If you plan to use the kit this season, please sign up for one so we can adequately prepare and be good stewards of our resources. Thank you and we hope you will join us this Advent!

As we prepare for the season of Advent, the Christian Education Committee is working on many opportunities for you to learn, pray, worship, and ponder the birth of Jesus. While many of our beloved traditions will look a bit different this year, we are working to create meaningful expressions of those traditions. We will be creating some opportunities for Advent faith practices at home for people of all ages with creative activities and space for reflection on scripture and prayer.

We are also working to share some Advent joy as we tell the Christmas story virtually. If you have pictures or videos from previous years' Christmas Pageant, please email them to Rachel. We appreciate your help as we gather some good historical photos from Christmas Pageants past!

The Session meets monthly on the 2nd Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. Minutes are open and available by request after they are approved at the following month’s Session meeting.

An update:

The S & D Sunday School class wishes to thank you to everyone for their generous support of the turkey donations for Operation Breadbasket. $800 of the $1092.05 has already been received! On Tuesday, Brian Moore, Don Seitz, and Bob Smith, delivered 110 turkeys! Operation Breadbasket was so appreciative as they always are.

If you wish to donate, you may make your check out to Brian Moore and mail to him at:

2401 Bethlehem Church Rd

Gold Hill, NC 28071

Checks may also be dropped off at the church office and will be mailed to Brian from there. Any funds in excess of the cost of the turkeys will be used for additional food items for Operation Breadbasket.

Operation Sandwich will begin this Friday, November 20th. People who wish to participate can drop off the bagged lunches on Thursday or Friday until 10 am. If anyone would like to have a committee member

pick up their sandwiches, contact Margaret Hillman, Kate Morrison or Amanda Williamson.

We have information on the ministry and what is needed in the bags below. The sandwiches go in the

Fellowship House refrigerator, and the bags go in a labeled container in the Fellowship House lobby.

OPERATION SANDWICH - A FEEDING MINISTRY

                          For distribution on Friday, November 20th

Issue: Our homeless neighbors have access to feeding and shelter resources during the week, however, over the weekend, many of these options are closed. The weekend is a difficult stretch of time for many homeless people.

Opportunity: In partnership with Opportunity House in downtown Concord, members and friends of First Presbyterian can make bagged lunches at home, take them to First Pres, and volunteers can deliver them to OH for distribution on Friday. Guests of OH can take these lunches “to-go” after they finish lunch on Friday to stay hydrated and nourished over the weekend. Many of these guests can take multiple bags to give to others with whom they see and camp.

How it works: Collect bagged lunches on Thursday, November 19th until Friday, November 20th at 10 am. We can also arrange to pick up sandwiches.

What’s in the bag: The staff at Opportunity House have outlined specific items to include:

●    Use a Food Lion bag (plastic bag with handles)

●    A sub or regular sandwich with deli meat, cheese, lettuce.

●    Wrap the sandwich in plastic and label with a sharpie when it was made.

●    A soft granola bar or other cereal bar

●    A fruit cup and/or a soft piece of fruit

●    A cookie or dessert

●    A bottle of water

●    We will provide packets of mayo and mustard and napkins or spoons.

Please be sure to return the 2021 pledge card you were sent to the office in the envelope provided, or visit the church website and make your pledge there before November 23.

Return the card even if you are unable to make a pledge at this time. Having the cards back helps all committees as they prepare their budgets to fund future programs. Thank you!

Simply click here . You will then be prompted to add the Access Code: VTI52

If you require computer assistance, please ask a family member or a friend to assist you, or send a check for $22.00 made payable to First Presbyterian Church. Please add Angel Tree to the memo line, and mail to: P O Box 789 Concord, NC 28026.

Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 2 Corinthians 9:7

Greetings to all our faithful food donation partners!

We have been blessed by some very successful food drives in recent weeks! Thank you so much to all those who have brought in food. We also are sending out a LOT of food! In recent months we have averaged serving between 750 and 800 households through our drive-through food pantry at our Crisis Center. With our satellite pantries and other food programs, we are serving about 1,500 households a month! In the first two weeks of November, we had already served 500 households, including 80 in one day on November 2! So almost as fast as the food is donated, we’re distributing it.

Please be aware that we will be closed next Thursday and Friday, November 26 and 27. Our food pantry will be closed on December 21-25 and January 1. However, the warehouse will be open and receiving donations from 8:00 to 12:00, Dec. 21-23.

Our current big needs are:

             Canned Green Beans

             Canned Corn

             Baked Beans (Pork & Beans)

             Other canned beans except for Pinto (black, kidney, chili, etc.)

             Any dried beans

             Macaroni & Cheese

             Pasta Sauce

             Canned pasta w/ meat (spaghetti w/ meatballs, ravioli, etc.)

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

Right now, we have plenty of the following:

             Canned chicken and tuna

             Canned sweet potatoes

             Canned Pinto Beans

             Canned fruit

            Spaghetti noodles

             Peanut Butter

             Cereal

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.

In this season of thanks, I invite you to learn more about the Thank Offering through Presbyterian Women. This annual offering is provided as a way to express gratitude for the special blessings in our lives. The funds raised through this offering are used to fund Thank Offering grants, which range from $5,000 to $50,000 each. At least 40% of the offering funds health related ministries.

Please enjoy this five minute video on the Thank Offering.

Giving is easy. You may use this link to donate with a credit card payment on the Presbyterian Women page of our website. Just click here and select the Thank Offering as the option when making your donation.

You may also mail or drop off your check at the church. All Thank Offering donations are due to the church by Wednesday, December 2nd. Donations received this year will fund grants awarded in 2021.

I encourage you to learn more about the grant application process. There may be mission ideas in your hearts and minds that would be eligible for this funding. https://www.presbyterianwomen.org/giving-funding/grants/birthday-thank-offering-criteria/. Please feel free to contact me for additional information.

In Christ,

Rene Prager

Moderator, Presbyterian Women

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.

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

CONGRATULATIONS to our own Chrissy Rotan on being named the 2021 North Carolina Secondary Assistant Principal of the Year. Chrissy is Assistant Principal at Concord High School.

This past week, our Girl Scout troops met by age level to begin work on their Journey programs. For Junior Girl Scouts, this is the prerequisite for their Bronze Award. Cadette Girl Scouts may begin work on their Silver Award after completing their Journey and Take Action project. Our Senior level scouts have two pathways to the Gold Award: completion of their Silver award as a Cadette and a single Senior level Journey, or two Senior level Journeys.

If you have a daughter / granddaughter, or know of girls in our community who would enjoy Girl Scouts and / or benefit from the challenges of the Girl Scout higher award programs, this is a great time to join! We can provide you with the introductory information from these initial meetings and bring you up to speed prior to our second set of Journey meetings in December. Please contact Rene Prager: thepragers@yahoo.com for more information.

Pictured are Girl Scout alumni, Meredith Sheridan and Kate Prager. They attended our Cadette and Senior level meetings to share their personal experiences with the Journeys and the Silver and Gold Awards.

The troops will meet this Thursday, November 19th, for a blended general meeting. The scouts continue their cultural themed studies, exploring the celebration of Diwali. They will also participate in the new lunch preparation program for Opportunity House, preparing twenty meals.

Please remember that year-end contributions must be received in the church office by noon on December 31st. For stock transfers, please notify Suzanne Russell so that the proceeds can be applied to the correct account in a timely manner. 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/).