Windows
March 17, 2022
Our Mission to Egypt
Was Graced

The exploratory mission team from First Presbyterian returned from our trip to Cairo, Egypt, early Saturday morning. Many of you have followed our individual posts on our journey there, and you have also had questions about all that we saw and accomplished for the sake of God's kingdom.

The teamPastor Sam, Brian Alderman (chaplain at King University), and FPC Bristol members on the faculty at King (Chase Arndt, Bill Linderman, Han Ong, and Josh Rudd)traveled to Cairo for several reasons. The first was to create connections with the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Cairo, one of the largest Presbyterian/Reformed Seminaries in the Arabic-speaking world. We were also blessed to create connections with our brothers and sisters at the Heliopolis Evangelical Presbyterian Church, the second largest Presbyterian church in Cairo. Our hope is that through partnership with the church and the Missionary Emergency Fund, we can help support the work of our brothers and sisters there and provide funding and opportunities for future ministers of the Gospel to receive training.
The second reason we traveled was to create greater ties between FPC and its missional goals with King University. King will lead a student trip next year, and we hope the missional component of that trip will involve cooperation and learning opportunities for students at the Theological Seminary of the Egyptian Evangelical Church and other churches. By having faculty who are FPC members travel there, we were able to see where the missional goals of FPC and King’s student travel program intersect. With God’s help, FPC will continue to work through this partnership to not only equip students in Cairo but students at King as well.
Finally, in an unexpected twist of grace, God provided our team the opportunity to interface with sophomore archaeology, history, and Islamic and Jewish studies students from Fayoum University. We were able to converse with the students, explain who we were, encourage them in their studies, and create networks of relationship that will extend into the future./Pastor Sam
Worship
March 20
3rd Sunday in Lent
 
Scripture
Psalm 63:1–8
Genesis 16
1 Peter 1:22–25
 
Sermon
A God Who Sees, a God Who Hears
Justin Miller
 
Last Sunday’s Attendance
9:00: In person: 105;
Livestream: 32; Playback: 110
11:00: In person: 83;
Livestream: 24; Playback: 72
Calendar
Sunday, March 20
9:00 a.m.
Contemporary Worship
Fellowship Hall
 
10:10 a.m.
Sunday School
 
11:00 a.m.
Traditional Worship
Sanctuary
 
4:00 p.m.
Building & Grounds Committee
Room 123
 
Monday, March 21
10:00 a.m.
Staff Meeting
Room 123
 
7:00 p.m.
Worship Committee
Room 123
 
Tuesday, March 22
7:00 p.m.
Boy Scout Troop 3
Scout Hall
 
Wednesday, March 23
5:30 p.m.
Fellowship Supper
Fellowship Hall
 
6:15 p.m.
Adult Enrichment
Student Small Groups
Wednesday Night Kids
 
Handbell Practice
Sanctuary
 
7:00 p.m.
Praise Band Practice
Fellowship Hall
 
7:15 p.m.
Choir Practice
Room 202
 
Thursday, March 24
7:00 a.m.
Men’s Bible Study
Parlor
 
1:00 p.m.
Women’s Bible Study
Room 117
This may be the beginning of a missional partnership.
Congratulations to Pastor João Batista!
Last week our brother and friend Pastor João Batista graduated with honors from the Universidade Potiguar with a degree in psychology. In January 2017, our longtime mission partner embarked on a rigorous five-year course of study to obtain the knowledge needed to support the growing number of children with emotional problems and families in crisis in the Felipe Camarão community. We congratulate him most heartily for this achievement, noting that he accomplished it while working full-time as a pastor and school business administrator!

With the help of the Missionary Emergency Fund student grant program, João is now better equipped to serve in the name of Jesus Christ. After commencement he wrote: “I want to dedicate this special time in my life to God first, my family, and the entire church of Bristol! As I crossed the stage, my ‘war cry’ was, ‘Glória a Deus!’ (Glory to God!).”

In applying for an MEF grant last year, João wrote, “I simply could not afford to pursue this degree without the support of the MEF. Other funding sources are not available, and my salary is sufficient to cover only my housing and living expenses.”

Thanks be to God for our partnerships, the Missionary Emergency Fund, and the blessing of being able to equip those on the front line with the valuable educational and financial resources needed to love and to serve around the world! Glory to God! /John Vann
The Promise for Home Groups
Our new semester of Home Groups has begun! In our new curriculum, The Promise, we are talking about God’s promises to Abraham, fulfilled in the Lord Jesus. You can access the curriculum on our website here. You can also watch for it to drop on social media on our Facebook site dedicated to Home Groups.
New Women’s Bible Study
Our new weekly Bible study for women of all ages is under way. We meet on Thursdays from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m. in room 117. Dottie Havlik and Peggy Hill are our facilitators. All are welcome. Child care will be available if you call the church office by Tuesday so that adequate staffing can be arranged. Come and enjoy good fellowship as we grow in God’s Word together!
Make use of Our Prayer Stations
Our Lenten prayer stations remain in place so that individuals and families can go to each in their own time as the season progresses. The Prayer of Thanksgiving station is outside the fellowship hall. Write something that you are thankful for on a Post-it note and add it to the bulletin board. The Prayer of Lament station is in the fellowship hall. Cast all your anxieties on Jesus. Write out your deepest concern and lay it at the foot of the cross. Look at the cross and decide on a word to take with you, such as hope, faith, joy. The Prayer of Intercession station is on the mission wall. As you walk down the hallway, look at the missionaries we support and pray for them. The Prayer of Confession station is in the chapel. Enjoy a mint as you think about the sweetness of forgiveness!
Lenten Devotionals Available
Our Lenten guide, Making the Road: Walking through Lent, is based on Antonio Machado’s poem, “Walker.” He writes: “Walker, there is no road, the road is made by walking.” We are making the road through the following themes:

1.     Walking through Lent
2.     Walking in the wilderness
3.     Walking in prayer
4.     Walking with others
5.     Walking in hope
6.     Walking through Holy Week

You can pick up copies at the church, and we post a PDF on our Facebook page each week.
Register for Orlando Trip
Serve Orlando registration is open! Sign up here. This mission opportunity for students, adults, and families is scheduled for June 23–30. We will work with ministries and agencies in the Orlando, Florida, area, and our group will also enjoy a day at Universal Parks and an afternoon at the beach. Rising 1st graders through rising 6th graders must be accompanied by an adult. Rising 7th graders through rising 12th graders may come solo or bring family and friends. The cost is $400 per person; see Katie Arnold for family pricing. The price increases after April 1. Scholarships are available. For more information, email  Katie Arnold.

How to Join Us Online
You can watch the livestream of our worship services and other activities at FPC Bristol on YouTube. Click on the link and hit “Subscribe” to receive notifications of new videos. To connect to our various Facebook sites, go to Facebook and type in FPC Bristol. Several accounts will show up. “Like” the page or ask to join a group.
Pretzels for Petite Hands
We will collect little pretzels for Fairmount schoolchildren for the next two weeks. As ever, please put your donated snacks in one of the collection boxes (in the narthex and the fellowship hallway). We will take them to the school.

Our COVID Protocols
The session strongly encourages masks for those not fully vaccinated, or at higher risk of COVID-19 complications. The session encourages everyone to consult their medical professional about vaccinations and boosters.

Give Safely
We encourage you to use text, mail, or our website to safely continue your faithful support of our ministries during the pandemic. You can give online by going to our website and clicking on “Give” in the upper right corner. You can send your pledge, offering, or special gift by texting fpcbristol to 73256, or mail your checks directly to the church.
Gifts to the Church

Memorials and honoraria are published in the newsletter only after the family has been personally notified by our business office. Today we gratefully acknowledge the following gifts in memory of:

  • Mary Jane Luffman: to the Music Projects Fund from Ernie & Karen Pennington
  • Frances Rowell: to the Minister’s Discretionary Fund from Bill & Taylor Barlow, from Ann R Fleming
Organist's Footnotes
Sunday’s prelude and opening hymn is a setting of “My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less” by Raymond H. Haan (b. 1938). Based on the familiar tune SOLID ROCK, the setting is in four short, contrasting sections.

Haan has spent all of his adult life in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Since 1960 he has served as organist and choir director of Cutlerville East Christian Reformed Church. He received instruction from Joseph L. Sullivan, organist at St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Grand Rapids. He is a graduate of Calvin College and the University of Michigan. Haan has published extensively with many American firms. Although most of his music is for organ, choir, and handbells, he has also published solo music for trumpet, flute, viola, cello, and piano. He has received composer awards each year since 1980. He lives in Cutlerville, a suburb of Grand Rapids, with his wife, Claretta.

As a way to express solidarity and support for the people of Ukraine, I will play the Ukrainian National Anthem for Sunday’s postlude. In 1992 the Ukrainian Parliament chose as the national anthem an 1863 composition by Mykhailo Verbytsky, a western Ukrainian composer and Catholic priest. Verbytsky wrote the score as a solo song and later arranged it for orchestra to accompany a patriotic poem written in 1862 by Pavlo Chubynsky, a prominent ethnographer in the Kyiv region. In his poem "Shche Ne Vmerla Ukrayina" (“Ukraine is not yet dead”), Chubynsky expressed the mixture of hope and desperation felt by Ukrainians over their continuous struggle to rule their own land. Sung around the country as the “Hymn to Ukraine,” both the melody and lyrics were similar to those of Polish and Serbian anthems. In 1917 it became the anthem of the short-lived Ukrainian National Republic, but during the Soviet era it was replaced. An English translation appears below.

Ukraine’s glory hasn’t perished, nor her freedom.
Upon us, fellow compatriots, fate shall smile once more.
Our enemies will vanish, like dew in the morning sun,
And we too shall rule, brothers, in a free land of our own.

We’ll lay down our souls and bodies to attain our freedom,
And we’ll show that we, brothers, are of the Kozak nation.
Pray for One Another
We want to pray for and celebrate with you! Send your prayer requests and glad tidings to praycelebrate@fpcbristol.org.

In Our Prayers
Please also pray for the members of our community who wish to remain anonymous.
Anna Arbo & family
Wayne Ausmus
Kevin Benton
Bill & Betty Bingham
Rebecca Bloomfield
Ralph Booher
Sujean Bradley
Bud & Marg Branscomb
Bristol Tennessee City Schools
Becky Busler
Bill Coleman
Egypt Mission Trip
Randi Edwards
K.D. Forsha
Tammy Fredrickson
DeeDee Galliher
Emma Grubbs & Gina Roberson
Haiti
Lou Hebb
Eddie Hill
Porter Hillery
Davan & Kristi Johnson
Kaduna State
Jim & Joan Keith
Marty & Kara Keys
Josh & Morgan King & family
Nancy Lilly
Diana Mattison
Dot Mattison
Roger McCracken
Kathy McGlothlin
Montana Indian Ministries
National & international leadership
Breanna Necessary
Lee & Robin North
Evan & Britt Patrick
Pastor Bruce Plummer
June Prado
Alison Quickel
Cora Lee Raccioppo
Kreg Ramey
Roberta
Mike Ruger
Michelle S.
Malcolm Sprinkle
Teachers & school administrators
Scott VanNostrand
Bill & Patsy Ward
Michael Weller
Carlena Williams
Deadline & Subscriptions
Monday is the deadline for contributions to Windows. Subscribe to our free e-newsletter by sending your name and preferred email address to the editor.
701 Florida Avenue | Bristol, TN 37620 | 423-764-7176 | fpcbristol.org