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Worship Preview | Sunday, June 28, 2026

In-person and online service

Deacon of the Week:

The Deacon of the Week is available to talk, provide support, and coordinate care if needed. You are not alone. You are loved. Please reach out to our deacon of the week if you have any needs or concerns.

This week (6/21-6/27) Liz Harris-Lamkin | email: chaplainehl@gmail.com

Next week (6/28-7/4) Therese Schuele | email: thereseschuele@gmail.com

Deacon of the Week Prayer

God, if we trust that You are present in the here and now, grant us courage to be ‘paused’ enough - smackdab in the middle of the pulls, pains, and decisions of the here and now - that thinking and working out of Your abiding presence, right here and now, is our faithful way. For those of us whose tendency is to match the churn of life with churning in our brain and churning stomachs, help us practice pausing. As one has named it, help us ‘Pause Action Until Spirit Emerges.’

And now may we simply be willing to practice pausing. May it be so…. Amen.

~ Liz Harris-Lamkin

Click here to read the "Envision the Possibilities" Stewardship Letter

How to Make Your 2026 Pledge

• Scan the QR code for a link to the online Pledge Card
• Click here: https://onrealm.org/gcpcusa/-/form/pledge/envision 
• Email your pledge and giving frequency to giving@gcpcusa.org
• Email Sue Kersbergen (sue@gcpcusa.org) or Denise Ochoa (denise@gcpcusa.org) in the Finance Office at GCPC to help you get set up. 

Summer Choir Begins at GCPC! | Sundays | 9:15 AM | Sanctuary

Come Sing this Sunday! All ages welcome! (Childcare is provided for ages 0 - K)

Come with a curiosity and joy for making music in community! No previous singing experience is necessary. Meet in the Sanctuary by the piano at 9:15 am on Sunday. We will learn a simple song or two to share in worship. Some chime ringers are needed, too!

Hope to see you Sunday!

Blessings, Ray

GCPC welcomes YTL Summer Camp!

This summer, the YTL Training Program continues its commitment to community transformation, and we are seeking your support to further this mission. By contributing to our administrative and operational costs, you invest in more than just summer programming; you provide a foundation for a lifetime of potential.

Our program operates daily from 7:30 AM to 5:30 PM, offering activities specifically designed to foster mindfulness, emotional regulation, and healthy communication among our scholars. Your support helps provide the resources necessary to turn potential challenges into legacies of success and triumph.

We invite you to consider supporting a child’s journey through the following suggested donation tiers:

 - $3,000: 9 weeks of comprehensive support

 - $1,500: 4 weeks of support

 - $750: 2 weeks of support

Thank you for your continued belief in our mission and your commitment to the youth we serve.

~ YTL Training Program

Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) Group Mtg. | Wednesday, July 1 | 10:45 AM - 12:00 PM | Garden Room (Admin. Building) 

This support group introduces techniques for daily living with such issues, led by Paul Rogers, a retired physician in our congregation and supported by other pastors in the GCPC community. We meet on the first and third Wednesdays of the month. New participants welcome at any time. Contact Anna Louise, annalouise@gcpcusa.org, with questions.

GCPC Goes to the Ballpark! | Thursday, July 2 | 7:00 PM | McCormick Field (HomeTrust Park)

Join us on Thursday night, July 2 for a Tourists’ game with your GCPC community!



All tickets cost $11.00. Please pay online with Realm or mail your check to the church (789 Merrimon Ave., AVL 28804) with "Tourists Game" in the memo line.

Grace Abounds Food Pantry | Thursday, June 25 |

11:00 AM - 1:00 PM | Sanctuary

We believe the pantry embodies the church’s commitment to service and compassion. We try to keep our shelves stocked with canned goods, rice, beans, crackers, granola bars, cereal and other items. We also provide diapers, baby wipes and feminine products. Our pantry is stocked completely with donations. This is where we need your support to keep our pantry open.

If everyone in the community can bring one item on Sunday we could restock the store!

Needs for next week!:

• shampoo
• conditioner
• deoderant
• toothpaste
• toys (clean and in good condition)

GCPC Community Garden

NEEDS VOLUNTEERS!

The 2026 garden season is just around the corner and we need more volunteers for the garden team. This is a wonderful way to commune in nature with GCPC members and neighbors alike, all while growing food to share with various communities around Asheville. All ages are welcome... come grow with us!

GCPC Nametags

If you are in need of a new nametag,

please email Anna Louise at annalouise@gcpcusa.org.

On Saturday, June 20 Team 4 had five garden volunteers who harvested the following produce that was shared with Loving Food Resources. They also planted flowers and squash.

On Wednesday, June 24, Team 1 had twelve garden volunteers who harvested the following produce that was shared with YTL families. They also planted beans and weeded most of the beds and strung one bed.

What’s Happening in Worship on July 5, 2026?

On Sunday, July 5, during the weekend on which this country observes the 250^th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, worshippers at Grace Covenant are invited to wear or bring something emblematic of their family’s ethnic or national origin. 

During the service, we will have the great joy of welcoming staff of the Equal Plates project with whom the GCPC congregation has been engaged in a community-centered partnership for nearly two years. The service will include a conversation with representatives from Equal Plates, who prepare wonderful midday meals; from some of the volunteers who facilitate and serve the meals; and from representative residents of Asheville Terrace who enjoy the meals, nourishment for both body and soul, a true extension of the communion table.

All congregants - children, youth, and adults – are warmly and cordially invited to gather for this celebratory Independence Weekend communion service as well as for special sweet treats, courtesy of Equal Plates, during a time of hospitality following the service. 

Pride Collective Gathering: Game Night | Friday, July 11 | 6:00 - 8:00 PM | Fellowship Hall

Let’ s spend time together in fellowship, conversation, and have some fun and games. We will have a couple video game stations, an assortment of box games, and yes we will play bingo! Please bring your favorite snack.

The Power and Race Team(PART) will not meet in July. Our next meeting will be August 6th at 6-7:30 on zoom.

Thank you Rev. Dr. Tami Forte Logan for sharing your Doctoral Thesis with us. Also the discussion after the presentation had moments of deep emotional sharing, metabolizing hard things and healing.

At the August Meeting we will continue our discussion and focus on what is next in our work for our church, ourselves, and PART.

"Faith communities can have an important role easing the nation’s housing crisis"

~ by Mark Ferguson

What’s the role for faith communities in helping more of God’s children to secure safe and affordable housing?

That was the central question behind Thursday’s day-long Faith-Based Development Summit hosted by the City of Louisville, the Local Initiatives Support Corporation and the United Church of Christ Church Building & Loan Fund. The Goodwill Opportunity Center in West Louisville hosted more than 100 attendees, who heard from speakers and panels discussing lessons learned, financing and home repairs — and what churches can do to ease the nation’s housing crisis.

The first speaker at the interdenominational summit was the Rev. Mark Elsdon, a PC(USA) pastor, speaker and author who edited “Gone for Good? Negotiating the Coming Wave of Church Property Transition” and wrote “We Aren’t Broke: Uncovering Hidden Resources for Mission and Ministry.” Elsdon, who co-founded Rooted Good and is a principal at Threshold Development Group, has partnered with the PC(USA) on its Good Futures Accelerator Course.

Elsdon posed a provocative question at the outset, one he heard a few years back during a conference in San Antonio: Could we solve the affordable housing crisis with church land?

“Could church real estate improve income disparity and the lack of living-wage jobs?” he asked those in attendance. “I invite us to sit with this question all day today.”

Summer Reading/Activity Ideas for Children/Youth

Click here to see more details.

In The Heights | June 12 – 28, 2026 | Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 PM and Saturdays & Sundays at 2:30 PM | Asheville Community Theater

Music and Lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Book by Quiara Alegría Hudes

Sponsored by: The Teel Family Foundation

Community Sponsors: Cenzontle: A Language Justice Cooperative, L.E.A.F. Global Arts, Hola Carolina, PODER Emma

About the Show

Before Hamilton, there was In the Heights. With a vibrant score blending hip-hop, salsa, merengue, and soul, this Tony Award–winning musical tells the story of a tight-knit community on the brink of change in New York’s Washington Heights. Featuring unforgettable characters and songs like “Breathe,” “96,000,” and “Carnaval del Barrio,” this show is a celebration of heritage, home, and hope.

A Wilder Way: Midwifing the World to Come in an Age of Extinction @ Dreaming Stone

Join us August 19th – 23rd as we chart a wilder path together through storytelling, skill-sharing, hands-on learning, songs, ritual, somatic practices, and homegrown feasts.

This five-day gathering features some of our most beloved and trusted colleagues. They are collaborating on a journey that will help us find our ground and gratitude, expand our connections and our capacities, and offer tools for building the bioregional and liberatory cultures that can sustain and serve our communities and watersheds. It's time to propagate alternatives!

We are making this event accessible, with worktrade and scholarship options, AND partial childcare and youth programming to support young families!!!