To accommodate Fall Break in the Bristol schools, our regular Wednesday evening programs will not be presented October 14. There will be no fellowship dinner, adult learning session, Wednesday Night Kids, Student Small Groups, or children's or youth music rehearsals. Lorri Looney's Bible study will not meet Wednesday morning. The Sanctuary Choir and the Praise Team will rehearse at the usual times.

The meetings of our Session in August and September have understandably focused on the pastoral transition announced by Gordon Turnbull at the end of the meeting on August 24. Since that moment, the elders on the Session have been focused on the tasks of an orderly transition that thanks God for this season of faithful ministry together and prepares for a rich new season of service.

Transitional work has included the following:

In addition to this pastoral transition, the Session has accomplished a great deal of work important to the church's life:

Strategic Planning: The Session received the final report of the Strategic Planning Task Force in August. This work will continue as the Session pursues key initiatives with broad participation of members of the congregation.

Refinancing Church Loan with Eastman Credit Union: In August the Session authorized the refinancing of the church's loan with ECU. The ten-year term of the loan began earlier this month, with a fixed interest rate of 3.75%. The balance of the loan as of the end of August was $686,614.

Roof Repair Project, Stage One: The Session has awarded a contract to Morristown Roofing for the first stage of repairs to the flat sections of the church roof. Repairs over the kitchen and fellowship hall are currently scheduled to begin the week of October 5.

Bell Tower Lease: In August the Session authorized an agreement with Verizon Wireless for their leasing a section of our bell tower for the installation of broadcast antennas and associated electronic equipment. This arrangement, if implemented by Verizon, would generate annual lease payments of $24,000 with 2% increases over a minimum of fifteen years.

Affirmation of Our Brazil Partnership: This summer the General Assembly of the Independent Presbyterian Church in Brazil (IPIB) voted to discontinue its mission partnership with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) due to the PCUSA's recent decisions regarding same-sex marriage. Our Session has approved a communication with the elders of IPI Felipe Camarão and other IPIB leaders that expresses our view on this issue and our strong desire to continue our mission partnership with the church and school in Felipe Camarão.

Our second Parents' Night Out of the fall semester will be Friday, October 23, from 6:00 to 8:30. Bring your children to the Fellowship Hall, where lucky adult and youth volunteers will collaborate with them to make a craft for the Christmas shoeboxes later this fall. We will serve them dinner, so you will really have the evening off! Please let Lilly Osborne (losborne@fpcbristol.org) know the number and ages of children you will bring.

Student Fellowship will meet at White Fork Ranch on Sunday, October 25. You know the drill! Contact Katie Arnold if you plan to join us.

We are collecting boxes of original and multigrain Cheerios for neighborhood schoolchildren who cannot afford to bring snacks from home. We want all the young students at Fairmount Elementary School to get the energy boost they need to stay focused in the afternoon. You can help by bringing in one or more boxes of Cheerios and placing them in the little red house in the Fellowship Hallway. We appreciate it, and so will our hungry young friends!

October 11, Gordon Turnbull's last Sunday in the pulpit at FPC, promises to be seasonable, by which is meant transitional, some sun and some clouds. Taking the church lawn from partly shaggy to well groomed in time for the occasion will be David Moore. Helping to provide continuity next week, Roger Sikorski will keep the lawn in order, despite Fall Break.

We will mow through the month of October and perhaps into November. It's never too late to join the team. Just call Randy Cook at 423-956-1541 or email him at npolecook@aol.com. If you've never used a Scag mower before, he will be delighted to show you how. 

Sunday's music participants: Sanctuary Choir.

Jane Marshall

Sunday's music: The text of the anthem, "My Eternal King," began as a 16th century Latin hymn, thought to have been written by St. Francis Xavier, a noted Christian missionary to India and Asia. The translation to English is by Edward Caswall (1814-1878), an Anglican clergyman who eventually converted to Roman Catholicism. The musical setting is by Jane Marshall (b. 1924), a composer of choral music and a hymn writer. She was a longtime member of the Sacred Music graduate faculty at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University. Composed when she was just 26 and published in 1954, this setting has remained a staple in the church music repertoire. The text speaks of our love of God as "not for the hope of winning heaven, nor of escaping hell," but solely because God "hast loved me, O ever-loving Lord!" Marshall has ably captured the rejoicing that is inherent in the words. The postlude, a Paul Manz arrangement of the opening hymn "Praise Ye the Lord, the Almighty" is played in honor of the 16-plus years the Feys have served this church as colleagues in ministry with Gordon Turnbull.

Arts Series: Sunday, November 1, at 3:00 p.m. in our sanctuary, we will feature BucsWorth Men's Choir, the men's ensemble at East Tennessee State University, under the direction of Dr. Alan Stevens. Suggested ticket donation for that program is $10 for adults and $5 for students ages six through college. Patron donations are still being received to support all of the very fine programs offered this season.

Becky Busler

Jane Crewey

Dorothy Dollar

Fred Frazier

DeeDee Galliher

Dorothy Giesler

Ron Grubbs

Will Hankins

Sharon Hatcher

Hawley Heglar

Vivian Hill

Sue Olsen

Nancy Preston

Mary Rice

Brenda Rogers

Virginia Rutherford

Faye VanNostrand

Deborah Whitaker

 

 

October 3, 2015

 

October 11      Dot Mattison, Brandon Story

October 12      Mary Givens Crutchfield, Laura Ong, Bill Wade

October 13      Buddy Eller, Katie Sword

October 14      Ben Frizzell

October 15      Sue Faucette, Kristi Johnson

October 17      Ann Abel

We gratefully acknowledge recent gifts in memory of the following individuals:

Carolyn King: from Julie King, for the Building & Grounds Fund; from Fred & Heidi Harkleroad and from Ernie & Karen Pennington, for the Capital Campaign Fund/MEP; from Frances Rowell, for the Flower Fund; from Margaret B. King, from Charlie & Alice Moore, from Sid & Joyce Oakley, from Anthony & Cora Lee Raccioppo, and from Jean Thomason, all for the Minister's Discretionary Fund

Blake Looney: from Brenda Warren, for the Blake Looney Memorial Montreat Worship and Music Scholarship Fund

8:30 a.m.       Worship, Fellowship Hall

9:00 a.m.       Cherub Choir, Room 209

9:45 a.m.       Sunday School

11:00 a.m.     Worship, Sanctuary

4:00 p.m.       Celebration of Gordon & Betsy Turnbull, Fellowship Hall

5:30 p.m.       Sanctuary Handbells

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

7:30 p.m.       8:30 Worship Team Rehearsal, Fellowship Hall

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

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