Church Requel Blog - Writings of Mark Pierce

Serving Meals To The Hungry! Post Covid!

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

My youngest daughter sent out a post to our extended family this morning asking what everyone was doing this weekend. I found myself so happy to be able to answer: "We are feeding the hungry in our neighborhood at church Saturday night!" How cool is that!? This will be our first time to use our kitchen and fellowship hall / basement in over a year... since pre-Covid!

So let's not take anything for granted! We appreciate Don Angel for taking the leadership of this event. Volunteers should show up at the church by 4pm. We begin serving food at 5pm. We are usually all cleaned up, finished and walking out the door by 6:30 pm. It's a great opportunity to be the hands and feet of Jesus!

This month we are serving twice as much as normal! We have also volunteered to serve the hungry a lunch meal downtown this coming Monday. The meal is scheduled for 11am. If you would like to volunteer you should report at the church by 10am. We will bag lunches and then take them to the pavilion at 10:45. There usually are between 60 and 100 people who come to eat lunch. The name of the organization we are partnering with is "People Helping People." We are the people in that title... Ha! I've always thought that the ones helped the most are the one helping others!

Worship On Sunday Morning. We will begin our worship with a wonderful new song, "By The Spirit," written by Pat Barrett.  The song is perfect for our theme of serving others through strength. The Biblical term for this is meekness. Yes, it takes strength to be meek and it takes strength to serve others! We do not find this strength within ourselves, but within the Holy Spirit. 

"No weapon against me, Your Spirit within me, my help is from the Lord! In joy and in sorrow, today and tomorrow, my help is from the Lord!"

Aren't those words the perfect way to begin our worship on Sunday? We'll also sing "Dwell In The House" by Yours Truly, "Love The Lord" by Lincoln Brewster, and "Your Grace Is Enough" by Chris Tomlin and Matt Maher - all perfect songs to compliment our Meek Not Weak theme of the day.

Mike and Leanna will be reading our Scripture. Brandi will sing a special song for us, "Into The Sea (It's Gonna Be Ok)" by Tasha Layton. Brandi will also lead our communion time together. Brian will lead our prayer time.

How To Watch Online. Some of you I will "see" online. We attempt to make each Sunday's worship service available on Facebook and on YouTube. You can watch on Facebook by going to our Church Requel page, https://www.facebook.com/ChurchRequel/. You can watch on YouTube by clicking on this link, https://youtu.be/sPtp75ZfVek.

Sermon Notes In Bible App. Here's one more way I've tried to make Sunday's sermon practical and helpful. I have published it for you in your Bible App. If you open your YouVersion Bible app, then click on the "More" button in the bottom menu bar, then click on "Events" - about halfway down the page. From there, search for Church Requel. You'll see all my notes as I've worked on them this week. Some of you learn best by reading - so here is your opportunity. You could also just click on this link to see it in your browser - http://bible.com/events/48713662.

Sure hope this email finds you and yours doing well. And I hope you can join us one way or the other this weekend. Lots of opportunities! Could you do me a favor? Could you pass this email along to someone else who could benefit from our church's worship experience Sunday morning? They will thank you. And so will I! Blessings and love! Pastor Mark

Regarding Comfort - Sunday Morning

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

Friday has become my second favorite day. Like most of you, I wake up on Friday mornings and think TGIF.

However, I think I'm going to start thinking TGIS on Sunday mornings. I just LOVE Sundays. That's the morning I get to spend time with all of you!

Some of you I see in person. I arrive at 8am and I have to say I really love it now that Don and Stephenie are living in the Chome. When I arrive at Church Requel, the doors and windows are already opened and so inviting!!! Don even has the coffee already brewing!

The rest of the praise band arrives at 9am. It's just such a pleasant time. Lots of hugs and catching up on the past week.

A few of you have figured out that you don't have to wait until the official start to the worship service at 11am. You too can come to the party early. The praise team will be practicing the morning's songs, but there are plenty of folks with whom you may visit. There's usually plenty of coffee and snacks to go around too.

How To Watch Online. Some of you I will "see" online. We attempt to make each Sunday's worship service available on Facebook and on YouTube. You can watch on Facebook by going to our Church Requel page, https://www.facebook.com/ChurchRequel/. You can watch on YouTube by clicking on this link, https://youtu.be/qR3VRQzj9yM.

2nd Beatitude - Regarding Comfort. This coming Sunday our sermon will focus on Matthew 5:4 -

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted."

We will make liberal use of the RE prefix in this sermon. For those of you who are mourning in one way or another, consider Sunday's sermon as God's message back to you... If God was sending you an email, the subject header would read, RE: Comfort.

We will talk about how we realize that God is with me, even when I am mourning. We'll talk a little bit about how to release the hurt that we may be experiencing. Finally we'll talk about how to rely upon God during our mourning. I've really tried to make this Sunday's sermon a practical and helpful time together.

Here's one more way I've tried to make Sunday's sermon practical and helpful. I have published it for you in your Bible App. If you open your YouVersion Bible app, then click on the "More" button in the bottom menu bar, then click on "Events" - about halfway down the page. From there, search for Church Requel. You'll see all my notes as I've worked on them this week. Some of you learn best by reading - so here is your opportunity. You could also just click on this link to see it in your browser - http://bible.com/events/48709624

Upcoming Neighborhood Meal Dates. We will be serving the Neighborhood Meal here in our own church building on Saturday, June 12th at 5pm. (Volunteers should come at 4pm.) The following Monday, on June 14th, we will be serving a lunch downtown at 11am. Volunteers should arrive by 10am. More details to come, but get these dates on your calendar now. We're hoping everyone can serve at least one of these opportunities. There are sign-in sheets in the lobby of Church Requel. If you come, would you please sign up so we have an idea of upon whom we can depend?  Thank you Don Angel for taking the lead for us!

The Songs We Sing And Other Special Stuff! Here are the songs we plan to sing this Sunday morning: "Sing Wherever I Go" by We The Kingdom; "No Sweeter Name" by Kari Jobe; "WayMaker" by Leeland; "See A Victory" by Elevation Worship; and "There's Nothing That Our God Can't Do" by Passion.

Jack and Cheryl Buckley from Louisa, Virginia will be joining us remotely. Jack will use that sweet tenor voice of his to sing a special song to us. Cheryl will read our Scripture Reading for us.

And Also Special... Steve Thoman will reprise his role as "announcement guy" to remind us of what's coming up this summer. He and Brandi have worked out a special video you won't want to miss!

That wraps up this week's Church Requel newsletter. If you have read this far... THANK YOU! Could you do us one more favor? Why not forward this to a friend, who could use some encouragement this coming Sunday morning? Love you all much! Hope to see you Sunday! Pastor Mark

Spiritual Lessons From Toys-R-Us

Good Friday morning Church Requel! 

Do you remember shopping at Toys-R-Us? When our kiddos were tiny tots, Mary Kay and I would make our annual pilgrimage to our Toys-R-Us store. It was a big deal! It felt like walking through Santa's giant outlet store. Every toy imaginable was there for the taking...

Well not taking... buying! It always cost a lot for that trip, which was why we only made it once a year!

Toys-R-Us was arranged for children's eyes! It wasn't like certain adult beverage stores where the most expensive stuff is on the top shelf. No no no! Toys-R-Us had the audacity to put the toys right at eye level - child eye level. Little walkers' toys near the bottom, teenager toys near the top, and for the toddlers sitting in the cart - cart eye level!!!

Mom and Dad had to be tricky and make a swing back around for the Santa toys. I always got that duty and left Mary Kay to handle the kiddos. Yep, I got the best of THAT arrangement.

Why the reminiscence about Toys-R-Us? Because in 2018 they went through one of the greatest historical bankruptcies in business history. Parents could shop so much easier online - no more in-person family visits to Santa's Outlet Store! 

This is one time when yours truly has a unique perspective to offer in this Sunday's sermon. Businessman. Pastor. Dad. I hope you can be a part of it this Sunday morning. And unlike Toys-R-Us, it's okay with me if you come in person or if you watch online! Ha!

How To Watch Online. We will make this Sunday's worship service available on Facebook and on YouTube. You can watch on Facebook by going to our Church Requel page, https://www.facebook.com/ChurchRequel/. You can watch on YouTube by clicking on this link, https://youtu.be/eGtoedDGtDw.

Memorial Day - We Remember. We welcome both Vanessa and Don Causley from Devon, England to help lead our worship this coming Sunday.

Vanessa will be singing a special song for us.

Don has taken the time to remember our fallen heroes. I think you'll all appreciate the British perspective this Sunday. (Hint - it's pretty much the same - we all owe a debt to our servicemen and women that we can never repay.)

Thank you both, Don and Vanessa, for making this coming Sunday morning extra special for all of us.

Upcoming Neighborhood Meal Dates. We will be serving the Neighborhood Meal here in our own church building on Saturday, June 12th at 5pm. (Volunteers should come at 4pm.) The following Monday, on June 14th, we will be serving a lunch downtown at 11am. Volunteers should arrive by 10am. More details to come, but get these dates on your calendar now. We're hoping everyone can serve at least one of these opportunities. There are sign-in sheets in the lobby of Church Requel. If you come, would you please sign up so we have an idea of upon whom we can depend?  Thank you Don Angel for taking the lead for us!

The Songs We Plan To Sing. I love being a part of the praise team on Sundays. The two hours BEFORE the worship service Sundays at 11am are two of the best hours of the week for me. Just so you know, you all are more than welcome to come early and watch the fun. There's usually coffee and donuts too... just sayin'!

We have some new challenges this Sunday, but none of the songs are new ones - you'll know and love them all! Here is the list: "Your Love Never Fails" by Jesus Culture; "Broken Hallelujah" by The Afters; "Evidence" by Josh Baldwin; "Great Things" by Phil Wickham; and wrapping it up Sunday - "God's Not Dead" by Newsboys. (That's a fun one to sing!)

I want to give a special shout out to Brett Angel, who has been practicing each week with us for the past two months. He has been totally dedicated to playing the guitar in our Sunday morning praise band. You probably don't know this, but he has also been showing up each Thursday night for a special practice just to get caught up. Let him know how much you appreciate his dedication!

Share The Good News! I know I'm biased as the pastor of your church. But I just gotta say that I think you all are doing some great things! You are living a community life loving God and loving one another! And it comes through in a big way during our Sunday morning worship experiences. Let's not keep this good news to ourselves. Let's tell others!

If you're in Mansfield, come to church and bring a friend with you! If you're watching online, share the link so someone else can watch too. Or send them a copy of this weekly email newsletter. There are so many people out there who could use the encouragement of your fellowship!

Hope to "see" you all Sunday morning! Love you - each and every one! Pastor Mark

This Sunday Begins New Series - "Blessed Anyways"

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

Blink once and you'll miss it. What am I talking about? Springtime in Ohio. Remember how I was saying last week about how perfect the weather has been here? Well... no more of that! High temps today at 89 degrees F - a new record high temp. Wow! Aren't you glad the guys in our church installed the screen windows!? You fellows know who you are! Thank you!!!

New Sermon Series Begins This Sunday. I'm really excited to tell you about this new series of talks I am planning to give over the remainder of this Spring and going into Summer. We will be considering the Beatitudes at the beginning of Christ's Sermon on the Mount, found in Matthew 5:1-12. 

The title of our first sermon is "Upside Down World." When I read the Beatitudes I'm reminded of the Myrtle Beach Upside Down attraction. When you walk into the room, you're standing on the ceiling and all the furniture is upside down on the floor above you. When I read the beatitudes I realize that the Kingdom of Heaven is very different - upside down - from the way we are accustomed to living. Of course I quickly realize that it's not Heaven that's upside down... it's our world!

As a professional communicator I know the value of the first words I share in a sermon. What I say in those first 60 seconds will either grab the attention of my congregants or will cause them to check out. Certainly Jesus knew this even better than me. So how did he begin his most famous sermon ever?

"Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth."

I'm going to share a confession with you. I hope that's ok with you. Who knows... maybe you have felt the same as me? I've never been too wild about being poor in spirit, mournful or meek.  Yet this is how Jesus begins his sermon explaining how life was meant to be lived. Say what?

I think there is a whole lot to be learned from these first 12 verses of Matthew 5 and I hope you'll join me. I'm not coming to you as an expert, but rather as a fellow journeyer.  Together we'll attempt to grasp what Jesus had in mind then and now for those of us who name Christ as Savior and Lord.

How To Watch Online. We will make this Sunday's worship service available on Facebook and on YouTube. You can watch on Facebook by going to our Church Requel page, https://www.facebook.com/ChurchRequel/. You can watch on YouTube by clicking on this link, https://youtu.be/vvwkZvDaVjM.

Upcoming Neighborhood Meal Dates. We will be serving the Neighborhood Meal here in our own church building on Saturday, June 12th at 5pm. (Volunteers should come at 4pm.) The following Monday, on June 14th, we will be serving a lunch downtown at 11am. Volunteers should arrive by 10am. More details to come, but get these dates on your calendar now. We're hoping everyone can serve at least one of these opportunities. Thank you Don Angel for taking the lead for us!

The Songs We'll Be Singing Sunday. We plan to kick off our Sunday worship service with a brand new song by Phil Wickham called, "House Of The Lord." It's such an uplifting song! Make sure to check it out! Lots of energy! We'll also be singing "Ever Be" by Bethel, "Control" by Tenth Avenue North, "Raise A Hallelujah" by Bethel, "More To Come" by Passion, and "The Reason" by Unspoken.

I don't know about you, but I'm loving the dedication of our praise team to leading our worship with voices and instruments. A little birdie has told me that they are planning a benefit concert on the front lawn of the church on Saturday July 24th! Watch for more details to come!

Back to Sunday... Marci will be reading our Scripture (so good to have her back with us!) and Brandi will be leading our prayer time together. I am looking forward to sharing communion with all of you!

That wraps up this week's edition of the Church Requel newsletter. Remember to contact me or Brandi if you would like to participate in our worship service by singing or playing an instrument or reading Scripture or sharing announcements. It doesn't matter whether you live here in Ohio or somewhere far away! We've discovered this year that on Sunday mornings, we are all close together! Can't wait to "see" you this Sunday.

Love you all much, Pastor Mark

How To Make Good Choices - This Sunday!

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

This Sunday we're going to talk about how to make good choices. I know that you would expect me to say (and I will say) that we should obey what the Bible instructs us. That's true. And that's a great starting point.

But there are lots of choices we make in life about things that the Bible doesn't specifically address. What then? This Sunday I will be reviewing with you the five ways I go about trying to make good decisions in my life. I'm not saying I've always done this perfectly, but these five questions I ask myself during major decisions have served me well. I think they could be beneficial for you too.

One more thing - since we are now in graduation season, this seems like an excellent topic for our young people. I highly recommend that you make this sermon a priority for your children and grandchildren to hear. They will thank you in the long run.

How To Watch Online. We will make this Sunday's worship service available on Facebook and on YouTube. You can watch on Facebook by going to our Church Requel page, https://www.facebook.com/ChurchRequel/. You can watch on YouTube by clicking on this link, https://youtu.be/0UHsf26s-wA.

Upcoming Neighborhood Meal Dates. Isn't it great that our mask mandates have been removed here in the U.S.? Yay! That will make it a lot easier to serve meals to the hungry in our neighborhoods. Last week I shared a couple dates that were incorrect. We will be serving the Neighborhood Meal here in our own church building on Saturday, June 12th at 5pm. (Volunteers should come at 4pm.) The following Monday, on June 14th, we will be serving a lunch downtown. More details to come, but get these dates on your calendar now. We're hoping everyone can serve at least one of these opportunities. Thank you Don Angel for taking the lead for us!

Announcements Are Back! With the mask mandates now removed, we hope we can start having more social and service opportunities. That means weekly announcements. Would you like to be one of our announcement guys or gals? Each week we hope to share announcements with a fun, short video. If you are willing to do this sometime, let Brandi know. She will get you the announcements in plenty of time and then you can record yourself or your family sharing these announcements for our Sunday service!

Same With Bible Readings. We often have Scripture readings too on Sunday morning. We would love to have you record yourself with one of these Bible readings so we can play it during a Sunday morning service. Let Brandi know if you are willing to do this!

Sunday Music. Here are the songs we plan to sing together this Sunday morning: "Christ Our Glory" by Sovereign Grace Music; "Battle Belongs" by Phil Wickham; "The Whole Earth" by Gateway Worship; "Build My Life" by Housefires; and "Praise His Name, Praise His Name" by Yours Truly.

That wraps up this week's Church Requel newsletter. For those of you in Mansfield - get out there and enjoy God's beautiful outdoors today. Sunny and 70 degrees. Nothing quite so beautiful as Ohio in May!

Love you all much, Pastor Mark

Fresh Start This Sunday!

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

After the Covid year we have all endured, how many of you would like a FRESH START? That will be the topic of our sermon - "From Failure To Fresh Start." The one thing we ALL have in common is failure. I'm so thankful that God doesn't leave us to our failures, no matter how many or how massive. He gives us - each and every one - a fresh start in life. This Sunday we'll talk about five possible causes for failure (five out of so many more possibilities!) and then we will consider 4 steps to get a fresh start in life.

I'm betting that everyone you know - family and friends alike - could really benefit from Sunday's worship service and our talk on Fresh Start. Why not share the streaming link with them? You and they can watch the stream in two ways - Facebook and YouTube.

For Facebook, just share our FB page and tell them to tune in at 11am EDT Sunday. Here is the link for our Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/ChurchRequel

For YouTube, here is the link for this coming Sunday morning - https://youtu.be/GQ2nQhw2wPk If you click on the link now, you'll have the option to set a reminder. This is really cool! Your device will remind you or your friends to join early enough to catch the whole service. 

I want to also say a big THANK YOU to Leanna Perdue, who manages our online stream each Sunday morning. She is the one who makes sure that your comments and prayer requests are added into the stream. Also this Sunday, Leanna and her husband, Mike, will be reading our Scripture for us!

FRESH START back to Church too! For those of you in Mansfield (I have to say that now since so many worship with us in other parts of the world), but for those of you nearby - consider joining us in person. More and more of you are coming back. Speaking as one member of the team, who has worshiped primarily by looking into a camera over this past year, it is so wonderful to see you all worshiping in person with us.

Also - I believe your coming and worshiping enthusiastically aids those who watch online. It's one thing to see those worship leaders on the platform worshiping enthusiastically, it's another thing entirely to be able to see those in the pews worshipping just as enthusiastically. We could say in this sense that we all are worship leaders!!!

Stepping Up To Feed The Hungry. Over the past couple of weeks, we've received both good news and sobering news when it comes to the topic of hunger in America. The latest news tells us that with the most recent stimulus checks, the percentage of Americans going hungry has dropped. Even so, the percentage of families with children who are hungry remains above 11%.

We so appreciate Don Angel, who is stepping up to lead our food bank and meal ministries. We will learn more in the coming weeks, but here is what he told me this past week: (1) First off, thanks to all of you who have been so generous with your donations! This past week we received several additional large donations from many of you for our food pantry. (2) On Saturday, June 16th, we will be taking our turn at the Neighborhood Meal here at the Point of Grace. Volunteers should show up at 4pm. We begin serving at 5pm. We are usually finished by 6:30pm. (3) On Monday, June 18th, we will serve at the downtown lunch ministry and provide lunch for 50 to 100 folks who are hungry. More details to come about this opportunity to serve.

Thank you all for BOTH volunteering your time AND for your generous donations of needed supplies and food and finances. We can only do what we do because of your generosity!

Our Worship Songs For Mothers Day Sunday. Here are the songs we will be singing: "Open Up The Heavens" by Meredith Andrews; "Faithful Now" by Vertical Worship; "Praise Your Name" by Corey Voss; "Death Was Arrested" by North Point Worship; "Truth Be Told" by Matthew West; and "Stand In Your Love" by Josh Baldwin.

I so look forward to worshiping with all of you this Sunday morning! It has become my favorite time of the week - the only time I have the opportunity to connect with many of you. I know you feel the same as many of you are coming early and staying late. I LOVE IT! Let's keep the party going!

Love you all much, Pastor Mark

The New Normal - Does It Make A Difference?

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

This week we have heard quite a bit about the "new normal." When the media says the new normal, they are refe20ring to the global pandemic and whether or not we need to wear masks and socially distance from one another.

This week in my studies and preparation for Sunday's sermon, I came across the very first words Jesus used in his new ministry - what we might call his motto or his slogan. Consider that the eternal 2nd person of the Trinity had all of eternity to consider His first words. The human Jesus had 30 years to consider his first words. Here is what He said, according to Mark 1:15:

“The time has come. The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news.” Mark 1:15 NIV

Could it be that Jesus was describing the new normal for humanity? Ever since our banishment from the Garden of Eden, we have been separated from the kingdom of God. But now it has come near. What did Jesus mean by this? I'd love you to think about this between now and Sunday morning. (Hint: I don't think it is what we usually think it is!) More to the point for us - does the new normal according to Jesus make a difference in our daily lives?

Sunday's Worship Music. Can I just say it? Brandi has been on a roll with new music! If you ask her, she will tell you that it's not just her. Many folks have been coming up to her and asking her about this new song or that new song and wondering if we can sing it at Church Requel. This coming Sunday is no exception, with two new songs:

• "God So Loved" by We The Kingdom
• "Into the Sea (It's Gonna Be OK)" by Tasha Layton (NEW)
• "The Way (New Horizon)" by Pat Barrett
• "The More Of You I See" by Iron Bell Music (NEW)
• "Your Name Is Power" by Rend Collective

The Worship Stream. You can tune in to watch Church Requel's worship online by clicking onto our Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/ChurchRequel, or by watching on YouTube. Here is the YouTube link for this Sunday: https://youtu.be/Aqx3w8IyY4M.  Of course we would love for you to come to Church Requel too! More of you are starting to come back and it's wonderful to see the pews beginning to fill. (Though we have a long ways to go before we come close to being full - no problem with social distancing!)

Exciting News! Don and Stephenie and their young family are moving into the Chome! For those who don't know, the "Chome" is the new word that Paul came up with to describe "Church" and "Home." For several years, Paul lived in the Chome - the part of the church behind the front wall of the sanctuary (behind the platform).

This month Don and Stephenie are moving in and will live in the balcony area on the second floor of the Chome. That is great news for us as a church family because it gives us a contact person downtown at the church. Most of the ministry opportunities take place during the week and usually after business hours. Don is looking forward to being that contact person for Church Requel. It is one of the reasons he has taken on the task of coordinating the food pantry, because people come looking for food - but often we have no one present.

Of course there will be many other exciting ministry opportunities for us as well.

For example last night, Sheila came knocking on the door of the church. Some of you may remember Sheila attending our church from the homeless shelter - she could walk to our church from there. Last night she came and told Don that her husband - a veteran - had died the night before in the homeless shelter. Now because of Don and Stephenie being there, we have an opportunity to minister to this family in their time of need.

The next time you see Don and Stephenie, tell them how much you appreciate them and how much you want to support meeting the ministry needs of those who might seek him out. Keep praying for Don and his entire family. Even though he is the man on the scene, he cannot do it alone. 

I'm looking forward to seeing many of you at Church Requel this coming Sunday at 11am! Hope you can make it!

Love you much, Pastor Mark