Save These Dates!

Sunday, August 16 at 11:00 a.m.: Fall Kickoff Potluck (following our last 10:00 a.m. service of the summer) in Fellowship Hall. The church will provide fried chicken and beverages. Please bring a side dish to share (crockpots welcome) and join us for a time of fellowship as we begin a new season together!

Potluck instructions: in hopes of covering our tables with a nice variety of dishes, we ask that you bring something in the category that corresponds with the first letter of your last name:

A-G: desserts

H-M: starchy sides (pasta, potatoes, etc…)

N-R: vegetable sides

S-Z: salads

Sunday, August 23:

- 9:45-10:45 a.m.: Sunday School for all ages resumes!

- 12:15 p.m., Youth Parent Meeting in Fellowship Hall & Tubing in Helen

Youth and their parents are invited to gather in the Fellowship Hall at 12:15pm for a brief meeting to go over important information for the program year. Afterwards, the youth will travel to Helen, GA to go tubing in the Chattahoochee! The cost is $10 per youth, and you are asked to bring a bag lunch. More information to come in youth ministry communications! Reach out to Hannah Knight (hannah@firstpresathens.org) for more information or to RSVP.

Saturday, August 29, 9:00 a.m.: Habitat for Humanity Build Day

Please contact Whitney Booth Lockard (whitney@firstpresathens.org) if you are interested in signing up or have any questions. Volunteers can be as young as 16 years-old, but those between 16-18 years-old must have a parent on site with them.

Choir Rehearsals Resume

Chancel Choir - Wednesday, August 19, 6:30 p.m., Room 202

St. Andrews Choir (grades 2-5) – Sunday, August 30, 4:00 p.m., Room 202

Youth Choir (grades 6-12) – Sunday, August 30, 4:45 p.m. Room 202

Handbell Choir – Monday, August 24, 5:30 p.m. Room 205 

Cherub Choir – starting this Fall, Cherub Choir will meet during children's Sunday School

For more information about choirs, contact John Coble (jcoble@firstpresathens.org) or Charlotte Chromiak (charlotte@firstpresathens.org)

Flower Committee Gathering & Workshop

August 19 2-4 p.m.

Join the Flower Committee for a Gathering & Workshop on Wednesday, August 19, from 2:00-4:00 p.m. in the Atrium. We will serve refreshments and enjoy members of our committee demonstrating different floral arranging techniques to sharpen our skills as we create arrangements for worship service.

Please e-mail Lucy Bell at lucy.steelebell@gmail.com if you’re able to join us so we can prepare accordingly. 

Children and Youth Ministries

Volunteers Needed

Volunteers Needed: Children and Youth Ministries

Interested in leading children’s Sunday School, helping out at youth group, teaching Godly Play, or working with our awesome children & youth? We need your help! Please reach out to Hannah Knight, Director of Children and Youth Ministries at hannah@firstpresathens.org and see the sign-up links below. Thank you for helping our children & youth continue to grow in their faith and connect with their Creator!

Youth: tinyurl.com/youth2627

Kids: tinyurl.com/children2627

Online Giving and Realm Update

As we work toward shifting our systems to Realm, our online giving page got updated this week. You should be able to see all funds, set up recurring gifts, and even check mark an option to help offset the transaction cost. If you type firstpresathens.org/giving, you should be now directed to our updated giving page. If you click on Sign In and try to check previous gifts, you might get an error message, which is caused by all the data being migrated into Realm, which brings us to the next update.

The next steps into rolling Realm out to our congregation is to have all members signup. This will grant you access to Connect, a new and updated app that will replace ChurchLife app, where you can set up gifts and see your giving history, check our calendar of upcoming events, RSVP for events, join groups, and communicate with other church members through the messaging system. Please go to onrealm.org/FirstPresAthensGA and follow the steps to sign up. Your request will be sent to the church office, who will check and approve your profile.

More details about what is Realm and how it works can be found here. If you have any questions, please contact Paulo Santos at paulo@firstpresathens.org.