Sunday, August 28

Guest Minister: Amanda Anderson

Rev. Anderson grew up a “preacher’s kid” in the eastern North Carolina towns of Laurinburg and Roanoke Rapids. She holds a BA in Sociology from Davidson College and an M.Div from Union Presbyterian Seminary. Amanda was ordained in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in October 2005 and served as Associate Pastor for Christian Education at Graham Presbyterian Church from 2005 until 2012. She resides in Burlington and currently takes on the role of stay-at-home mom for her two young children in addition to guest preaching and teaching opportunities.

• Worship leader: Felton Godwin
• Flowers: Mary Planer
• Usher: Valerie Parker

This Month:

Head Usher: Lydia Taylor

Sun., September 4

• Guest minister: Melvin Scales
• Worship leader: Libby Pell
• Scripture Reader: Needed
• Flowers: Needed

Sat. Sept. 10: Walk to End Alzheimer's 

Sun., September 11: Generosity Kickoff

• Guest Speaker: Will Sheppard
• Worship leader: Julia Ann Banfield
• Scripture Reader: Needed
• Flowers: Needed

Sat., Sept. 17: Sandwich Saturday (10-11:30am)

Sun., September 18

• Guest minister: Eric Leathers
• Worship Leader: Bettsee McPhail
• Scripture Reader: Needed
• Flowers: Needed
• Minute for Missions

Sun., September 25: Outdoor Service & 

Picnic at Riverside Park

This will be a casual, member led style of worship. Please plan to join us, and bring your favorite dish(es) to share. Hot dogs and hamburgers will be provided.

• Guest minister: Member Led
• Worship Leader: Anna Bush

Community Outreach:

This fall, FPCMA will be providing a couple of meals for the Mount Airy High School football team before their Friday night games. The dates we are hosting are September 2nd and October 7th at 3:30pm. We are needing a few volunteers for both dates to help set up, clean up and cook. If you are interested in helping, please reach out to the office at office@fpcma.com.

Pennies For Hunger: Sept. 4

The first Sunday of the month we pass around yellow buckets for our Pennies for Hunger offering. You can also give to this fund through the Realm app. Just go to the giving tab and select the fund "HUNGER"

Walk to End Alzheimer's:

Saturday, Sept. 10 

Join our team as we Walk to End Alzheimer's at Riverside Park the morning of September 10. Our team goal is $1500 this year. Please help by joining the team and walking, or donating to a team member or the team as a whole.

To earn an event t-shirt, you must raise $100. It will be automatically shipped to you.

Sign up, donate or learn more by clicking the button. You can also contact team members Beth Pequeno, Blanton Youell, or Joy Barlow.

Sandwich Saturday: Sept. 17

Sandwich Saturdays will continue on the third Saturday of the month. Come help assemble 75 lunches to be delivered to those in need. Volunteer sign-up sheets are on the bulletin board in the foyer or you can sign up using Volunteer Button in this article.

We are still in need of peanut butter and grape jam. We need monetary donations to purchase the other supplies. If you would like to contribute, please add "Sandwich Saturday" to the outside of an envelope or on your check's memo line. See Joy Barlow or Beth Pequeno for details.

Lunches provided since June 2022: 225

Music Ministry

Choir practices will begin again Wednesday, September 7th. We will meet earlier than usual at 6:30 to have fellowship snacks before practice begins at 7:00pm. If you would like to bring a dessert or salty snack to share, please do! Choir practices will be every Wednesday night thereafter from 7-8pm unless otherwise noted. We will plan to sing approximately two anthems a month in worship services, with special music during Advent. Our annual Christmas Cantata will be on Sunday, December 18th this year. We have guest musicians returning again from last year. 

We will resume children's music practices on Wednesday nights this fall during the Faith Friends scheduled meeting times. We will have the goal of having our children sing in services at least once during the fall and again during Advent. This will be a wonderful time to teach children the technicalities of singing while teaching them scripture through song. We will also incorporate instruments to give them an opportunity to learn rhythm. We are looking forward to this time together!

Member led music in worship will continue this fall. Our next scheduled member led service will be Sept 25th at our outdoor worship service at Riverside Park. Practices for member led music will be on Sunday afternoons at 4:30 in the sanctuary. If you are interested in sharing your musical talents by joining this group, please reach out to Anna Bush at anna@fpcma.com. 

Lastly, the session has approved advertising for a part time organist. We are excited about the possibility of growing our music ministry in this way. Once the job listing has been posted on our website, please help to spread the word. 

Adult Fellowship Survey

Several members have expressed interest in restarting our adult fellowship groups (Men's and Women's). These groups can involve fellowship, devotions, a Sunday school class, mission work, and/or volunteering for the church.

Please take a moment to answer the short questionnaire by clicking one of the buttons to help us gauge interest and make plans.

The First Steps committee is asking for assistance with needed items for the coming school year. You can follow the link below to access their amazon wish list. Thank you for your support!

Support Our Area Charities 

Baskets are located in the Foyer outside the sanctuary for:

Yokefellow: Canned Vegetables, Cooking Oil

Shepherd's House: Toilet Paper

Worship Volunteers Needed:

There are lots of ways to get involved during Sunday morning worship. We need scripture readers, flowers for the sanctuary, greeters, nursery helpers and Little Church helpers. There are sign-up sheets in the foyer, click a button below, or reach out to Anna at office@fpcma.com.

Adult Sunday School Offerings:

Odds and Ends: (50+ years old) : this is our longest established class and it meets every Sunday at 10am in the classroom located at the end of the long hallway upstairs.

Adult Sunday School: Sundays at 10am in the Ladies Parlor. This class is open to all adults and uses The Bible Project that pairs a video with passages to read and discussion questions to walk through as a group. Each lesson stands alone, so come when you are able. Led by David Rives.

Prayer List

Please keep the following people in your prayers:

Tim East, Jean Arrington, Ron Atkins, Vickie Riekehof, Becky Lyons, Terri Keck, Pam Church, Denny Holder, David Davis, Kathryn Benfer, Phil Chavez, Jodi Powers, Mariah Branch Tate and family, and Tresa Wilson.

If you have a prayer request, contact Anna in the church office or email office@fpcma.com.

Hospice Afghans for Veterans

Hospice is running low on afghans for their veterans. Afghans need to be no more than 3'x3' and use red, white and blue yarn in any pattern you choose.

They can always use 3x'3' afghans in any color you choose.

Contact Beth Pequeno for more information. beth.pequeno@gmail.com.

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline

9-8-8 is the new three-digit dialing code to reach help for suicide and crisis help across the United States. Please help to spread the word about this very important topic, and encourage anyone you know who may need help to dial 9-8-8. Texting is also an option.

We had so much fun at VBS learning about God and making new friends. There were around 30 children each night and 15 volunteers. Activities included music, games, a science lab, and crafts. A huge thank you to everyone who made it such a special week!

Session Members

Moderator: Katie Barrett Todd     

Clerk of the Session: Bob Keck

Elders:

Class of 2022:

Mary Ellen Goad, Joy Barlow, Nelson Clark, and Valerie Parker

Class of 2023:

Will Sheppard, Margaret Cockerell, and

Beth Pequeno

Class of 2024:

Barry Schneider, Lydia Taylor, and David Rives