We will worship together on Ash Wednesday, February 10, in the sanctuary. Our service will begin at 6:20, after the fellowship dinner, and will feature music by the Savior's Singers Children's Choir and Children's Handbells. A nursery will be provided.

The Adult Learning segment, Wednesday Night Kids, and Student Small Groups will be suspended for the evening and resume the following week. The Wednesday choir and worship team rehearsals will proceed as usual.

Come a little early for the fellowship dinner next Wednesday, February 10, and stop in at the Marsh Bloodmobile. It will be in our front parking lot from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. for your convenience in donating toward the 100 units of blood needed by people in our area every day. Please give to help sustain patients in 16 medical facilities and four cancer centers in Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia.

FPC will hold a congregational meeting this Sunday, February 7, at 10:20 a.m. in the Fellowship Hall, for the purpose of electing an elder to the two-year unexpired term of Con Sauls. All voting members of FPC are urged to attend.

The men of the church will meet for breakfast and Bible study this Saturday, February 6, at 8:00 a.m. in the Fellowship Hall. All men of the church are encouraged to come for good fellowship and a great start to the weekend. Bring a friend!

Excitement is building for FPC's mission trip to Ethiopia, which will be March 23 through April 2. Traveling to Dembi Dollo will be Nancy Allerton, Peggy Hill, Jon McClain, and Stuart Parker. The team invites the congregation's support and involvement in the following ways.

First, please pray for safe travel, effective witness, God's continued blessing on the staff and students of Berhane Yesus Elementary School, and provision for the needs of the travelers and of those serving the school.

Amanuel and students in front of school

Second, we invite your support of this mission to strengthen our eleven-year partnership with the school. Over the next few weeks, we will be collecting items to help meet the needs of the students. Beginning Sunday, February 7, we invite you to bring:

For your convenience, there will be two boxes to receive items for the Ethiopia mission trip, one in the Fellowship Hallway and one in the narthex. The last day we can accept donations is Sunday, March 20.

Please join us in this hands-on way of helping our Ethiopia Mission Team serve the needs of Berhane Yesus Elementary School. You can find more information about the school here. 

Would you like a night out with your special someone on Valentine's Eve? On Saturday, February 13, Madyson Kent will hold a Queen of Hearts Parents' Night Out to raise money for the American Heart Association. The cost is $20 per child, with a $40 maximum fee per family. Child care for kids ages 2 and older will be provided in the Education Wing from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Children will enjoy dinner, a G-rated movie, and Bible time. Space is limited, so to guarantee a spot, please RSVP by February 10 to Vonda Kent at vonda.kent@gmail.com. 

Join your FPC cohort for a Super Bowl party this Sunday, February 7! Enjoy great friends, food, games, and prizes!

The middle school Super Bowl party will be held in the home of Gracie Brooks. We will gather at 6:00 p.m.  and have fun until halftime.

The high school party will take place at the home of Katie and Brad Arnold. We will gather at 6:00 p.m. and have fun until the end of the game.

Bring friends, appetizers, or drinks to share, and come hang with us!

Cary Umhau

Feeling disrupted? Find yourself in good company at our annual Heart to Heart Women's Retreat! We will gather again at Blowing Rock Conference Center to welcome back speaker, writer, and organizer Cary Umhau. We are going to learn about "The Value of Disruption," how to see it as a gift and use it to deepen our relationships with one another, ourselves, and God. Invite a friend and join us February 26-28 for an unusual weekend away from it all, in the thick of it!

As ever, we will have time for sharing and exploring, individual contemplation, discussions, shopping, hiking, napping, fellowship, and stillness.

Sign-ups will continue through February 21. For more information about price, schedule, or our speaker, contact Scottie Bales at 423-360-5357 or scottie@rtherapeutics.com or call the church office at 423-764-7176. Brochures are available at the church.

We're a bit more than five weeks away from our churchwide talent show and chili cook-off, scheduled for Sunday, March 13, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. We're opening off-off-off-Broadway, in the Fellowship Hall. Matt Richardson will be our emcee for the evening. If you sing, dance, play a classical instrument or the spoons, or entertain in other ways, this is your chance to perform for an audience that is inclined to love you!

Submit your performance proposals (email is fine) to our impresarios, the Feys. The deadline for turning in your name, your act, and your equipment needs (microphone, chair, piano, music stand, etc.) is Sunday, February 28. The Feys will arrange a time to hear your act before the show date, so that they can determine program order and technical needs.

All ages are encouraged to participate. All acts must be family friendly, of course, but lyrics, monologues, and so forth may be either secular or sacred and three to five minutes in length. And all you red-hot chefs, get to work on your chili! You'll cook at home and bring the results to the Fellowship Hall at 5:00. The chili will be judged, the performances will be applauded!

The first snowfall has melted away. The Super Bowl is about to be played. So you know we're about to say that we're scouting for mowers well before May. In fact, FPC is looking for volunteers to mow the church grounds from April through October. Randy Cook is coordinating this effort again this year. He will make himself available anytime to train new team members on our Scag Tiger Cat mower. If you're interested in helping out in this way, even for a single morning or afternoon, please email Randy at npolecook@aol.com or call his cell at 423-956-1541.

We are seeking a church secretary-receptionist to work in our front office approximately 28 hours per week. The successful candidate will be proficient in Word, Excel, and Outlook and have at least two years of office experience. Interested persons should send a résumé with cover letter to Betsy Galliher, Church Business Administrator, by Monday, February 15.

We are continuing to collect small pretzels to help keep our young friends at Fairmount Elementary School alert in the afternoon. The small sticks and the small curved pretzels fit best into snack-sized portions. And we encourage the donation of heart-shaped pretzels through February! Why not? As always, please place your contributions in the little red house in the Fellowship Hallway. Thank you!

Sunday's music participants: Sanctuary Choir.

Dale Grotenhuis

Sunday's music: "Lo! He Comes with Clouds Descending" is one of more than 6,000 hymn texts Charles Wesley (1707-1788) wrote as part of his joint ministry with his brother, John Wesley, which resulted ultimately in the Methodist denomination. Inspired by Revelation 1:7, it is a reflection on the life, sacrifice, and particularly the second coming of Jesus. It is appropriate as we celebrate Transfiguration Sunday, as the true divinity of Christ is revealed to his disciples. American composer Dale Grotenhuis (1931-2012) has set these words to a hymn-tune by English composer Henry Purcell (1659-1695). The nobility of the tune is appropriate for the grandeur and praise of the text; Grotenhuis's arrangement lets these powerful words and music speak clearly with little ornamentation on his part. Purcell's tune was written for an anthem and has since been named WESTMINSTER ABBEY in recognition of his service as the organist there from 1679 until his death, and his burial there.

Program of Note: The Birthplace of Country Music Museum is proud to partner with The Paramount Chamber Players to produce a one-of-a-kind evening dedicated to the music of Tennessee Ernie Ford on February 13 at 7:00 p.m. at the Paramount Center for the Arts. The concert, on what would have been Ford's 97th birthday, will feature songs from his vast repertoire, performed by The Paramount Chamber Players with special guests The Jeff Little Trio, a choral ensemble, and vocal soloists. There will also be accompanying narration. The concert will include gospel tunes, country boogie tunes, patriotic and folk songs, a new rendition of "16 Tons," and the premiere of a hymn arrangement by Ann Holler, which was commissioned especially for the concert by The Birthplace of Country Music Museum. Ann's commission was to create an instrumental arrangement of hymns that Tennessee Ernie Ford sang at the end of his television broadcasts. Because these hymns are old favorites for many of us, the title of Ann's three-movement work is Souvenirs of Faith. The movements are entitled "The Old, Old Story," "A Closer Walk," and "The Church in the Wildwood." Other hymns are included, such as "The Old Rugged Cross," "What a Friend We Have in Jesus," and "Nearer My God to Thee." Souvenirs of Faith will be performed by the flute, clarinet, violin, viola, cello, and piano of the Paramount Chamber Players, Dr. Craig Combs, Artistic Director. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased from the Paramount Center or online.

Arts Series: Save the date for our next Arts Series program! On Sunday, March 6, at 3:00 p.m., duo trumpeters Dr. Tim Altman and Dr. Larry Wells will present a program, accompanied by Vicki Fey at the organ. The program will include a world premiere of a fanfare written for this concert. Suggested ticket donation is $10 for adults and $5 for students ages 6 and up.

 

8:30 a.m.       Worship, Fellowship Hall

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

9:45 a.m.       Sunday School

10:20 a.m.     Congregational Meeting, Fellowship Hall

11:00 a.m.     Worship, Sanctuary

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

6:00 p.m.       Session Prayer Time, Chapel

6:00 p.m.       Student Super Bowl Parties, Off Campus

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

6:00 p.m.       Session Prayer Time, Chapel

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

7:00 p.m.       Christian Education Committee, Room 124

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

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

4:00 p.m.       Marsh Bloodmobile, Front Parking Lot

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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