Windows March 22, 2012

After a nationwide search, the Session of First Presbyterian Church has hired Kathryn Gomola Arnold to serve as Director of Youth Ministries. She will begin her ministry with us on May 29.

Katie brings more than ten years of church ministry experience to our church. She is a 2005 graduate of King College, where she majored in Youth Ministry. During and after her study at King, she served as Director of Youth Ministries at Green Spring Presbyterian Church in Abingdon. Since 2006 she has served as Director of Family Ministries at Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church in Lilburn, GA. Since 2007 she has served on the Youth Conference Ministries Planning Team for the annual Great Escape middle-school event at Lee University.

A native of Pittsburgh (and lifelong Steeler fan), Katie married Brad Arnold in 2007. They plan to move to Bristol in May, after Katie concludes her successful and meaningful ministry in her current church. She says, "I am very excited about coming to Bristol and partnering with the members of First Pres to build relationships that facilitate spiritual growth for teens and families."

Please pray for Katie and Brad as she concludes her ministry in Georgia and they work through all the details of this major transition. Until they arrive, our youth ministry will continue in the capable care of our Interim Director of Youth Ministry, Dan Kreiss, and Youth Intern, Abbey Kitts.

Meet One of Our Ethiopian Students

We do not know her name, but we know what she stands for.

Meet one of the students from Berhane Yesus Elementary School whom you are helping to educate. Although we do not know her name, we do know that she represents most BYES students in that she deals daily with hardships beyond our imagination. And yet she is on a positive path, attending Berhane Yesus, where God's word and the "Light of Jesus" shine daily.

As you can see from this photo, she is wearing one of the bookmarks that Trudy McFerrin and I were privileged to deliver, one signed by one of you prior to our departure. One of 130 different Bible verses was printed on the front and a scriptural blessing on the back of each of the 640 bookmarks we took to Dembi Dollo in January, when we delivered the classroom and playground supplies you gave these students. Before we flew to Ethiopia, Trudy laminated each bookmark so that it would last longer. As we visited the classrooms, we gave one to each student. We hoped and prayed that the verse received would speak to the recipient's heart and circumstances.

The students were excited that we had brought them each a gift, pleased that they could practice their English at the same time, and affected by your continuing generosity and effort to connect with each of them. We listened intently as many of the sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade students read the verses and the blessings aloud in English. For the remainder of the day, Trudy and I saw students carrying their bookmarks with them, even outside on the playground.

We met the student in the photo the next day, as she was walking home from school. She still had her bookmark, and it was fastened around her neck. Her verse was Psalm 73:26: "My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is my portion forever."

What an incredible verse for this young girl! Amanuel, director of BYES, told us that her father was dead. She could not attend BYES without the scholarships that you and I provide through our donations.

God is faithfully doing a significant work for His children in this remote part of Ethiopia through His children at First Presbyterian Church in Bristol. How thankful I am to serve beside you! Peggy Hill

Five-Cents-a-Meal Offering This Sunday

5 cents a meal logo During worship this Sunday, March 25, we will be collecting our quarterly Five-Cents-a-Meal Hunger Offering. This money supports local, regional, and international hunger relief efforts through Holston Presbytery.

Your Five-Cents-a-Meal donation helps to fund the ministry of the Bristol Emergency Food Pantry as well as food programs at Haven of Rest and Abuse Alternatives. Our partner church, IPI Felipe Camarão in Natal, Brazil, receives a sizable donation that helps provide a meal each weekday to the students enrolled in its Bethel School.

A nickel a meal for thirteen weeks totals $13.65 per person. We will gladly receive donations of any amount to help our neighbors nearby and across the world. Thank you for your generosity!

Region's Finest Horn Player Performs Here April 1

Jeffery Whaley

We promise you will be blown away when you hear our region's finest horn player, Jeffery Whaley, in our sanctuary next Sunday, April 1, at 3:00 p.m., accompanied by our own Vicki Fey. We are thrilled that the principal French horn with both the Symphony of the Mountains and the Knoxville Symphony will present this program in our Arts Series.

Band students, particularly brass players, shouldn't miss this concert! Suggested ticket donation is $10 adults/$5 students.

Easter Lily Ordering Deadline: April 2

easter lily Next Monday, April 2, is the final date for ordering Easter lilies to place in the sanctuary or fellowship hall in honor or memory of loved ones. Order forms are in your Sunday bulletin as well as the church office. Lilies are $15 each.

Please return the order form to the church office with your payment. Thank you for adding to the beauty of the season!

After Easter: Pearl of a Wednesday Program

Our regular Wednesday evening programs are suspended through Easter. They will resume April 11, when Craig McDonald opens a discussion of the medieval poem "Pearl" under the heading "Imagining Scripture: An Old Poem and the New Jerusalem."

Kid Connection News

Donate Your Empty Egg Cartons to Children's Ministries

Don't toss those empty egg cartons! The Children's Ministries wants plastic Easter eggs and empty, standard-size egg cartons for the upcoming children's Easter celebration. Our children will fill plastic eggs with items to represent the Resurrection story, and the cartons will make it easier for them to take their eggs home.

Please take your donations to the registration table in the Fellowship Hallway by Wednesday, April 4. Thank you!

Youth Groups Take Spring Break

The Bristol Tennessee City Schools will take a spring break next week, so there will be no youth group meetings this Sunday, March 25, or Wednesday, March 28. Youth activities will resume Sunday, April 1, at the normal times of 5:30 p.m. for the junior high and 7:00 p.m. for the senior high group.

Sharing Christ Opportunity Next Saturday

Our first Sharing Christ volunteer opportunity in 2012 is coming up next Saturday, March 31. We need volunteers to make bag lunches, prep food, serve dinner, and clean up. We will make chicken casserole, marinated coleslaw, green beans, and dessert for 135 to 150 people. We will begin at 4:30 p.m. and work until we've finished cleaning up, around 7:00 p.m. The Sharing Christ Mission is located at Sixth and State Streets in Bristol.

This year, FPC takes on the responsibility of providing enough sandwich bread and snack cakes for at least 70 bag lunches on each of our service dates. We will also provide the bread or rolls for that Saturday's evening meal. If you would like to donate bread products or volunteer your time, please email Tammy Connolly at lconn4691@btes.tv or call her at 423-968-3831 (home) or 276-628-7213 (work).

Rite of Spring

Spring has returned, as it does every year, but without the bright colors of annual flowers in our church courtyard. Please consider donating or planting annuals in the courtyard in April. We would like to see red, white, and purple around the cross and any array of colors in the borders. For more information, contact Tom Daniel at 423-764-7677. Please give him a call and make his day. Thank you!

Mowing Schedule through Holy Week

Hold that Tiger!

The following mowing schedule will keep our church lawn neat through Easter:

Through March 24: Matt Richardson

March 28-31: Randy Cook

April 4-7: Joe Hagerty & John Vann

We're still looking for people to help us break in the new Tiger Cat. For more information, contact Randy Cook at npolecook@aol.com or 423-956-1541.

From Steve & Vicki Fey

Music Notes

Music Participants for March 25: Sanctuary Choir; Alan Hunter, organist; Samantha Salyers, director. The Feys will be returning from Nashville and the wedding of their elder son, Alan.

Sunday's Music: Carl F. Mueller's setting of Psalm 51:10-13 in the KJV, "Create in Me a Clean Heart, O God," has become something of a standard in American sacred choral music. Mueller (1892-1982) was a noted choral composer and conductor with more than 500 works to his name, and this anthem sold nearly two million copies in his lifetime. A native of Wisconsin, he studied at Elmhurst College and Westminster Choir College. The bulk of his career was spent serving Presbyterian churches in New Jersey. This setting to be sung by the Sanctuary Choir remains as effective today as when it was first published in 1941; Mueller captures both the quiet penitence and at times exuberant joy evident in the text.

Lenten Organ Meditations: The Wednesday Lenten organ meditations conclude March 28 at Central Presbyterian Church. The final meditation will begin at 12:05 and last approximately 30 minutes. There is no charge for admission, but donations will be accepted. The organist will be Joan Keith, member of Central Presbyterian, AGO substitute organist, and sister-in-law of Linda Poteat.

Program of Note: The Epworth Youth Choir, from Cuyahoga Falls United Methodist Church in Ohio, is touring this week. They will make a stop in Bristol, performing at State Street United Methodist Church on Friday, March 23, at 7:00 p.m. This group of 40 youth in grades 7-12 tours annually during their spring break throughout the Eastern, Southern, and Midwestern regions of the United States. There is no charge for admission.

Sunday Worship

March 25: Fifth Sunday in Lent

Lessons: Jeremiah 31:31-34; John 12:20-33

Sermon: There is a Promise, Gordon Turnbull

Anthem: Create in Me a Clean Heart, O God

Hymns: Christ Is Made the Sure Foundation; God of Compassion, in Mercy Befriend Us;

What Wondrous Love Is This

By the Numbers for March 18: 8:30: 98; 11:00: 104; Women's Retreat: 32

Pray for One Another

In Our Prayers

Jim Bowdoin

Becky Busler

Jane Crewey

Mary Nell Harris

Sharon Hatcher

Pat Hunigan

Sheena Hunter

Carolyn King

Julie King

Don Moneyhun

Ruth Musser

Dale Winship

An extensive list of prayer concerns, "Pray for One Another," is available for pickup at the church each week.

Birthday Prayer Fellowship

March 25 Isaac Beasey, Vicki Ellis

March 27 Cory Wallen

March 28 Betty Barger, Jay Regan, Bill Ward

March 29 Thad Bowers

March 30 Ann Barton, Don Evans, Ann McAllister, Ruth Musser

March 31 Jess Barton, Scott Pippin

Church Calendar

Sunday, March 25

8:30 a.m. Worship, Fellowship Hall

9:00 a.m. Kids' Kirk (no Cherub Choir)

9:45 a.m. Sunday School

11:00 a.m. Worship, Sanctuary

Monday, March 26

7:00 p.m. Session Meeting

Tuesday, March 27

9:00 a.m. Staff Meeting

10:00 a.m. Morning Prayer Group

6:30 p.m. Cub Scout Pack 3

7:00 p.m. Boy Scout Troop 3

Wednesday, March 28

9:30 a.m. Ladies' Bible Study

1:00 p.m. Women's Bible Study

7:15 p.m. Sanctuary Choir

Thursday, March 29

7:00 a.m. Men's Bible Study

12:00 p.m. Thursday Noon Bible Study