In faithful response to the biblical commands to love our neighbor, in light of the current events of our country, and as part of our commitment to be a Matthew 25 congregation, we seek to continue hosting intentional space for dialogue, understanding, and action for anti-racism and justice work.

We will be reading "White Fragility: Why it's so hard for white people to talk about racism" by Robin DiAngelo. Discussion begins this Sunday, November 8th at 4 p.m. via Zoom. If you would like to sign up to join this group, please let Lynne Keel know by emailing her at lynne.keel@firstpresconcord.org. We encourage you to order your book ASAP (through a black-owned bookstore, if possible) as there are book shortages and shipping delays associated with the current pandemic as well as increased interest in discussing racial equity. We hope you will join us for this critical conversation.

As we continue to adapt to the technological needs of this time, we need your help to get our Youtube channel to be a successful page. By subscribing to our Youtube page, we will be given a dedicated link that will make us easier to find in searches and will help with our digital presence. We need 100 subscribers to be given a dedicated link. Please, if you are able, go to our Youtube page and subscribe to our channel. Thank you for your help and for tuning in with us!

The Presbyterian Women coordinate a Meal Ministry to assist those in our church family who are coping with illness or injury, support families with new babies, and comfort the grieving. All people in the church are invited to join in this volunteer effort. Email notices and signup sheets are sent out using apps like Take Them a Meal or Meal Train to notify our volunteers of opportunities to serve. If you would like to be notified by email whenever the need to provide a meal for someone arises, please sign up here.

Brownie Troop 323, Junior Troop 3142, and Cadette and Senior Troop 334 met in the courtyard on Thursday to celebrate the official start of the 2020-2021 scout year with a candlelight Investiture and Re-dedication ceremony. The troops welcomed in three first-time Girl Scouts. The evening also included activities for founder, Juliette Gordon Low's birthday, as well as a Día de los Muertos celebration. The scouts are incorporating world holidays into their meetings this year to learn about other cultures.

November meetings are scheduled for November 5th and 19th. If your 2nd-12th grade girl is interested in participating, please contact Rene Prager at thepragers@yahoo.com.

Be sure to check out our Virtual Sunday School Classroom with our new Growing in God's Love curriculum. For Pre-K through 5th grade children, this includes a monthly supply kit to take home and use with the virtual classroom each week.

The kits are available in the lobby area of the Fellowship House. Be sure to grab your kit to be ready to go for the lesson this Sunday. You can access the virtual classroom by clicking here or by going to the First Presbyterian Church website! The content will change weekly as we hear a new story each Sunday.

This Sunday continues our unit, "Brave Women and Men in the Old Testament." Kits can be picked up in the church office or reach out to a member of the Christian Education Committee!

Also, please help us as make our kits. Fill out this short questionnaire to help us best prepare for you and be good stewards of our resources! https://forms.gle/gVDJVUxn5X7vfw488

If you are a family that has a Youth in grades 6th through 12th, be sure to sign up to receive the First Youth Fellowship newsletter. That is the best way to see all the ways youth can get connected and deepen their faith through service, community, and fun! Sign-up here to receive the Youth Newsletter for detailed information about all youth happenings. **If you didn't receive the Youth Newsletter last week, please be sure to check your spam or junk folder.

All youth families, please fill out the following short questionnaire to help Rachel best prepare and anticipate the needs for our various youth gatherings. Questionnaire found here: https://forms.gle/Z63UdUmwV43xojgG6

Our pastoral staff continues to preach and teach through various means of technology. Please join us for all of our worship opportunities on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/firstpresconcordnc/),

YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfpzVUz-ZgaCJuogIMor8Iw) or our Sermon Archives (https://firstpresconcord.org/worship/sermon-archives/).