Our annual Leaf Day will be this Saturday, November 14. We are still recruiting people to serve on Leaf Teams to take care of leaves and gutters. We are also looking for people who have jobs for these teams to do. The FPC deacons in charge of this project are Nathan Heacock and Jon McClain. The church office is the contact point for sign-ups and requests.

If you are interested in serving on a Leaf Team, fill out a sign-up form (available at the church) or call the church office at 423-764-7176. On Saturday morning, team members will meet in the Fellowship Hall at 9:00 for directions (sorry, no coffee or doughnuts), then head out on their rounds. Each team should be finished by noon.

In our next Wednesday evening Adult Learning program, Shannan Miller, who coordinates our early worship service, will talk about the five W's of worship: what it is and whom, where, when, and why we worship. We will think about both our individual worship and our corporate worship.

Please join us November 18 at 5:30 for dinner in the Fellowship Hall, followed by Shannan's program at 6:20. Wednesday Night Kids and Student Small Groups will meet at 6:00.

The special Session meeting to receive new members into our congregation has been postponed to next Sunday, November 22. Those wishing to join FPC are encouraged to attend. The meeting will be held in the chapel at 10:20 a.m. 

Our next service opportunity with Family Promise of Bristol will begin on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, November 29, and run through the morning of Sunday, December 6. We and our sister churches take it in turn to host families that have been selected for the program, and we are asking for your help in caring for our guests.

We need volunteers to bring in breakfast items or prepared dinners. If you can provide either meal, please email Scottie Bales at scottie@rtherapeutics.com. Breakfast items and supplies should be brought to the church and left in the little kitchen by Sunday, November 29. Dinner should be brought in hot and ready at 5:30 each evening from Sunday through Saturday. This is usually done by a family or a team.

Dinner hosts come to the church by 5:30 to welcome our guests, eat with them, and stay until the overnight hosts arrive at 8:30. Hint: some people find it easy to fix dinner and stay to host. If you are interested in being a dinner host, please email Scottie at the address above or Nancy Allerton at nja0510@gmail.com.

Overnight hosts arrive at the church by 8:30 p.m., spend the night, and help with continental breakfast the next morning. Guests leave the church around 7:00 a.m., except on Saturday, when they leave a little later. To volunteer as an overnight host, please email Scottie.

On the morning of Sunday, December 6, we will have piles of sheets, towels, and comforters to wash with bleach and return to the Family Promise Closet at the church. Many hands make light work!

To volunteer, ask a question, or make a suggestion, please email Scottie at scottie@rtherapeutics.com. If you know of folks who may want to help in any way, please encourage them to step forward, or ask Scottie to contact them. Thank you!

The Marsh Bloodmobile will be in our front parking lot from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, December 2. Come a little early for the Wednesday evening program and help Marsh Regional collect the 100 units of blood needed in our area every day of the year! You will be sustaining patients in 16 medical facilities and four cancer centers in Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia. Two donors will win $50 dollar Visa cards, and every donor gets a T-shirt!

Our Fusion group of fifth and sixth grade students will head to Bass Pro Shops for an evening of bowling and fellowship next Sunday, November 22. The event will be held from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. For more information, please contact Lilly Osborne at losborne@fpcbristol.org.

Are you fascinated by the similarities and differences you find when you read scripture? Would you like to explore some of them, particularly those in the first chapters of the Gospel of Mark and the Gospel of John?

Bob Rhea has prepared material for a Bible study that would seek to encounter the world of Jesus' day. He invites everyone who might be interested in such an adventure to email him at robertrhea3@gmail.com or otal24@hotmail.com. He will send you the letters, essays, and scriptural studies he has written. If you then care to pursue such a Bible study, a time and place can be set for further discussion.

Sunday's music participants: Sanctuary Choir, Savior's Singers Children's Choir (both services).

Sunday's music: The Sanctuary Choir anthem, "Write Your Blessed Name," uses as its text a translation of a poem by Thomas á Kempis (1380-1471), a 15th century German monk who wrote noted books on Christian devotion. As we reflect on Saul's conversion, these words call on Christ Jesus to be in us and with us in all the tribulations we face. Composer K. Lee Scott (b. 1950) has written widely for the church; he lives and works in Birmingham, Alabama. He is noted for writing beautiful melodies that match the text, and this setting is no exception.

The Savior's Singers Children's Choir will sing Kenton Coe's "For the Beauty of the Earth" at both morning services. Coe was born in Johnson City in 1930 and has had an international career as a composer, although he continues to make his home in our region. The text was originally written by English poet F. S. Pierpoint (1835-1917) in 1864 as an eight-stanza hymn. Coe has chosen to set two stanzas that speak particularly of thanks for God's creation and our human friends and family, both living and those saints who have gone before. He, too, has created a lyrical melody that matches the intent of the words.

Christmas pageant: It's hard to believe, but next Wednesday, November 18, is our costume fitting and first rehearsal! Dinner and regular Wednesday programs will follow. All pageant participants, from age 4 through grade 6, should meet in the sanctuary at 4:30 p.m. This first rehearsal always is a bit chaotic, so don't be surprised; parents may feel free to stay and assist! Children's Handbells will not meet again until after Christmas. All children, from age 4 through grade 6 are welcome to participate, even if they haven't attended either of the choir's rehearsals.

Youth Bells (grades 7-12): The rehearsal schedule for the remaining Wednesday afternoons through the Christmas pageant is as follows: November 18, 4:15-4:45; November 25, no rehearsal, HAPPY TURKEY! December 2, 4:15-4:45; December 9, 4:00-4:30 (no dinner); December 16, 4:30 in the balcony; Christmas pageant begins at 5:30. You will play the prelude at the beginning of the pageant. Wear nice clothes.

Paul Warhurst

Paul Warhurst is an FPC elder and a Senior Lecturer in New Testament and Theology at King University. He did his PhD work at the University of St. Andrews on Søren Kierkegaard's writings on the Sermon on the Mount. Amber Warhurst would probably say he also earned a second degree in golf. When not teaching, he enjoys being with his wife and three children, hiking on the AT, drinking coffee, and (sometimes) working on his house.

Becky Busler

Jane Crewey

Dorothy Dollar

Fred Frazier

DeeDee Galliher

Dorothy Giesler

Ron Grubbs

Will Hankins

Sharon Hatcher

Hawley Heglar

Vivian Hill

Andrea Hyde

Nancy Preston

Mary Rice

Brenda Rogers

Virginia Rutherford

Faye VanNostrand

Deborah Whitaker

 

 

November 15    John Crewey, Conor Haaser, Sam Jennings, Billie Whisnant

November 16    Joyce Samuel

November 17    Sarah Galliher, Wayne Sheffey

November 18    Susan Solomon

November 19    George Linke, Grayson Phipps, Courtney Sharrett, Adam Warhurst

November 20    Mary Jo Gilley, Wanda Moore

November 21    Fred Frazier, Jacob Strang

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.       Evangelism & Outreach Committee, Room 117

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

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

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

5:30 p.m.       Sanctuary Handbells

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

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

7:00 p.m.       Heart to Heart Inductive Bible Study, Room 123

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

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

4:15 p.m.       Youth Handbells, Room 212

4:30 p.m.       Christmas Pageant Rehearsal, Sanctuary

5:15 p.m.       Baby & Toddler Care, Rooms 34 & 35

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

6:00 p.m.       Wednesday Night Kids

6:00 p.m.       Student Small Groups

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

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