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How to Make Your 2027 Pledge

• Scan the QR code for a link to the online Pledge Card
• Click here: https://onrealm.org/gcpcusa/AddPledge/2027generalfund 
• Email your pledge and giving frequency to giving@gcpcusa.org
• Email Oana Lansman (oana@gcpcusa.org) or Sue Kersbergen (sue@gcpcusa.org) in the Finance Office at GCPC to help you get set up. 

#GCPCinthesanctuary

Truth telling prompt from Sunday, October 11

Matthew 22: 1-14 - This parable is about judgment and exclusion. How do your emotions shift as the identity and power dynamics of the rejected guest shifts?

Worship Preview | Sunday, October 18, 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 (10/11-10/17) Roberto Martinez | email: robolisa2@hotmail.com

Next week (10/18-10/24) Demontá Blunt | email: demontablunt@gmail.com



Deacon of the Week Prayer:

“The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise, we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them.” ~ Thomas Merton

~ submitted by Roberto Martinez

Finance Fish Bowl | Sunday, October 18 | after worship | Sanctuary

As we enter into a new year of building our future together, all of us have something to offer. Please consider how you can contribute your time and talents to the work of the church. Join us for a conversation with the congregation about stewardship, fundraising, and what our hopes are for our shared vision together. 

Some food and snacks will be provided.

Two other opportunities will be available:

• Friday, October 30 at 6:30 pm in person
• Sunday, November 8 at 6:30 pm online

Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) Group Mtg. | Wednesday, October 21 | 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.

Join us on Wednesday Nights for a delicious meal in community and opportunities for all ages to learn and grow together. Below you can register for the meal, but please feel free to come even if you haven't registered.

GCPC Choir Practice | Wednesdays | 7:15 PM | Choir Room

All youth and adults are welcome and invited! Just come with a curiosity and love for making music in community. No previous singing experience is needed.

I hope you will consider adding your presence and voice to our Choir!

If you're not sure, come and give it a try!

Blessings,

Ray

Grace Abounds Food Pantry | Thursday, October 22 |

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.

Needs for the upcoming pantry:

• candied yams
• canned pumpkin
• stuffing mix
• jellied and whole berry canned cranberries

Parents' Night Out! | Friday, October 23 | 5:30 - 8:30 PM | Fellowship Hall

Kids 0-5th grade are invited to spend time with volunteers and staff on a Friday evening while parents connect. This event is free!.

ALL KIDS SHOULD PACK A SACK DINNER. We will provide drinks and dessert.

Invitation to read “The Color of Law”

As a next step in the readying process of our campus vision, we invite you to read with us “The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America” by Richard Rothstein. The Campus Vision team plans to read this important book on the history of racial discrimination in housing policy as we think about what it means to build deeply affordable housing on our campus. All are welcome to attend!

Mark your calendar - we will host a brown bag lunch after church on Sunday, November 15 for a discussion of the book!

GCPC Hand Bell Choir takes a 2 week break!

Would you like to ring as part of the GCPC Hand Bell Choir? Rehearsals take place on Thursday evenings in the church balcony from 6:30 - 7:30 pm, beginning again Thursday October 29! All youth and adults are welcome! No previous experience is necessary - Just curiosity and a love for making music in community. Please contact Ray at ray@gcpcusa.org if you are interested!

On Wednesday, October 14, Team 1 had five garden volunteers who harvested the following produce that was shared with Bountiful Cities. They also applied compost and pulled plants and stakes.

On Your 2026 Ballot. . .

The Constitutional Amendments are NOT your friends! 

Vote AGAINST all three.

This year, there are three NC Constitutional amendments on the ballot for voters to consider. Generally, one should weigh any Constitutional amendment carefully. Amendments stay for a long time, are easier to add than to remove, and cannot be tinkered with as times and situations change as regular laws can be. Amending the Constitution is serious business! That said, another serious problem facing voters considering these 2926 amendments is that the very brief descriptions of #2 and #3 on your ballot are very misleading in terms of what they really do. 

• Amendment #1—ID with mail-in ballot—is already law. Another voter suppression effort that discriminates against lower income, rural, older, people without easy access to photocopying

• Amendment #2--Caps state income tax, but not much for ordinary families. Who really benefits are very high wealth corporations and some rich families. 

• Amendment #3—Limits property taxes assessed by local governments—but not yours and mine, unless you are Duke Energy or some other large corporation. The limits are for the TOTAL amount of property taxes a county can collect in any year, not our individual property taxes. 

Impact of all this? Amendments #2 and #3 tie the hands of our local officials to meet changing and locally situational needs. The tax amendments will result in less money locally for our schools, emergency services, parks, and other services provided by the local government. And the only way to make up the shortfall will be increasing local sales taxes and raising fees for service. These taxes are overwhelmingly paid by lower and middle income people. They are regressive taxes.

Tell family and friends to vote AGAINST the tax amendments on the ballot. Be in the know when you go to Vote!

Organizations recommending voting AGAINST all three amendments: League of Women Voters, Common Cause, Carolina Forward, NC Democratic Party. A good resource for analysis is the NC Budget and Tax Center, www.ncbudget.org. 
Questions? Contact Dana Cozad decozad5@aol.com.

P.S. The two Bond initiatives are different than the Amendments. They provide for funding for local environmental and affordable housing projects.

~ Dana Cozad

Love's On the Ballot: Voting Our Faith | Tuesdays, Sept 29, Oct 6, Oct 13, Oct 20 | Noon - 1 p.m. | Online

“Love’s On The Ballot: Voting Our Faith” is a 4 part lunch and learn series brought to you by the NC Council of Churches, Christians Against Christian Nationalism NC, Pastors for NC Children, and People of Faith for Public Schools. 

Our Faithful Voter Guide is about Seven Spheres of Influence. This series of four Lunch and Learns will take the seven spheres and make them practical as we face the midterm election on November 3, 2026. How do we as people take action to engage seven spheres of influence at the ballot box this fall and beyond to build beloved community? Join us for one or all four interactive, live conversations. Please note: We will be recording the teaching portion to share later, but the conversations and Q&A will not be recorded.

2026 Faith Build House:

Habitat for Humanity is seeking volunteers to help with the next Faith Build home. GCPC has consistently provided volunteers to Habitat for the Faith Build projects and we are asking for your help again. The work will begin in October and we are scheduling workers through the end of the year. Our typical build day for GCPC is Wednesday but I can sign folks up for any day they want. Each day can handle six volunteers and I would like to schedule October now. 

For this first phase of the build we will be focused on framing and carpentry skills. Experience is not necessary. Please let me know if you want to volunteer. The more the merrier. Lee Carol Giduz is now scheduling volunteers for Wednesdays in October and November. If interested she can be texted at 828-493-3959 or emailed at lcgiduz@gmail.com.

Click here to see the information for the homeowner who will purchase this Faith build home.

Sign up now!! Spaces are still available!

Racial Equity Institute (REI) Two Day Phase 1 Training | Friday, November 6 & Saturday, November 7 | 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM | Location: TBA

REI’s two-day workshop is designed to develop the capacity of participants to better understand racism in its institutional and structural forms. Moving away from a focus on personal bigotry and bias, this workshop presents a historical, cultural, and structural analysis of racism. With shared language and a clearer understanding of how institutions and systems are producing unjust and inequitable outcomes, participants should leave the training better equipped to begin to work for change.

Participants are asked to attend the entire training on Friday November 6th and Saturday November 7th 2026 from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm both days. Participants are asked to provide their own lunch. In addition, some light snacks and coffee/tea will be available throughout the workshop.

GCPC Nametags

If you are in need of a new nametag,

please email Anna Louise at annalouise@gcpcusa.org.