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GCPC Alive and Well This Week! |
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GCPC Community Garden Alive Again!
Many thanks to all our volunteers who make this magic happen every year.
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Worship Preview | Sunday, April 11, 2021
Second Sunday of Easter
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Sermon: "To See Or Not to See" by Samantha Gonzalez-Block
Scripture: John 20:19-31
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WAYS TO PLEDGE FOR 2021:
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Sign into your Realm account online or on the Realm Connect mobile app and enter a pledge under the Giving tab. Detailed instructions with photos are here.
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Email Natalie Weaver your total pledge amount and planned giving frequency (i.e. weekly, monthly) to have her enter it on your behalf.
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Contact the Finance Office at 828-254-3274, ext. 202 or nweaver@gcpcusa.org to request a printed pledge card be mailed to your home address.
Click here to watch a video example of how to pledge in Realm.
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Recurring Weekly Zooms:
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Sundays "Adult Education" @ 9:00 am (Resumes April 18th)
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Sundays "Pre-K - 3rd Grade Sunday Morning Adventure" @ 10:15 am (email Anna Louise for zoom info)
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Sundays "4th and 5th Grade Connect Class" @ 5:00 pm (email Anna Louise for zoom info) (Resumes April 11th)
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Sundays "Youth Group" @ 5:00 pm - email Cat Kessler for zoom info) (Resumes April 18th)
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Wednesdays “Zoom Bible Study” @ 3:00 pm
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Wednesdays "Choir Chat" @ 7:30 pm
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Every other Thursday "Men of GCPC" @ 8:30 am (April 15 is next meeting)
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If you are a part of a group, Team, or Circle at GCPC and you want to have a Zoom meeting, let staff know. We will help you get set up on our GCPC Zoom account for group gatherings and meetings. You can schedule your meeting on the calendar with Anna Louise, and any staff member can help you get set up for your meeting if you have questions.
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Spiritual/Pastoral Support |
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Deacon of the Week
In this time of physical distancing, the deacons of Grace Covenant continue to be available to talk and pray with you by phone or online and to coordinate care. If you have difficulty reaching your assigned deacon or if you do not know who your assigned deacon is, please feel free to reach out to our deacon of the week.
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Prayer List
Prayer requests will stay on the GCPC Prayer List for one month. Please let any staff member know if you (or your loved one) would like to remain on the list for longer.
Iglesia Jerusalem congregation
Marcia Zuzel (friend of Kim Hottle and Melissa Shook)
Ryan Lockett (nephew of Denise Lockett)
Jennifer Martin (Yvonne Smith's daughter)
Truly and Eric Mount (Marcia Mount Shoop’s parents)
Bertilda Arteta (Marta Alcala-Williams' mother)
Paul Rogers’ Mom (in Arkansas)
Sheldon Smith (Beth Robrecht’s brother-in-law)
Phil and Pat Cocke (Jerry and Susie Bleckley’s friend)
Jennings Palmer and his family (friends of Kathy Jacobs)
Lynne Norris (friend of Mary Lou Nash)
John Hamel (Tim Hamel’s father)
David Good (Amber Cook’s dad)
Midgie Swartz (Allison Blozy’s aunt)
John Nelson (friend of Steve and Florence Riedesel)
Rhett Milner (Lynn Milner’s nephew)
Adela Gaiser (Robin and Gordon Gaiser’s granddaughter)
Buster Carswell (Amanda Pressley’s brother-in-law)
Family of Patricia Ruthvin (Mary Byers’ sister)
Charles Williams (Libby Kyles' father)
Bob Higgins
Florence and Steve Riedesel
Roslyn Carney
Susan Smialowicz
Laura Ross
Bill Williamson
Queen Mother Maggie Belle Gladden
John Mount Shoop
Elizabeth Fisher
Doris Prak
Susie Wheelis
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*GCPC Sunday Adult Education will resume on April 18. |
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Power and Race Team (PART) Meeting | TONIGHT, Thursday, April 8 | 6:00 PM | via Zoom
Here's what's happening at this month's PART meeting tonight! In addition to prayerful meditation and checking in with each other, we'll look at:
1) Norms. Four years ago PART generated "Norms for Community Discourse" to help GCPC groups become better at speaking truths and listening deeply while paying attention to underlying power dynamics. I'm sure that four years later, you have some pretty good ideas of what seems to work. We'll pool that learning as we revisit the norms and suggest tweaks.
2) What next for PART. What do you want to explore? What have you been learning or doing to further dismantle white dominance culture? Whose voices do you want to share? What ideas have grabbed you? What do you need to learn? Bring your list! Let's share ideas and use them to plan future gatherings.
Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 913 1444 5389 | Passcode: 789
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Enneagram Gathering for GCPC Parents | Wednesday, April 14 | 6:30-8:30 PM | via Zoom
Facilitated by Carol Hovis, all parents are welcome. If you don't know your enneagram type, contact Carol. Email Carol if you would like to participate.
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The Racial Justice Book Series returns!
The Racial Justice Book Series will return this summer with three books by Black female authors about the systems, consequences, and remedies of the deep entrenchment of white supremacy culture in our country and church.
We will meet on zoom during the Sunday school hour the last Sunday of each month. The first book is a great and lengthy one, so go ahead and get started!
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Presbyterian Women’s Circles are Zoom meetings.
Please join us.
Circle 1: First Tuesday of each month, 10:00 a.m.
Circle 2: First Tuesday of each month, 7:30 p.m.
Circle 3: *Third Thursday of each month, 7:00 p.m.
Circle 4: First Thursday of each month, 7:00 p.m.
Circle 5: First Monday of each month, 11:00 a.m.
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Children & Youth Formation |
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Pre-K - 3rd Grade Sunday Morning Adventure | 10:15 am | Zoom
You'll get an email every Friday with the Zoom link for our Sunday 10:15am check in. Email Anna Louise if you did not receive the link.
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4th & 5th Graders CONNECT Class | Sundays | 5:00-5:45pm | Zoom
Each week, families will receive an email with a unique login for class. If you would like to be on the list, please email Anna Louise.
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There will be NO Youth Group this week (4/11).
We look forward to seeing you again on Sunday, April 18th!
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SIGN UP FOR CONFIRMATION (Fall 2021): |
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Attention current 8th-11th graders! Because of the pandemic, we are moving Confirmation to Fall 2021, with some special programming in the late Spring and a request to participate in one of the summer conferences (info below).
Our theme for the year is "Faith Voyage." This will be a sacred and exciting time to explore your faith in community. And it is a whole lot of fun!
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Community Working Together |
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Easter Liberation Bible Study | Tuesdays | April 6 - May 18th | 5:30-7:00 PM
Come to some or all!
How we read the Bible matters. Where we come from and our life experiences inform the way we understand what we read in the Holy Bible and shapes the way we follow the teachings of Jesus. Liberation Theology is a theology grounded in the insight that God sides with the poor and marginalized throughout scripture.
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Christians For A United Community Online Book Club | starting Sunday April 18th | 2:00 - 3:30 PM
Hosted by Tyrone Greenlee, Director, Christians for a United Community
The title of the book will be "The Case for Reparations" written by Ta-Nehisi Coates as a piece for the The Atlantic Monthly in 2014 -see attached.
(Please read through page 25 in preparation for the first discussion.)
Reparations is a timely and important topic-in our nation and in our community. All are welcome to be a part of this discussion.
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Working Wheels
Do you have an extra car that needs to find a new home? Imagine how difficult your life would be without a car!
Working Wheels repairs and recycles donated cars, transforming them into working wheels for working families. The process is simple, the donation is tax-deductible, and the impact is real. We also need volunteer drivers and administrative help.
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Guatemalan Microloan Task Force from our Presbytery
The following is a letter from the Guatemalan Microloan Task Force from our Presbytery. Many of you have been involved with this project, and we are sure you will want to know about the difficulties these women are having in the current climate in Guatemala. Please read the letter, lift the prayer included on April 10 in unison with all in our Presbytery and in Guatemala, and give, if you can.
~ Thank you from GCPC Presbyterian Women
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Dear friends of the Guatemala Microloan Project,
We give thanks for all those who encourage and support our sisters in Guatemala as they work hard in many different endeavors to provide for their families. This past year of pandemic has been hard for people everywhere, but especially for those for whom there are extra responsibilities with everyone home all day, extra food needs, no market for their products, no transportation available and the constant concern of health safety. It is a heavy load physically, emotionally and spiritually. When the pandemic passes, there is hope for renewed business and productivity.
The Guatemala Microloan Project Task Force prayerfully decided to send immediately $2,000 of emergency funds to be administered by ADEGHUA as most needed for our microloan participants during this new wave of Covid cases and a red alert with shutdowns. We are asking for contributions to replace those funds. If you have the ability to contribute above and beyond your usual gift and support to the Project, or if you will receive the Stimulus funds and are able to give or tithe from that “extra”, there is great need.
Mildre of the ADEHGUA staff, says, “Most of the women are going through difficult situations. Maybe we should make a chain of mutual prayer, especially as this situation does not seem to be improving. I have decided to call the women and their families and advise them to keep the measures during these days of rest (Easter holidays), to protect their lives. Maybe if the Committee (our Task Force) gave us a few words for them, to reinforce the message, that would be helpful.”
We will join in prayer with our sisters in the Microloan Project on Saturday, April 10. God calls us to pray for one another, especially in times of uncertainty, fear and anxiety and so we pray together -
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Gracious God,
in you we know light, life and love. You pour out your love; our cups overflow. We lift up prayers; you do more than we can ask or imagine.
We ask now for Your Spirit to guide and heal us, to encourage and fill us with hope and peace during this time of pandemic.
We come to you with heavy hearts full of anxiety; and You give us of Yourself.
Be with our sisters and their families in Guatemala. Strengthen them in their inner beings, dwell in their hearts; root and ground them in love that they may be filled with all fullness of you.
In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
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We have designated April 10th as a Day of Prayer.
This coincides with the PW Spring Gathering.
If you can contribute: Send your checks payable to PW PWNC to:
Heather Hudson, 4 Northvalley Drive, Weaverville, NC 28787. Please note: Microloan Emergency Fund on the memo line.
Your prayers, your encouragement, and your support are vital to the Task Force and to ADEHGUA and to our sisters in Guatemala.
Thank you.
Guatemala Microloan Task Force
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The gospel and inclusivity - ‘Diversity, Equity and Inclusion’ are not trends. They’re fundamental Christian values
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These days, every organization is coming up with a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion — commonly referred to as DEI — strategic plan. The hiring of diversity and inclusion executives has grown 113% in the last five years. As of February 2021, half of Standard & Poor’s 500 companies have a chief diversity officer. The national agencies of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) are also putting together DEI plans as a response to the General Assembly mandate for a Race Audit in 2018. However, this is not the church jumping on the latest business trend. DEI has been a core value from the birth of the church. In fact, the church practiced them first. Consider the basic definitions of DEI and how they were present in the early church, from its Pentecost birth.
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PC(USA) Advocacy Director joins call to end filibuster -
The Rev. Jimmie Hawkins was part of a Poor People’s Campaign event Monday
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Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Associate Director of Advocacy the Rev. Jimmie Hawkins participated in a Poor People’s Campaign event Monday, calling for the end of the filibuster in the United States Senate.
“We are here as a people, as a denomination, as people of faith, to stand with the Poor People’s Campaign in this fight to make America the country God intends it to be — a place where people are paid fairly and allowed to vote justly,” Hawkins said during his segment in the virtual event where representatives from numerous denominations and faith traditions spoke. {Hawkins’ talk begins at 54:08.)
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Buncombe Community Remembrance Project
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From the YWCA newsletter about the GCPC Community Garden partnership with them: |
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2020 Giving Statement Requests
We've received requests for another copy of 2020 Giving Statements as a part of tax preparation. These were emailed via Realm on 1/21/21, but can also be accessed anytime in the software easily. To download directly from Realm, just log in at onrealm.org/gcpcusa.org, click Giving, then select the blue 2020 Contribution Statement button on the top right. That will generate a downloadable PDF.
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If you need assistance or prefer a mailed copy, please contact Natalie and she would be happy to help.
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Brokerage Account Changes | BB&T Now Truist
As of 2/24/21, BB&T Securities brokerage accounts are now owned by Truist Investment Services. Our DTC and brokerage receiving account number have changed as a part of the transition. If you would like the updated information for stock or mutual fund donations, please contact Natalie.
Don't forget, you should always let Natalie know the quantity, type, and fund designation for donations when you request a transfer into our brokerage account- many times the donor information isn't visible on our end and we may have a hard time getting it properly applied to your account without a heads up.
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Remote Giving
Here are a few different ways to stay up-to-date on your giving remotely:
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MAIL gifts to the office at 789 Merrimon Ave, Asheville, NC 28804
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BANK BILL PAY mails checks remotely, one-time or on a recurring schedule - contact your bank to set this up
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ONLINE at https://onrealm.org/gcpcusa/give/now
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TEXT "giveGCPC" and AMOUNT to 73256 (i.e. giveGCPC $100)
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MOBILE through the Connect - Our Church Community app
Interested in setting up online recurring giving? Follow these simple step-by-step instructions to self-manage eGiving through Realm or return this signed authorization form to have our Finance Office set up on your behalf.
If you have any questions, please contact Natalie in our Finance office at nweaver@gcpcusa.org or by leaving a message for Natalie Weaver at 828-254-3274.
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HOW TO CONTACT STAFF DURING OFFICE CLOSURE:
Our staff are all still working remotely as the office remains closed due to the pandemic. To leave a voicemail for a staff member to return your call, follow these steps:
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Call the office at 828-254-3274.
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Listen through the office closure notice, which will then take you to a staff directory.
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Enter the first 3 letters of either the staff member's first or last name on your phone keypad (i.e. to reach Natalie Weaver, you'd enter 628 for NAT or 932 for WEA).
- You'll be directed to the staff member's individual voicemail, where you can leave a message to be returned as soon as possible.
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If you just want to leave a message for the general voicemail box, press 0.
You can also reach our staff by email- please see our website for each staff member's individual email address.
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Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church | 828.254.3274
789 Merrimon Ave. Asheville, NC 28804
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