Come to Applebee's on Volunteer Parkway this Saturday, November 19, from 8:00 to 9:30 a.m., for a Pancake Breakfast sponsored by Family Promise of Bristol Interfaith Hospitality Network. Tickets are available from Gordon Turnbull for $5 per person, or just show up and make a donation at the door. Your support will help to build support for a great new ministry in Bristol.

You've read the statistics: more than 100 students in the Bristol schools are homeless. Family Promise of Bristol hopes to address this growing problem by providing support and hospitality to homeless children and their parents through the local churches. Host congregations will house clients in their church buildings for one week at a time, providing breakfast and dinner in addition to lodging. During the day, clients will work at the local day center to develop job skills, seek employment, and address issues related to their home situation. Successful chapters of the Interfaith Hospitality Network have served Johnson City and Kingsport for more than ten years. We are eager to provide our neighbors in Bristol the same kind of help.

Family Promise of Bristol hopes to begin operating in April 2012. First Presbyterian Church is already committed as a Host Congregation, and Gordon Turnbull serves as the board president. We are actively seeking to add to the number of churches who will join us in committing to this needed ministry. Stay tuned for more information about how to help within our church.

What better way to express our thanks to God than to share our blessings with others? Our Session has designated our special Thanksgiving Offering to the work of Bristol Faith in Action, the cooperative ministry of more than sixty churches in our community. First Presbyterian Church has been one of BFIA's strongest supporters through the years, and this offering allows us to deepen our support of this crucial work in Christ's name for our neighbors in need.

Look for special envelopes in worship this Sunday, or send a contribution to the church office. Make checks payable to First Presbyterian Church, with the memo line "Thanksgiving." Your generosity will strengthen the care we express to those who need our help. Thanks very much!

The flowers in our worship services glorify God, and they offer a meaningful way to mark an occasion, remember a loved one, or honor a special person. The church gratefully welcomes your donation of flowers for our worship. For more information, please contact Karen Boone (karenboone10@aol.com; 423-538-8423) or call the church office.

In only two weeks, you can begin your Christmas celebrations with Heart to Heart. On Friday, December 2, we will gather at 11:30 a.m. and worship together at 11:45 with music, prayer, and a message from Jessica Stollings Strang. At 12:30 we will enjoy lunch together, or you can take a lunch back to work with you.

Please let us know if you need child care (lunch included). We're happy to provide it, but we need to know how many children to expect. Call the church office or email the church at sreuning@fpcbristol.org to let us know you can come (423) 764-7176. Make it a point to invite a friend!

The children's Sunday School classes will enjoy a Thanksgiving Feast this Sunday, November 20, during the Sunday School hour. Children and teachers will gather around the table at Creation Station. Lynette Wallen and Joel Newton will play and sing music chosen especially for the occasion. We look forward to seeing you there!

Help us keep our children safe! Please remember to sign your child in and out of Sunday School. Sign-in sheets are located at the Children's Ministries' registration table before Sunday School and will be in the classrooms afterwards. If you have not registered your child for Sunday School, you will find the necessary form at the registration table.

Our nursery needs volunteers to care for our babies during the 8:30 a.m. Sunday service. Volunteers may serve once only or as often as they like. For more information or to volunteer, please contact Cathy Newton or Debbie Pfeifer.

Our participation in the Fairmount Elementary School snack program is making a difference in the lives of children whose parents cannot afford to buy them an afternoon snack. Members of our congregation are now helping the Neighborhood Initiatives Steering Committee stock up on multigrain and honey-nut Cheerios for the next two months. We can't slacken our pace, though, because we need at least 34 boxes to see the children through December and January.

We're asking folks who bring boxes of Cheerios to the church to put them in the Little Red House in the Fellowship Hallway. The committee will take them to the school, and the teachers will divide them into snack portions as needed.