Windows

This Sunday, August 25, at 10:20 a.m., the Session will meet in the chapel with those interested in joining FPC. Everyone who wishes to become a member of our congregation is invited to attend.

The women of FPC and their friends will share another Heart to Heart Girls' Night Out Tuesday, August 27, congregating at Machiavelli's at 6:00 p.m. Child care will be available at the church at 5:30. Please contact Jane Prater in the church office at 423-764-7176 or jprater@fpcbristol.org by noon Monday, August 26, to let her know how many children will need care. Please pack a supper for your children. Pick-up time will be 8:15 p.m.

Last year, our church began an outreach to the children who attend the Boys & Girls Club afterschool program that meets at our church. We were welcomed with excitement from the children and loads of support from the B&G Club staff. This year, we will begin mid-September, and we need two activity leaders and five shepherds. We hope you will prayerfully consider joining this outreach program that enriches both children and adults.

Activity leaders present the lesson and plan a simple craft or game to emphasize the lesson's main points. Activities are about Jesus and God's saving love for all of us. Each lesson and fun activity lasts from 15 to 45 minutes, depending on the plans for the day.

Shepherds are helpers that sit by the children during the activity, hand out materials, and generally help individual children during the lesson. In addition to the activity leader and the B&G Club staff, we like to have at least one shepherd with each group.

The program begins around 4:30 on six fall and six spring afternoons. The activity leaders and shepherds choose the days that are most convenient for them. If you would like more information about becoming an activity leader or a shepherd, please contact Peggy Hill at peggyhill145@gmail.com or 423-956-0209.

We are pleased to announce the new season of our FPC Art Series. This year we explore the broader world of the arts, presenting programs and workshops on the visual arts and liturgical dance in addition to fine concerts. We have lined up a variety of local and national talent accessible to all ages.

All four programs are scheduled for Sunday afternoons at 3:00:

Ryan Fogg

October 20: Dr. Ryan Fogg, piano. Ryan is Associate Professor of Music and Director of Keyboard Studies at Carson-Newman University. Included on this program will be works by Poulenc, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Chopin, and Bolcom.

February 9: Students from the organ studio of Joby Bell, Appalachian State University, one of the most vital organ studios in our region.

March 2: Guest trumpeter SMSgt USAF (ret.) Clarence Mitchell II, with Dr. David Champouillon and the Pro Musica Chamber Ensemble. Mr. Mitchell retired from the United States Air Force Band after 28 years of service, still actively performing. This is the S.C. and Lillian Wolfe memorial concert.

April 6: Mindy Rosenfeld, flute, and Ronn McFarlane, lute. These two talented musicians are part of the famed Baltimore Consort, whose members performed in our series in 2004.

It is the ongoing goal of the Arts Series to enrich and inspire the life and worship of the people of Bristol and the members of FPC, share our unique and marvelous facilities, and encourage the artistically gifted of our region and beyond. We greatly appreciate your prayerful consideration of support for this part of the ministry of FPC. Donations received by September 30 will help us plan the work of the Arts Series more accurately, but we are happy to receive any donation at any time. If you choose to donate, please make your check out to the church and write "Arts Series" in the memo line so that it can be properly credited.

Donations received will be acknowledged with series tickets at the following levels:

                $500                      4 season tickets

                $250-$499           3 season tickets

                $100-$249           2 season tickets

                $50-$99                1 season ticket

Conrad Crow, who served FPC as an interim pastor 1998-99, will soon celebrate his 60th wedding anniversary, and you are invited! The Crows are active participants of Jonesborough Presbyterian Church, where a reception will be held this Sunday, August 25, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. Their family asks you to join them. No gifts, just your presence is requested.

On August 22, 1953, Conrad and Carolyn Crow were united in marriage by Dr. John Leith, pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Auburn, Alabama, where they met as students. Their life together has been blessed with three children and four grandchildren. Their sons, Marshall and Charles, live in Chesapeake and Parkersburg, West Virginia, while their daughter, Terri Knight, and her family reside in Jonesborough.

Dr. Crow, an ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church USA, served pastorates in Kentucky, West Virginia, and Virginia before retiring in 1994. After moving to this area, he served interim pastorates in Kingsport, Bristol, Johnson City, Elizabethton, and Jonesborough.

Each one of us faces a battle within. It may go unseen by those around us, but inside there is a major brawl. The battle is with temptation. And depending on the temptation and its hold on our life, it may be a battle that seems impossible to win. In this series, Andy Stanley takes a look at the temptations Jesus faced in the desert, and identifies the driving forces behind the temptations we all face every day. Once we realize what the pull is behind the temptation, we can find the confidence to follow Jesus' example and respond as he did.

In the coming weeks, the Sunday Night Student Fellowship will take on these topics: The Main Event (this Sunday, August 25), In This Corner (September 15), Fixing the Fight (September 22), and Hook and Jab (October 6). Sixth- through twelfth-graders meet in the Youth Wing at 6:00 p.m.

Week One: The Main Event (August 25)

Bottom Line: In every single temptation we face, there is always more at risk than we think.

In the sport of boxing, the main event is the big fight, the moment when everything is on the line. But most of us are oblivious to the truth that there's also a lot at stake in every temptation we face. When we are face to face with temptation, the choice can feel insignificant. There are times when it feels like no one will notice, or it's not really a big deal. But in looking at the temptations Jesus faced, we realize just how much is at stake-not only in his life, with the temptations that were before him-but in our lives as well, with the temptations we face every day.