Weekly Update for February 21, 2020

This Sunday is Witness Season Sunday, and we welcome Bill Barnet to our church during the Sunday School hour to share with us a little more about the community we are trying to enrich through our work with Cleveland Academy of Leadership. He will be speaking at 10am on Sunday in Fogartie Hall, and all adult Sunday School classes are invited! Can’t come? Look for the livestream at https://fpcspartanburg.org/give/witness-season/witness-season-programs.

Hopefully you all already know that we are trying to raise $25,000 towards creating a mathematics lab at Cleveland, and the good news is that an anonymous donor from outside the church has promised to match what the church contributes. So your giving can go a very long way to help end the cycles of poverty through education in our city’s Northside. So far we have raised $6,500 toward our $25,000 goal. So please give generously! More information, including videos explaining more about the need and hopes for this math lab can be found at www.fpcspartanburg.org/witness-season. You may also give online there. We also need volunteers at Cleveland. If you are interested, please contact Mary Elizabeth Evans (meevans@spart7.org).

But even before we get to Witness Season Sunday, our own Rev. Joanne Hull is getting married to Eddie Donald at 4pm in the Sanctuary on Saturday (TOMORROW)! And you are all invited! Tartans and kilts are welcomed, but not required. Though there will not be a nursery, children who can sit through the 45-minute service are invited, and there will be a children’s sermon and activity bags especially for them. A reception will follow in Fogartie Hall. Come be a part of the celebration!

THIS SUNDAY
8:00am Blood Drive Begins
8:45am MorningSong* and Chapel Worship Services
9:45am Sunday School for All Ages
9:45am Family Lent Workshop
10:00am Witness Season Sunday School* (Fogartie Hall)
11:00am Sanctuary* Worship Service
1:00pm Blood Drive Ends
5:00pm Sunday Night Youth Group

(* Services with asterisks will be livestreamed at www.fpcspartanburg.org/live. Bulletins, scripture readings, manuscripts, and video archives can also be found on that page.)

Blood Drive
It's that time again! Time to sign up to donate blood. For every donor who gives blood, FPC will receive $20. We are about halfway to reaching our goal to put a bench in front of the Family Life Center. Help us reach our goal and help others in the process! The Blood Drive will take place on Sunday, February 23, 8:00am-1:00pm in the Gym and the FLC parking lot. For an appointment, contact Beth Cecil (bcecil@fpcspartanburg.org // 864-208-2136).

Lent Devotion Book – The Rhythm of Worship and Life
This year’s Lent Devotion Book is a collaboration of seven Spartanburg area Presbyterian congregations, including Inman, Landrum Limestone, Nazareth, Second, Tyger River, and our own congregation. The reflections consider how the movements of worship reflect and shape the movements of our lives. A limited number of copies will be available this Sunday, with more available at our Ash Wednesday service. You may also find them online at www.fpcspartanburg.org/devotionals or on our Facebook or Twitter pages. You may also sign up to receive them online at http://eepurl.com/bqtMS9.

NEXT WEEK
Take a Habitat Home Tour! – Tuesday, February 25
2:45pm starting in the Family Life Center parking lot
The Local Missions Committee invites you on a special bus tour to see several Habitat for Humanity homes around Spartanburg. The tour will take place on February 25th at 3pm. Lee Close will be driving and educating us on Habitat's partnership with First Presbyterian Church. Please email Caroline Goodman at cgoodman@fpcspartanburg.org if you plan to attend.

Spartanburg Interfaith Alliance Lenten Worship and Luncheon Series
Experience the tradition of the Lenten Season! The Spartanburg Interfaith Alliance will host six worship and lunch sessions beginning at noon where attendees have the chance to fellowship and learn more about the Lenten tradition.

Wed. 2/26 at St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church (161 N. Dean St.) – No lunch due to observance of Ash Wednesday (REGISTER)
Wed. 3/4 at First Presbyterian Church Spartanburg
Wed. 3/11 at The Episcopal Church of the Advent (141 Advent St.)
Wed. 3/18 at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (121 Quail Dr.)
Wed. 3/25 at Glenn Springs Calvary Episcopal Church (3685 Glenn Springs Rd.)
Wed. 4/1 hosted by The Palmetto Moravian Fellowship at Central United Methodist Church (233 N. Church St.)

WAF Dinner – Wednesday, February 26
5:00-6:15pm in Fogartie Hall
This week we will enjoy salad bar, Athenian baked salmon topped with pesto feta spinach hollandaise sauce, garden blend wild rice, roasted yellow squash and zucchini, tomatoes, onions, bread, and desert. No reservations are necessary, and most forms of payment are accepted at the door. Meal costs are: $8 for adults and youth (12 and older), $7 for seniors (55 and over), and $5 for children, with a limit of $25 per family.

Ash Wednesday Service – Wednesday, February 26
6:30pm in the Sanctuary
Join us in the Sanctuary, 6:30-7:15pm to mark the beginning of the Lenten season with this brief worship service that will include the imposition of ashes. All youth, children, and adults are invited to the service and there will be no other programming during this time.

SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES
Find all sorts of ways that you can serve in the Ministry Finder section of the website (under the “Serve” menu). There you can search for service opportunities that match your interests and schedule, and with one tap, make contact with someone who can tell you more and/or help you to get involved.

Lunch ‘n Learn: Generational Literacy – Tuesday, March 10
Noon in the Large Private Dining Room
Meal Cost: $7
Register by March 6 (Click Here to Register)
Come learn more about Generational Literacy, a focus area of the Faith Initiative to End Child Poverty. Join us in the Large Private Dining Room (LPDR) in the Family Life Center at Noon on Tuesday, March 10 for a panel discussion with Bill Brasington, Adult Learning Center; Gloria Close, Citizen Scholars Institute; Todd Stephens, Spartanburg County Public Libraries; and Anne Waters, Hub City Writers Project. Lunch prepared by Pano Stathakis will be served for only $7.

Rise Against Hunger – Sunday, March 15
Rise Against Hunger is an international hunger relief organization that distributes food and life-changing aid to the world’s most vulnerable, mobilizing the necessary resources to end hunger by 2030. They bring all their supplies to the church and we will spend 2 hours packaging food for the starving and malnourished around the globe. We need 120 volunteers for this mission opportunity, and we package 25,000 meals in 2 hours! How amazing is that? Join our youth on March 15 at 2pm in the Gym! All ages welcome. Mark your calendars and register today!

Service Opportunities for Children, Families, and Everyone Else Too!
There are several opportunities for you and your children to get involved in preparing our church for the season of Lent and Easter. Please sign up online or contact Alexa Pack (alexapack@gmail.com) or Mary Lorick Thompson (marylorick.thompson@salem.edu) for more information, visit https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0449aaa623a3fa7-lent and

OTHER NEWS
World Day of Prayer – Friday, March 6
The World Day of Prayer is March 6. The Prayer Committee has placed prayer cards in the Tower Room and lobby of the Family Life Center. We hope you will find them useful as you think about the needs of our world and that you will join Christians around the globe on that day in offering our both our praise and our concerns to God in prayer. And remember that the Chapel will be open (as it is every weekday) if you need a quiet place to spend some time in prayer.

Women’s Connection at Montreat – August 14-16
Featuring Jen Hatmaker, Frances Taylor Gench, and Alice Ridgill
Comprehensive cost: $200 (if registered through FPC)
(includes conference registration, a double-occupancy room, and five meals)
Our church has arranged for housing, meals, and deeply discounted registration for the first 20 women to register for this conference. Registration should be made through the church to receive these benefits! This is always a phenomenal conference, and it will be led by three extraordinary ladies this year. Jen Hatmaker is a nationally-known author of two New York Times best sellers and host of the wildly popular For the Love podcast. Frances Taylor Gench spoke at our church several years ago and is an engaging speaker and a leading New Testament scholar. Alice Ridgill is a phenomenal preacher with strong SC connections. New for this year will be a back-home group program so that our group can discuss and grow together. So don’t miss this opportunity! Lodging and meals will be at the William Black Lodge, conveniently located right behind Assembly Inn, at the heart of Montreat. Reserved rooms are all double occupancy with twin beds (though other options may be available at an increased cost). So invite a good friend to be your roommate for the weekend! (Note: This is half the cost of the full registration, housing, and meals! In return for heavily subsidizing this event, the Adult Education and Discipleship Committee asks that you be willing to share your experience with others and participate in the growth of our Women’s Ministry programming.)
More information is on the Montreat website, but be sure to register through Shannon Hutcheson (shutcheson@fpcspartanburg.org)at the church.

LOOKING AHEAD
February 23 – Witness Season Sunday
February 23 – Lent Workshop
February 26 – Ash Wednesday Service (6:30pm/Sanctuary)
March 6 – World Day of Praywr
April 5 – Palm Sunday
April 9 – Maundy Thursday
April 10 – Good Friday
April 12 – Easter Sunday
June 15-18 – Vacation Bible School
August 14-16 – Women’s Connection at Montreat

Find out more in First News: www.fpcspartanburg.org/firstnews