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.NORTH STATE JOURNAL: Chief Justice-elect
Paul Newby discusses historic win
"In a year where North Carolina saw multiple close races, the state
Supreme Court’s 2020 chief justice race was the closest, with a
401-vote difference between the winner, Republican current Associate
Justice Paul Newby, and Democratic incumbent Chief Justice Cheri
Beasley.
“This is historic,” Newby told NSJ in a Dec. 14
interview. “I think you’d be hard-pressed to find a race anywhere in
the country with 5.5 million people voting and the separation was 401
votes."
2. VIDEO: GOP Congressman Mark
Walker, of Greensboro, Senate campaign announcement
video
ICYMI: GOP Congressman Mark Walker, of Greensboro, whose
congressional district was redrawn last year, announced earlier this
month that he'll run for the U.S. Senate.
3. CAMPUS REFORM: LGBT advocates
want potential Biden admin to threaten Christian college
accreditation
"An LGBTQ rights organization released a set of policy
proposals that encourage the Department of Education to deny
accreditation to religious schools based on 'nondiscrimination
policies and science based curricula.'
Christian educators see
the policies as a threat to their convictions."
4. DAILY SIGNAL: 8 Education
Choice Wins in 2020
“This year, the coronavirus pandemic
presented new hurdles for 55.1 million students and their families
after 124,000 public and private schools closed nationwide. Despite
these unprecedented challenges, policymakers and families responded
quickly with innovative solutions, which helped to advance education
choice in 2020.
Here are eight examples of education choice
wins from this year:”
5. THE HILL: Georgia sets new
voting record for runoffs
“More people cast ballots on the first day of early
voting in Georgia’s Senate runoffs this week than those that did so
when early voting opened ahead of the 2020 general
election.
Roughly 168,000 Georgians went to the polls on
Monday, the first day to vote early in-person in the state’s two
critical Senate runoff elections, according to numbers provided by the
Georgia Secretary of State’s office. By comparison, some 128,000 voted
on the first day of early voting for the November general
election.
Another 314,000 people cast absentee ballots on the
first day of the early-voting period.“
 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.
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
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.
Sincerely,
North Carolina Values Coalition
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