Windows

You are cordially invited to enjoy cold ice cream and a warm-hearted movie this Saturday, September 14, at 7:00 p.m. We'll watch The Princess Bride while spooning out our favorite flavors. Our Ice Cream Social and Movie Night will be held in the Fellowship Hall. Please bring either store-bought or homemade ice cream with you. Spoiler alert: we'll have a taste contest for homemade. Be there!

College students and childless young adults are invited to an end-of-summer cookout tonight, Thursday, September 12, at 6:30. We will gather at Betsy and Gordon Turnbull's home, 25 Compton, in the Middlebrook subdivision. If you plan to attend, please let Betsy T. (etturnbull83@gmail.com) or Dave Welch (dwelch@fpcbristol.org) know. While sharing great food, we want to celebrate all that you are doing, and perhaps even plan future activities, outings, and events. For more information, contact Dave. See you tonight!

On Wednesday evenings in September, the Rev. Elizabeth Patrick is taking us through the book of Jonah. We gather at 6:15 to enjoy its humor and consider whether we all might be a little like the runaway prophet.

It's barbecue for our next Fellowship Dinner, September 18! Please join us in the Fellowship Hall at 5:30 p.m. and stay for the age-appropriate learning programs that follow. Adults remain in the Fellowship Hall for the Adult Learning program, sixth- through twelfth-graders head upstairs to the Youth Wing for Student Ministries small-group discussions at 6:00, and Wednesday Night Kids gather at the door to the hall when they see the Kid's Time sign, also around 6:00.

Wednesday Night Kids

Our God is always with us, omnipresent, as we will learn Wednesday night. Dr. Beaker is back in his lab and with the help of magnets, sound tubes, rice, and water we will be discovering more about this God whose personal presence allows him to meet our individual needs. David the shepherd boy has grown, and we will focus on the story of King Saul and David in a cave. Come join in the Wednesday night fun as we learn together about the God we serve. Please check out the bulletin board in the Fellowship Hallway to see the variety of things happening in the Children's Wing on Wednesday nights.

Forty-seven FPC students enjoyed an incredible weekend at Snowbird Wilderness Outfitters in Andrews, North Carolina, September 6-8. They worshiped, pondered and talked in small groups, flew about on skateboards and the zipline, played volleyball and paintball, fell screaming into the foam pit, climbed the wall, took on the challenge course, and rafted (pirating was the best!) on whitewater. They played hard and made the weekend a wonderful time of growth and fellowship. They shout, "Thank you!" to everyone who helped make that possible.

On September 15 the Sunday Night Youth Fellowship takes up the second segment of The Battle Within. In this four-part 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.

We started with "The Main Event," the moment when everything is on the line. On September 15, we'll move on to "In This Corner," then we'll look at "Fixing the Fight" (September 22) and "Hook and Jab" (October 6). Information is on the youth page of the FPC website and will appear in Windows the week before each new segment. Sixth- through twelfth-graders meet in the Youth Wing at 6:00 p.m.

Week Two: In This Corner (September 15)

Bottom Line: Every time you're tempted, your confidence in God is at stake, not just your self-control.

Facing temptation always seems to be about the choice, the decision, the temptation. But it's always more than that. It's not just your reputation or your innocence that's at stake; it's your confidence in God. The lure of temptation makes us question whether we can really trust God to come through for us, to be there for us, to provide for us. We begin to think he's not in our corner, that he's not looking out for us. But what if we began to see him there? What if we realized that whatever is luring us away really has nothing to do with what we think it's about, and there's a deeper issue, a trust issue, at work? It might completely weaken the pull of that temptation, and it might help us get to the heart of what is really going on.

Mowers Take the Heat