Advent is almost here! You are invited to share a reading and light one of our Advent Wreath Candles for our online worship opportunities. We will work with you on filming, and we will provide the reading in advance. Click here to sign up! Questions? Contact Carol Hovey on the Worship and Music Committee.

I would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to the Presbyterian Women Fall Spiritual Nurture Coordinators: Dakeita Vanderburg, Carrie Myers, and Judy Mongold. These ladies provided us with an excellent opportunity to connect, both during our "Swag Bag" pick-up and the Zoom event! All attendees were thrilled to find "Judy's cookies" and a fun fall mask in their goodie bags!

A special thank you to Rev. Rachel Vogado and Rev. Lynne Keel for their beautiful opening and closing prayers for our program. Guest speaker, Beth Troutman, delivered a moving, inspirational presentation on her journey, calling us to "listen to our heart" and to watch for 'God winks'. If you missed the program and are interested in viewing the video, we have secured permission from Beth Troutman for a special release of the video during the month of November. Please contact Rene Prager thepragers@yahoo.com if you would like a link to view this program.

Look for an invitation coming to you next week (via email or mail) to the Virtual Christmas Joy Gift Concert . Please save the date Sunday, December 6th at 1:30 p.m. (This will not be a Zoom event.) Since Joy Gift will not be an in-person event this year, Joy Gift Envelopes will be available in the Fellowship House back entrance. A Joy Gift Box is there to drop off donations, or mail them to the church, putting Joy Gift in the memo line: PO Box 789, Concord, 28026, or donate online here.

We look forward to having you join us for this Special Christmas Event.

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

Monday, November 16th in Davis Hall from 2:30 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.

To schedule an appointment click here and enter 28025 or

visit redcrossblood.org and enter: Cabarrus VIP Blood Drive

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!

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!

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

On Thursday, the Girl Scouts earned the new Democracy badge by exploring local, state, and national government, through the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branches. Cadette and Senior level Girl Scouts in Troop 334 took turns leading portions of the lessons for the Brownie and Junior Troops. City Councilwoman, Jennifer Parsley, attended the meeting to share her story and role in our local government, and gifted each scout with a printed page of inspirational quotes.

Troops will meet by age level this week and then meet as a full group again on Thursday, November 19th.

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/).