Please plan to attend our annual congregational meeting this Sunday, January 19, at 10:10 a.m. in the Fellowship Hall. The purpose of the meeting is for the congregation to receive an annual financial report, vote on the terms of call for the senior pastor, convene as the corporation, and elect officers. Everyone is invited to the meeting, but only members may vote. The Nominating Committee will present the slate of officer nominees, all for the Class of 2022, and the floor will be opened to nominations.

Dr. Martin Dotterweich will preach at both services this Sunday. Martin is a specialist in the Reformation in Scotland and the history of the Bible in English as well as Chair of the Department of History and Political Science at King University. He attended Wheaton College, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and the University of Edinburgh, where he earned a PhD. Martin and his wife, Heather, have been members of FPC since arriving in Bristol in 2004. They have two children, Kathleen and Peter.

Please join us Wednesday, January 22, at 5:30 for a fellowship supper, followed at 6:00 by activities for children and youth. At 6:15, our Adult Enrichment program will resume the study of 2 Corinthians, picking up at chapter 4, verses 16-18 , with Pastor Sam. Except when we have special presentations, we worship on most Wednesday evenings by praying, singing, and studying God's Word together.

Sunday's roller skating party was fantastic! We estimate that nearly 100 FPC folks laced up for late-afternoon winter entertainment. Whatever the number, it was a lot of fun, and I am thankful to everyone who helped make it so! / Lilly Osborne

The Children's Ministries will hold a Parents' Night Out from 6:00 to 8:30 on Friday, January 31, in the Education Wing. This event is for newborns through sixth graders. Please let Lilly Osborne know the number and ages of the children you will bring so that she can provide dinner and materials for all of them. To sign up, email Lilly at [email protected], call or text her at 423-383-5476, or use the Children's Ministries Facebook page.

Join FPC Student Ministries this Sunday, January 19, as we travel to Roanoke to partner with REACH, an organization that renovates abandoned houses to provide homes for low-income families. We will leave Sunday morning at 8:00 and return late Monday evening, giving us time to take an in-depth look at the cycles of poverty and participate in a poverty simulation. On Monday we will work on homes and serve with local agencies. The trip is not limited to students but is open to anyone who would like to attend.

Register by tonight (Thursday, January 16) for an unforgettable experience with your church family! The cost is $25 and includes all travel, lodging, and meals. You can pay with cash or check,  or here .

Sunday's music: Our anthem this week is an uplifting song of praise in mixed meter by

	Bob Burroughs

Bob Burroughs. With fun piano accompaniment and canonic voice writing, "Praise Him!" offers praise for all of God's beautiful creation. Burroughs was born in Tazewell, Virginia, and holds degrees from Mars Hill College, Oklahoma Baptist University, and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He has served on faculty at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama; Mercer University in Atlanta; and Palm Beach Atlantic University in Palm Beach, Florida. He retired in 2002 as Director of the Church Music Department of the Florida Baptist Convention and now lives in Birmingham.

Organist's footnotes: Christmas is past, but we will prolong it a bit by playing Bach's Pastorale, which many associate with Christmas. Very little is known of the precise origins of this organ work, BWV 590, in the key of F major. It is usually known as the Pastorale in F, or Pastorella in some sources. It comprises four sections, and most scholars think it was written for performance during Christmas services held at the main Leipzig churches with which Bach was closely associated. The work was therefore written presumably around the year 1720. No autograph copy has survived, nor is there any plausible indication of how the work fit into the Christmas liturgy. Authorship having long been disputed because of the lack of clearly attributable material, it is now regarded as definitely Bach's work.

Certain galant-style features place the Pastorale late in his career. The most interesting is the use in each of the first two sections (which I am playing for the prelude) of piffero or piping style, based on the drone bass line and skirling bagpipe melodies widely used in Italian Christmas folk music. The ancient tradition of bagpipe-playing shepherds processing through small towns is still upheld at Christmas to recall the shepherds' journey to Bethlehem.

The third movement (offertory) is far more sophisticated, and its aria-like theme has a special symbolism. The three-flat key signature and triple meter were often used to represent angels, and the assumption is that Bach intended to depict their appearing to the shepherds in Luke 2:8-15.

The concluding section (postlude) of the work is a gigue in fugal form. Christoph Wolff has traced the melody to the early medieval carol "Resonet in laudibus," often sung at Christmas to portray the shepherds' rejoicing upon finding the infant Jesus.

Join us!

Join the handbell choir: Come join the Sanctuary Handbell Choir and make music ring out! We practice from 6:15 to 7:15 on Wednesday evenings in room 212 upstairs, and play for the late worship service about once a month. Contact Bob Greene at [email protected] or 276-696-9091 to join us.

Church Officers
Class of 2019	Class of 2020	Class of 2021
ELDERS
Anna Booher	Nancy Allerton	Ann Abel
Lee Galliher	Rebecca Beck	Randy Cook
Pete Holler	David Hyde	John Graham
Han Ong	Jordan Pennington	Katie McInnis
Pete Stigers	Jerry Poteat	John Vann
DEACONS
Sujean Bradley	Blake Bassett	Fred Harkleroad
George Linke	Rhonda Comer	Matt Kingsley
Greg Roberts	Ron Fox	Lisa McClain
Nate Sproles	Brenda Lawson	Drew Rice
Bill Whisnant	Barbara Thompson	Joyce Samuel
TRUSTEES
Nancy Cook	Peggy Hill	Jack Butterworth