NationBuilder

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. NC VALUES: National School Choice Week 2020

This year, North Carolina celebrated National #SchoolChoice Week with a record-breaking 2,313 events and activities across the state. There are a variety of school choice options available for many of the 2.3 million children living in North Carolina. Families in North Carolina can choose from traditional public schools, public charter schools, public magnet schools, private schools, online academies, and homeschooling.

Learn more about National #SchoolChoice Week and schooling options in NC: https://www.ncvalues.org/national_school_choice_week_2020.

2. LIFE SITE: Cross-dressing LGBT activist to appear on ‘Sesame Street’

"Bert and Ernie may not be a same-sex couple, but the long-running children’s franchise Sesame Street is about to get an infusion of LGBT “vibes” with an upcoming guest appearance by actor and LGBT activist Billy Porter.

. . .

This isn’t the first time Sesame Street has promoted LGBT themes. In 2017, it tweeted a “rainbow” of multicolored Muppets for Pride Month with the declaration, “Sesame Street is proud to support families of all shapes, sizes, and colors.” Later that year, its song “Anyone Can Play” purported to smash gender norms for children’s toys and costumes, including the lyrics “some boys like to play dolls” while the male character Grover is seen in a purple dress."

3. LIFE SITE: Third UK stadium bars Franklin Graham from preaching to appease LGBT activists

"A third United Kingdom venue has cancelled an appearance by American missionary Franklin Graham.

Earlier this week, stadiums in the English cities of Sheffield and Liverpool bowed to pressure from LGBT activists and their “allies” to bar Graham, the son of the world-famous evangelist Billy Graham, from preaching. Now Glasgow’s Scottish Event Campus (SEC) Hydro has done the same."

4. LIFE SITE: Fox stonewalls pro-life group from running ‘abortion survivors’ ad on Super Bowl Sunday

"An ad created for mainstream television featuring 14 survivors of attempted abortion was revealed on the main stage during the Washington D.C. March for Life today as well as along the main route on jumbotrons.

The ad campaign, titled Faces of Choice, is designed to raise awareness of the survivors of abortion who all univocally make it clear that they are persons and not a 'choice.'"

After the success of 2019's Celebration of Carolina Values event, we're already busy planning our 2020 event. We're excited to share that our keynote speaker will be Gianna Jessen, who herself survived a saline abortion. You can learn more about her incredible story here.

Stay tuned for future updates about how you can register to join us and hear Gianna's amazing story.

5. CAMPUS REFORM: UNCW ditches 'Women’s Studies' to make way for 'Gender Studies’

"In an effort to be more inclusive to 'transgender women,' the University of North Carolina-Wilmington has changed its Women's Studies center to one for 'Gender Studies.'"

WEEKLY PRAYER: LIBERTY

LORD, you have blessed us with a spiritual liberty that is so wonderful and beyond description, that it can only be understood through experiencing a life-giving relationship with Christ. However, we also recognize that in your grace, you have blessed our country with a political liberty that enables us to openly proclaim the experience of a life lived in the freedom of the Gospel.

Be with your people and our country as it continues to protect the constitutional right protected by our nation's Founders. Be with legislators and the Supreme Court, as they determine through their actions the protection of this particular and fundamental freedom.

“It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery." (Galatians 5:1)

"Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bondslaves of God." (1 Peter 2:16)