September 28

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Epistle

Ephesians 6:10-20

Sermon

Christ's Power for the Body

Gordon A. Turnbull

Hymns

Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken

God Is My Strong Salvation

Christ Is Made the Sure Foundation

Anthem

Praise the Name of God with a Song

Attendance on September 21

Windows

An orientation meeting for those interested in participating in the Fairmount Elementary School Reading Buddies program will be held tonight, Thursday, September 25, at 6:30 p.m. in the FPC Fellowship Hall.

As a Reading Buddy, you would meet with the same student once a week for thirty minutes in a time slot that suits your schedule. You would read one-on-one with your assigned Reading Buddy or participate in other activities to build reading skills. In addition to improving your buddy's reading ability, you will help him or her build a crucial relationship with a caring adult. The target startup date is October 20.

If you have questions, or would like to become a Reading Buddy, please contact Kay Ward at wardk@btcs.org or 423-652-9251, or Gordon Turnbull at gturnbull@fpcbristol.org or 423-764-7176. Thanks for considering this great opportunity to reach into the life of a young neighbor!

This Sunday, September 28, we will collect for the Five-Cents-a-Meal hunger relief program. This offering takes its name from the way it works: each of us sets aside five cents for each meal we eat. By the end of three effortless months, we each have accumulated a personal offering of about $13.50, and together we make a hearty contribution toward feeding the hungry. If you'd rather not bring in a sack of coins, you may write a check payable to FPC, noting on the memo line that it is for Five-Cents-a-Meal. Many mouths will thank you!

This Sunday, September 28, begins our next turn at hosting Family Promise of Bristol for a week. We are looking, rather desperately at this point, for an overnight host for Monday night. If you can be at the church by 8:30 that evening, spend the night, and help with a continental breakfast Tuesday morning, please contact Dan Gross at dan.c.gross@gmail.com. Our guests leave the church around 7:00 a.m., so you won't be late for work. Thank you so much for your love and hospitality to these families! 

Ronda Paulson

Bring a friend and come hear Ronda Paulson speak at our annual Heart to Heart Fall Gathering, scheduled for Thursday, October 2, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the chapel. Ronda is calling her talk "Let's Get Real." We hope you'll join us for dinner before the program.

Working from Hebrews 10:22-24, Ronda will encourage us to draw near to God with sincere hearts and to be sincere and real with each other as well. You will not want to miss this opportunity for godly teaching laced with humor and applied to real life.

Ronda is an adjunct professor of biology and also the cheer and dance coach at Milligan College. She travels the country speaking to women's groups as well as teenagers. She is working on her second book, I Love You More Than Chocolate. Ronda is married to Corey, and they have two children, Sophie, 11, and Mac, 7.

To let us know to save your place(s), fill out a registration form (available throughout the church) and drop it in the offering plate, call the church office at 423-764-7176, email Jane Prater at jprater@fpcbristol.org, or respond on Facebook.

Child care will be provided, and we'll serve the kids pizza and fruit for dinner. Please let the church office know the names and ages of the children for whom you will need care. We look forward to sharing this exciting evening with you!

Be sure to join us October 5 for a combined worship service on World Communion Sunday. The service, with Kids' Kirk, will begin at 10:30 a.m. in the sanctuary. We will enjoy music by the Sanctuary Choir, Praise Team members, Jubilate Youth Choir, and Savior's Singers Children's Choir. Sunday School will begin 15 minutes early, at 9:30. The Cherub Choir will not rehearse.

Over the course of October, our Wednesday evening programs will take us from the why to the how and where of discipleship. Planned by our Evangelism & Outreach Committee, these programs will kick off with an intergenerational Bible study at 6:20 p.m. on October 1. Dan Kreiss will lead this interactive, mixed-age Bible study on witnessing about our faith: why we witness and how God equips us to do so. Share a meal with us at 5:30 in the Fellowship Hall and stay to learn!

Our congregation responded with heartwarming enthusiasm to Bristol Faith in Action's request for personal care kits this summer. You put together and brought in 188 bags of toiletries for men and women in our community, bringing the sponsors of this program perilously close to the sin of pride.

Farther afield, many in our congregation also have been praying for our brothers and sisters, both those who provide relief and those who are displaced, in the National Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Iraq. We are gratified to announce that those of you who responded to our request for a special offering have contributed $12,146 for relief of the church in Iraq. We continue to receive contributions for this offering. Please make your checks payable to First Presbyterian Church and write "Iraq Relief" on the memo line.

We and many, many others, here and abroad, are grateful for your generous and caring spirit!

The Men's Ministry is once again sponsoring its popular service and fellowship retreat to Washington, D.C., and this year it is planned for the weekend of October 31. The FPC men will travel Friday evening, work at the Capital Area Food Bank on Saturday, take in the city that night, then worship at National Presbyterian Church Sunday morning and return that evening. There is so much to see and do, and such a satisfying combination of work and play, that you won't want to miss it!

Informational flyers with registration forms are available throughout the church. The cost of $60 covers travel; two nights' lodging in the Pilgrimage, the hostel of the Church of the Pilgrims; and some meals (dinner on Saturday is not included). Reserve your spot with a $10 deposit. Scholarships are available.

You will need to pack a sleeping bag (or sheets and a blanket), a pillow, a towel, toiletries, ear plugs, work clothes and gloves, and comfortable shoes. Please let Dave Welch know if you are willing to drive your own car; we will pay for the gas. If you have any questions, please contact Dave at dwelch@fpcristol.org.

We will continue our discussion of Ephesians Sunday night in Student Fellowship. If you're in seventh through twelfth grade, please join us at 6:00 p.m. in the Youth Wing and Fellowship Hall for dinner, games, worship, learning, and fellowship. See you then!

Bring your friends and come to an overnight Middle School Mania at White Fork Ranch this Saturday, September 27. We will meet at the ranch at 7:00 p.m., enjoy an evening packed full of games and fellowship, and return to the church by 10:00 Sunday morning. The cost is $10. An FPC notarized form is required for all participants. The form can be found by clicking here. For more information, contact Katie Arnold at karnold@fpcbristol.org.

School's in session, and it's time once more to help the young students in our neighborhood stay alert for their lessons. We are collecting Teddy Grahams, either plain or cinnamon, for snacks for Fairmount Elementary School classes. If you would like to contribute, please bring a box or so to the little red schoolhouse by the breezeway doors in the Fellowship Hallway. We know your generous hearts, so we take the liberty of thanking you in advance! 

Though the nip in the morning air tempts us to light the fire, the grass is still growing, so our volunteers are still mowing. Keith Blair will see September out, and David Moore will bring October in. We hope the splendid weather holds! If you'd like to help with the seasonal chore of mowing the church grounds, Randy Cook will be happy to add you to our team as a regular or a substitute. You can reach him at 423-956-1541 or npolecook@aol.com. It's not too early to sign up for next spring!

Sunday's music participants: Sanctuary Choir.

Allen Koepke

Sunday's music: Drawn from selected verses of Psalms 69 and 71, the anthem, "Praise the Name of God with a Song," is a vigorous affirmation of God's greatness, composed by Allen Koepke (1939-2012). Koepke, a native of Chicago, had an influential career as a church musician, public school educator, and composer centered in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Both the text and its musical setting combine a few phrases or figures in a variety of ways. The opening melodic figure returns several times throughout the anthem, just as the central text and idea of the anthem, "I will praise the name of God," is the anchor of its message.

Arts Series reminder: As a result of the tremendous amount of work required to prepare for next summer's Montreat Conferences on Worship and Music, the Arts Series is taking a sabbatical for this program year. However, there will be several programs of note in our sanctuary. Watch this space for details!

In Our Prayers

Becky Busler

Barbara Daniel

Dorothy Dollar

DeeDee Galliher

Mary Nell Harris

Sharon Hatcher

Rebekah Heacock

Carolyn King

Ruth Musser

Nancy Preston

Mary Rice

Brenda Rogers

Virginia Rutherford

Katy Sikorski

Faye VanNostrand

Ann Woods

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

Condolences

Our love and sympathy are with Lynette Wallen in the death of her mother, Veronica Evelyn Dastugue Gibson, September 17 in Bristol.

Birthday Prayer Fellowship

September 28   Will Davis, Kelley Mayden

September 29   Larry Connolly, Riley Miller, Ann Woods

October 1            Liz Dollar

October 2            Jordan Pennington

October 3            Fred Harkleroad

October 4            Brian Miller, Deborah Whitaker

Sunday, September 28

8:30 a.m.      Worship, Fellowship Hall

9:00 a.m.      Cherub Choir, Room 209

9:45 a.m.      Sunday School, Education Wing

11:00 a.m.   Worship, Sanctuary

5:15 p.m.     Jubilate Youth Choir, Music Wing

6:00 p.m.     Student Fellowship, Youth Wing

Monday, September 29

5:30 p.m.     Sanctuary Handbells, Handbell Room

Tuesday, September 30

9:00 a.m.      Staff Meeting, Room 123

10:00 a.m.   Morning Prayer Group, Conference Room

1:00 p.m.     HeartsBurn Bible Study, Burt Home

7:00 p.m.     Betsy Turnbull's Inductive Bible Study, Room 123

7:00 p.m.     Boy Scout Troop 3, Scout Wing

Wednesday, October 1

9:30 a.m.      Lorri Looney's Heart to Heart DVD Bible Study, Parlor

10:00 a.m.   Elizabeth Patrick's Women's Bible Study, New Mothers' Room

4:15 p.m.     Children's Handbells, Room 212

4:45 p.m.     Youth Handbells, Room 212

4:45 p.m.     Savior's Singers Children's Choir, Room 209

5:15 p.m.     Baby & Toddler Care, Nursery

5:30 p.m.     Fellowship Dinner, Fellowship Hall

6:00 p.m.     Wednesday Night Kids, Rooms 11 & 31

6:00 p.m.     Student Ministries Small Groups, Youth Wing

6:20 p.m.     Adult Learning Program, Fellowship Hall

7:15 p.m.     Sanctuary Choir, Room 202

7:30 p.m.     Praise Team Rehearsal, Fellowship Hall

Thursday, October 2

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

12:00 p.m.   Noon Bible Study, Room 117

5:30 p.m.     Heart to Heart Fall Gathering, Chapel & Fellowship Hall