(LAST CALL: You're invited to come hear Rosaria speak in Charlotte next week. Click here to get your tickets before registration closes.)

Dear Jack,

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!

1. NC VALUES: 📚 Victory! House Passes Wholesome Books Bill.

We’re thrilled to share that the Promoting Wholesome Content for Students Act (HB 636) has officially passed the North Carolina House!

Our NC Values team was on the ground this week—advocating at the Education Committee hearing and again during the full House floor vote—standing up for families, parents, and children across our state. This critical bill protects public school students by ensuring that library materials are age-appropriate and free from sexually explicit or pervasively vulgar content.

Read more: https://ncvalues.org/victory-house-passes-wholesome-books-bill/

2. SAVE THE DATE: Come Join Us on Wednesday, April 30th, at Our Upcoming Day of Action

Our annual Legislative Day of Action is on Wednesday, April 30th, 2025. We’ll be meeting starting at 9:00am in front of the Legislative Building (16 W Jones St., Raleigh, NC).

We could use your help. Our Legislative Day of Action is one of the opportunites we provide to help you share your voice with your representatives. This year, our legislative effort is focused on the Women’s Safety and Protection Act (SB 516/HB 791).

If this issue is important to you, would you consider joining us for our day of action?

We hope to see you in the capital. If you would like to join us, contact Corrie at [email protected]. Visit ncvalues.org/action to learn more.

3. NC VALUES: We're Looking for Stories in Support of Protecting Private Spaces

Do you know of any incidents where boys or men entered girls or women's prisons, restrooms, locker rooms, or other protected spaces in North Carolina?

Then we need to hear from you!

We're currently gathering stories in support of passing the Women’s Safety and Protection Act (HB 791/SB 516). North Carolina must protect the safety, privacy, and dignity of women and girls by ensuring that sex is defined by biology and that private spaces remain single-sex. HB 791 does just that, preventing men and boys from entering women’s restrooms, locker rooms, prisons, and other protected spaces.

If you have a story to share with us, click the link below and let us know: https://ncvalues.org/were-looking-for-stories-in-support-of-protecting-private-spaces/

4. WFAE: Whose Bathroom Is It? Privacy, Policy and the Politics of Identity

"Supporters say the bill is about protecting privacy and safety. In a press release, NC Values Coalition Press Director Ashley Vaughan applauded the bill, saying, 'North Carolina must return to the common-sense understanding that men are men, women are women, and men should not be allowed to rob women of their safety and privacy by invading their private spaces.'"

"On today’s episode, we take a clear-eyed look at the bill — what it says, where it’s going, and who it affects. We’ll hear from both sides, as proponents and opponents of the bill make their case."

Join in to hear Tami Fitzgerald, NC Values Executive Director, defend your values in the media: https://www.wfae.org/show/charlotte-talks-with-mike-collins/2025-04-14/whose-bathroom-is-it-privacy-policy-and-the-politics-of-identity

5. WFAE: Mama Bear Workshops Teach Parents How to Combat 'Indoctrination' in Public Schools

"Tami Fitzgerald, executive director of the NC Values Coalition, told WFAE after the event that the Mama Bear Workshops started about four years ago. She said they were created to inform parents about books that might be found in schools or included in curriculum that the group believes are obscene, inappropriate or that indoctrinate students to a particular viewpoint.

The events also aim to teach parents how to push back on instructional materials they find concerning.

What kind of strategies do they teach parents?

Fitzgerald said they encourage families to start small — to voice concerns with a teacher — and then work up the ladder to principal, superintendent and ultimately the school board.

But a big part of it, she said, is teaching parents how to identify concerning content."

Read more: https://www.wfae.org/education/2025-04-16/mama-bear-workshops-teach-parents-how-to-combat-indoctrination-in-public-schools

Weekly Prayer: Blessed Good Friday and a Happy Easter Season To You and Your 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

Sincerely,

Tami & Team

NC Values