Cary Umhau

On January 22, the Session provided the congregation an informational letter outlining the current budget situation for FPC. As you will recall, we were reporting total pledges and support of $784,232, which left us $130,896 short of having the funds available to maintain operations, programming, and benevolences at 2015 levels.

Subsequently, the Session adopted, in part, a proposed budget from the Finance Committee that reflected meaningful cuts to many areas, including our evangelism and outreach initiatives. However, through faithful discernment, the Session made a decision to amend the proposed budget to restore local and global benevolences to 2015 levels. The net result, after factoring in the original reductions and adding back the previously cut benevolences, still left us with a $108,516 deficit. Balancing the approved budget would require transfers from unrestricted capital fund balances, prior year's surplus carryover, and unrestricted memorials. As a result, these already depleted funds would be significantly reduced, leaving the church with just $52,000 in unrestricted fund balances for future capital needs that might arise, such as repairs to the roof and the HVAC system.

Since the mailing of the letter and your commitment to seeking the Lord's guidance through steadfast prayer, we have been blessed to have received more than 20 new or revised pledges that have positively improved our budget situation by more than $66,000. As a result, our reliance on unrestricted reserves to balance this year's budget has been reduced to just over $42,000.

No doubt, God has responded to our prayerful pleas for guidance during this critical time in the life of the church. While our Stewardship Committee will have a great deal of work still to do, God has provided us a foundation on which to build.    By Aaron Brooks, Finance Committee Chair

Heart to Heart Women's Ministry and Student Ministries shout out a big Thank you! to everyone who donated goodies for, or helped pack, the Valentine's Day care packages we were able to send to 29 of our college-aged kids last week. You have helped FPC continue nurturing and showing our love to these young people.

FPC celebrated Scout Sunday on February 14. You may be interested to know that the Boy Scouts began nationally in 1910, and our local Troop 3 began just 12 years later, in 1922, as a youth ministry outreach of First Presbyterian Church. Troop 3 is the oldest troop in this council, nearly 94 years of age. During this time, 182 young men have earned the highest rank of Eagle Scout. We are proud of the work the volunteers, Scoutmasters, and Scouts have done and continue to do in our community. 

Jonquil leaves have been up for several weeks, clutched against the cold. Robins are bobbing about, and here and there around town, grass seeded last fall is standing up in its protective layer of straw, as if thinking about leaving the nest. The metaphysical question before us is, Can the persistent poetry of nature withstand metaphorical man and machine? We are undertaking a practical experiment to determine the answer: one person, male or female, adult or teen, on one lawnmower for a couple of hours, repeated as necessary. This investigation will be carried out on the church grounds. Subjects will participate at their own convenience, some once every few weeks, others perhaps only once a year.

As the coordinator of what will be a long-running study, Randy Cook will train participating volunteers on our Scag mower. If you can take part, even for a single morning or afternoon, please email him at npolecook@aol.com or call his cell at 423-956-1541. A grateful public will thank you.

They also request your more earthly support in the form of donated school supplies and soccer balls! They have placed bins to receive these items in both the Fellowship Hallway and the narthex (look for a picture of a green, yellow, and red flag on the lid). Please help fill these bins with: 

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: Jubilate Youth Choir (both services); Sanctuary Choir.

Mark Miller

Sunday's music: At both morning services, the Jubilate Youth Choir will sing "I Believe," an anthem composed by Mark Miller. The text is a brief poem found written on the wall of a cellar in Cologne, Germany, where holocaust victims hid. It is an affirmation that God is with us, even in those times when we struggle to hear God's voice. Miller is on the faculty of Drew Theological School and Yale University, and serves a congregation as music director in Summit, New Jersey. He was the Senior High Clinician for the Montreat Worship and Music Conference directed by the Feys last summer. He is a widely respected composer and choral director, and claims in his family history a sizeable number of Methodist clergy, including his father.

At the 11:00 service, the text of the Sanctuary Choir anthem is an English translation of a psalmic poem, originally in German, by Christian Gellert (1715-1769) and set musically by Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809). Composed in 1796, it is a song of praise, giving thanks that "You, Lord, always my fortune have guided and with your hand you sheltered me." Haydn was one of the premier composers of the classical era and wrote many sacred works; his best known is the oratorio "The Creation."

Program of Note: This week, the Paramount Chamber Players will present "Ancient, Modern, and the In-Between" in four venues. Performances will be Thursday, February 18, at 7:30 p.m. at St. John's Episcopal Church in Johnson City; Friday, 7:30 p.m., at First Presbyterian Church, Kingsport; Saturday, 7:30 p.m., at the Paramount Center in Bristol; and Sunday, 3:00 p.m., at Sinking Spring Presbyterian Church, Abingdon. Ticket prices vary at each location, so check the PCP website. Music featured will be by Debussy, Dvořák, Handel, and Vivaldi. Vicki Fey will perform Handel's Organ Concerto #4 as well as Vivaldi's Concertino for solo violin and organ. All students get in free.

Arts Series: March 6 isn't too far away! You won't want to miss this program by two great trumpeters. Dr. Timothy Altman is Chair of the Music Department at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. He is the Director of Bands and teaches trumpet and conducting. He has taught instrumental and general music at the elementary, middle school, high school, and university levels in Virginia, Wisconsin, Kentucky, and North Carolina. Altman completed his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in trumpet performance at the University of Kentucky. He also holds degrees from Virginia Tech and the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. He has published articles in Teaching Music, the International Trumpet Guild journal, Keynotes, and The North Carolina Music Educator, among other periodicals. In addition to commissioning new band works, he has also commissioned new works for trumpet ensemble. Altman's trumpet students have been state and regional winners and national finalists for the Music Teachers National Association Senior and Junior Brass Competitions.

Dr. Larry Wells holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music and a Bachelor of Science in Education from Washington State University. He holds a Master of Science in Teaching Music from Portland State University and has recently completed a Doctor of Musical Arts in Trumpet Performance/Wind Conducting from the University of North Texas. Wells is an Associate Professor and the Director of Instrumental Studies at Methodist University in Fayetteville. Prior to his appointment at Methodist, Wells taught for one year at Southeastern Oklahoma State University and for three years at Southwestern Oregon Community College. In addition to teaching, Wells was the General Manager and Associate Conductor for the Metropolitan Youth Symphony in Portland, Oregon. He also spent four years working for the David. G. Monette Corp., building custom trumpets for notable players such as Wynton Marsalis, Manny Laureano, Terrance Blanchard, Adolph Herseth, and Maynard Ferguson. Altman and Wells will be accompanied by Vicki Fey.

The program will take place at 3:00 p.m. in our sanctuary, and the concert will be projected on a screen downstairs. Suggested ticket donation is $10 for adults and $5 for students ages 6 through college.

Our guest preacher this Sunday, February 21, is the Reverend Elizabeth Patrick, an ordained pastor of the Presbyterian Church (USA), and a graduate of Erskine College, Duke Law School, and Princeton Seminary. Elizabeth served as solo pastor of Mt. Zion Presbyterian Church in Sandy Springs, South Carolina, before moving to Bristol to marry Dr. Bill Linderman, Professor of Mathematics at King University. Since arriving in 2008, Elizabeth has served as pulpit supply at a number of churches in the Tri-Cities and beyond. She now spends most of her time building train tracks, cleaning up messes, and otherwise caring for sons Henry, 3, and Ben, 1.

Our liturgist this Sunday is Dr. Han Chuan Ong, Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences and Associate Professor of Biology at King University. A native of Malaysia, he received his doctoral training in molecular biology at Indiana University and performed his postdoctoral research at the University of Washington Genome Center. His wife, Dr. Laura Ong, is also a biology faculty member at King University, and they have three sons, Noah, Moses, and Joseph. Han is also a classical vocalist and an amateur cook.

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

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

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

7:00 p.m.       Session of Elders, 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, Room 123

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

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

4:15 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

6:00 p.m.       Wednesday Night Kids

6:00 p.m.       Student Small Groups

6:20 p.m.       Adult Learning, 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

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

Women's Retreat, Blowing Rock Conference Center