Churchwide Survey Deadline Extended 

Last week we made a churchwide survey available to the congregation. The survey is anonymous and intended to gather information about all members' worship, education, and fellowship experiences at First Presbyterian Church. It is available both online and as a printout. If you need a paper copy, please contact the church office. If you prefer to complete the survey online, click here. The deadline for submitting your completed survey has been extended through Sunday, February 15.

Because we are seeking feedback from all members of our congregation to aid our work in bringing glory to God in our ministry and life together, we are asking each member of your household age 15 and older to complete a survey. We thank all who have responded so far, and invite everyone else to participate. We value every voice and will attend carefully to all input. Please continue to keep our church and this process in your prayers.

The members of the Strategic Planning Committee are Aaron Brooks, Peggy Hill, Jennifer Kennedy, Shannan Miller, Lensey Richardson, Gordon Turnbull, John Vann, Paul Warhurst, and Charles Webb.

Register now for our annual women's retreat, scheduled for February 27 through March 1 at Blowing Rock Conference Center. Lindsay Fooshee, Christian thinker, blogger, and mom, will be our speaker this year, and her theme is joy. Be sure to mark your calendars for this wonderful Heart to Heart weekend! Forms and flyers are available throughout the church.

The next story in our churchwide study series, EPIC: Through the Bible with Jesus, tells of the Tower of Babel. Join us Sunday, February 8, as we explore "A Giant Staircase," from the children's book, The Jesus Storybook Bible, and inspired by Genesis 11. Sermon texts throughout this series are being taken from the same source. If you have not already picked up your preordered copy from the front office, please do so soon.

EPIC Study Group Forming

If you would like to participate in an EPIC study group, contact Dave Welch. A small group now forming will meet in the Friendship Classroom from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. on the first Thursday of each month. Child care will be available in the nursery.

ACTS Not Just a Book in the Bible 

On Wednesday, February 11, we will begin a four-week program led by Dave Welch that will focus on prayer. We will review Biblical models for the prayer forms adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication (ACTS), while reflecting on our own prayer pilgrimage.

Please join us at 5:30 for dinner in the Fellowship Hall and stay for the program at 6:15. Student Small Groups and Wednesday Night Kids will meet as usual at 6:00.

Parents: Please keep your children with you or within sight until they are called to their groups at 6:00. We want to keep our children safe and adults unworried!

Men's Breakfast Next Saturday 

The Men's Committee will have their monthly breakfast Bible study next Saturday, February 14, at 8:00 a.m. in the Fellowship Hall. They welcome all men of the church to join them for good fellowship and a great start to the weekend.

Presbyterian Women Meet Next Tuesday

Presbyterian Women will hold our first meeting of the new year at 11:00 a.m., Tuesday, February 10, in Room 123. We will begin with circle time, followed by a Bible lesson with Gordon Turnbull at 11:30, then Ruthie Blair's delicious lunch in the parlor at noon. Please make lunch reservations with the church office. We welcome all women of the church!

Put Those Canceled Stamps to Work for Missions 

We have found a way to continue our participation in a ministry that recycles stamps to support mission work. The group we sent stamps to last year retired from that ministry at the end of December, but our Presbyterian Women quickly found and established a connection with the Alliance Stamp Ministry in Fort Myers, Florida. This active group collects and sells canceled stamps to raise money for Spanish-language Sunday School materials for churches in Latin America. Last year they raised $36,000, enough to equip students in nearly 40 denominations in 19 countries. This group accepts all stamps, even the ubiquitous flags and Liberty Bells.

All you need to do is to trim your canceled stamps from their envelopes, keeping all corner fringe and borders. Buyers will not purchase stamps that have been removed from the envelope they adhere to, so please cut around them, leaving a border of at least a quarter of an inch of paper-a third of an inch is even better. Stamps with less "handling material" than that cannot be used. Then simply bring your stamps to church with you and put them in the box outside the Fellowship Hall. Presbyterian Women will take care of the rest!

Heart to Heart Inductive Bible Study for Feb. 17 

Betsy Turnbull's inductive Heart to Heart Bible study group continues their EPIC adventure through the Bible, using The Jesus Storybook Bible as a guide for their readings. Their next meeting will be Tuesday, February 17, at 7:00 p.m. in room 123, when they will delve into Genesis 11 and 12-21.

Lucky Teens to Hit the Slopes on Friday the 13th! 

Friday the 13th is a lucky day this month! The FPC High School ministry will meet at the church at 10:30 a.m. and head to Beech Mountain for a day on the slopes. Those who want to participate need to secure a seat in the van and be included in the meal count by signing up by this Sunday, February 8.

Costs

Lift Ticket: $25

Skis + Lift Ticket: $42

Snowboard + Lift Ticket: $49

Food

Pack a lunch for the ride up, and bring money for dinner on the way back.

TGIM: Middle School Mania Tubes Sugar Mountain Resort 

Thank goodness, it's mania time soon! All seventh and eighth graders are invited to enjoy an evening of snow tubing Friday, February 20, at Sugar Mountain Resort. We will meet at the church at 5:00 p.m. and grab dinner on the way to Sugar Mountain. We'll tube from 8:00 till 10:00. The cost is $25 per person plus food money. Pay a $25 deposit by February 15 to reserve your spot. Katie Arnold (karnold@fpcbristol.org) is coordinating this event.

Fusion of Pins and Pizza Feb. 22 

All FPC fifth and sixth graders are invited to an evening of pins and pizza Sunday, February 22, from 6:00 to 8:00 at Bass Pro Shops. Bring $5 and score two hours of bowling, pizza, drinks, and dessert! For more information about this Fusion event, contact Lilly Osborne at 423-383-5476 or losborne@fpcbristol.org.

EPIC Family Fun Art Event This Saturday 

FPC's Children's Ministries will hold a family art event this Saturday, February 7, at 10:00 a.m. in room 31, Creation Station, in the Education Wing. We will provide canvases to each participating family to paint in a manner related to our EPIC series, Through the Bible with Jesus. This is a family event, so children must be accompanied by an adult. This event is for all ages of children.

Please Donate Vanilla Wafers for Fairmount Students 

We are collecting cookies for our young friends at Fairmount Elementary School. The Neighborhood Initiatives Steering Committee is asking us to fill the Little Red House in the Fellowship Hallway with boxes of vanilla wafers. The committee will take them to Fairmount, where teachers will divide them into portions for the youngsters whose parents cannot afford to send snacks to school with them. Let's make sure all students get a midafternoon energy boost!

When the wind is high or the roads lowdown, we will follow the lead of the Bristol, Tennessee, city schools. Please tune in to a local radio or television station to learn what that may be. We will make every effort to gather for worship on Sundays, even in severe weather.

The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity

Jesus once rebuked the Pharisees and Sadducees, saying, "You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times." Perhaps we Presbyterians should take heed, for there are many signs that Christianity today is in the midst of changing times. Pope Francis visits Catholic communities that have never seen a Roman pontiff before and shakes up the establishment hierarchy in Rome. We read that many traditional Protestant churches in Europe are in serious decline. Major American denominations agonize over deep divisions on theological and social issues, and most American towns and cities have sprouted an array of independent megacongregations in their midst. So we wonder: where is the church going? What is the future of Christendom as we have known it?

The authority whose name stands out in all such conversations today is Philip Jenkins, Professor of Religious Studies at Penn State University and Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Institute for Studies of Religion at Baylor University. His major work, The Future of Christianity, is a trilogy, and its initial volume is The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity, the widely praised winner of various awards. If you want a road map of where the church is going today, this is the book to read. Its chapters are comprehensive and global. We feature it here as a means of complementing the work of our Strategic Planning Committee. This book deserves a wide reading by our congregation, and not just by the planning committee, if we are to "read the signs of the times" and make wise decisions. It's available in our library.

Why Are There No Cats in the Bible?

High theology this slim volume is not, but it's a delightful and charming way to increase your biblical knowledge. Basically, it is a broad array of simple facts about the Bible presented in a style that encourages you to read more. Open it to any page, and you will find yourself learning things you had never known before. Take the apostles of Jesus. What happened to them after Jesus' ascension? You'll find what tradition has to say on the subject in few pages. And did you know that Oprah Winfrey was to have been named for a biblical figure? But somebody couldn't spell correctly, and you'll find the intended name here. But there's more than just interesting tidbits of assorted facts. There is a surprising array of solid information about the "Good Book," organized systematically from Genesis to Revelation. If you have children or grandchildren, you'll want to sit down with them on the couch and have a delightful experience learning the amazing things in this book.

Sunday's music participants: Sanctuary Choir.

William Cowper

Sunday's music: The text of this week's anthem, "O for a Closer Walk with God," was written by William Cowper (1731-1800). Cowper (pronounced "cooper") is considered one of the best 18th century English poets, and although he wrote only a small number of hymns over a short period of time, several remain in the current repertoire. Our hymnal includes these texts, "O God, in a Mysterious Way" and "Sometimes a Light Surprises." Many also know his text "There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood."

Cowper was a parishioner and friend, in Olney, England, of the clergyman John Newton, best known as the author of "Amazing Grace" and "Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken." They collaborated on the collection Olney Hymns for use in prayer meetings of their congregation. It is remarkable that this small collection by two authors produced a number of hymns still popular today.

Cowper battled periods of severe depression, and his inner turmoil can often be sensed in his texts, as it can in this one. It is appropriate this week, as we consider the glorification of hubris in the story of the Tower of Babel; the plea of his third stanza, "The dearest idol I have known ... help me to tear it from thy throne," takes the story to a personal level. The musical setting is by Erik Routley (1917-1982), who was the premier authority on hymns in the 20th century as well as a gifted musician and poet. He makes use of a lyrical Scottish psalm tune for the first, second, and fourth stanzas, but for the anguished third, he composed a tune to mirror the text.

In Our Prayers

Becky Busler

Jane Crewey

Dorothy Dollar

Fred Frazier

Ann Galliher

DeeDee Galliher

Dorothy Giesler

Juanita Goforth

Ron Grubbs

Will Hankins

Mary Nell Harris

Sharon Hatcher

Hawley Heglar

Carolyn King

Nancy King

Ruth Musser

Sue Olsen

Nancy Preston

Mary Rice

Brenda Rogers

Virginia Rutherford

Katy Sikorski

Faye VanNostrand

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

Birthday Prayer Fellowship

February 9          Alan Hunter, Lorri Looney, Pat Tippner

February 10        Joseph Ong, Lensey Richardson

February 12        Alex Boyd, Johnny Dabbs, Marjorie Harr, Sara Waller

February 13        Barbara Thomas

February 14        Kathryn Parker, Sharon Ratliff, Jesse Strang

We recently received gifts in memory of the following individuals:

Presley Taggart Downs: by Ernie & Karen Pennington, to the Capital Campaign Fund/MEP

Richard King: by John & Sherry Ratcliff, to the Arts Series Fund

Opal Johnson: by Gene & Jane Eller, to the Minister's Discretionary Fund; by Kurt & Joan Knouse, by Modern Distributors Inc., by Ernie & Karen Pennington, by Sullivan County Department of Education Central Office, and by Ann Abel, all to the Capital Campaign Fund/MEP

Sunday, February 8

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

4:00 p.m.     Strategic Planning Committee, Room 117

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

5:30 p.m.     Finance Committee, Room 123

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

Monday, February 9

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

7:00 p.m.     Building & Grounds Committee, Room 117

7:00 p.m.     Worship Committee, Room 123

Tuesday, February 10

9:00 a.m.     Staff Meeting, Room 123

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

11:00 a.m.   Presbyterian Women Business Meeting, Room 123

11:30 a.m.   Presbyterian Women Bible Study, Room 123

12:00 p.m.   Presbyterian Women Luncheon, Parlor

1:00 p.m.     Jackie Burt's Bible Study, Burt Home

6:00 p.m.     Venture Crew 3, Cub Scout Room

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

Wednesday, February 11

9:30 a.m.     Lorri Looney's 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, Rooms 34-37

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

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

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

6:15 p.m.     Adult Learning, Fellowship Hall

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

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

Thursday, February 12

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

8:30 a.m.     Meals on Wheels, Fellowship Hall

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

Friday, February 13

10:30 a.m.   High School Ski Daytrip, Meet at FPC

Saturday, February 14

8:00 a.m.     Men's Breakfast & Men's Committee, Fellowship Hall