Church Requel Blog - Writings of Mark Pierce

Happy July 4th Weekend!

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

Welcome to the 4th of July 2020. Like most everything else this year, this July 4th will probably be different than we usually celebrate here in America. A little more laid back? A little more stay-at-home?

Regardless of the Covid-19 restrictions, we have some big plans for Sunday - whether you come in person or watch online. Our praise band will be singing some great songs: "Raise A Hallelujah," "Great Are You Lord," "See A Victory," and "Great Things."  Notice the "great" theme? Hmmm...

We've invited one of our online congregants, Jack Buckley, to sing the perfect solo for the weekend: "I Pledge Allegiance To The Lamb." Wow! Wait until you hear. Jack has an amazing tenor voice and he really knows how to use it!!!

Cheryl Buckley will be reading our Scripture Reading from Philippians 1:27-30, which is the perfect segue into our sermon topic: "Four F-R-E-E-doms from Self."

Of course we will pray together, take communion together and worship through giving together as well.

Sunday morning should be a great celebration! Can't wait to worship with each of you! Hope to see you Sunday at 11am!

Love you! Pastor Mark 

New Life At The Church!

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

What an exciting worship service we enjoyed together this past Sunday morning. Many of us feel like 2020 needs a reboot, filled with virus and protest. But we were reminded that God is still working within his church, bringing new life. It was my great privilege to baptize Brian Joplin this past Sunday. He gave his life to the Lord Jesus the week before and wanted to be baptized right away. Brian will continue worshiping with us each Sunday morning until he leaves to join the Marines later this summer.

Covid-19 Still With Us. I know this is a statement of the obvious, but it's worth being reminded of a few facts. The number of new cases reported in Ohio is at the highest level of the last 3 weeks (892 vs. 494 average). The number of deaths, hospitalizations and ICU admissions are at best flat vs. the average for the last 21 days. In short, this virus epidemic is not going anywhere anytime soon.

We want to make our best efforts to protect our church family. This is why we have asked you to wear a mask and to sit only in designated pews to socially distance yourselves from one another. Will we turn you away if you don't do this? Of course not. We are a family, after all. However - if we suffer an outbreak of Covid-19 within our own congregation - we will have no choice but to shut down our public worship services once again. So, as your pastor, I'm asking you to demonstrate your love for one another by following the safety protocols we have set for you.

For those of you who are remaining at home with an abundance of caution - we understand. We continue to stream each worship service on Facebook Live each Sunday morning. We continue to offer Wednesday evening prayer meetings on Zoom. Our ladies continue their 2nd Timothy Bible study each Thursday evening on Zoom. In short, there are many opportunities for you to connect to one another safely and we urge you to do so.

Our Worship Plans. Meanwhile our worship team continues to do a fantastic job of leading us in our worship experience each week. Many thanks go out to Brandi, Missie, Trish, Dave, Don and Brian for their dedication in learning the music and arriving early each week to practice. Also much appreciation to Stephenie, Mary Kay and Adam for coming early to clean our church to help protect us from the virus.

This Sunday we will be singing six songs together! Our first song will be a brand new one for all of us: "Nobody" by Casting Crowns. We also plan to sing "Faithful Now" by Vertical Worship, "Holy Water" by We The Kingdom, "Way Maker" by Leeland, "Graves Into Gardens" by Elevation Worship, and "Sing Wherever I Go" by We The Kingdom. Can't wait!

Our sermon Sunday morning is titled, "Five Steps To Change Burnout To On Fire." I know many of us are feeling burned out these days from all the stress of the news, extra work for no extra pay, or the opposite - no work at all, or many health and family struggles. This topic seemed timely to me. I hope it will be for you too.

I appreciate all of you more than you can know. Thank you for continuing to support your church with your prayers, your talents, and your finances. Hope to see you Sunday! Love, Pastor Mark

Our Summer Groove

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

How many times have you heard that we just need to reboot the year 2020? For what it's worth I don't feel that way. This has been a great year for our church in so many ways. The band is so happy about playing together that some of us are even dancing a jig! If you haven't seen it yet, check out the movie clip we posted on our Facebook page of Dave dancing a jig at the end of last week's worship service!

As of this second Friday of June 2020, we are settling into a wonderful summer groove. We are now together every Sunday morning - in person at the church as well as streaming on Facebook for those who can't make it in person. This past week we were about 50-50 between those who were present physically and those who were present Facebookly. (Yeah, I just made that up. Summer breezes do something to my brain! Ha!)

If you can come to help clean at 9am, that would be wonderful. Last Sunday we had a crew of three: Adam, Mary Kay and Stephenie. I'm sure they would appreciate more help.

Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday we enjoy a daily devotional from Mark, Brandi and Brian. Each one is special with readings from Scripture, a short teaching, prayer and music. They're really special and I'm so glad we are doing them. You can follow along by bringing up our Church Requel Facebook page at 11am.

Wednesday nights at 7pm we gather together via Zoom to hear a short Biblical teaching followed by prayer. Each Wednesday lasts an hour. We leave feeling uplifted and closer to one another.

And this past Thursday night (last night), we began our weekly women's summer Bible study of 2nd Timothy. I hear that was also really special. Ladies, if you missed the first night, there is still plenty of time to join in. Each week you will study a little on your own, join in to the group discussion, and then watch the lecture online from Dayton Women In The Word. Here is a link to this week's teaching. There are 4 different teachers this summer. The first one is kind of special to me! 

http://www.daytonwomenintheword.com/2-timothy-week-1

So we have plenty of opportunities each week to connect to one another and to our Lord!

Neighborhood Meal Saturday. We will be gathering tomorrow at 3pm! Note the special time. We have decided to meet an hour earlier that usual because everything we make for the meal will be distributed to be eaten off site. Sheri has done all the shopping for us. Thank you so very much Sheri! Let's join together to support her work and to be Jesus' hands and feet to our surrounding neighborhood. 

Sunday Morning Worship. We will be gathering together for the second time this month down at our 134 year old church house at 11am Sunday morning. Our band will be leading us in many songs. We also have something very special arranged for you this coming Sunday.

One of our newest virtual attendees is Wendy from Alabama. She has become a good friend of mine over the last 3 years. In 2018 we participated in 100 Days of Ukulele Songs together. During the Coronavirus Pandemic she became one of our regular participants in our daily devotionals. Wendy will be reading our Scripture this Sunday and then singing a special song related to what she read. You won't want to miss it!

We love that so many of our regular participants and supporters at Church Requel are now part of our virtual community. We want to do everything we can to continue to include each one of them!

Happy Friday everyone! Enjoy this beautiful weekend. We don't get that many of them here in Ohio. Consider this to be God-provided air-conditioning in our church this Sunday morning! 

Love you all much! Pastor Mark

Sunday - WE'RE BACK!!!!

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

This Sunday is the day we've been looking forward to for ten long weeks! Whoever would have guessed in March that it wouldn't be until June 7th that we would meet together again at Church Requel.

But finally... FINALLY! That day will be arriving this weekend.

Things will look a little different when you come Sunday morning. For one thing we have taped off every other pew, encouraging you to socially distance yourselves by families. And yes, please do show love to one another by volunteering to wear a mask. This will help protect our most vulnerable, older congregants.

Also when you come into the sanctuary, you'll find a table with an offering basket and a plate filled with communion elements. You'll want to take one communion cup per person with you back to your seat. These are very special - they actually have two lids. You peal the top one off to access the bread. You then peal the second to drink the juice.

We will not be serving coffee and cookies as we normally do. The idea will be for you to find a seat and make yourself comfortable. Members of our band will be playing music for you as you come in, so enjoy the sounds of the church re-opening!

For those who live far away from Mansfield - like in England, Virginia, Alabama and Oklahoma - as well as those who are concerned about the risks of the Coronavirus, and obviously for anyone not feeling well - we will continue to stream our 11am worship services on Facebook!

Pray For Downtown and Our Church Building. There are many rumors of violence in Mansfield and Ontario this evening. These rumors were affirmed to us this morning as police officers stopped by our church to tell us that some of the stones we were using for landscaping could be used for destructive purposes. So please pray for our church as well as other downtown churches and businesses to be protected by those bent toward evil.

Ladies 2 Timothy Summer Study. This coming week we begin the ladies summer study of 2nd Timothy. If you have not yet registered to be a part of this great study, there is still time for you to join up. You don't even have to register any longer. Just let Mary Kay know you want to participate.

You can download your FREE 2nd Timothy companion guide here:

http://www.daytonwomenintheword.com/preparing-for-summer-study

The weekly format for you will be to study on your own first, then join the discussion on Zoom on Thursday nights with the other ladies, and then tune in at your convenience to listen to and/or watch the free lecture from one of the Dayton Women In The Word teachers (one of whom is my daughter, Jillian!)

May I encourage you to give this a try? Don't be intimidated by the study guide or the format or your lack of Bible knowledge. Do as much as you are able to do and allow the Holy Spirit to strengthen you this summer. If you give it a try and do what you can, you'll come out the other side of summer more encouraged than when you started.

Neighborhood Free Meal - Saturday June 13th. We WILL be the hands and feet of Jesus one week from tomorrow by serving a free meal to everyone in our church neighborhood. Because of the Coronavirus we will have to do this differently than we have in the past. We won't be able to invite people into our fellowship hall. It is just too small and doesn't allow us to socially distance. However, we will gather at 3:30 (a half hour earlier than normal) and will be assembling dinner bags/boxes that people will be able to take home with them. We will make this available to our neighborhood outside the church at 5pm. You'll find a sign-up clipboard at church this Sunday morning.

Ok - that will do it today! Back to Friday newsletters!  Back to Sunday church! Let's pray together that everything goes well this weekend. Love you all much! Pastor Mark

The Band Is Back!

Good Saturday morning Church Requel!

Our first step toward opening back up takes place this weekend! THE BAND IS BACK! Woohoo! We've done our very best to lead worship one band member at a time over these past two months. But let's face it. Zoom isn't great for music.

So... NO MORE ZOOM on Sunday mornings!

Our worship band and tech team will be gathering at 9am Sunday morning to rehearse two hours so that we may lead worship TOGETHER at 11am on FACEBOOK.

So... our entire worship experience will be LIVE STREAMED ON FACEBOOK.

We will do this for the next two Sundays - May 24th and May 31st.

Our Planned Opening - June 7th. We hope you can come and join our worship leaders in person on Sunday June 7th. Here are the measures we are taking to keep everyone as safe as possible from the virus.

1. We will ask family groups to socially distance from one another. We will close every other pew to assist you in this.
2. We will ask worship attendees to wear a mask. This is not so much to protect you as it is for others to be protected from you. You benefit from everyone else also wearing a mask. The only exceptions will be those singing or speaking from the platform. We will keep them more than 6 feet away from the rest of the congregation. We will ask our worship team to also wear a mask when they exit the platform.
3. We will clean all surfaces two hours before our worship begins. If you are willing, come to the church at 9am to clean while the worship team practices. Some of you have already told us you're willing to do this. If you would be willing to join the 9am cleaning team, please let either Brandi or me know.
4. We plan to reduce movement within the sanctuary as much as possible. Once you come into the sanctuary we ask that you find your seat and remain. To assist you in this...
   
   1. You will receive your communion elements when you enter the sanctuary. We won't be gathering together at the tables.
   2. The offering baskets will be placed at each entrance so that you may worship with your offering when you enter or leave the sanctuary. We won't be passing the offering baskets.
   3. For now, we won't be offering snacks or beverages in the lobby
   4. We won't be celebrating a "greeting time" in the middle of the service. All you introverts may now rejoice.
5. We will phase in other Sunday morning student ministries as we move forward and as we have enough cleaning capacity available. For now, families will remain together for the entire worship experience in the sanctuary.
6. If you feel ill, stay home. If you have a fever, stay home. If you are afraid for your health and would prefer to worship with us on Facebook, stay home. If you you live in England, Virginia, Alabama, Wyoming, or Oklahoma, stay home and worship with us on Facebook!

We know many of you can't wait to get back together again as a congregation. We are right there with you! Let's do this in a way that demonstrates our mission statement - to be a community loving God and loving people!

Women's Summer Bible Study. Several of you have already registered. If you haven't already signed up, you will want to do so soon. Registration for these summer sessions will close this coming Tuesday, May 28th. The first video session will be available the week of June 8th. Ladies, you can watch the video lesson anytime at your convenience. Our ladies group will be gathering via Zoom on Thursday evenings at 7pm with the first session beginning June 11th. Here are some important links for you:

1. Registration link.
    
   http://www.daytonwomenintheword.com/2timothy
    
   Then click on where it says, "Click here to register." Then click on where it says, "Jump To Registration Form." Just answer the easy questions - email, name, City, State, age. Where it asks you your local church, enter "Church Requel." If you are asked what type of group, answer "Church Hosted Group." Cost - Mary Kay has already made a donation for ten ladies or so. So this is optional for all our ladies.
   
   
2. 2nd Timothy session info. Everything you want to know about what we will be studying together and how it will work.
   
   http://www.daytonwomenintheword.com/2timothy
3. Here is the link to download your study guide. 

If you have any questions about any of this, contact Mary Kay. We are really looking forward to this opportunity to learn God's Word together this summer!

This Sunday Morning's Sermon. The title of our sermon for tomorrow morning is "Affliction & Comfort / Suffering & Hope." It comes straight from 2 Corinthians 1. You might want to read that chapter to prepare your mind for tomorrow morning. Speaking of preparation, you also are welcome to join me this morning at 11am for our daily devotional. I'm planning to practice all the songs we will be singing tomorrow morning with the praise band. They are all songs you know, but it won't hurt to be reminded!

Love you all much. Happy Memorial Day weekend. Hope to "see you" on Facebook either this morning and/or tomorrow morning at 11am. Pastor Mark

Some Thoughts About When And How We Meet Together Again

Good Saturday Church Requel!

I always delight when I have the chance to sit down and write to you. I love the way you have stuck together in love and support for one another in the midst of this Coronavirus Pandemic.

In many respects this has been a testing time for us. How strong is our bond? How committed are we to gathering together - even if for a time, it cannot be the preferred way we would like to get together.

Did you know that there was a time - around the turn of the last century - that churches only met when they were within walking distance - the distance that either a man, or a horse could walk to? Some people would walk for an hour just to go to church! But that meant that some folks walked up to 3 miles to get to church.

Then the automobile came along. With this one change in technology, many changes in church meetings also came along. Now churches could be more centralized in geographic terms. They might be more than 3 miles apart. Why some people might even drive up to ten miles or more to go to church!

I can imagine that there were folks who said, "This isn't for me. I like it when church is within walking distance. I don't want to learn to drive."

We are experiencing this right now. There is an upside and a downside to meeting by Zoom and by Facebook, but not in person. Yes, we miss the personal opportunities to be together. But on the other hand, we have more people joining us from so many places! Last Sunday we had families from England, from Alabama, from Virginia, and from Wyoming all join together with us in worship of our Lord! Isn't that glorious!?

I do hope that we will be soon be able to return to our physical gathering together at 2 Marion Avenue. But I also hope that we don't lose the chance to get to know those beautiful souls who have joined so faithfully with us in our worship.

Speaking of worshipping together soon - we don't yet have a firm date for this. We know that Ohio's current "Stay Safe Ohio" order expires on May 29th. We don't yet know if it will be extended beyond that date. So - in my estimation - the earliest that we could gather again would be June 7th. Why not May 31st? Because two days is not enough room to be able to make a final decision one way or the other.

We do know this - when we do gather together again - it will not be like it was before March. Here are some of the ways that things will have to be different if and when we do meet physically together again.

There are some things we have usually done at Church Requel that we will not do until we have an answer for the virus - (a) no physical greeting time; (b) no pre-service cookies and snacks or coffee prep; (c) no gathering at the communion table - we will pass out pre-packaged communion elements when people come in (d) no passing the offering baskets - we will place one offering basket at each entrance - all an effort to reduce movement within the sanctuary. When people come in - they find a seat and stay until they leave (that’s the desired goal anyway).

We will need to have a cleaning team disinfect the sanctuary each Sunday morning before the people gather at 11am. This is critical and job #1. No cleaning. No service. This could happen at the same time as the praise team rehearses. We have 3 weeks to get volunteers for this. What about you? Would you be willing to help us out at 9am on Sundays?

We will rope off every other pew. We will ask people to social distance by household. And yes, we will ask people to wear a mask when they enter church and leave it on until they leave. Those leading from the platform will not have to wear a mask while they sing or speak, but should put it back on when they leave the platform.

At least initially, we won't be able to offer children's programs. We must work to get it right in the sanctuary first. When we do begin offering student programs, we'll start with the oldest and work our way down. The only way we would be able to eventually offer nursery again would be if we could come up with a way to sterilize every single toy in the nursery. I don't know if that's something we could accomplish or not.

Clearly church will look a lot different than what we have experienced before. There are some that will choose to stay at home and continue to watch from home. And that's going to be ok! We will make sure that our Facebook camera is front and center and we will do our best to include all our new families and friends who have been with us over these last two months. And certainly, if anyone is not feeling well, he or she should remain home and watch on the Facebook feed.

So, what do you think? I know this is not the way we would like it to be. But love says we do this to protect those among us who are most at risk.  I believe you actually do love one another enough to make these changes.

For tomorrow morning, you can choose to watch on Facebook or on Zoom. If you'd like to participate in the Zoom meeting, let me know and either Brandi or I will get the details to you.

Thank you to all who have continued to support Church Requel with your tithes and offerings. If you would like to be able to give, use this link.

give.ChurchRequel.org

I look forward to seeing you all soon! Love you much! Pastor Mark

To Mask Or Not To Mask - That Is The Question!

Good Saturday Church Requel!

I have been working on the sermon all day and just now have had the chance to sit down and to write you all.

My first thoughts to all of you are this - I love you with Christ's love and my own. No small thing... Christ's love that is. Though mine is all I have which in its own right is also no small thing.

I know many of you are missing our sweet fellowship. So am I. This morning I went down to the church office to take care of some necessary church business. It had been many weeks since I have ventured there myself. The moment I walked in I felt the forgone and forlorn days of the past where so many happy memories with you reside. I missed the place. I missed the people so much more. YOU!

Yet our choice to not meet for a time is a choice born out of love and humility. The decision that says I place your needs above my desires. That is both love and humility. 

This necessary choice will not be forever. And possibly now not even for long! In my prayer life I believe I'm hearing that there is a path to our future togetherness that could provide for our mutual health and safety. However, this path will not be an easy one for us. It will require some hard choices. And it won't be like it was before. At least for the foreseeable future.

I'm working on those details now, with our staff and leadership team and hope that I will be able to share these same details with you soon. Just know for now that I do greatly appreciate your prayers and your understanding and your support.

This morning on the news I watched as a man stood and shouted at a Costco, because they required him to wear a mask. He claimed he had a constitutional right to NOT wear a mask. He was angry as he (literally) spat out his judgment upon everyone who came near.

My friends, this is exactly what we do not need or want as a body of Christ. It is my greatest desire that our focus as a Christian family will be on the health and welfare of one another rather than upon our rights. There's a word for this. I believe we call this word, love. I believe you will bear the burden of love in a worthy manner.

Tomorrow morning at 11am EST we meet once again on Zoom and Facebook. For those who wish to gather with us on Zoom, contact me or Brandi if you don't already have the necessary information.

Thanks for your ongoing financial support of your church during this crisis. I stand amazed at your great love and faith - really! I do! I am truly amazed! For those who wish to give their tithes and offerings to Church Requel, use this link:

give.ChurchRequel.org

HINT OF GOOD NEWS COMING... My loving wife and partner would like all the ladies to know that a ladies Bible study will be coming your way this summer. Mary Kay is working out the details now. You will want to brush up on your 2 Timothy. You will want to keep your Thursday evenings available. More details to come soon!

Today my newsletter writing skills seem more haphazard than orderly. I hope that in this missive you have heard my love for you, my desire to have you support me in prayer, my prayers for all of you, and my earnest desire to meet together with you all again as soon as we can do so safely.

Love you all much! Pastor Mark