Where have you glimpsed the kingdom of heaven? Where have you seen God’s presence? As we looked at the first of the Beatitudes, this was a question we reflected on at a young adult gathering last Wednesday. Perhaps you, like me, also wish to reflect on this one more...
Dear FPC Church Family, Yes, I do mean family. We are part of this family of faith connected by Christ. We gather here to worship, to celebrate, to mourn, to have food and fellowship and fun. We are family. Perhaps some of you all remember, like I do, the fall...
Food insecurity is the condition of not having access to enough food, or food of adequate quality, to meet basic needs. According to the USDA, more than 34 million people, including 9 million children, in the United States are food insecure. Here in North Carolina,...
As I walk outside these days, I marvel in the (sometimes) cooler temperatures and the beauty around us. If you have a garden, it is likely better kept than ours, but perhaps yours is also a mixture of color and life and browning foliage. The zinnias still provide...
Monday at 1:11 pm my wife and I received a text message from our daughter at UNC-Chapel Hill. The text read, “there’s an armed person on campus, I’m at home, but just in case you saw the alert.” I began to get online and realize the magnitude of what was going on...
For many of our students, today is the first day of school for the new school year. For some, it is the return to the familiar and comfortable while for others it is the start of something new and uncertain. Some students have been looking forward to the start of...
Lisa, Donna, and I met this week and began our conversation with the fact that it felt like Groundhog Day, as in that movie where the guy keeps reliving the same day over and over and over again. We were yet again discussing the search for a youth director after, yet...
Two weeks ago, Redhead Hall wasn’t only the home to the Young Men’s Bible Class, but also to young messy beautiful children! Or, you might say, the Kids Disciple Club (KDC). As the Vacation Bible School kids took over the Life Center as they were ‘diving into the...
I had the real joy of being with 12 of our high schoolers for the Montreat Youth Conference. Now I know some may say being away for a week with 15 under one roof and going to the grocery store multiple times and coordinating schedules may not sound very joyful, but it...
What does it mean to be Presbyterian today? This is a question Presbyterians and the Presbyterian Church have wrestled with from the beginning. For much of our history going back to the Protestant Reformation, Presbyterians have defined ourselves based on our...
