Our new senior pastor and his family.

The Reverend Sam Weddington received unanimous support at FPC's congregational meeting Sunday, April 22, affirming the Pastor Nominating Committee's motion for Sam to be the next Senior Pastor of First Presbyterian Church. After a nearly 20-month process, the PNC presented Sam after having determined unanimously that he was the pastor God was calling to this position.

As the meeting began, PNC member Ann Abel expressed the committee's feelings as they stood hand in hand before the congregation, "We have seen and felt God at work and we are rejoicing!" The PNC gives all glory to God for the beautiful way God led the church on this journey and the way God connected Sam and FPC.

"The committee reviewed over 250 resumes and interviewed sixteen candidates, giving us a wonderfully positive view into how God is working through the ministries of these individuals," said Nancy Allerton, chair of the PNC. "While all candidates we interviewed had strong attributes, our interview with Sam was extraordinary. He stood out immediately after our first interview." Then, after a second interview and a face to face visit here in Bristol, it was clear to both Sam and the PNC that this was God's plan.

Sam and his family will relocate from New Jersey, where Sam currently serves as senior pastor and head of staff of three congregations in what he terms a multichurch, mission planting, and outreach model. Sam's wife, Grace, also an ordained PC(USA) minister, serves two smaller churches in New Jersey, the pastoral role to which she feels most called. Sam will begin at FPC on August 1, which means his son, Sam (a rising 9th grader), and his daughter, Joan (who will be a 7th grader), will be here in time for school!

The move to Bristol is a homecoming of sorts for Sam. With his deep family roots in Southwest Virginia and summers and holidays spent in the surrounding area as a kid, he and Grace are looking forward to raising their family here. They consider it a tremendous blessing to be much nearer to Sam's family, especially his mother and grandmother, both of whom live in Abingdon.

If you have not seen a copy of the brochure about the Weddingtons that was distributed at the congregational meeting, please stop by the church or contact the church office.

In the days and weeks ahead, please pray earnestly for Sam, Grace, Sam Jr., and Joan as they prepare to leave the church families, friends, and schools where they have invested their lives so deeply these past several years. Pray also for their smooth transition to Bristol and for the house God is preparing (which they have not yet found!). And, finally, pray for God's lovingkindness to surround the members of their current congregations as they receive the news from the Weddingtons and begin their own time of transition.

"We have seen and felt God at work and we are rejoicing!" / John Vann

We will collect our quarterly Five Cents a Meal offering this Sunday, April 29, at both services. The suggested offering is $13.65 per person, which represents about a nickel for each meal in a three-month period. Your offering will provide hunger relief through both local and global ministries. Last year, in response to requests from the Five Cents a Meal offerings, FPC received grants from the Presbytery for Haven of Rest, Bristol Emergency Food Pantry, Ethiopia, and Brazil. Please be generous!

At the April 23 Session meeting, the Elders recognized the need to address concerns about the safety and security of the current location of the children's classrooms. We shared ideas along with concerns, but we also saw the need for timely input from other FPC members. To this end, a town hall meeting to share ideas for relocating the children's classrooms and nursery will be held this Sunday morning at 9:45 in the Fellowship Hall. This is a preliminary fact-and-information meeting only, with the goal of forming a task force to design and quickly implement a relocation plan. The committee will have planning oversight to move the current children's classes and nursery into the main building, with subsequent adult classroom and Boy Scout room relocation to the current children's wing. All interested parties are encouraged to attend and contribute. / Jerry Poteat

Come hear Spring: Gardens, Flowers, Birds, a recital of organ music composed by Jehan Alain, Samuel Barber, Robert Farley, Daniel Gawthrop, Gerald Near, Antonio Vivaldi, and the performer himself, Robert Greene, this Sunday, April 29, at 3:00 p.m. in our sanctuary. Assisting him in this varied program will be baritone Mark Davis and flutist Charlotte Ellis. Admission is free, and the public is welcome.

A meeting of the Corporation, for the purpose of electing a Trustee to fulfill an unexpired two-year term, will take place following the ONE Worship service in the sanctuary on Sunday, May 13. All members of FPC are encouraged to attend and cast their vote.

Greetings from your Stewardship Committee: Rebecca Beck, Tom King, Karen Pennington, Jerry Poteat, Katy Stigers, Sara Stocstill, and Katie Sword.

Our vision verse, as a committee, is 1 Peter 4:10: "Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms."

Unfortunately, the word stewardship, particularly in the context of church, often becomes synonymous with financial pledging and giving. However, it is a much broader concept than that.

While it is important that we honor God and support the work of the church with our treasures, as we've recently been reminded, it is equally important that we be wise stewards of our time and our talents. As Elizabeth Patrick so eloquently shared with us last week, we are called to serve. We are saved by grace through faith, and that faith compels us to be the active and working presence of Jesus in a world that desperately needs Him.

As a congregation, you represent a beautiful tapestry of gifts and talents that can be used in service. We all have different God-given skills and abilities, and that diversity is not accidental but the purposeful calling of each of us by God to this time and this place so that together we might accomplish much in His name, through the equipping of the Holy Spirit.

Over the past several weeks, the Stewardship Committee has met with the staff to help identify and define the multitude of ways that volunteers can be engaged to support the work and ministries of First Presbyterian Church. Trust me when I tell you, there are plenty of needs and plenty of opportunities.

Beginning in May, you are going to be invited to a season of prayer, discernment, and commitment as we ask you all to think about what contributions you can make to the work of the church. We're calling it Engaging Volunteers. While asking you to reflect on your own giftings, we'll also be sharing with you the opportunities available for ministry and service and then helping to match volunteers with needs. We hope that this will be an exciting and energizing time as many of you reaffirm the ways in which you're already serving and as others find and commit to new ways to be a part of the work of the church.

Look for more information about Engaging Volunteers in the coming weeks! / Matt Peltier

Spring is sprung,

the grass is riz.

We know where them mowers is.

The little birds are on the wing,

The mowers waiting in the wings

To take the Cat out on the lawn

Whence the little birds have flown.

Yes, indeed, we know where them mowers is. And where they will be, for gallant Captain Randy Cook of our all-volunteer mowing team has worked up a roster. Our first volunteer on the field this spring is Roger Sikorski, who has grass-cutting duties April 25-28. Larry Connolly will take up the task May 2-5. Where would we be without our hardy volunteers? Wishing for wings as we flounder through a sea of green.

If you feel like getting out there and doing something practical about spring, join the team! We welcome men and women, adults and teens. Families too: younger children can move fallen branches and debris to the curb, and a parent or elder sibling can mow. It's easy, and you can mow only once or no more than thrice. Simply contact Randy at [email protected] or 423-956-1541. If you're new to Scag mowers, he will be happy to give you a lesson on our Tiger Cat.

Pastor Jacob Ram

Sunday's music participants: Pat Flannagan, Bob Greene, Sanctuary Choir, Adult Handbell Choir.

	Cornelius Plantinga

Sunday's music: Our anthem, "O God, We Kneel Before Your Throne," was inspired by a sermon on Ephesians 3:14-21 delivered by Cornelius Plantinga, senior research fellow at the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship and president emeritus of Calvin Theological Seminary. The anthem was composed by Roy Hopp, Director of Music at Woodlawn Christian Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, MI, and Adjunct Professor of Choral Music at Calvin Theological Seminary, where he directs the Seminary Choir. Hopp graduated from Calvin College with a bachelor's in Music Education and from Michigan State University with a master's in Choral Conducting. He has served as a Director of Music in churches in West Michigan and Colorado for the past 20 years.

Organist's footnotes: Sunday's prelude, played by the Adult Handbell Choir, is an arrangement of "To God Be the Glory" by Cynthia Dobrinski (b. 1950). Dobrinski is a composer and arranger of handbell music with more than 175 works in print. She also works as an instructor and has conducted 350 handbell workshops and festivals internationally. Dobrinski earned her Bachelor of Music degree from Texas Christian University and her Master of Music degree in organ performance from Northwestern University. She was a Fulbright scholar and taught for 15 years at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Jean Langlais (1907-1991) was a prolific composer, writing 254 works with opus numbers. It was as an organist that Langlais made his name, following in the footsteps of César Franck and Charles Tournemire as organiste titulaire at the Basilica of Sainte-Clotilde in Paris in 1945, a post in which he remained until 1988. "Prélude Modal" (offertory) is the first of his 24 Pieces for Harmonium or Organ, Op. 6 (1934-1936). Seldom seen on this side of the Atlantic, harmoniums (a kind of reed organ) were common throughout Europe, and especially in France, in the latter half of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Many composers (including Langlais) specified registration markings for the harmonium in their scores.

Thomas Augustine Arne (1710-1778) was an English composer. He wrote the patriotic song "Rule Britannia"; a version of "God Save the King," which became the British national anthem; and the song "A-Hunting We Will Go." Arne was a leading British theatre composer of the 18th century, working at Drury Lane and Covent Garden. He was born to a Church of England father and a Roman Catholic mother in Covent Garden, and baptized at St Paul's, Covent Garden. His Catholicism meant that he never composed music for the Church of England, unlike most other leading English composers of his time. I find it interesting how often his name comes up in crossword puzzles!

Sunday, April 29

8:30 a.m.       Worship, Fellowship Hall

9:45 a.m.       Town Hall, Fellowship Hall

9:45 a.m.       Sunday School

11:00 a.m.     Worship, Sanctuary

3:00 p.m.       Bob Greene Recital, Sanctuary

5:00 p.m.       Season of Prayer, Chapel

Monday, April 30

5:30 p.m.       Adult Handbells

Tuesday, May 1

10:00 a.m.    Staff Meeting, Room 117

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

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

Wednesday, May 2

7:15 p.m.       Sanctuary Choir

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

Thursday, May 3

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

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

5:00 p.m.       Human Resources Comm., Room 117

Saturday, May 5

4:30 p.m.       Sharing Christ Ministry, Sixth & State Streets

Church Officers
ELDERS
Class of 2018	Class of 2019	Class of 2020
Aaron Brooks	Anna Booher	Nancy Allerton
Randy Cook	Lee Galliher	Rebecca Beck
Debbie McMillin	Pete Holler	David Hyde
Stuart Parker	Han Ong	Jordan Pennington
Chuck Thompson	Pete Stigers	Jerry Poteat
DEACONS
Class of 2018	Class of 2019	Class of 2020
Adam Abel	Sujean Bradley	Blake Bassett
Nancy Butterworth	George Linke	Rhonda Comer
David Ginn	Greg Roberts	Brenda Lawson
Rett Stocstill	Nate Sproles	Barbara Thompson
Ann Woods	Bill Whisnant