This Sunday, please plan to stay after worship to help ’schlep’ all the donated items to Davis Hall. We have items in all weight and size categories. 

We will try something a bit different this year in an effort to utilize the elevator in the Will Young building better. (It is notoriously slow) We hope to load the elevator on the 3rd floor and send it down unattended to the 1st floor. Others will meet the elevator there, remove the hand trucks and reload with empty hand trucks to be returned (unattended) to the third floor. It may take a cycle or two to get the routine down, but that is the plan.

If you have a hand truck, please bring it with your name on it and leave it near the message board next to the circular drive BEFORE WORSHIP.

Join us this Sunday, October 1, 4:00 PM -5:30 PM in the Fellowship House for a church-wide scavenger hunt!

Last year we explored downtown Concord and this year we will follow clues to lead us all around our four campus buildings.

Do you know where the Cake Room is? What about the Children’s Chapel? Follow the clues and find some special guests – and yummy food, along the way!

The total for last Sunday's Noisy Offering collection is $331.60!

This Sunday, October 1, we will gather on the Fellowship House lawn for the Blessing of the Animals service. Dogs, cats, and other pets (crated or leashed) are welcome, as are photos of pets, photos or drawings of wild animals, and stuffed animals.

There will be light refreshments, and we will be collecting donations for the Cabarrus County Animal Shelter. The shelter is bursting at the seams with stray dogs and cats, and the staff works very hard to provide a safe, comfortable, and loving environment for these animals.

Please bring your donations (list below) to the event, and Session members will deliver the items to the shelter. 

Please invite your friends and neighbors as we gather to worship God and to give thanks for, celebrate, and care for all of God’s creatures great and small.

Requested donations:

Newspaper

Paper towels

Dawn dish soap

Laundry detergent

Puppy pee-pads

Bleach

Canned pate cat food

Gently used towels and blankets

Cat toys

Durable dog toys like Kongs and Nylabones

Gently used leashes and collars

Gently used medium and large dog crates

The shelter’s Amazon wish list is also helpful for showing exactly what they need. 

The annual Cabarrus County CROP Hunger Walk is next Sunday, October 8, in Concord.

Registration begins at 1:00 PM with the walk starting at 2:00 PM.

This fun event for all ages raises money and awareness for local and world hunger relief, supporting Church World Service, and the Cooperative Christian Ministry.

Please use the link below to join our FPC Concord team as a participant or a donor. Hope you can join us for the walk starting at Forest Hills United Methodist on Union Street in Concord!

https://events.crophungerwalk.org/2023/event/cabarruscountync

Online donations can be made using the link above, but you may also bring cash or check donations on the day of the walk. Checks should be made out to “CWS/CROP.” Please contact Kay Wall at kaybo198@aol.com if you have any questions.

It’s time to buy your book for the next round of Racial Equity Reads, scheduled to start October 12.

The book for this round is “How Far to the Promised Land: One Black Family’s Story of Hope and Survival in the American South,” by award-winning author Esau McCaulley. We’ll start by discussing the Introduction and the first three chapters of Part I, totaling 40 pages.

McCaulley is associate professor of the New Testament at Wheaton College, a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times and theologian in residence at a historically Black congregation in Chicago.

The selections we read and discuss are intended to broaden and deepen our understanding of the origins and history of anti-Black racism in America and its effects on both Black and white people into the present.

You can support Black-owned business by buying the book from Shelves, a Black-owned virtual bookstore in Charlotte. Order by emailing orders@shelvesbookstore.com. It is also available on Amazon.com.

Meetings will be in The Commons at 7 PM Thursdays starting October 12. It’s also possible we may go to Zoom meetings. Our group is informal, and you can join any time. For more information email Scott Verner at sverner@yahoo.com.

Save the date for First Presbyterian's fall picnic! We will gather on the front lawn on Sunday, October 15 after worship for fellowship, food and fun for all ages. Please plan to join us!  

***$10 per person, $25 max per family

Click here for the sign-up. The deadline is Tuesday, October 10.

If you have served as an Elder or Deacon in the past, you are always eligible to serve communion!

We are developing a team of individuals interest in assisting in the distribution of communion. If you would like to be a part of the communion serving team, please contact Pam McDonald: danielpam151@yahoo.com

Thanks for giving this very important ministry your consideration!

Youth gathered at Moe’s after worship on Sunday for lunch and fellowship. Our next Moe’s outing is October 29.

●    Rev. Steven Nickle, who is our liaison from the Presbytery’s Committee on Ministry, attended the meeting to introduce himself and get to know our church.

●    We discussed plans to purchase a composter using residual grant money. The composter will be placed by the parking lot dumpster for theological education, supporting community partners, and neighbor engagement.

●    Valerie Thomas and Harriett Phillips reported on the most recent Presbytery meeting. Both Casey Aldridge and Kim Stamey were presented at the meeting by the Committee on the Preparation for Ministry for examination for ordination.

●     This year, the Session is reading the book Start with Hello by Shannan Martin. We discussed Chapter 1, which was entitled Awake>Asleep and is about waking up to ways to make connections to those around us, even if those connections seem trivial.

The First Presbyterian Daisy and Brownie troops visited Fire Station 1 on Thursday as they worked on their First Aid badge. The fire fighters provided a great tour of the facility. Junior Girl Scouts explored engineering, science, and movement as they worked to narrow down the next steps of their plan to earn the Bronze Award. All of our Girl Scout troops look forward to a weekend camping trip this weekend.