Dear Friends,

As our program year winds down, I want to thank everyone who has served within our Christian Education program this year. Rene Prager and our Christian Education committee have guided us so well, and you have helped, too. Whether you have taught Sunday school, filled worship bags, made coffee, led pew prep, cuddled babies in the nursery, or helped in any other way THANK YOU! Each time you have signed up and showed up, you have been a living example of how this church fulfills our baptismal vows.

Please be on the lookout for a separate email detailing some exciting opportunities for worship and fellowship this summer.

I am so grateful to be with you in this place! See you in worship and at the picnic!

Grace and peace,

Ellen

At their Birthday Luncheon last Sunday, the Presbyterian Women honored Harriett Phillips with the Honorary Life Member Award. Harriett has been devoted to our church since she and her husband, Todd, and their sons, McLeod and Jack, joined in 1996. She has served on the Session and the Diaconate, taught Middle School Sunday School, volunteered with VBS, led Circle 4, been a member of the S&D Sunday School Class, served on an Associate Pastor Nominating Committee, and been a member of the PW Coordinating Team, among countless other ways that she has served First Presbyterian Church. Even prior to her birth, she was connected to our church since her mother served as the Director of Christian Education here! Thank you, Harriett, for the gifts of your time and talents through the years!!!

Please help us make Vacation Bible School a success! We invite adults and middle and high school Youth to volunteer on our VBS team!

You can assist in leading a station (art, music, recreation, mission, drama) or help with a specific age group (2, 3, 4 year olds, or rising K, 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, or 5^th graders). Vacation Bible School is June 27-30, 9am to noon.

Please use this link to let us know that you can volunteer!   FPC 2022: '22 Volunteers - Vacation Bible School (signupgenius.com)

Still need to register your 2 year old through rising 5^th grader? There is still a little time. Registration forms due by June 1^st: VBS-2022.pdf (firstpresconcord.org)

Over the summer you are invited to read Dear White Peacemakers by pastor and writer Osheta Moore. We will gather this fall to discuss. Osheta draws on the Sermon on the Mount, Spirituals, and personal stories to invite White Christians to come to the table and join in the hard work and holy calling of dismantling racism. (Please consider buying this book from a Black-owned bookstore, such as Shelves Books (shelvesbookstore.com) in Charlotte or Mahogany Books in Washington, DC.) If you have questions, please speak with Scott Verner. 

We are $2,5000 away from meeting our goal of $10,000 for Habitat Cabarrus. Over the last few weeks, we have heard powerful stories of how Habitat has brought stability and hope to families in our community. We have also learned how Habitat is adapting, innovating and expanding through the support of organizations churches, such as FPC.

With your donations and support, FPC stands to continue helping support this amazing organization in its mission to provide quality, affordable housing.

We aim to complete this campaign and celebrate on May 22nd! Please help us reach this goal by making a donation. As a reminder, you can:

This past weekend the local Letter Carriers resumed their Stamp Out Hunger food drive, for the first time since 2019. However, the response was much less than expected—about 15 to 20% of what we received in past years. Meanwhile, the number of households coming for food continues to be higher than earlier in the year and last year. So our inventory is getting quite low in many areas. We strongly encourage our partner churches and organizations to plan some special summer food drives, maybe in connection to VBS (Kids Kan Too!).

·    Any kinds of canned beans except green (pinto, black, kidney, baked, etc.)

·    Dried Pinto Beans

·    Canned Fruit

·    Canned Chicken

·    Other Canned Meats (except tuna!)

·    Spaghetti and other Dried Pasta

·    Soup

·    Toilet Paper and Paper Towels

·    Tuna

·    Pasta Sauce

·    Diced Tomatoes

·    Canned Green Beans and Corn

·    Peanut Butter

·    Dried Beans

·    Instant Brown Rice (bags or box)

·    Whole grain pasta

·    Whole grain cereals

·    Dried Fruit/Raisins

Thank you for the continued support from our church partners. Our Crisis Center at 246 Country Club Drive NE in Concord serves as the warehouse for most of the food. We will gladly accept all donations at that site from 9:30 am to 1 pm Monday through Friday. Bethel Baptist Helping Hands Food Pantry, located at 1209 1/4 Opal Street in Kannapolis, will gladly accept donations from 9 am to 1 pm on Monday and Thursday. The food pantry located at Westford UMC on Highway 49 and the Kannapolis Food Pantry at West Point Baptist Church can accept donations on Saturday morning from 8:30 am to 11:30 am. The Feeding Our Souls Food Pantry at Bethel Church in Midland, and North Kannapolis Baptist Church Food Pantry will accept donations by calling the church in advance.

Thursday Connection will NOT meet tomorrow, instead, we will meet next Thursday, May 26,in the Journey Classroom to discuss the chapter entitled “Love the Sinner, Hate the Sin” from Adam Hamilton’s book, Half Truths.

Lots of happenings in the Commons space...For a number of reasons the Commons committee made the decision this week to close the Commons to the public, except for groups, as a number of upgrades are in the works. For the next 3-4 weeks the entrance on Church Street will have supplies and a yellow caution tape in place as the heating system in the Education building is repaired. Access to do the repair work is through the Commons. Additionally work will be done this summer to automate the door locking and lighting systems. This will make opening and closing the space so much easier. Groups currently using the space will continue to have use of the space this summer, as well as any church member who would like to schedule through Kimberly Leatherman. Our plan is to make these upgrades concurrent with the overall refreshing of the space in time for a grand reopening in the fall. We also invite you to join us once we set the dates for cleaning and creative restructuring.

If you have ideas of groups we should contact re: use of the space, a community member (or two) to serve on the Commons Committee, or areas/ideas for prayer stations please refer them to a member of our newly reorganized committee: Sally Cochran, Jonathan Ewart, Carol Hovey, Mary Ann Johnson, Kimberly Leatherman, Kate Morrison, Carrie Myers, or Susan Smith. We are excited to be entering this season of ‘revival!'