Note from Ellen

Dear Friends,

After a wonderful Sunday filled with our youth leading us faithfully and well in worship and our deacons and the Niblocks treating us to a fantastic picnic, we turn to a week filled with some of the good regular rhythms of church life including a session meeting and officer training. And we find ourselves deep in the book of Acts with a bit of 1 Thessalonians (Acts 17:1-9; 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10). As word about Jesus spreads beyond Jerusalem, the conflicts begin to mount. Those in power are taken aback by those who dare to claim that Jesus is king and that the emperor is not. They refer to Paul and the others as “people who are turning the world upside down.”

How does news of a crucified and risen Messiah turn our world upside down here and now? How are we “those people”?

I’ll look forward to seeing you Sunday.

Grace and peace,

Ellen

Usher sign up link:  https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0948acab2dabf49-fpcusher

Lay Reader sign up link:  https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0948acab2dabf49-scripture

link for online worship:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfpzVUz-ZgaCJuogIMor8Iw/live

link to Ellen's sermon podcasts:  https://bit.ly/Sermons_FPCConcord

I know, we are excited too! Please use this link: https://firstpresconcord.org/ to register TODAY!

VBS Week (June 10-13) is FREE, but advance registration is required.

This year’s theme is: The Olympics – Celebrating ALL of God’s Children. We will embrace the Olympic spirit – building a peaceful and better world (Olympics.com) – through movement and games, art and community service, and song and celebration! Please also mark your calendars for Sunday, June 16^th – ALL VBS participants are invited and encouraged to attend worship, where we will help to lead the congregation in one of our VBS songs!

We are still looking for VBS Volunteers – for both advance preparation items, as well as week of VBS assistance. If you are able to help, please use this link to sign-up: VBS 2024: VBS Volunteers (signupgenius.com) or contact Bill Cochran. 

Love Feast on the Streets

Volunteers Needed This Saturday: Our Love Feast on the Streets with local partner, Esther's Heart Ministries, is back this Saturday, April 20 at 8:30 AM at St. James Lutheran Church in downtown Concord. This is an easy and rewarding way to interact with and serve our neighbors, and we need your help to do it.

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0B4FA8AE2EA1FA7-love#/

Upcoming Youth Group Plans

All 6^th-12^th graders are invited and encouraged to join us for upcoming Youth events:

April 21^st – 4:30 - 6:30 PM – Movie Night – The Lorax

April 28^th – 5:00 - 6:30 PM – Earth Day – Guest speaker & neighborhood clean-up

May 5^th – 5:30 - 7:30 PM – Progressive Dinner End-of-Year Celebration

Please RSVP today: 2023-2024 Youth: Youth Group 4/21-5/5 (signupgenius.com)

Our Youth, ages 16+ are also invited to help serve dinner at the Night Shelter on April 28^th!

Earth Month at First Presbyterian ...

April 22nd is Earth Day, but the entire month is recognized world wide as a time to study and reflect on our earth. 

Two opportunities to do so here on campus are:

• Our Common Home prayer stations in the Commons starting Saturday, April 20th. Visit for a brief time of reflection on specific concerns for the earth at temporary stations. They will remain up through the end of April.

• Our Common Home Q & A with Casey  On EARTH DAY, Monday, April 22nd from 4-4:45 PM. Join us to hear about topics our denomination will be considering at General Assembly this year. Casey, our Presbytery’s representative on the Environmental and Justice Committee, will be considering overtures that may be presented at GA in July, including big topics like Divestment from Fossil Fuels, Plastic Pollution, Lithium Mining and Environmental Justice & the Cost of Green Transitions. He will also bring us up to speed on the denomination's past environmental work. A brief gathering in the Commons and a sampling of the earth’s bounty of fruits and vegetables with a focus on ones unfamiliar to us. Consider bringing one idea or change you have made in an effort to spare our earth. Sharing, sampling, learning and being encouraged….join us!

April Lunch Bunch

Church Picnic!

Thank you to everyone who came out to enjoy the picnic at the Niblock Farm on Sunday. The event was well attended, about 145, the food proved by Second Course was delicious, and the weather picture perfect!

Special thanks to Keane Matthews and the Danger Tones and to the Niblock Family!

CCM Monthly Needs

March was a little slower for the CCM Food Program. We only served 20% more households than in March 2023! On April 3, at our main Crisis Center Food Pantry, we broke our all-time record for the most households served in a fiscal year. And our fiscal year ends on June 30. Let that sink in for a minute.

This huge increase in the need for food assistance in our community is much more than our community food donations. So far in 2023-24, we have had to purchase about $42,000 worth of wholesale food through Second Harvest Food Bank. That is the only way we have been able to keep providing healthy, non-perishable foods for our neighbors in need.

Speaking of healthy, the CCM Food Program has partnered with the Cabarrus Health Alliance and their newest Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) grant from the CDC. As part of that, we are taking a six-month Healthy Food Access Pantry Training Program through NCSU. They place an emphasis on our clients’ cultural and nutritional needs. Currently we are polling our clients to see what their preferred cuisines are and what specialized nutritional needs their families have. We may be sending out a specialized letter with our results in the near future.

Currently, the pantry items we are in biggest need of are:

·    Canned Chicken

·    Other Canned Meats (Hash, Chili, Vienna Sausages, etc.)

·    Canned peas, carrots, potatoes and mixed vegetables

·    Macaroni & Cheese

·    Canned beans (especially baked, Chili, white and Kidney)

·    Canned Fruit (Mixed, Pears, Pineapple—but not peaches)

·    Shelf-stable Milk

·    Diapers

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

Thank you for the continued support from our church and community 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 9:30 am to 1 pm Monday through Friday. Bethel Baptist Helping Hands Food Pantry, located at 1209 1/4 Opal Street in Kannapolis, will gladly accept donations from 9 am to 1 pm on Monday and Thursday. The food pantry located at Westford Methodist on Highway 49 and the Kannapolis Food Pantry at West Point Baptist Church can accept donations on Saturday morning from 8:30 am to 11:30 am. The Feeding Our Souls Food Pantry at Bethel Church in Midland, and North Kannapolis Baptist Church Food Pantry will accept donations by calling the church in advance.