FBC Raleigh News • October 20, 2020
DEACON ELECTIONS
 
We have arrived at the time in FBC’s calendar to elect deacons, spiritual leaders of the church who assist with congregational care. As with so many things in this pandemic, the process this year will be a little different. We will stay as true as we possibly can to the process outlined in the bylaws, while at the same time providing methods for voting that fit with our remote gatherings. Our timing will also be a bit delayed. The process will be as follows.

Attached below, you'll find the ballot for 2020. You have a month to submit a ballot nominating up to 16 deacons (eight men and eight women). Those ballots can be submitted by printing off the form that we've provided and filling it out, or by simply writing out your nominations on a piece of paper marked “Deacon Nominations 2020” and mailing it to the church at 99 N. Salisbury Street, Raleigh, NC 27603, attn Jennie Herrick. The paper forms can also be dropped off in the ballot box that will be located at the doorway under the portico facing McDowell Street. In addition, nominations may be sent electronically by email to Jennie Herrick. That email should show “Deacon Nomination” in the subject line and list the nominees. Jennie will then print the form, cut off the identifying information, and place the nominating form in the deacon ballot box. On Sunday, November 15 (four Sundays after the beginning of the nominating period), the tellers appointed by the Chair will gather in the library (masked and physically distanced, of course) to count the ballots, and the Chair and Vice Chair will then notify those selected.

DEACON ON CALL • OCTOBER 18-24
Kent Dickens (919-601-5631 m or 919-781-2067 h)
WEEK AT A GLANCE • OCTOBER 20-25
Tuesday, October 20
10am Staff Mtg. (Zoom or Library)
6pm Theology on Tap (Zoom/In-person tbd)
6:15pm MS Small Group (Zoom/1107 Marlowe Rd, Raleigh)
6:30pm HS Bible Study (Helms’ Home)
7:30pm Pathfinders Sunday School (Virtual)

Wednesday, October 21
5:30pm 1st-5th Grade Boys Music & Mission (J. Pegram Yard)
6pm Centerpoint (Zoom)

Thursday, October 22
7am Band of Brothers (Zoom)
7pm Nominating Committee Mtg. (Zoom)
Friday, October 23
Youth/College Overnight Campout

Sunday October 25
10am 6th Grade SS (Go To)
10am 7th/8th Grade SS (Zoom)
10am HS SS (Zoom/In-person tbd)
11am Virtual Worship (YouTube)
2pm 1st-2nd Grade SS (Zoom)
2pm 3rd-5th Grade SS (Zoom)
2:30pm CROP Walk Event (Zoom Kick-off)
4pm 3’s-K SS (Ellis Yard)
5:30pm Youth Group (PL/Zoom)
7pm Music Search Committee Mtg. (Zoom)
CENTERPOINT

Wednesday, October 21 (6-7:15pm): Leah Reed and Brian Crisp will lead a Zoom session on their new joint financial assistance program, the Housing All-Fund. Brian is the Minister of Mission and Adult Education at Pullen Memorial Baptist Church. Brian joined the staff at Pullen after a long career in education and business. Together, they'll talk about community engagement, collaboration, partnership with government agencies, and the vision for the future of this new endeavor. Join us here!

Wednesday, October 28 (6-7:15pm):
Have you wondered what the pandemic has looked like through the lens of a non-profit in our community? A representative from Oak City Cares will be leading a Zoom presentation about their mission in downtown Raleigh, how the pandemic has affected services for people experiencing homelessness, and their needs moving forward. Oak City Cares is a service hub for connecting individuals and families at risk of, or currently experiencing, homelessness to coordinated services that create a path to stable housing and renewed hope. As a partnership between Catholic Charities, Wake County, Raleigh/Wake Partnership to End Homelessness, the city of Raleigh, and the United Way, they serve a vital role in caring for our neighbors experiencing homelessness in our city.
We hope you will make plans to hear about how we can partner together to create change in our own neighborhood. Join us here!

Children's Music & Missions:
We are having a great time outside together, enjoying Missions and non-singing Music stations with our children! We have the best, most flexible leaders and children ever. We wear masks, stay socially distanced, and provide individual supplies for our children. With days getting shorter, our new time will be an hour earlier, from 5:30–6:30pm. On Wednesday, October 21 the 1st-5th grade boys will meet in the Pegram’s yard for Music & Missions. If you haven’t already, email Lynn if you can come!
TOY JOY
GIFT & GOODIE FUN

Halloween meets Toy Joy on Saturday, October 31, in the church parking lot! Come by and be a part of our “gift & goodie” fun with COVID protocols in place! Here’s the scoop:
From 11:30am-1pm, you’re invited to drive through the church parking lot and donate a gift for Toy Joy. Walmart and Amazon wishlists have been created to make shopping as easy as a click of a button. As you enter the parking lot from Hillsborough Street, you’ll be joyfully greeted by our Toy Joy team, dressed up in silly costumes, ready to 1) receive your gift for Toy Joy (i.e. toy donation), and 2) share a Halloween goodie with everyone in the car! 

In keeping with our COVID protocol, all of our team members will be wearing face masks and candy-handlers will be wearing gloves. With a pop of the trunk, one of our team members will receive your donation for Toy Joy so you won’t even need to get out of the car while Halloween goodies travel through a shoot (aka PVC pipe) into each open window as a fun way to respect the need to keep socially distanced!

Who will be dressed the silliest, and will you even be able to pick out who is who? What Halloween goodies will come down the shoot and into your car?   How much good can we do to stock our Toy Joy shopping rooms with new toys? Drive through on Saturday, October 31, between 11:30am and 1pm and make it a Happy Halloween indeed!
FIRST FOUNDATIONS
ISSUE SIX

Our newest edition of First Foundations is ready for you to enjoy! In early January, the editing team sat in a living room at the beach and planned the entire slate of 2020 themes. In our wildest imagination, we never could have prepared for what would come only a few weeks later. These days, each of our lives revolve around navigating change. We hope some part of this publication resonates with your journey in 2020 thus far. Read issue six here.

We are grateful for all of the contributors for issue six: Jen Foster, Claire Willmshen, Sarah David, Andy Archer, Nancye Gaj, Pam Powell, and Mary Alice Seals. A huge thank you to our editorial team that labors over each publication: Jen Foster, Anne Bullard, and Pam Powell.

Since most folks are not coming to the church building, we decided to mail out as many copies of this issue as possible. If you would like a copy of the magazine and have not already received one in the mail, please email Deborah and we'll make sure to get your family a copy. Have an idea or feedback for a future publication? Email Leah.
POSTLUDE PICTURES NEEDED

We have really enjoyed seeing pictures of your family during our virtual worship each week! We want to continue using your pictures in the postlude, so we’re asking for more of them. If you have pictures of yourself or your family that you’d like to share, please email them to Lynn Lingafelt. These can be selfies or pictures of your family doing fall activities -- whatever you’d like! We just want to remind ourselves of the wonderful congregation we have at FBC.
TOY JOY UPDATE

Our first shopping day is this Saturday and we need people willing to shop for our clients this week. See the sign up link below for this week and other shopping dates. Please wear your masks when you come to help! Saturday Sign-Up

We are also creating prayer circles to pray for the families we are serving. For this task, we are looking for 30 coordinators to help us assemble these prayer circles. A circle can be as small as a family unit or as large as a Sunday School class or other group. You can choose to meet virtually or in a socially distant, in-person setting -- whatever works for your group. If you are interested in assembling and leading one of these circles, please click on this link to sign up! Prayer Circle Sign-Up

Because of COVID-19, items and toys must be new this year. You can use the Amazon wish list or the Walmart event registry to find needed gifts. We especially need batteries for remote control cars and other toys. Amazon Wishlist. To get to the Walmart event registry, go to walmart.com, click on the menu button at the top left of the page, and scroll down to "Registry." Click on "Events" and type in First Baptist Church Raleigh, select the state, and go. You can also type the word "registry" in the search bar at the top of the page. Please get your items to the church sooner rather than later but no later than November 4. Other drop off dates will be posted soon. Thank you! You are an important part of the village that makes Toy Joy successful as we do church.
GREATER TRIANGLE AREA VIRTUAL
CROP WALK

We hope you are making plans to join the Greater Triangle Area Virtual Crop Walk this year! There will not be a mass gathering on walk day as in the past but we will celebrate all the efforts of our walkers on Sunday, October 25, at 3pm. CROP Walk has been encouraging people to walk “Anywhere, Anytime” to show support of hunger relief. CROP Walk would still like you to register your participation and solicit donations to support your walk. CROP Walk supports five local hunger agencies along with the global work of Church World Service. Go to the GTA CROP Hunger Walk Website to register and donate. At the website you will also find locally produced short videos about each of the five benefitting agencies in the Greater Triangle Area. CROP Walk would love for you to promote the Walk on your own social media, by liking and sharing information from CROP Walk’s Facebook and Instagram accounts. Join us at the following link for a Zoom celebration on Sunday October 25 from 2:30 – 3:05pm. There will be music by DJ John Lewis, a chance to connect with other walkers, a prayer, and report on the top donors thus far. This will also be available on the GTA Facebook page live. CROP Walk extends its thanks to the FBC Day Mission Fund for generous support of the GTA CROP Walk as a major sponsor. Our own Wayne Hager serves as the Co-Coordinator of the Walk. For more information, email Wayne Hager.
AAWC'S WEEKLY SCHEDULE

Each week, we'll start posting And Also With 'Cue's weekly schedule. We post this on our Facebook page, but we want to make sure you all have this information as well. We will let you know our regular lunch schedule and if there will be outside events on the weekend for you to attend!

Come eat with us this week:

October 20-23 • 11-1:30pm,
church parking lot
October 20 • 5-8pm at Arbor Creek Neighborhood in Holly Springs

Our Thanksgiving pre-order menu is coming soon!


Have an idea about how to giveaway food in our community? Email Leah!
WAYS TO GIVE

There are several different ways in which you can continue to support the church financially during this time of social distancing. We know many people are facing their own financial challenges right now and have been very generous already, but a number of people have asked how they could support the church while we are unable to gather together physically. Wayne Hager has provided the following answers to this question.

• We continue to receive mail daily. Any gifts mailed to the church will be processed and deposited as soon as possible.
• We will continue to debit bank accounts through auto drafts as we have been instructed by donors.
• If you have set up a recurring donation through one of our electronic options, those donations will continue without interruption unless YOU make a change.
• If you wish to begin electronic giving, please go to this link where each of our options is explained.
• If you are considering a stock gift, please visit this link for instructions. 

If you have any financial or giving-option questions, please email Wayne Hager.
SLIGHT CHANGE OF OFFICE PROCEDURES

While the church office will remain closed to the public for the immediate future, we have someone in the office Monday through Friday, 8:30am-5pm to answer the phone and let people in for pre-approved activities (mail, janitorial, and food deliveries; maintenance work; and a few small meetings). The staff and church council continue to monitor all realities related to COVID-19. In addition, we have formed a risk management team (RMT) made up of John Baldwin, Sam Ewell, Ron Maness (chair), Alice Marshbanks, and Hollis Yelverton to help us make decisions. The RMT has developed a list of guidelines which can be found here... Anyone or any group wanting to schedule an in-person meeting or activity should contact Wayne Hager. We still encourage you to contact any of the ministers if you have a pressing need, using the following email links: Chris Chapman, Lynn Lingafelt, Leah Reed, and Michael Hood.
AMONG OUR FAMILY

A link to the entire prayer list may be found below.
Please use your church directory for mailing addresses.

THE RECORD WE WROTE
Week as of October 13, 2020
Current Week Revenue: $21,126.34
Month-to-Date Revenue: $49,044.16
Year-to-Date Revenue: $1,089,075.87
Month-to-Date Expenses: $45,081.96
Year-to-Date Expenses: $1,077,633.04
NC State Missions: $1,045.00
Heck Jones: $8,453.00
SUBMIT A ROSE WINDOW WEEKLY ANNOUNCEMENT

Do you have an announcement that you would like to include in the Rose Window Weekly? All information must be submitted by Thursday at noon, to be included in the following Tuesday's edition. Just fill out the Google form in the link below, and we'll make sure to include it in next week's publication.



For any questions concerning the Rose Window Weekly,
contact Leah Reed. Email Leah here.