What did you do on Mr. Rogers’ Day?
Saturday, March 20 would have been the 93rd birthday of Fred Rogers (1928–2003), remembered perhaps as the greatest virtual teacher of all time and a beloved ordained minister of word and sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
In 2000, eight retirees led an effort to plant a new Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) congregation in the mountains of north Georgia. Today, Faith Presbyterian Church – Blue Ridge has 159 members and is one of the fastest-growing congregations in Cherokee Presbytery and the Synod of the South Atlantic. Last year, Sunday morning worship attendance averaged 109.
As news comes in of the devastating effects of Hurricane Florence in North Carolina and South Carolina, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance is organizing a response that will help sustain life and restore hope in the coming days. “Our hearts break and rise up in prayer for the people along the Atlantic coast and the inland areas of the Carolinas,” says the Rev. Dr. Laurie Kraus, PDA director. “Right now, we need the church’s prayers and financial assistance.”
Remnants of Tropical Storm Alberto have caused serious problems for western North Carolina this week. Record rainfall over the past three weeks, coupled with flooding on Tuesday evening, has impacted many communities, including Montreat.
With the same spirit of daring that led them to reinvent their once-dying church, members of The Grove Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, are embracing an experiment in fellowship, one relationship at a time.
In October 2015, the South Carolina coastline was pummeled by heavy rains and flooding. A year later, Hurricane Matthew caused havoc in North Carolina damaging thousands of homes and businesses. But despite immediate response by Presbyterian Disaster Assistance and a number of other agencies, the need for clean up and repair continues in both states.
In response to media outlets, including Presbyterian News Service, reporting Montreat College’s disaffiliation from the Association of Presbyterian Colleges and Universities (APCU) and the resignation of three of its faculty over disagreements with a newly published set of “core documents,” the college’s president, Dr. Paul J. Maurer, has published a guest commentary in the Black Mountain News.
An estimated 80,000 people crowded the streets of Raleigh, North Carolina, over the weekend of February 11 to take part in the 11th annual Forward Together Moral March, led by the Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II. Organizers say it was the largest crowd in the march’s history.
It happened in Graham, the seat of Alamance County, on February 26, 1870. A racially charged crowd hung Wyatt Outlaw from a tree until his last breath. None of the hooded men involved in the lynching of the former slave, who was then serving on the Graham Town Commission, would ever serve prison time.
An estimated 80,000 people crowded the streets of Raleigh, North Carolina over the weekend to take part in the 11th annual Forward Together Moral March, led by the Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II. Organizers say it was the largest crowed in the march’s history.
