Church Requel Blog - Writings of Mark Pierce

Emoji Christmas Practice Saturday

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

And YES - it still is a good Friday morning, even though the ground is covered with snow this morning. It is, after all, the FIRST snow and thus it receives a pass from the newsletter editor here at Church Requel. Seriously, here's hoping that your biggest problem this day is that snow fell this morning.

BIG REMINDER! Not only has snow reminded us that we are close to the holiday season, but tomorrow morning is also the first Emoji Christmas practice for our kiddos. Parents plan to have your students at church by 10am. Rehearsal should last two hours. There will be a pizza lunch served at noon, after the practice, if your student(s) can stick around.

(The picture top right is from the Emoji practice this past Sunday. We have good looking kiddos, yes?)

Tamara also wants us to remember that there will be ONE MORE Saturday rehearsal on December 8th. The Emoji Christmas show will be our worship experience on December 9th. We will all celebrate afterward with our annual Christmas potluck downstairs after the Christmas program.

Sunday's Worship - Sunday is Veteran's Day, which means all kinds of things for us at Church Requel. First off, be aware that there will be a Veteran's Day parade starting off from our location at 10:30 AM on Sunday. The parade should be off and away from us by our 11am start time, but certainly our location will be unusually congested Sunday morning, so plan accordingly.

We also plan to honor our veterans during the worship service Sunday morning. In fact - and I do believe this is a first - Brandi has us starting off the service by singing the Star Spangled Banner together! This will be followed by a prayer for our Vets.

Our praise team will be led by Brandi, Missie, Trish and Haleigh. They plan to lead us in singing "I Came For You" by Planetshakers, "Reckless Love" by Cory Asbury, "Tremble" by Mosaic MSC, and "No Longer Slaves" by Bethel.

I appreciate ALL of our Sunday morning volunteers! In addition to the praise team, Don, Paul and Chris will be serving in the tech booth, Dan and DeeDee will be bringing snacks and prepping communion, Aimee and Tamara will be our greeters, Jennifer will be serving in the Nursery and Shelli will be leading our counting team. AND OF COURSE we thank Tamara very much for leading our kiddos again Sunday morning in preparing for the Emoji Christmas program.

Sunday Morning's Sermon is titled "Incredible Conversion" from one of the more famous stories in the Bible. We consider the famous conversion of Saul, who afterward became the famous Apostle Paul. As we travel the Damascus Road experience in Acts 9:1-19, we will take away 5 key lessons about walking through life with the Holy Spirit by our side. I greatly enjoyed preparing this talk for you and can't wait until Sunday morning. If you also "can't wait," you can view the sermon notes in your browser or check them out in your Bible app under the section Events.

Here's hoping you have a fantastic weekend and that your fantastic weekend includes Church Requel Sunday morning. Hope to see you there at 11am. Love you! Pastor Mark

When The Church Is Family

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

What do you think about when you hear the word, "church"? Do you think of a building? A denomination? A group of Christians? A time and place when and where you worship each week?  

What about "family?" That's what comes to my mind this morning when I think of Church Requel. As a church we are all the other things too: a place, a building, a group of Christians, a worship service on Sunday mornings at 11am. However, this past Wednesday night I witnessed something very special - a family gathering to pray for a specific need.

This past Sunday morning Cindy stood up and said that she felt God's Holy Spirit moving her to suggest we gather to pray especially for Loni. Loni had told us the week before that she had received the unfortunate news that her cancer had returned. With no fanfare or big announcement, the plans were quietly made by the end of Sunday's worship to gather back again Wednesday night to pray for Loni and her husband, Mark.

Wednesday night about two dozen of us gathered together. We sang a few songs, read of few Scriptures and then surrounded Loni and Mark and simply prayed for God's healing touch. We prayed for their marriage. We prayed for their strength. We prayed that they might experience God's power. We prayed for God's opportunity to use them through this tribulation for His glory. We prayed one at a time, some longer prayers, some shorter ones. All sincere and full of love.

After about 45 minutes we were finished... at least with the singing, Scripture reading and praying part. For the next 60 minutes afterward I patiently waited as our church members - family to one another through Christ - stayed and visited and talked. Once again the greeting time was the prominent feature of the evening! 

I didn't want to rush anyone away. There was no other place I had to be. So I got out my ukulele and just played some background music while everyone else visited and talked. It was what I could do. As I played I thought of the body of Christ and how everyone this night did what they could do. Each one of us was important and together we made up the body of Christ. A family. A body. When church is good, it is REALLY good. Wednesday night was REALLY good!

It's been about 10 years now (next month) since I lost my job at another local church. At the time I wondered why? I know I was angry. I sought the counsel of a wise woman and friend, who reassured me with her quiet confidence. She understood my feelings, but she wasn't worried about it. She actually had more confidence in me at that moment than I did. She showed up Wednesday night! It was like God saying to me, "See I got this. All things work together for the good of those who love me!" And it gave me an even greater faith to pray for Loni too. Because God's got her right in the palm of His great hand too.

Sunday Morning Worship. This will be the first Sunday of the month so our children will take the lead in many of our worship experiences. Joining the adults in our praise team (Brandi, Cindy, Amanda, Tamara and Chris) will be Tre, Jacoby, Bubby Sivon and Saudaie. Wow what a huge praise team! Joining Jonathan in the tech booth will be Grayden and Cohen. Also Saudaie will be singing our opener song. (This will be about 4 minutes before the 11 o'clock start time, so make sure you come early! 

Our sermon Sunday morning will be titled, "Sharing The Gospel." This will be our 20th lesson from Acts, this time focusing on 8:26-40. We all have the privilege and the opportunity to share the good news of Jesus with people we know and love. Is there a right way, or at least a better way to share the gospel? Sunday we will consider once more the story of Philip the Evangelist. We'll get up close and personal with the way Philip went about sharing the good news of Jesus. Want a head start? Just open up your Bible app and go to "Events." Or you can see the sermon notes in your browser window here.

Hoodies & Long Sleeve T-shirts! For the next two Sundays we'll be taking orders for brand new Church Requel hoodies and long-sleeved T-shirts. They have our logo and our mission on the front: loving God, loving people. We will offer each in four colors: Navy blue, Black, Charcoal Heather and Deep Forest Green. We expect to have delivery by the first week in December, in plenty of time for Christmas!!!

The pullover hoodies are Hanes EcoSmart 50/50. This mid-weight hoodie is a customer favorite. Comfortable (but slightly small) fit. Their best-selling hoodie. YM - YXL and all adult sizes.  The cost for the hoodies will be $22. There is an additional $4 cost for the 2XL, 3XL and 4XL

Long-sleeve T-shirts are Hanes ComfortSoft Tagless. Generous Fit. Will keep you warm all year round. All sizes available for the long sleeved T's. The cost for the long-sleeved T-shirts will be $14. There is an additional $2 cost for the 2XL, 3XL and 4XL. 

Funds must accompany your order. Checks to Church Requel. Cash always welcomed too. You can download an Order Form PDF here.  Circle the product and sizes you want in each color and then subtotal on the right. Bring the form with you and give your order to Brandi or Pastor Mark. We'll also have order forms printed out and waiting for you at Church Requel this Sunday.

Unfortunately the pictures and colors didn't come out real well on our home-made printed order forms. So I'm giving you pictures here in this newsletter so you can see what they look like. Just click on any small thumbnail to see the larger photo:

CR Hoodies

Navy blue, black, charcoal heather, deep forest green

• 
• 
• 
• 

CR Long-sleeved T-shirts

Navy blue, black, charcoal heather, deep forest green

• 
• 
• 
• 

Remember to set you clocks back! Sunday morning we get an extra hour of sleep before church, so don't forget to set your clocks back before you go to bed Saturday night. Otherwise you may be arriving early with Brandi, me and the Praise and Tech teams... which is totally ok with all of us!

Can't wait to see you all Sunday morning at 11am! Love you much! Pastor Mark

Grace Hope Love... And Prayer

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

I hope this morning finds you doing well. Let's enjoy these crisp Fall mornings while we can. Winter is coming!

Our main photo of the week comes from our worship director, Brandi Walker. She posted this on her Facebook page this week. I love what it says: 

Always have eyes that see the best,

A heart that forgives the worst,

A mind that forgets the bad,

And a soul that never loses hope.

Way to go, Brandi! She posted that she prays to God to help her with this every single day. I love her humility and her positive outlook to see the best in everyone. In fact I love that about so many of you! Church Requel is a church filled with grace rather than judgment, hope rather than criticism, and love rather than cynicism. 

As most of you know, a couple months ago we introduced a new segment to our weekly worship services, what we call "God Stories." Each week we give several of you the opportunity to stand and tell your own experiences with God during the week. We ask you to share how God has provided for you during your week.

Each week your stories become more personal and authentic. This past Sunday was simply incredible. I don't know that I've ever been in a church where such honest and open testimonies have been shared in such a public place. That tells me that you consider Church Requel to be a safe place. You also must consider it a place where prayers are answered!

This past Monday I spoke to one young woman, who told me she was just wowed by what she heard. But she was also concerned because, as she said, "I don't know what to do other than to pray." Of course, prayer is the very thing to do first and foremost. Prayer is the only truly powerful weapon we have. Prayer is the greatest help to those we love and care for.

We often think that if we really want to help someone, then there must be something that we can do to help. In that assumption we mistake prayer as only good intentions, good wishes, good thoughts. We say things like "my thoughts and prayers are with you." However, prayer IS doing when prayer is DONE RIGHT. In prayer we submit to God's will the entire situation, including whatever God may call us to do. It is in prayer when we hear God's inspiration, God's idea, God's plan, God's peace, God's suggestion, God's assurance. 

So keep demonstrating grace, hope and love to one another. Keep being open in your need for God's power in your lives. And keep praying!!!

This Sunday is the 4th Sunday of the month and that means the Jam Band will be back leading worship for us this weekend. Brandi will be playing the keyboard, Dan and Dave will be playing guitar, Don will play his bass guitar, Brian will be on drums, and yours truly will be playing the ukulele! Here is the worship set that we are planning to sing:

• "Christ Lives In Me" by Rend Collective
• "10,000 Reasons" by Matt Redman
• "Good, Good Father" by Chris Tomlin
• "Old Church Choir" by Zak Williams

Thanks to everyone who serves each Sunday! In addition to serving on the worship team, Brian will be bringing snacks and being a greeter. Judie will also be a greeter. Tamara continues to lead our Emoji Christmas rehearsals for our kiddos - more on that in a moment. Chris is serving in the tech booth. Mary Kay is serving in the Nursery. Shelli is heading up the counting team. Thanks to one and all!

Emoji Christmas Play Rehearsals. The Christmas play from our students is moving forward this week. Tamara tells me everything is going well. This past week we ordered 25 student T-shirts. Why? Because these will are their costumes. The picture above left shows you what we printed on the back of each of the yellow t-shirts.

Why print on the back, you ask? Because the front of the t-shirt will show an emoji. Each person in the play will be a different emoji. How cool is that? This morning I approved the final t-shirt proof and if all goes as planned the shirts should ship one week from today, Nov. 2nd.

Your help needed! We have 6 Sunday morning rehearsals left between now and December 9th, the date of the Sunday morning play at church. I'm looking for adults who would be willing to go downstairs with Tamara each week to run "crowd control." This will allow Tamara to focus on directing the play and not keeping control. Just one additional adult each week should suffice. Would you be willing to help? We'll send a signup sheet around Sunday morning. 6 adults - 6 weeks. Could you give one Sunday morning to be with our students?

Grocery Giveaway Sunday Morning. We know there are many people in our congregation who could use some grocery help this holiday season. So Sunday morning you'll find bags of groceries sitting in the pews. If you could use some groceries, grab a bag or two. If you know someone else who could use some help, grab a bag or two for them. Thanks to Sheri and Dave who came up with this brilliant idea. Sort of like - if you can't come to our food closet, our food closet will come to you! 

Finally, Sunday we will continue our Acts sermon series, which we are calling Sequel and Requel. Sunday morning we'll focus on Acts 8:9-25. This week's talk is titled, "Good Intentions, Good Doctrine." We'll hear the story of Simon the Sorcerer and his encounter with Philip in Samaria. Peter and John get involved too. This sermon is so packed full of good and helpful material, I don't know if we can get through it all in one Sunday morning or not... but we'll make a good try! Want a head start? Check out your Bible app or click here for the sermon notes.

I can't wait to worship with all of you Sunday morning! Love you! Pastor Mark

Back From The Beach

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

Mary Kay and I returned home from our Myrtle Beach vacation this week. We enjoyed a fun and relaxing time filled with family. My 87 year old dad and his wife, Julie, have been making the beach their October home for 30 years now. Not only did we go down, but also my cousin Cheryl and Jack from Virginia, Jillian and her whole family and Jessica and Dave all spent time with us. Thank you Church Requel for once again allowing us some time off to recharge our batteries.

If you'd like a little extra fun... notice the boardwalk behind us in the photo above? One of my vacation goals was to sing "Under The Boardwalk" while actually under the boardwalk. Click here if you'd like to see the 2-minute video of me singing and playing. What joy!

Back To Church News. Coming back from vacation can sometimes be difficult, but not this time. I greatly enjoyed my first day back with Marci and Brandi and prepping every thing for Sunday's worship service.

Our sermon Sunday will continue the Sequel And Requel sermon series from Acts, this time focusing our attention on 8:1-8. We turn the corner from Stephen's martyrdom and find the church persecuted too. But this was only the beginning of the story - not the end. (We find "persecution" in 8:1, but "joy" in 8:8! Check it out for yourself!)

How could James so confidently believe that we should consider it all joy whenever we face trials of many kinds? How could persecution possibly be joyful? Sunday we talk about our expectations and attitudes regarding persecution. We will discover that whenever we face persecution, joy is right around the corner! Want a head start? Read Acts 8:1-8. You can also read my online sermon notes in your Bible app or here.

Many Servants! We are so very blessed to have so many of you volunteer to serve each and every week. I know what a blessing you are to me, but it's nice to hear it from an outsider's viewpoint.

On my drive home from Myrtle Beach I received this text message from Brad Gentille, who filled in for me this past Sunday:

"Thank you for the opportunity to preach yesterday! I truly enjoyed it. What a sweet group of people!"

This Sunday, Brian, Bessica and Amy will be joining Brandi in leading our worship. We'll be singing "Say Amen" by Finding Favour, "I Will Follow" by Chris Tomlin, "Joy" by Rend Collective, and "All Because of Jesus" by Steve Fee. All great songs and all so fitting for our topic of joy!

Mark B. will be leading our communion time. Loni will read our Scripture. Sara and Chris will prep our communion. Juanita is in charge of snacks this week (oh boy!!!) Brian and Judie will be our greeters. Tamara will continue to work with our children preparing for the Emoji Christmas program. Jessica and Dave will teach our toddlers in the Nursery. Jonathan and Don will serve in the tech booth. Trish is in charge of our counting team this week. Thank you one and all!

Congrats to Steve and Cindy! We all want to congratulate Steve and Cindy Thoman, who celebrated 40 years of marriage just a few weeks ago! That is something special! Steve and Cindy, we all admire your faithfulness to one another as well as your faithfulness to Church Requel! May you have many more years of togetherness to celebrate!

We have many reasons to be joyful at Church Requel, don't we?

It's great to be back! Can't wait to see you all this Sunday morning at 11am.

Blessings, Pastor Mark

Standing On The Shoulders

Good morning Church Requel!

Happy Friday morning everyone! The sun is shining bright outside. I hope this is the start to a fantastic weekend for each of you!

This Sunday we will talk about the first Christian martyr - Stephen - from chapter 7 of the Book of Acts. Stephen was the first but far from the last. We are so fortunate here in the United States that we have freedom of worship. This has not been the experience of most Christians down through the ages. We stand on the shoulders of many, who have given their all so that we might be able to worship Jesus.

Want a head start on Sunday's sermon? Read all of Acts 7 and then check out the sermon notes in your Bible app. (Click on "Events" and look for Church Requel.) You could also find Sunday's notes here.

I just received the Facebook message from Brandi about everyone participating in Sunday's service. Thank you Brandi for so faithfully sending this notice out every Friday morning. And thank all of you, who so regularly volunteer.

Thank you Chris and Tamara for being willing to run the tech booth two weeks in a row - as you almost always do during 5-week months. 

Thank you Brian, Bessica, Amy and Brandi for being willing to lead our worship Sunday morning. And thank you all for your flexibility to work around your teammate's schedule. Brian worked 2nd shift Thursday so the team agree to come in early Sunday morning - 8:45! - so that they could be ready to lead worship at 11am. That's dedication!

Thank you Kyle and Sean for passing our offering baskets so cheerfully each Sunday. Thank you Trish for greeting! Thank you Jessica and Dave for teaching our Nursery kiddos. (This is Jessica's tenth year of service in the nursery - think of that!) Thank you Cindy for teaching our Missionary Class and Karen for teaching our KidsMin class. Thank you Shelli for counting our attendance and offering! Thank you Tamara for organizing our children's Christmas program this year. (It's going to be an Emoji Christmas. I've heard my grandchildren already talking about what emojis they want to be!)

We are just so blessed with servants at Church Requel. Each of you do so many things and I want to say "thank you" from the bottom of my heart!

Bonfire on October 6th! This annual event is always such a fun one, a winner all the way around. Thank you Sheri for opening your beautiful home for us to enjoy!

I love this picture (right) taken a few years ago. Jack and Don built the fire so big that you can see how far back Don had to stand! You can also see the beautiful landscape that we get to enjoy at Sheri's place.

The fun begins at 6pm. Bring your lawn chair, something to drink, a side dish to share and your bug spray. We will cook hot dogs and s'mores! (If you have cooking sticks, bring those along too.) Look for Sheri's address in the bulletin at church this Sunday morning.

Here are a couple last minute additions to the newsletter - Dan and DeeDee have to leave early Sunday and can't clean up like they usually do. If you could stick around for a few minutes to throw away the trash and clean up, let DeeDee or Brandi know. Also Missie can't greet Sunday morning like she planned. If you can come in a few minutes early and say "howdy do" and pass out the morning's program, that would be greatly appreciated.

Love you all much! See you Sunday at 11am! - Pastor Mark

Jam Band / Putt Putt This Sunday!

Good Saturday Church Requel!

Sorry for writing you all one day late this week. I had some business in Columbus early yesterday that ended up consuming most of my day. So thanks for understanding.

This morning was Jam Band rehearsal for tomorrow morning's worship service. This is the first moment I've had to sit down at my computer since Thursday afternoon. Jam Band was awesome this morning... thanks for asking!

Brandi, Brian, Don, Dan and Dave joined me in our rehearsal and we each had such a good time together. They told me not to say this to you since they are sure it will jinx us - but they sounded so good together. It's really starting to come together for us.

We will sing 4 songs together as a congregation: "Our God" by Chris Tomlin; "All Things New" by KXC Worship; "The Way (New Horizon)" by Pat Barrett; and "Old Church Choir" by Zach Williams. It should be a good opportunity for praise and worship!

Also tomorrow morning Brandi will be singing "Overcomer" by Mandisa. She will be accompanied by Don on his acoustic guitar. This is one that Don has worked on for a couple months now, so I'm excited to hear them team up for this special song. Also a fun one for tomorrow, during the offering I'll be playing "Can't Buy God's Love" - a Christian parody song to the Beatles original "Can't Buy Me Love." The lyrics are actually very good to this one. But I'll admit that I have a lot of fun singing it.

Sermon: "Underground Manipulation." We wrap up Acts chapter 6 tomorrow morning. This is the part of Scripture where some unscrupulous people spread false accusations against Stephen. I couldn't help but think of our own political situation today - on both sides of the political aisle - of working "underground" to achieve the end result we want. We will struggle with the ethical question of the ends justifying the means. So be prepared to be a little challenged tomorrow morning. Want a head start? Check out your Bible app and click on "Events." Or check out the sermon notes in your browser window here: http://bible.com/events/482510

Putt Putt Golf After Church Tomorrow! We have our next fun event scheduled for tomorrow after church. We're all planning to drive down to Kelly's Dairy Bar and Miniature Golf, located at 1280 South Main Street in Mansfield.  This is always such a fun event every year. The photo on the right was taken last summer.

There is something for everybody! For those who enjoy it - you can play putt putt golf outside. The weather man is predicting a high of only 71 degrees and cloudy weather. Couldn't be a better forecast for miniature golf.

For those who enjoy antique cars, there is also a free car show at Kelly's tomorrow as well. You can get up close and personal with vehicles that are older than most in our church!

Finally there is great grilled food and ice cream. It promises to be a blast for all ages! You won't want to miss this fun with your Church Requel family!

Looking forward to our worship time and then our fellowship time together tomorrow!

Love you all much! - Pastor Mark 

 

Pancake Breakfast Sunday Morning at 9:30!

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

We have a very special Sunday morning planned this weekend! You won't want to miss this for yourself or your church family so make a special note!

FREE BREAKFAST SERVED AT 9:30AM BEFORE CHURCH!

Don't come at the normal 11am time or you will miss out on a great breakfast and some good fellowship time with your church family!

Many thanks to Sheri Nichols and Dave Repp for organizing this event. And we should also thank Mary Kay for purchasing many of the breakfast supplies for this morning. And also by the way, the rest of the morning (read below) was also inspired by Sheri and Cindy too!

Worship - Informal and Acoustic / Telling Our God Stories!

Not only are we having a good breakfast together, but when we go upstairs for our worship time we are planning something much more personal and informal than what we usually do. Brandi will join me up front and the two of us will lead our church in telling our own individual stories of how we each have come to follow Jesus in the Christian faith. 

When did it happen for you? How did you know that you became a Christian? What is your story? Be thinking about the circumstances in your life that led to your decision to follow Christ and come prepared to tell your story to the congregation Sunday morning. The younger children will be dismissed to KidsMin, but we would like our older Missionary Class students to join us and be a participant in this very special worship event.

Be transparent. Just a few things to think about when sharing. We want to be as transparent as we can be, which means that this could be a little uncomfortable for some of us. This will require trust. We want Church Requel to be a safe place where you can share your story with others. For this reason we won't be streaming this service on Facebook. It will just be those in the room. So what is said at Church Requel stays at Church Requel!

Be positive. Many of us came to faith from difficult circumstances and so you need to be free to share that with us. We need to hear it and still be affirming to you. Your God story is YOUR God story! The Bible is filled with tough stories of people in crisis. With that said, every story of faith also has a positive element of how God was faithful or of how God was able to use the story of our faith. Ultimately our story should bring God glory. That's our purpose.

Be brief. By this we don't mean be rushed. Tell your story. We want to hear it. All of it. But we also want to hear everyone else's stories too! For this reason we won't be having Pastor Mark deliver a sermon Sunday morning. And our worship singing will be abbreviated. We will share communion together at the end. If you have a favorite Bible verse to share, or one that is meaningfully connected to your God story, please feel free to share it! And if you have a prayer request, let us know and we'll stop and pray right then and there for your request.

Brandi and I are hoping that this worship event will be a milestone for our congregation - that we will remember the Sunday when we all took a giant leap forward in our connection to one another as well as to God Himself! Be praying that God would lead you in what you might share. We don't know about you, but we can't wait for Sunday morning to come!

We love you all! (Speaking for Brandi too...) Pastor Mark