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FPC Art Festival
May 20, 2025 June 8 – 15
The Worship and Arts committee is excited to showcase the wide range of talents of our FPC members and friends at the FPC ART FESTIVAL from June 8-15. Word is spreading about the all-ages show and it is shaping up to include photography, paintings, sculpture, and furniture. Representing the daintiest entry so far, one of our members has agreed to share her beautiful handmade reproduction medieval buttons. We hope to exhibit an exceptional variety of visual arts and crafts so please consider connecting with us to share your talents. For more information, you may contact:
- Floalice Reaves at [email protected]
- Alice Raney at [email protected]
Advocacy Day for Reproductive Freedom
May 08, 2025 Tuesday, May 13 | 9:00am – 12:00pm
Interfaith Voices for Reproductive Freedom (IVRF) is sponsoring an advocacy day along with other faith-based and progressive groups at the NC General Assembly. FPC is a member of IVRF. Training will be provided in advance; all are welcome to attend. This will be an important opportunity to show that people of faith support reproductive freedom and gender affirming healthcare, and also show that we reject state funding for evangelical crisis pregnancy centers. Please carpool, wear clerical clothing or anything identifying you as a member or leader of your faith group (FPC t-shirt, hat, etc). Please contact Melva Okun with questions at [email protected]. RSVP here.
Bird Slide Show
May 01, 2025 
Sunday, May 18 at 7:00 pm
Colombia has more bird species than any other country, which makes it the birdiest country in the birdiest continent in the world. It’s also a magnet for traveling birders, such as our own David and Judy Smith. Join them for a photographic visit to Colombia on Sunday, May 18, at 7:00 pm in Watts-Hill Hall.
Photo caption: Blue-billed Curassow, found only in Colombia’s Magdalena Valley.
The Installation of Esther Hethcox
April 23, 2025 
We are eagerly awaiting the day to formally install Esther Hethcox as Associate Pastor. This is more than a ceremony, it’s a celebration of a journey we’ve already been blessed to walk together. The love, leadership, and spirit that Esther has shared with us have been a gift, and now we joyfully affirm her call among us.
Date: Sunday, May 4, 2025
Time: 4:00 PM (Reception to follow.)
Let’s come together as a congregation and as a family to welcome her officially with open arms, open hearts, and open praise!
Wilson Gunn Joins Us for Worship
March 28, 2025 
We welcome to the pulpit on March 30, Dr. G. Wilson Gunn, Jr.
Dr. Gunn grew up in Arkansas, matriculated at Davidson College (BA), Duke University (MDiv and ThM) and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (PhD). He served pastorates in North Carolina and Virginia for 20 years before entering executive service in Grace Presbytery (NE Texas area). From March 2004 until retiring in October 2018, he served National Capital Presbytery as General Presbyter. Presently Dr. Gunn is an International Coaching Federation Certified coach, consults with Church Judicatories and he serves as the Coordinator of the Presbytery Leader Formation Program. He and his wife Pam have four children (Lisa, Daniel, Ben, and Jasper), three grandsons (Jacob, Josh, and JJ) and a granddaughter, Penelope.
Memorial Service for Bill Hendrickson
February 26, 2025 
Bill was an active member of First Presbyterian Church in Durham. His memorial service will be held here at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 15, 2025, which would have been his 96th birthday. A reception will follow. He will be buried in Lawrenceville, NJ.
Memorial contributions may be made to the First Presbyterian Church in Durham and The Hendrickson Family Scholarship Fund at the College of Wooster, Wooster, OH.
Memorial Service for Maxie Bray Honeycutt
February 26, 2025 
A Celebration of Life Memorial Service will be held at First Presbyterian Church in Durham on Saturday, March 1 at 11:00 am. Maxie’s ashes will be interred in a family graveside service at Hickory Grove Baptist Church in Bear Creek at a later time.
The best memorial or tribute anyone could pay to Maxie’s life would be to be kind to one another, listen to one another, and lend a helping hand whenever possible. She was a strong believer in the work of the First Presbyterian Church Walk-In Ministry, and anyone so inclined might honor her with a contribution to that ministry. Checks would be made payable to First Presbyterian Church Walk-In Ministry with Maxie Honeycutt on the memo line and mailed to First Presbyterian Church 305 East Main Street Durham, NC 27701.
McPherson Lectureship
February 21, 2025 
Sunday, March 23 & Monday, March 24
“Loving Your Neighbor in a Fearful World”
The McPherson Lectureship is dedicated to enriching the faith and life of First Presbyterian Church as well as the Durham, NC community. This lectureship is made possible through an endowment initially given to FPC by the McPherson family in memory of lifelong members Dr. and Mrs. Samuel D. McPherson, Sr, and Dr. Samuel D. McPherson, Jr. It was established in 1999 by Mrs. Margaret “Peaches” McPherson (wife of Dr. McPherson, Jr.) and her family. Following Mrs. McPherson’s passing in 2018, the lectureship now also honors her life of service and generosity. Former lecturers have been John Kuykendall (1999), J. Barrie Shepherd (2001), Beverly Gaventa (2002), Tom Long (2003), Joanna Adams (2004), Charles Kimball (2005), Nicholas Wolterstorff (2006), Joseph L. Roberts, Jr. (2007), Richard A. Lischer (2008), Stephen A Hayner (2009), Barbara Brown Taylor (2010), Leighton Ford (2011), Martha Moore-Keish (2012), Samuel L. Adams (2013), Emilie M. Townes (2014), Ron Cole-Turner (2015), Douglas F. Ottati (2016), Miroslav Volf (2017), Starsky D. Wilson (2018) and Mary Louise Bringle (2019), Wallace “Macky” McPherson Alston III (2021/2022), Robert Johnston and Catherine Barsotti (2023), and Willie James Jennings (2024).
2025 Author Bios
Robert (Bobby) Williamson, Jr., PhD, is Margaret Berry Hutton Odyssey Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas. Ordained in the Presbyterian Church, USA, he was the founding pastor of Mercy Community Church and currently serves as Theologian in Residence at Canvas Community, both welcoming all people, especially those living on the streets, in Little Rock, Arkansas. He earned a Ph.D. in Hebrew Bible from Emory, a post-graduate diploma in Jewish Studies from Oxford, a master’s of divinity from Columbia Theological Seminary in Atlanta, and a bachelor’s degree from Clemson. He is the author of The Forgotten Books of the Bible: Recovering the Five Scrolls for Today (Fortress Press, 2018).
Amy Cooper Robertson, PhD, is Director of Lifelong Learning and Music at Congregation Or Hadash in Sandy Springs, Georgia. She studied Jewish texts and language at Harvard Divinity School and later at Emory, where she earned a PhD in Religion/Hebrew Bible. In Atlanta and in Cambridge, MA, Dr. Robertson has taught Tanakh, Judaism, Biblical Hebrew, and critical thinking and writing to undergraduates and graduate students. She is the author of several articles, including “Kohelet Teaches Us to Live for Today: Unexpected Wisdom for the Real World from Ecclesiastes.”
Together Drs. Robert Williamson, Jr. and Amy obertson produce BibleWorm, a weekly podcast in which they consider a passage of biblical text from their respective faith traditions. Starting from a place of friendship, trust, and love, Amy and Bobby find new and deeper meaning in these ancient, holy words. The BibleWorm podcast is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other podcast apps.
Acts of Reparation Showing
February 21, 2025 
March 2, 2025 at 5:00pm | FPC Watts-Hill Hall
Join us for a viewing and discussion!
ACTS OF REPARATION follows two friends as they explore what reparations means to them. Selina, who is Black, and Macky, who is white, have been friends and filmmaking partners for 25 years. Genealogy nerds, they travel south to reclaim and reckon with their roots. In the process they move from awkward outsiders toward belonging to broad kin networks who come along for the ride.
From kitchen tables to porches, lost cemeteries to discovered diaries, their journeys lead to unexpected opportunities that transform their friendship, families and communities. In Monroe, Louisiana, Selina gathers stories from a sisterhood of her great aunties who together sleuth to uncover the buried tales of their ancestors. In Penfield, Georgia, Macky challenges generations of his kin to dismantle privilege they inherited from enslavers and support Black leaders nearby. In Acts of Reparation, we see every day Americans become the change they want to see in the world.
Inclement Weather Feb. 2025
February 18, 2025 ALL FPC ACTIVITIES CANCELLED
Due to the potential of snow, sleet, and ice, the decision has been made by the pastoral staff to cancel all events related to First Presbyterian Church on:
- Wednesday, February 19th after 12pm
- Thursday, February 20th – All Day
We ask that you take heed to travel advisories and stay in where you are warm. You are encouraged to check on neighbors, especially the elderly, and those who live alone.
Take Care,
FPC Staff