Dear Friends,

How wonderful to celebrate ordaining and installing new officers on Sunday! I am excited about the new chapter serving alongside these men and women. At the same time, I am profoundly grateful for those who have just completed their terms on session and the diaconate. These leaders began serving in June of 2020 when the world was shut down and FPC was facing a time of significant transition. Trusting that God had good things in store for and through FPC, these leaders remained steady and faithful. That steadiness and that faithfulness have been essential to leading us where we are today. Gratitude abounds!

Grace and peace,

Ellen

Usher sign up link:  https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0948acab2dabf49-fpcusher

Lay Reader sign up link:  https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0948acab2dabf49-scripture

link for online worship:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfpzVUz-ZgaCJuogIMor8Iw/live

link to Ellen's sermon podcasts:  https://bit.ly/Sermons_FPCConcord

All 6^th-12^th graders are encouraged to attend our end-of-school year celebrations.

Join us for Sunday School and worship in the morning and for a combined party, 4:30-7pm.

2022-2023 Youth: 5/21 Youth Group (signupgenius.com)

We will watch Encanto, play games, eat dinner, enjoy fellowship, and celebrate with an ice cream bar.

Families are asked to sign-up to send in a food item to help us celebrate!

Please arrive at Davis Hall at 4:30. We will head up to the Youth room.

If you are attending but will arrive late, please let Rene Prager know in advance, as we will lock the door to Davis Hall once we head upstairs.

Join us for Vacation Bible School, June 26-29. May is registration month! Use this link to register for VBS TODAY!

(You can also visit our website and use the signup link on the right near the bottom of the home page.)

We are also seeking volunteers. If you are able to help, please e-mail René Prager at r.prager@firstpresconcord.org or use this link to sign-up: 2023 VBS Volunteers: VBS Volunteers (signupgenius.com)

Are you graduating from high school, college, grad school? Or is your child/grandchild a December ’22 or May/June ’23 graduate?

Please e-mail René Prager, r.prager@firstpresconcord.org, by Sunday, May 21 to be sure that we have everyone on the list.

The next Books & Brews meets on Thursday, May 18 at 7 PM at

High Branch Brewing Co. at Gibson Mill to discuss Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons.

All are welcome!

We invite you to attend our first "NEW" Lunch Bunch next

Wednesday, May 24.

We will begin at 11 AM for a tour of the Larry and Susan Hathcock house at 106 Cabarrus Avenue W,

across from the church that is next to Barber Scotia College.

Built in 1903, it has twelve foot ceilings, beautiful original woodwork, a spectacular foyer and staircase, and a very unusual history.

There is an interesting scrapbook that details some

of the history of the house. (A Speakeasy?)

If you go directly to the house park on the side street, or meet up with a carpool from the church that will leave at 10:55 AM.

We will return to the church at noon to enjoy a delicious lunch by our talented Margaret Campbell in the Fellowship House Sunroom.



Call the reservations line, 704-788-2100 #7, to reserve your spot for lunch by Sunday, May 21, 2023.

All adults welcome to "Reboot" our Lunch Bunch!

FPC women spent Saturday priming and painting with Habitat for Humanity at the women build home.

The American Puritan, Jonathan Edwards, on True Religion and Morality

Dr. Douglas Ottati of Davidson College will discuss Jonathan Edwards's reflections on genuine religious experience, revivals, and morality, and then consider how a later generation made use of his ideas to argue for the abolition of slavery in the United States.

Douglas Ottati is the Craig Family Distinguished Professor of Reformed Theology and Justice. Before coming to Davidson, he taught at Union Seminary in Richmond, Virginia. He is also the past president of the Society of Christian Ethics.

Buildings and Grounds has scheduled a work day for the morning of June 3. Plan to join them at 8 AM to beautify our FPC landscape!

We continue to experience a big surge in requests for food assistance, especially from families with children. Through the first two weeks of May we have already served 475 households! We did not receive nearly as much from the Letter Carrier’s Stamp Out Hunger Food drive as we had hoped—only 1,775 lbs. so far. So our inventory remains VERY low. We encourage all our church and community organization partners to please conduct special summer food drives for us. Some churches in the past have set a goal of collecting 1,000 items. Another idea is to make a food collection part of your Vacation Bible School. Let me know if you need any assistance or inspiration.

A reminder if you are delivering food to the Crisis Center —The City of Concord has closed Country Club Drive for at least nine months to replace the culvert down below us. We WILL remain open throughout the road closure. However, everyone needs to come to us from the Concord Lake Road/Branchview Drive direction. It is OK for local traffic to drive past the barricades.

Currently, the pantry items we are in biggest need of are:

·    Canned Chicken

·    Other Canned Meats (Hash, Chili, Vienna Sausages, etc.)

·    Canned corn

·    Canned peas, carrots, potatoes and mixed vegetables

·    Low Salt Corn and Green Beans

·    Any kind of canned beans (Baked, Chili, Kidney, etc.) except for pintos

·    Rice (1 or 2 lb. bags please)

·    Any Canned Fruit (Mixed, Peaches, Pineapple, etc.) except for pears

As always, we especially seek low-sodium items, no-added-sugar items, and whole-grain items. 

Currently we have plenty of:

·    Canned Pintos

·    Pears

·    Pasta Sauce (15 oz.)

·    Pasta

·    Tuna

·    Dried Beans

Thank you for the continued support from our church and community 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.