Thanks to our incredible First Presbyterian family who moved Market for Mission donations to the Fellowship Hall in just an hour!

Volunteers are unpacking boxes and setting up for the sale. There are so many treasures! You won’t want to miss this sale! Check out our Facebook and Instagram pages for pictures of items for sale!

We are excited to resume both the Children’s Message and Pew Prep (formerly known as Junior Church) this Sunday!

After the First Reading, children will be invited forward to sit in the first pew, in front of the pulpit. After the Children’s Message, our Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade students will exit the sanctuary together with their Pew Prep leaders. Older children will return to sit with their families.

Pew Prep will focus on preparing our early elementary school children for worship. Weekly lessons will cover topics including: the Lord’s Prayer, order of worship, and the meaning of different parts of worship. Our Pew Prep students will return to the sanctuary during the Doxology and sit with their respective families for the remainder of worship.

Pew Prep will be held in the Children’s Chapel on the 2nd floor of the Education Building.

We are looking for two additional leaders and a few shepherds to serve as the second adult. Please contact René Prager (r.prager@firstpresconcord.org) for more information.

Here is some helpful information:

K-5 meets in the children’s chapel located on the second floor of the Education Building (Room E204)

Middle School (grades 6-8) meets on the third floor of the Will Young Building (Room W304),

*PLEASE use entrances on either side of the building across from the Fellowship House to access stairs going up to the third floor. ONLY use these doors.

High School (grades 9-12) will meet in the Commons Prayer room located on the ground floor of the Education Building. Take the elevator from the second floor (at the Keurig Connection Hub) down to the Commons.

Nursery age children will be on the second floor of the Will Young building.

*PLEASE ring bell at the First Kids main door, located under the canopy drive through, and the volunteer will come and greet you. ONLY use this entrance. (Rooms E202 & E203)

S&D Class meets in the living room of the Fellowship House.

Todd Hobbie Class meets in Davis Hall.

Journey Class meets second floor of Education Building (Room E201)

First Presbyterian Church is having a child sponsorship drive on Sunday, October 3 immediately following the 11:00 a.m. service. Our mission in Bayonnais Haiti, Friends Empowering Haiti, desperately needs our help. 80% of Haitians live in poverty and most families cannot afford to send their children to school. You can help change a life in Haiti by sponsoring a child.

Friends Empowering Haiti works with EWO, (Haitian creole for hero), to sponsor children in Bayonnais. A sponsorship costs just $40 a month and can change a child’s life forever.

By sponsoring a child you'll get to build a personal relationship with a student through letters, prayer. Your sponsorship will provide everything they need to get their education, from meals to school uniforms. It even gives them access to a medical clinic if needed.

Please come on October 3rd at 12 noon to the front lawn of the Fellowship House to learn more about sponsoring a child. Representatives from EWO will be there with information on children that need a sponsor, and church members who currently sponsor a child will be there to share about their sponsorship experience.

Please consider empowering a student to be a hero in their community, and help save Haiti!

For more information on sponsoring a child please visit:

Click here to view ta video and consider sponsoring a child and becoming a Haiti Hero!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Qxxle4ZEtKRi_ggLZKRSRIwJGpbTeB91/view?usp=drive_web

Please contact Betsy Liles, Friends Empowering Haiti Board Member, with any questions.

Dinnerbell6@gmail.com

704-791-6166

Pianist Willis Delony, along with Will Campbell on saxophone and Joe Skillen on Tuba, will present a classical/jazz concert in our sanctuary on Tuesday, Oct. 5 at 7:00 p.m. In a performing career spanning over four decades, Willis Delony has won acclaim as a classical/jazz crossover artist. His innovative concert explorations of the two musical worlds are showcased in a series of solo piano recordings on the Centaur label. A New World A' Comin' – Classical

and Jazz Connections was released in 2001. Double Dance – Classical and Jazz Connections II was released in 2008. Out of Character – Classical and Jazz Connections III, was released in October 2014. Also part of the series is an independent release from 2018 entitled Butterfly Room – Connections for Solo Piano. The project continues with Between the Notes, which will be released by Centaur on November 5, 2021. Previous album credits include a recording of sonatas by Samuel Barber and Sergei Prokofiev, also on the Centaur label, and a jazz album entitled Civilized Conversations, featuring Delony and bassist Bill Grimes. He collaborated with bassoonist William Ludwig on the Mark Records release, Rhapsody in Bassoon, which features the world premiere recording of André Previn’s Sonata for Bassoon and Piano.

He also appears with oboist Johanna Cox Pennington on her album Orion Nocturne on the Albany label.

The concert will feature works by Claude Debussy, Libby Larsen, Florence Price along with original pieces and standard jazz repertoire by Wayne Shorter and Charlie Parker. This concert is free and open to the public. Invite your friends, neighbors, and especially band students from our local middle and high schools.

Join us Saturday, October 9th. Your building and grounds committee will begin working on the church campus at 8:00 a.m. and everyone is invited!

See you then!

What Is It? The Cabarrus County CROP Hunger Walk is a great opportunity for our church family to work together by donating money and time to end hunger in our community and in the world. This event includes a 3.7 mile walk. Fun for all ages.

When Is It? Sunday, October 10th. The walk starts at 2:00 PM at Forest Hill United Methodist Church in Concord.

How Can I Donate? To make online donations go to https://events.crophungerwalk.org/2021. Enter this web address into your browser and select donate in the blue bar at top. Click Find a Participant or Team to Support. Type First Presbyterian Concord. Click Donate Now and file out the form that appears. You can also donate by mailing or by dropping a check to the church office. Checks should be designated to the CROP walk. We have been challenged to meet the $1,000 level goal this year.

How Can I Join In? You can use the above website to register for the team or you can call the church office. You can also join in by walking in the event that day! All are welcome!

Is There Any Other Way I Can Help? Yes! You can spread the word and encourage your friends and family to support this fun event.

Who Can I Contact with Questions? Our church's CROP walk coordinator this year is Edy Johnston. Feel free to email her at johnstoniiip@aol.com or call her at 704.796.6230. If you have questions or want to help.

If you have not already done so, please e-mail René Prager: r.prager@firstpresconcord.org with your student’s college mailing address.

End of day Thursday, September 30th, is the final call for addresses for the Fall Care Packages.

First Presbyterian is pleased to be able to offer nursery for Sunday mornings! In order to provide a safe environment for children and workers, please keep your children at home if they have sniffles, a runny nose, fever, cough or other signs of illness. We appreciate everyone’s cooperation.

We also need volunteers to keep offering the nursery on Sundays. We are continuing to work on a long-term plan for the nursery, but need assistance now. . If you are vaccinated and have your child protection training, and are able to help care for the young children of our congregation, please sign-up below. You may volunteer to help during the Sunday school hour or during church, or both.

All volunteers are asked to mask while indoors.

Please use this link to sign-up: Sunday Nursery Volunteers (signupgenius.com)

If you have any questions, please contact Margaret Moore at 704-467-7789.

We need more helpers to open and close the Commons Prayer Room on Wednesdays and Saturdays, when this space is open to the public. Here is a link sign-up for either opening or closing on the specified days. The sign-up runs through the end of October. If you are interested and would like to know more about the process, please contact Kate Morrison or Kimberly Leatherman.We greatly appreciate your help!

First Presbyterian sponsors Girl Scout troops for girls, kindergarten through 12th grade. Please join us! The new scout year officially kicks off on October 1st and our meetings this month are October 7th and October 21st, 6:30-7:30 PM. We will continue to meet on the 1st and 3rd Thursdays each month at that time slot. Please contact René Prager: thepragers@yahoo.com for information on the different age group troops and registration.