Dear fellow members of First Presbyterian Church Concord,

We are excited to begin the next phase to select our congregation’s Senior Pastor. The session has engaged our committee to prepare a slate of eight nominees, including one high school youth to serve on the Pastor Nominating Committee (PNC). Once this slate is prepared, it will be submitted to the congregation for a vote. 

Please give prayerful thought to PNC candidates. If you decide to nominate yourself or another church member there are important considerations associated with this commitment. Members on the PNC should:

• Be active in the life of our church. 

• Be open minded, collaborative, and able to maintain confidentiality.

• Be familiar with Presbyterian beliefs and traditions.

• Commit to ongoing and regular engagement, meetings and some weekend and overnight travel for up to one year. 

• Have a vision for our future journey to be a “21st Century Church”. 

On or before October 23, please provide names of candidates who meet and accept the considerations above and who agree to be nominated to: 

Suzanne Russell, Church Administrator suzanne.russell@firstpresconcord.org or

Jim Monroe, PNC Selection Committee Chair jdmonroe66@hotmail.com.

We are confident God is preparing the way for us, and we ask you to continue to keep our church, its members and its future in your prayers. 

PNC Selection Committee: Tripp Carpenter, Sallie Dotger, Carol Hovey, Janna Mitchell, and Jim Monroe. 

Come enjoy a bake sale after worship this Sunday, hosted by Katharine Morrison and Grace Morrison. Donations raised will be used to purchase supplies for Care Packages for our Homeless Neighbors. You can learn more about these Care Packages at our next GIFT Sunday on Oct. 27th, and this will be a mission project for the Elementary Sunday School class and others that are interested in joining the good work!

Hey College Students, if you are looking for a retreat away and a space to connect with other college students and young adults, all while exploring your faith and issues that matter, then this is the conference for you! The theme this year is "Remembering Sabbath" with many great speakers and conversation leaders. Contact Rachel Vogado if you are interested in going. The conference is January 2-5, 2020 in Montreat, NC. 

Deadline to sign up is October 10th with a $50 deposit.

Total cost for the trip is $150 which includes conference fees, lodging, and meals. 

Many thanks to everyone who helped in so many different ways! A small core of women met every Tuesday for the last 3 months to receive and sort donations. Everyone seemed to pitch in to make the EXODUS happened and the treasures got to Davis Hall in record time. The core committee and volunteers showed up every day the week of the sale to unpack, clean, sort, stage, and arrange items. Heath Ritchie checked on the work every two hours to see how he could lend a hand and Jayne helped make sure we were fed! Wednesday Night Fellowship was dedicated to sale preparation. All total (including the day of the sale when set up started in the dark) more than 60 members helped—and that doesn’t include the EXODUS. We reached out to our neighborhood through our own village and it took a village! Thank you, thank you, thank you! Over $12,600 was raised which will enable our mission partner in Haiti to get much needed help for the children in Bayonnais. A small portion of the proceeds will be used to provide the Commons with operating funds. Finally, many, many thanks to all who donated items for the sale, for without your donations this would not have been possible!

Come have lunch on October 15 at 11:45 a.m. in Davis Hall and enjoy a presentation and tasting by Greg Stewart with the Cabarrus Health Alliance on "Nutrition Made Easy". Remember to make your lunch reservations by noon Monday, October 14th.

Join us on October 16th to hear our own Scott Verner talk about the mill towns' baseball teams. There's no better way to celebrate the baseball championships, so be there or be square!  Dinner will be spaghetti, fruit, salad and dessert. Be sure to make a reservation with the church office by Noon on Monday, October 14th. There is a sign up sheet in the Fellowship House.

Please join the Todd Hobbie class in Davis Hall on Sunday Oct. 20 at 9:45 for a presentation about our Todd and Betsy Hobbie Scholarships in Congo. These scholarships make it possible for 2 students to attend and complete nursing school. The speaker is Woody Collins, director of Congo Helping Hands, an organization whose mission is to partner with local Congolese agencies (churches, nonprofits, schools, health organizations) to improve the quality of life of Congolese children and adults through intervention projects in education, health (including water, sanitation, and hygiene), and agriculture.

Dear Church Friends, 

Please mark your calendar for two very special upcoming musical concerts in October. The vocal quintet ENSEMBLE NOBILES has generously agreed to sing a concert in Davis Hall on Wednesday, October 23 at 6:30 p.m. (following the Wednesday night dinner) and on Thursday, October 24 at 7:00 p.m. in the sanctuary. Both concerts are free and open to the public, and will feature two separate programs, so please consider coming to both! Repertoire will include the composers Sibelius, Tallis, di Lasso, Dvořàk, and Reger. A free will offering to defray some of their travel costs will be taken at the concert on Thursday evening. 

I met these very talented musicians during my three recent summers abroad in Germany. This young group of male singers have each been formally trained through the St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, Germany, which is none other than the church where Johann Sebastian Bach's served as organist! Their repertoire is vast and eclectic from sacred to secular. You won't wish to miss this amazing opportunity!

Ms. Jacquie

On the first Sunday evening in November (November 3rd, 5:00 pm, sanctuary) we will be offering a special contemplative worship service (30 minutes or so in length) that has filled a deeply felt need for many in churches around the country (including lots of Presbyterian congregations!)—and around the world in recent years and is accessible to people who have little or no experience with Christianity, those who gave up on the church long ago, and others who are adherents of other religious traditions or members of other churches. So, please invite your friends, family, and neighbors.  

It is a Christo-centric service that is a fresh expression of ancient worship. The service includes Holy Communion, significant periods of silence, calming music, candlelit ambiance, real life reflections/meditations by laity in place of the conventional sermon, and the laying on of hands for healing for those who want to receive it.  

The instrumentation for the service is normally classical—violin, cello, flute, oboe, harp, classical guitar, along with accompanying piano. The music is often classical, as well, with a generous representation of music from Celtic traditions, both Old World Celtic (Ireland, Scotland, Wales) and New World Celtic Appalachian derivatives), emphasizing those pieces with an undertone of joy and hope. 

We will enjoy a simple meal together following the service.

To see how one congregation does this service: click here

Church Historian, Diana Butler Bass, had this to say about the service on her Facebook page: click here

I look forward to seeing those who can come.

Blessings,

Scott Kenefake

Interim Pastor

A good number of people in the congregation have recently requested an opportunity to explore ways to take a "deeper dive" into current Presbyterian Church USA mission initiatives on a local, national, and global level. For those interested, we will have a brief 30 minute "brainstorming" meeting in Fellowship House, following the 11 am worship service, on Sunday, November 3rd, at 12:15 pm. In preparation for the meeting, please peruse the links below, as well as:  Presbyterian Church (USA)

Matthew 25 in the PC(USA): A bold vision and invitation | Presbyterian Mission Agency

Advocacy and Social Justice | Presbyterian Mission Agency

View the Full Calendar here.