation like a mantle that robs smiles, dreams, and hopes, because without a present there can be no future.

Let us pray together that the Lord may be the strength of these people. Let us pray that paths of provision and justice may open to relieve the weariness of so many years. Let us pray that His presence may renew hope and give us courage to transform what can no longer remain as it is. Let us pray with confidence, knowing that God can make a way where there is none and work in ways we cannot understand.

Let us pray for peace, that peace which is born when the lion and the lamb graze together. Let us pray for those who believe power is in their hands, forgetting that God is sovereign. Let us pray for the Cuban people, those inside and those outside the island. Let us cry out to God for Cuba.

Hurricane Season Preparedness

Hurricane season is here, and now is the time to prepare your family, home, and neighborhood. Create an emergency plan, know your evacuation level, and stock a disaster supply kit with enough essentials to last at least seven days, as extended power outages are possible and emergency responders cannot assist once winds reach 45 mph.

No two storms are alike, so preparation is essential. Find preparedness guides, checklists, and evacuation information at scgov.net/beprepared.

Chapel News

“Solitude is the place where our own hearts discover our deep yearning to be loved unconditionally and to love with our whole beings… it is the place of the great encounter from which all other encounters derive their meaning.”

-Henri Nouwen

 The Chapel is open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

We Need Your Help!



Each week, First Presbyterian Church’s All Faiths Food Bank distribution serves more than 200 families—and volunteers are essential to making it possible. As many of our regular “snowbird” volunteers head out for the season, we especially need extra helping hands right now.

Join us on Thursday mornings in the south/back parking lot. We begin packing food at 8:00 a.m., and distribution runs from 9:30 to 11:00 a.m. You don’t need to stay the entire time—any amount of help is truly a blessing.

Our drive-through food distribution continues to grow as we respond to increasing needs in our community. Each family receives a generous mix of dry goods, fresh produce, bakery items, dairy, and meat.

Ways you can help:

Volunteer:

We would love to have you join us Thursday mornings to help pack bags and serve our neighbors. No experience is needed—we’ll show you everything. Individuals, couples, families, and students needing service hours are all welcome.

Donate:

Every gift makes a difference. Donations may be made to FPC with “Food Bank” in the memo line.

Thank you for helping us be the hands and feet of Christ as we serve our neighbors with compassion and care.

🗓 When: Thursday mornings

⏰ Food packing begins: 8:00 a.m.

🌟 Distribution: 9:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.

📍 Where: First Presbyterian Church, south/back parking lot

Even an hour of your time can make a real difference.

Dear First Presbyterian Church Family,

As we look ahead to a new school year, we are filled with gratitude for the opportunity to be part of such an important ministry of First Presbyterian Church.

For nearly 80 years, First Presbyterian Preschool has been a place where young children are welcomed, known, loved, and encouraged to grow. We are deeply grateful that this ministry has been part of our church's life for so many generations, and we are honored to continue that legacy.

Right now, our preschool may be quiet, but a lot is happening behind the scenes. Our teachers are busy preparing their classrooms, planning meaningful experiences, organizing materials, and getting everything ready to welcome our children and families back to school. There is something so special about watching empty classrooms come to life again in anticipation of the children who will soon fill them with laughter, questions, creativity, and joy.

As we prepare for another year, we are reminded that our work is about so much more than early childhood education. It is about relationships. It is about creating a place where children feel that they belong, families feel supported, and teachers have the opportunity to make a lasting difference in the lives of young children.

We are especially grateful for the many ways First Presbyterian Church supports this ministry. From the beautiful spaces we call home to the people who welcome, encourage, pray for, and care for our preschool community, we are reminded again and again that we are part of something much bigger than ourselves.

Thank you for believing in the importance of this ministry and for helping us create a place where children can learn, grow, and flourish. We are incredibly blessed to be part of the First Presbyterian Church family, and we look forward to another year filled with learning, laughter, friendships, and joyful memories.

With love and heartfelt gratitude,

Clare Carter, Lydia Chapdelain, and your First Pres. Preschool Family

Cheryl's Monthly Health Awareness ........

Friends -

As summer winds down and a new school year approaches, now is the perfect time to help your family start the year healthy. Annual checkups, vision and hearing screenings, and staying up to date on recommended vaccinations are all important steps in keeping children healthy, in school, and ready to learn. Here are a few reminders about back-to-school health and the importance of vaccinations for people of all ages.



~ Nurse Cheryl

Back to School Health

Where did the summer go? We have a few more weeks to enjoy travels and time with family and friends. Don’t forget to schedule a medical, eye, and ear exam for your child. During these visits, it’s a good time to ask the doctor questions about your child’s health and get recommended vaccinations. Recommendations may change as we age, but the need for protection does not.

Here are ten reasons to get vaccinated:

Vaccine-preventable diseases have not gone away Viruses and bacteria that cause disease still exist and can be passed on to those who are unvaccinated and unprotected. While many preventable diseases are no longer common in the US, global travel makes it easy for diseases to spread

Vaccines help keep you healthy The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends vaccines throughout your life to help protect against many infections. If you skip vaccines, you may be at risk for diseases including flu, measles, and HPV and hepatitis B–both leading causes of cancer.

Vaccines are as important to your overall health as diet and exercise Like eating healthy and exercising, vaccines help play a vital role in protecting your health.

Vaccination can mean the difference between life and death Vaccine-preventable diseases can be deadly. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, approximately 50,000 adults died from vaccine-preventable diseases in the US each year. Routine childhood immunizations are estimated to have prevented more than 1 million deaths in US children between 1994–2023

Vaccines are safer than the diseases they prevent The US has a robust approval process in place to ensure the safety of all licensed and approved vaccines. Potential side effects associated with vaccines are uncommon and much less severe than the diseases they prevent.

Vaccines do not cause disease Vaccines contain either killed or weakened viruses, making it impossible for vaccines to give you the diseases they are designed to prevent

Young and healthy people can get very sick, too Although infants and older adults are at increased risk for serious complications, vaccine-preventable diseases can strike anyone, at any time. If you are young and healthy, getting vaccinated can help you stay that way.

Vaccine-preventable diseases can be expensive Diseases have a direct impact on individuals and families, and also carry a high price tag for society as a whole, exceeding an estimated $10 billion per year. An average flu illness can last up to 2 weeks, typically with 5 or 6 missed work or school days. And adults who get hepatitis A lose an average of one month of work. Vaccination is a cost-effective way to save lives.

When you get sick, your children, grandchildren, and parents may also be at risk Adults are the most common source of pertussis (whooping cough), which can be deadly in infants. Staying up to date on all recommended vaccines helps protect you and your family as well as those in your community who are unable to be vaccinated.

Your family and co-workers need you In the US, millions of adults get sick from vaccine-preventable diseases each year, causing them to miss work and leaving them unable to care for those who depend on them, including children and/or aging parents.



Taken from: www.nfid.org, letsgetrealaboutvaccines.org

Pastoral Care

When you or a loved one is hospitalized, it is important that you contact the church or the pastor to inform us directly and inform the hospital that you are a member of our congregation and would welcome a visit. Hospitals will not contact the church. We have also discovered that some will no longer list a patient as our church member on their internal records unless the patient carefully notes their relationship with our congregation. Thank you for your assistance.

We’re Here for You!

The FPC care team, deacons, elders, and church staff continue to be available for you. Please feel free to reach out to Cheryl Track, Faith Community Nurse, at (941) 320-3828 or call the church office at (941) 955-8119 if we can support you.