Welcome to the Friday Five! Every Friday we share our top five articles, stories, and quotes for you to read and share with your friends and church families.
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1. DEADLINE: Today is the deadline to register to vote for the upcoming election. Early voting begins October 17th.
Early and one-stop voting for the upcoming midterm elections is nearly here, and today marks one of the first important election deadlines. Today is the last day to register to vote for this upcoming election (although some areas have an extension due to the hurricane). Early voting starts next week on October 17th.
We've developed the website www.ncvalues.org/vote to help you check if you're registered to vote, register to vote, and even find your local early voting sites. if you're not registered to vote, visit our website, fill out the register to vote form, and mail it in to the North Carolina State Board of Elections today (instructions will be included upon form submission).
2. ENDORSEMENT: NC Values Endorses Mark Harris for Congress in the 9th District in North Carolina
It is our pleasure to have announced earlier this week that the North Carolina Values Coalition is endorsing Mark Harris for Congress in the 9th District! Mark Harris has been a strong supporter of family values, and he has been bold to take action to support our values.
We even took part in the Women for Mark Harris Bus Tour that occured this week. You can check out some of the photos from our stops here.
3. THE HILL: De Blasio signs bill allowing third non-binary gender on NYC birth certificates
"New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) on Tuesday signed a bill that allows for a third gender category to be added to city-issued birth certificates.
The nonbinary category, known as “X”, can be added for those who do not identify as either male or female, CBS New York reported."
"A Belfast bakery run by evangelical Christians was not obliged to make a cake emblazoned with the message “support gay marriage”, the supreme court has ruled, overturning a £500 damages award imposed on it."
WEEKLY PRAYER: LIBERTY
LORD, you are the giver of life and liberty. You are the One in whom we find true freedom. We pray with the deepest of gratitude, because you've broken our chains of depravity, and have gifted us a freedom born in love and service.
LORD, may we not take our liberties lightly. Even today, our brothers and sisters all across the globe experience physical, emotional, and social torture because they rightly cry out: "JESUS IS LORD!" Every day, our brethren across the globe experience persecution, and this has been a shared story of the church since its inception.
LORD, we also bring these specific prayer requests to you, and pray that your Spirit may empower our petitions: Father, protect your champions of True Liberty. Protect the proclamation of the Word in the public square. Whether people are attempting to voice their convictions online, or live them out in their daily work, protect them from harm, abuse, and bigotry. Be with us as we advance and advocate for the chief liberty you give us LORD—the freedom from sin. Lord, we ask you to protect our freedoms as Americans—the freedoms of religion, speech, press, assembly, and petitioning the government for a redress of grievances. These freedoms were inspired by your Word and by the freedom we enjoy from paying the penalty for our sins as Christians. Help our countrymen to value and protect these freedoms and to acknowledge their source—You, not the government. Guide us as we live out our faith and bear witness to true freedom in the public square, and protect our right to do so.
“For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.” (Romans 8:2)
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18-19)
North Carolina Values Coalition