Holy Week Worship Schedule

As Holy Week continues, together tonight we remember the last supper, and tomorrow the crucifixion. Sunday is Easter, when Jesus' disciples learned of his resurrection. We come to this day through their shared experience, and we warmly invite you to join us as we observe these holy days in worship.

To allow families and our church community to worship together as we celebrate the gift of the resurrection, children will not leave for Kids' Kirk during worship services on Easter morning. Please help your child locate a worship bag, which will include activities as well as things to look and listen for during our worship together. Let us come together as we worship our risen Lord.

In addition to our customary offering for the church's ongoing ministry, on Easter we join with other churches in the One Great Hour of Sharing, a special offering that relieves those affected by natural disasters, feeds the hungry, and assists in empowering the poor and oppressed.

Arts Series Welcomes Alan and Janet Fey

Alan Fey at the marimba!

Percussionist Alan Fey and soprano Janet Fey, his wife, will present Spirit of the Wood, a well-curated gallery of sacred and secular works for marimba and soprano, Sunday, April 7, at 3:00 p.m. in our sanctuary.

Janet earned a degree in voice from Belmont University in Nashville in 2010. Alan, the son of Vicki and Steve Fey, is a 2003 graduate of Tennessee High School, with both bachelor's and master's degrees from Belmont. He is a classically trained percussionist who specializes in solo and chamber music. Alan and Janet live in Nashville, where Alan's primary focus is the genre-defying category that is "new music." He leads his own new music ensemble, PULSE, and has been involved in the commissioning and world premieres of more than ten works in the past two years. He has performed in spaces ranging from the Zeitgeist Art Gallery to the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville, and from Millennium Park in Chicago to Carnegie Hall in New York. In addition to live performances, he has contributed to various sessions in Nashville and can be heard on the final track of Music for the Soul's Dignity album.

FPC's Arts Series strives to share with the community events that enrich and inspire the life of the people of Bristol, to share our unique and marvelous facilities, and to encourage the artistically gifted of our region and beyond. Suggested ticket donation is $10 for adults and $5 for students ages 6 through adult. Child care for children ages 3 and younger will be provided in the church nursery.

Dedicatory Hymnals Available for Order after Easter

Glory to God: The Presbyterian Hymnal is the successor to the most recent denominational hymnal of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), which was published in 1990. This new resource will feature songs from the breadth of the church, and an electronic version will allow its use in video display, as currently offered in our Fellowship Hall.

After Easter the church will invite contributions for copies of the new hymnal at $15 each. These gifts may be made in memory or in honor of loved ones, and the appropriate designation will be noted in a bookplate for that hymnal. Please plan now to consider those whom you would honor or memorialize through the gift of a hymnal for our church's worship.

Wednesday Program for April 3

SafeWorld Nexus Subject of Next Adult Learning Program

Student Fellowship

Spring Break Fun Continues This Morning!

  

Our Student Fellowship group continues Spring Break fun with hiking at Grayson Highlands State Park on Thursday, March 28. Our departure time has changed, and we will now meet at the church at 10:00 a.m. Wear warm clothes and comfortable walking shoes, and bring your lunch and water.

Dollywood Trip Postponed to April 1

Forty-degree weather and roller coasters do not play well together, so we are going to postpone the Dollywood trip to Monday, April 1. If you would like to join us on April 1, please sign up with Katie Arnold by Friday, March 29.

The cost is $56 plus food costs. You are welcome to pack a lunch or buy food in the park. If you have a season pass, you will just need to bring money for food. Meet at the church at 8:00 a.m. Please watch the weather and dress appropriately!

Youth Series Reveal Concludes with "Refocus"

The resurrection of Jesus that we celebrate every year on Easter Sunday is the most important and earth-shattering miracle of all. Because of what Jesus did on the cross, we have the ability to be a new creation. And for our students, this truly is Good News. They are no longer defined by their past mistakes or their current struggles. The invitation of the resurrection redefines their past and gives them hope for a new future, every day. Join us Sunday, April 7, at 6:00 p.m. in the Student Ministries wing for "Refocus," the final session in our Easter series.

Five-Cents-a-Meal Offering April 7

On Sunday, April 7, we will collect for the Five-Cents-a-Meal Offering for hunger relief. A beautifully simple idea propels this program: if we each put aside five cents for each meal we eat, together we can raise a sizeable sum to help feed the hungry. Please come to worship well-fed and with your pockets jingling!

Presbyterian Women Meet April 9

Presbyterian Women will meet at the church Tuesday, April 9. Circle will begin at 11:00 a.m., and Bible study will follow at 11:30, after which we will have lunch together in the parlor. Please make lunch reservations with the church office by calling (423) 764-7176. We look forward to seeing you!

Men's Breakfast Saturday, April 13

The men of the church will have their regular breakfast get-together at 8:00 a.m., Saturday, April 13, in the Fellowship Hall. All FPC men and their friends are welcome. For more information, contact Dave Welch at (423) 764-7176 or dwelch@fpcbristol.org.

Help Us Support the Bristol Half & Half

 On the morning of Saturday, April 13, the Bristol Half & Half, a half-marathon to benefit the American Cancer Society, will be running past First Presbyterian Church. Race organizers have asked us to help support the cause.

The race begins at Virginia High School and ends at the Stone Castle. Half the route occurs in Virginia, half in Tennessee. First Presbyterian is near mile 11.5 of the 13.1-mile course.

Our Student Ministry plans to turn out in force, providing a water station and lots of encouragement for the runners. All church members are invited to come and cheer from here as well.

A specific need exists for volunteers 18 years of age and older to serve as Course Marshals to staff four intersections near the church. These volunteers will need to be in place by 8:45 a.m. to greet the first runners to pass by around 9:00 a.m. The last participants should be passing through by noon.

If you would like to serve a 90-minute shift as a Course Marshal, please email Gordon Turnbull (gturnbull@fpcbristol.org) or call the church office. A nifty T-shirt and lots of fun and satisfaction await!

Clean Water University: Training for Living Waters Ministry

Living Waters for the World is an outreach ministry of the PCUSA that was started by the Synod of Living Waters with the mission to be a Christian ministry that provides sustainable clean water, fostering long-term, mutually beneficial relationships between volunteers and communities in need. Our church is a member of the Living Waters for the World Clean Water Covenant Network. In the past three years our efforts have focused on the needs of our neighbors in Appalachia, particularly in Sneedville and Tazewell. We have provided three water system installations to John and Diane North, Jane Spradlin, and Edsell Hatfield.

We are interested in expanding our involvement to international locations, such as Haiti or Ethiopia. To qualify to install an international system, we need at least one person trained in each of three courses taught at the Clean Water University at Camp Hopewell near Oxford, Mississippi. The three courses are held in concurrent sessions over a five-day period and include training in the following areas:

CWU 101: Learn the fundamentals of water project management, with the objective of empowering operating partners to produce clean water for their communities for years to come.

CWU 102: Learn the health, hygiene, and spiritual curriculum; teach other course participants; and become capable to lead the training for in-country (operating partner) instructors.

CWU 103: Take a fully functioning clean water system and get hands-on experience with how it operates, how to maintain it, and how to troubleshoot problems. Learn how to construct and disassemble the system, including each component and major piece of equipment. You can enroll in only one of the three courses during the five-day session.

We have church members trained in CWU 102 and CWU 103, so to qualify as an international install team, we need to complete our required training by having someone trained in CWU 101. Training opportunities at Camp Hopewell are scheduled for April 17-21, September 4-8, and October 16-20.

Tuition is $595 per person, and funds are available in the Evangelism & Outreach Committee budget to cover the tuition for two students. We hope that you will prayerfully consider joining the First Presbyterian Church Living Waters for the World team to help provide clean water as well as the living water of Jesus Christ to those that the Lord would lead us to help. Please contact Tom King at tfktnhome@gmail.com or at 423-968-2453, if you would like to learn more about this important outreach ministry of the PCUSA.

We encourage you to check out the Living Waters for the World website at www.livingwatersfortheworld.org.

Become a Cub Scout Den Leader for the Boys & Girls Club

As part of FPC's growing outreach through the Boys & Girls Club, we've been invited to help staff a Cub Scout pack that meets exclusively with second and third graders in the B&G Club on our campus.

We are looking for two dedicated individuals (men or women) who have a heart for children. There will be 15 to 20 boys in the pack, and they will meet weekly from August through May. All training, leaders' manuals, and monthly leader support meetings (optional) are provided.

Typical hour-long pack meetings consist of a patriotic opening (flag ceremony, a prayer or song, or a group recital of the Cub Scout Promise), a hands-on craft project or game (see the manual), achievement training (working on a badge; directions in the manual), and a closing.

If you are interested in becoming a den leader, please contact Peggy Hill at 423-956-0209 or hillp@btes.tv.

Our Next Family Promise Service Week Begins April 7

Through our participation in Family Promise of Bristol, we will host selected local homeless families at FPC from Sunday evening, April 7, through Sunday morning, April 14. Volunteers from our congregation will provide breakfast, lunch, and dinner and serve as evening and overnight hosts.

We are excited to be involved with this ministry and we are looking forward to another week of service to families in need! If you are interested in participating as a volunteer or want to know more about this ministry, please contact Chris or Jennifer Kennedy at jenniferchisler@hotmail.com or 423-383-2535.

Thank you to all who are working for the success of this project!

Snow Days

Reverting to our "weather-permitting" stance, we predict that after Aaron Brooks has prepared the church lawns for Easter, Karen White-Smith and Eric Cline will follow up on a dry day, if any, in the April 3-6 range. After that, it's up to J.B. Madison on a fine day between April 10 and 13. If you'd like to join our volunteer mowing team, contact Randy Cook at 423-956-1541 or npolecook@aol.com.