Come to Ash Wednesday Worship February 18 

Our regular Wednesday evening programming, including Wednesday Night Kids and Student Small Groups, will be suspended for the evening and resume the following week. The Wednesday afternoon choir rehearsals will proceed as usual.

Churchwide Survey Due This Sunday 

Seeking feedback from all members of our congregation, we distributed a churchwide survey in the last week of January. 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 on paper. 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 is midnight Sunday, February 15.

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.

The next story in our churchwide study series, EPIC: Through the Bible with Jesus, is "Son of Laughter." Join us Sunday, February 15, as we ponder this tale from the children's book, The Jesus Storybook Bible, based on Genesis 12-21. Sermon texts throughout this series are being taken from the same source. If you have not already picked up your copy, please do so soon.

Family Art Event Was EPIC Fun!

Saturday's family art event sponsored by FPC's Children's Ministries was both fun and moving.  Fifteen families gathered in Creation Station to paint more than 30 canvases inspired by our EPIC series, Through the Bible with Jesus. It was a challenge, but we managed to winnow 30 photos down to three, which you can see below.

Men's Breakfast This Saturday 

The Men's Committee will have their monthly breakfast Bible study this Saturday, February 14, at 8:00 a.m. in the Fellowship Hall. All men of the church are invited for good fellowship and a great start to the weekend.

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.

Those Used Stamps Are Worth More Than You Thought 

There is an easy way to help provide Sunday School materials for Latin American churches: just bring your canceled stamps to FPC! Presbyterian Women are working with the Alliance Stamp Ministry in Fort Myers, Florida, to turn used stamps into money for mission work. This group accepts all stamps, and by so doing were able to raise $36,000 last year, enough to equip students in nearly 40 denominations in 19 countries.

Teens to Hit the Slopes This Friday

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 can check with Katie Arnold (karnold@fpcbristol.org) to find out whether slots are still available.

Costs

Lift Ticket: $25

Skis + Lift Ticket: $42

Snowboard + Lift Ticket: $49

Food

Middle School Mania Tubes Sugar Mountain

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 Sunday, 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.

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 air or the road is white, 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.

Finding God: A Treasury of Conversion Stories

For the Christian, that moment of personal conversion has often been a defining event in the life of an individual, whether it came as an instantaneous lightning flash or a gradual maturation of thoughts and beliefs that achieved a final consummation of certainty. A recent book, Finding God: A Treasury of Conversion Stories, compiled by John M. Mulder, former president of Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, brings together more than 60 of these accounts and illustrates the wide variety of the ways in which God acts. Almost all of them are firsthand stories. Beginning with Paul's Damascus road account, this rich collection recounts the conversion stories of Martin Luther, John Calvin, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King Jr., Billy Sunday, Charles Spurgeon, Ethel Waters, Albert Schweitzer, C.S. Lewis, Billy Graham, Thomas Merton, and many others. Among them is the story of a Chinese Christian struggling to live his faith in a Communist land. When you have finished several of them, you must turn and read Dr. Mulder's "Afterword" at the end of the book. Only then will you know why this volume was published. God does indeed work in mysterious ways!

The Rest of Your Life: Finding God's Rest in a Restless World

A second book, which many of you will find personally comforting, is The Rest of Your Life: Finding God's Rest in a Restless World. This book is a collection of beautiful and heartwarming devotionals, written by Nancy McGuirk, the founder and lead teacher of the Women's Community Bible Study of Atlanta. The selections are varied in their themes, but the overriding thrust is to help those of us harried by a busy life find peace and serenity through a firm Christian outlook. In this small book there are 90 meditations, each preceded with a scriptural verse and concluded with a short prayer. Ms. McGuirk also leaves the reader with one brief phrase for each devotional, to be remembered "for the rest of your life." Ruth Graham wrote the foreword. Some of you may find this slender volume so appealing that, after you return the library copy so that others may see it, you will rush to obtain a personal copy for your own use.

Sunday's music participants: Sanctuary Choir and Sanctuary Bells.

Sunday's music: The anthem is a setting of Psalm 67, slightly adapted from the version that appears in the NRSV. This psalm is both a petition for God's blessing and a call for God's people to praise and rejoice. This parallels our Bible story for the week, in which Abraham and Sarah are blessed by God with a son, and all the nations can rejoice in this gift. The musical setting is by Joel VanderZee, a graduate of Calvin College and Western Michigan University. After beginning a career as a church musician, he shifted to working in the pipe organ construction and maintenance industry. He continues to compose, particularly choral music. His music for Psalm 67 begins and ends lyrically, as the text in these sections calls for God's blessing. The middle section is a vigorous call on the faithful to praise God.

Bethany McKinney Fox

Montreat bio: Bethany McKinney Fox will lead multigenerational seminars titled Celebrating Our Entire Body: Disability, Vulnerability, and Church Communities.She received her PhD in Christian Ethics from Fuller Theological Seminary with her dissertation, "Disability, Healing, and Jesus: Perspectives and Practices from the Gospels." She helped found Able Theology, Fuller's first student group focused on various issues of disability. Her BA is from the University of California, Los Angeles, with a major in philosophy and a minor in Russian literature. Before entering seminary, she worked first for Catholic Charities and then as a special education teacher for the Los Angeles Unified School District. She received her Master of Divinity degree in 2006 from Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, GA. Living in Los Angeles, Bethany teaches courses in ethics for Fuller, volunteers and works with L'Arche Wavecrest in Orange as a part-time assistant, and last year completed a term of more than four years as codirector of student ministries at First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood. She enjoys singing, songwriting, exploring her city, and hearing what other people are passionate about. She is married to a musician, Michael, and they have fun making music together.

Lenten Organ Meditations: Central Presbyterian Church in Bristol, VA, presents its 2015 Lenten Organ Meditations at noon each Wednesday from February 25 through March 25. Joy Smith-Briggs, organist at Central, will perform February 25. Jane LaPella, retired organist at Munsey Memorial UMC in Johnson City, will play March 4. There is no admission charge for these 30-minute programs, but donations to the music program will be gratefully accepted.

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 15        JoLynn Evans, Brenda Foster, Chad McCracken, Cindy Ratcliff    

February 16        Matt Williams

February 18        Josh Kite

February 19        Bob Millard

February 21        Peggy Rutherford

Sunday, February 15

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.     Called Session Meeting, Room 123

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

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

Monday, February 16

4:45 p.m.     Administrative Committee, Room 117

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

7:00 p.m.     Christian Education Committee, Room 117

Tuesday, February 17

9:00 a.m.     Staff Meeting, Room 123

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

1:00 p.m.     Jackie Burt's 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, February 18

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

6:20 p.m.     Ash Wednesday Worship, Sanctuary

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

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

Thursday, February 19

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

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

Friday, February 20

5:00 p.m.     Middle School Mania, Meet at FPC