Deacon Ron Barus delivered a check for $16,000 to Habitat for Humanity from our successful July fundraiser!

Good work First Presbyterian Church!

The scouts earned the Explore Women's Suffrage in North Carolina patch by sharing their research on women and places involved in the NC Suffrage movement, including Dr. Charlotte Hawkins Brown and the Battery Park Hotel in Asheville. For more information, you can use this link.  The girls also earned the Girl Scout Ranger 19th Amendment Centennial patch by exploring (virtually) the Belmont-Paul Women's Equality National Monument. They participated in several women's suffrage related activities including a short march in the park to commemorate the 1913 Woman Suffrage Procession in Washington DC. 

All girls, 2nd-12th grades are invited to join Girl Scouts at First Presbyterian Church. Please contact René Prager (thepragers@yahoo.com) for more information.

One of the many missions of the Presbyterian Women is The Salvation Army’s Center of Hope - Night Shelter. The center provides guests with a safe and comfortable place to spend the night in addition to meals and laundry service. Three times a year, volunteers from First Presbyterian provide meals for residents for a week.

Our upcoming week is September 6 - September 12. Because of COVID-19, the shelter is operating at 50% capacity (12-15 residents) and we are asked to drop our assigned meals in disposable containers at the main entrance each evening by 6:30 p.m. We will not serve meals as we have in years past.

Your support of this program is very much needed and appreciated. Contact Betsy Morrison (704.661.8848) with any questions you might have.

Please click here to access the Sign-Up Genius to volunteer.

Christian citizens have a responsibility to make political and ethical judgments in light of their faith and to participate in the public lives of their communities--from their local neighborhoods to the national scene. But it can be difficult to discern who to vote for, which policies to support, and how to respond to the social and cultural trends of our time.

And this video from Michael Curry, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church USA:

Blessings,

Scott Kenefake

Interim Pastor

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.

Our first book was “So You Want to Talk about Race” by Ijeoma Olou. We had a great group of 20-25 people each Sunday afternoon engaging in eye-opening and respectful dialogue. We will continue the discussion with our new book selection "White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity" by Robert P. Jones. If you missed out on the last book, now is a great time to join!

Discussion begins Sunday September 13th 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.

Greetings to all our faithful food donation partners!

This month and this summer are flying by! At least it is for us here at CCM. It is hard to believe school has already started back (in whatever form it might take!).

The CCM Food Program is getting really low on a lot of our staples. And we’re really going to miss the annual Cabarrus County Fair Food Drive, which was always a big help. We’re hoping our church and community partners can really step up and help us out.

Our current big needs are:

As always, we especially seek low sodium items, no-added-sugar items, and whole grain items. And we are back to being in need of grocery bags.

Right now, we have plenty of the following:

Thank you for the continued support from our church 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 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday. Bethel Baptist Helping Hands Food Pantry, located at 1209 1/4 Opal Street in Kannapolis, will gladly accept donations from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. 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 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. The Feeding Our Souls Food Pantry at Bethel UMC in Midland, North Kannapolis Baptist Church Food Pantry and the New Life Baptist Food Pantry will accept donations by calling the church in advance.

We are also in need of food pantry VOLUNTEERS, one day a week from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. If you can help contact the CCM volunteer coordinator, Lori Williams, at 1williams@cooperativeministry.com, or call her at 704-490-4245. Thank you.

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/).