Dear Friend,



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.



We would be very grateful if you could make a donation of $100, $50, $25, or $10 today towards our work producing these Friday Fives and fighting for your values on the public square! <[link removed]>







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1. NC VALUES: 🗳️ Here's your Voter’s Guide



Earlier this week we're excited to share with you the release of our 2024 primary election's Voter Guide.



As in years past, we have partnered with iVoterGuide to bring you this important information on candidates who have contested primaries. Our partner, iVoterGuide conducts extensive research on candidates including voting records, donation history, endorsements, website and social media sites, public statements, and a candidate questionnaire to bring you the only digitally based Voter Guide in the state rating candidates for North Carolina primary elections from a Biblical pro-values worldview.



To check out the iVoterGuide and lookup your ballot, click here. <[link removed]>



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2. SAVE THE DATE: Upcoming NC Values hosted Lt. Governor Candidates Forum, voter registration deadline, and more



At NC Values, we offer you a variety of opportunities to benefit from our political and legal insights, cutting edge technology, and a vast network of clergy and citizens across the state to help you prayerfully select the best candidates who will honor life, family, and religious freedom. We then advance legislation that will support your values in the laws of our state, so that our culture reflects Biblical values.



In addition to making an impact legislatively, it is just as important we make an impact in our local, state, and federal elections. For this reason, we’ve assembled a number of election tools to help voters save time, stay educated, and keep their legislators accountable.



From our 2024 Primary Election Voter’s Toolkit <[link removed]>, to the recently released iVoterGuide, <[link removed]> to our select endorsements <[link removed]>and our Legislative Scorecard, <[link removed]> we’ve assembled a number of tools to make an impact and help pro-values conservatives get elected. 



That’s why we’re excited to share with you something new we’ll be doing this year: a Lt. Governor candidate forum. In a race with over a dozen contenders, we invited select candidates to answer our questions to give voters more information.



On Thursday, February 15th (the first day of one-stop early voting), at 7pm we’ll be streaming our Lt. Governor candidate forum at ncvalues.org/live <[link removed]>, and across our social platforms. 



Finally, we wanted to remind you that today, February 9th, at 5pm is the deadline to register to vote before the start of one-stop voting. While you can still register to vote in-person during one-stop early voting, we highly recommend you already complete voter registration if you are unregistered and planning on voting in the primary. Click here to learn more about registering to vote <[link removed]>.



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3. NEWS & OBSERVER: With new rules, record number of NC families applying for private school vouchers



"North Carolina families are applying at a record-setting pace for state funding to help them pay for the cost of attending a K-12 private school. The application period opened Thursday under new rules that allow any North Carolina family to apply for a private school voucher. As of Monday afternoon, there have been 31,603 completed Opportunity Scholarship applications, according to Kathy Hastings, a spokesperson for the North Carolina State Education Assistance Authority."



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If you’re interested in applying for the scholarship, check out our guide here <[link removed]>.



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4. NY TIMES: As Kids, They Thought They Were Trans. They No Longer Do.



"At no point during her medical or surgical transition, Powell says, did anyone ask her about the reasons behind her gender dysphoria or her depression. At no point was she asked about her sexual orientation. And at no point was she asked about any previous trauma, and so neither the therapists nor the doctors ever learned that she’d been sexually abused as a child. 'I wish there had been more open conversations,' Powell, now 23 and detransitioned, told me. 'But I was told there is one cure and one thing to do if this is your problem, and this will help you.'"



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5. CAROLINA JOURNAL: Stein, lawmakers square off again in abortion pill lawsuit filings



"Lawyers representing state Senate Leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, and House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, intervened in the federal suit to defend North Carolina’s law. 'The States have long worked in tandem with the federal Food and Drug Administration to protect American consumers from dangerous drugs,” legislative lawyers wrote Monday. 'Mifepristone is a drug with known serious risks. For this reason, its FDA approval is subject to minimum safety requirements to ensure safe use.' 'North Carolina has chosen to protect the health and safety of its citizens by enacting additional safety measures above the federal floor set by the FDA,' lawmakers’ brief continued. 'These requirements are consistent with Congress’s health and safety objectives.'"



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Weekly Prayer: Family



LORD, we cry out to you as Father. You are a model of the love, mercy, and authority of the perfect parent. We thank you for modeling for us what every parent should strive for, and for creating this wonderful institution called family. 



LORD, we thank you for creating us with a basic nature designed to not be alone. You made us to desire the intimacy of relationships, and it is here where we experience joys indescribable: the joys of marriage, the joys of having children; the joys of seeing our children have children. What a blessing and mercy you gave us in the family! In it we find our first teachers, our first guardians, and our first authorities. 



LORD, we recognize how deeply you love your children, and how deeply it pains you when they go astray. Alongside our adoration and thanksgiving, we pray in confession—as individuals and as members of larger communities—over any sins we may have committed that undermine your beloved institution. Forgive us when we endanger your institution through selfishness and arrogance. Forgive our communities and nation for attempting to redefine some of the most basic and deepest parts of being human—being made male and female, having lifelong marriage vows and responsibilities, and having parental rights over educating one's children. 



"Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." (Colossians 3:12-17)







Amen













Will you chip in $100, $50, $25, or even $10 to help the NC Values Coalition continue to fight for your rights? You can donate by clicking here. <[link removed]> <[link removed]>



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Sincerely,





Tami & Team

NC Values



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