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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 ([link removed]) towards our work producing these Friday Fives and fighting for your values on the public square!
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** 1. NC VALUES: Introducing Our Newest Team Member: Aaron Blake
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Aaron Blake recently joined NC Values in late October as the Development Relations Manager responsible for driving face-to-face development to advance our mission statewide. Aaron successfully grew the Alliance Defending Freedom International team’s digital fundraising and engagement space while overseas before sensing a call to advance freedom and truth in North Carolina. He looks forward to working closely with Tami, NC Values’ allies, and many friends to keep the state a First in Freedom state.
You can read more about Aaron and his family here: [link removed]
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** 2. NC VALUES: Early Round of Endorsements for Our 'Legislators of the Year'
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This week we issued early endorsements for Senator Phil Berger, Representative Neal Jackson, Representative Jennifer Balkcom, and Representative Jonathan Almond. All four legislators received our ‘2025 Legislator of the Year’ award for their unwavering support of legislative initiatives that advance our mission of making North Carolina a state where life is valued, marriage & families flourish, and religious freedom thrives.
Read more: [link removed]
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** 3. CBS 17: Some Praise, Some Criticize Supreme Court Declining Same-Sex Marriage Case
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"A group, which worked for years to change the North Carolina Constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman, says the U.S. Supreme Court should have taken up a case that could have reversed federal law protecting it.
'We think this is a missed opportunity for the court to revisit the question of same-sex marriage,' Ashley Vaughan with the NC Values Coalition said.
The North Carolina-based group has been at the forefront of a movement to define marriage nationwide as between a man and a woman. They filed a brief a decade ago in the landmark Obergefell case ([link removed]) . In North Carolina, they led the fight to enshrine the definition in North Carolina’s Constitution, something they won in 2012 when the Marriage Amendment passed.
'There are a lot of North Carolinians who voted for the historical and traditional view of marriage, and at a federal level, they kind of overturned that,' Vaughan said."
Read more: [link removed]
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** 4. DAILY MAIL: Olympics Set to Ban ALL Transgender Athletes for LA 2028
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"A ban on transgender women competitors is strongly expected to be in place for the 2028 Olympics – but it remains unclear if there will be barriers against athletes with differences of sexual development (DSD) after the boxing furore at Paris 2024.
Under the existing rules, each sport is empowered to decide if transgender women can compete if their testosterone levels fall below a designated threshold.
But the International Olympic Committee, under new president Kirsty Coventry, is in discussions about a dramatic policy shift that would impose a blanket ban across all sports for the Los Angeles Games."
Read more: [link removed]
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** 5. CAROLINA JOURNAL: Parties Seek Pause in State Health Plan Transgender Care Case
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"All parties are seeking a pause in a federal lawsuit challenging the North Carolina State Health Plan’s exclusion of coverage for treatments typically sought by transgender patients. Plaintiffs and defendants agree they should wait for an appellate ruling in a similar case from West Virginia.
The parties in Kadel v. Folwell ([link removed]) filed a joint status report Monday in a North Carolina federal court. The case returned to a trial court after the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals issued a September order vacating an earlier ruling against the State Health Plan."
Read more: [link removed]
** Weekly Prayer: Freedom
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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.
LORD, as individuals and as a nation, may we never take the inalienable right of religious freedom for granted. Right now our country has faced a rapid increase in the number of attacks made against this cherished right. We have seen groups across our public arena increase in boldness and frequency their smears against religious liberty. They claim it is bigotry, when we know it is the security of the greatest of all possible loves.
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)
“For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” (Galatians 5:13)
“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)
Amen
Sincerely,
Tami & Team
NC Values
Disclaimer: Paid for by the NC Values Coalition. Not paid for by any candidate or any candidate’s committee. Financial information about NC Values Coalition and a copy of its #SL006654 license are available from the State Solicitation Licensing Branch at (919) 807-2214 (tel:(919) 807-2214) . The license is not an endorsement by the State. Donations to NC Values Coalition and NC Values Coalition PAC are not tax-deductible.
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