Church Requel Blog - Writings of Mark Pierce

Cure For The Covid Blues

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

Recently there has been much political controversy over a particular drug touted as a possible cure for the Covid-19 pandemic. I won't weigh in on that issue, but I do believe I know the cure for the Covid Blues.

You know about the Covid Blues - that feeling that no matter what you do or where you go, the Covid virus is looking for you and sure to find you. It's a feeling that weighs you down with concern and worry about your family and your friends. On top of everything else the Covid Blues sprinkles controversy and division over us at the very time when we need to come together in unity and resolve.

How do we stand up to the Covid Blues?

This week I received a video from our good friends, Donald and Vanessa Causley. The Causleys, who live in England, have been worshiping with us via Facebook Live for a couple years now. They became quite active in our church during the days of Covid lockdown and Zoom worship. The Causleys also have friends who gather with them for a weekly Bible study and they often use Church Requel sermons for their study. 

The video the Causley's sent me was the result of a request from Brandi for Vanessa to sing and for Donald to read Scripture. We didn't tell them what to sing or what Scriptures to read. As some of you know, without direct selection guidance, the picking out of Scripture or music can become an overwhelming task since there is so much from which to choose.

Don and Vanessa made it a matter of prayer. What resulted was clearly the act of the Holy Spirit in answer to their prayers. I'll not tell you more now because I want their video to have the same impact upon you all as it did on Brandi and me. I will tell you this - after watching their video - I felt the Holy Spirit also moving upon me and decided to make their Scripture selections the basis upon which I would preach this Sunday.

So back to the question: How do we cure the Covid Blues?

I believe the answer can be found in worship. Specifically - and here is my thesis for our sermon this Sunday: One excellent way to deal with the turmoil and pain of the Covid crisis is when we choose to worship the Lord God with gladness, in Spirit and in truth. Here's hoping you tune in Sunday morning for the details!

In addition to the music provided by Vanessa, the Church Requel band is working on six different worship songs, which we hope will guide you closer to our Lord Jesus. Here's what we'll be singing Sunday morning: "Open Up The Heavens" by Meredith Andrews, "No Longer Slaves" by Bethel, "Love The Lord" by Lincoln Brewster, "Evidence" by Josh Baldwin, "Faithful Now" by Vertical Worship, and "God So Loved" by We The Kingdom. Wow! I'm pretty excited about Sunday morning. How about you?

In addition we will pray together, give together, and take communion together. So whether you are able to come and be with us in person or whether you worship with us online - we look forward to our worship together experience this Sunday morning at 11am EST. Hope to "see" you there!

Love you all! Pastor Mark

This Sunday - The Nike Advantage

Good Friday Church Requel!

I pray that this is a GREAT DAY for each one of you! I can't wait to visit with you on Sunday morning at 11am EST. We have a special theme for our morning. I'm calling it the Nike Advantage. Bet you didn't know that Nike is very Biblical. I encourage you to read 1 John 5:1-5, where you will find Nike repeated over and over! What's that, you say? You don't see Nike anywhere? Guess you better tune in on Sunday then!

We have lots more going on Sunday morning too. Wendy will be leading us into Communion with her voice and ukulele singing "Grace That Is Greater." It's really powerful. Especially when she tells you about the acapella church in which she grew up.

Karen will read our Scripture for us on Sunday - 1 John 5:1-5.

Ken will lead our prayer time together.

After the sermon on the Nike Advantage, Yours Truly has also prepared another special song to go along with our day's theme. The song is titled, "Champion" by Bethel Music.

Our band will be leading us in lots of great singing too! Here are the songs we've picked out for you to sing Sunday morning: "Only A God Like You" by Tommy Walker, "Oceans" by Hillsong, "Old Church Choir" by Zach Williams, and "Glorious Day" by Passion.

Looks like good things are happening at Church Requel! Whether you come in person or tune in via Facebook - we will enjoy the Presence of our Savior and Lord Jesus together! It's going to be so... NIKE!

What Is Your Job Description, Christian?

Good Friday afternoon, dear Church Requel family!

I always look forward to writing you. It gives us the opportunity to consider the latest happenings with one another.

I am well aware that our Richland County has climbed to a more dangerous level of Coronavirus outbreak and that at 6pm today, we are all required to wear masks in public. Several of you have reached out to me asking what this means for us as a church family? Well... as far as meeting together Sunday morning - nothing has changed. We already ask each of you to wear masks when you come to church and to socially distance yourselves while in church. If you would be so loving to your fellow church goers to wear your mask and socially distance, we should be able to continue to meet with one another.

For those who continue to watch from home on Facebook - we are completely committed to offering our worshiping together on the live video feed. We experienced some problems with the feed midway through last Sunday, right after the sermon. We don't know if the problem was our end with our WiFi or with Facebook. Hopefully this Sunday will go better for us with our online worship. We SO APPRECIATE all of you who continue to offer your special videos for us to enjoy on Sunday morning.

As far as I'm concerned, it doesn't matter whether you are with us physically or with us virtually - you are with us! That's what counts! You are all a vital part of our Church Requel family!

I am very excited about our worship experience together this coming Sunday morning. I have asked Brian to continue to develop his teaching gift and give us a good Word from the Lord this Sunday morning. I've had the privilege of reading his sermon already and I can promise you it is his best yet! He asks us the question, what is our job description? I know it will challenge your hearts.

We will sing "Everyday" by Hillsong, "Do It Again" by Elevation Worship, "Stand In Your Love" by Josh Baldwin, "Loved Moved First" by Casting Crowns and "My Story" by Big Daddy Weave - another nice blend of old and new. Thank you, Brandi, for keeping our worship services so interesting! As far as I know - the entire band will be present Sunday morning too!

Allow me to close this newsletter with a couple encouraging stories. First - I discovered that we have had mail waiting at the church for about six weeks. I didn't know it was there or I would have gone looking for it. (I will now each week.) The reason I tell you this is that several of you have sent in your tithes and offerings and these will be deposited into our offering baskets this coming Sunday morning. Thanks so much for your faithfulness. And sorry if your checks have not cleared as fast as they should have. But what a blessing I received when I saw them!

Second - and also so encouraging - I received a phone call from Mark Strong this past week. He told me that he has to work every other Sunday morning, but on the Sundays he doesn't have to work - he wanted to volunteer at the church. I told him we have several volunteer jobs, including both tech booth and cleaning, that need doing each Sunday at 9am. He told me that he would show up every Sunday in which he was available at 9am and then just fill in wherever we needed him most. What a great attitude!!! Anyone want to join in with him this Sunday at 9am? We do appreciate our volunteers. Thanks Mark!

For everyone else... I hope to connect with you this coming Sunday morning at 11am... whether it is in person at the church or whether it is online on Facebook. Can't wait! How about you?

Love you all much, Pastor Mark

Summer Heat - God's Love For Us!

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

We sure have been broiling so far this summer! So hot! So dry! I hear thunderstorms are in our future, but the summer heat shall remain. And you know what? I, for one, will NOT complain. The memories of the cold winter are still too frosty fresh in my mind. So I say we do what we can to enjoy. Get out for an early morning walk or run or bike ride. Sit in a park as the sun rises and listen to the birds sing. Meet a friend for a picnic breakfast.

It's easy to be down with Covid-19 bad news combined with our political and social unrest. Yet we have so much good news to cheer our hearts. I've found my early mornings with 1 John to be a good reminder of the good news of God's love for us. I am blown away that He chose to love me, not the other way round. My task - and yours - is to ABIDE in God's love.

Really, that task of remaining in God's love shouldn't be a challenging one for us. His love is so broad, so large, so high, so deep, so comprehensive (I could go on, but I never claimed to be the Apostle Paul), that we find we have to work to escape the FEELING of God's love. We never escape His love. We are His children. But I do believe that we can choose to ignore the greatness of His overwhelming love and further choose to focus our attention elsewhere - Covid, civil unrest, politics, poor health, financial difficulties, relationship disappointments, job challenges. Really, the list could go on and on.

The question we must ask ourselves, and the one I've been asking myself this week, is what do I choose to focus my attention upon? It feels to me as if the bad news quite literally wants to scream for my attention. Have you noticed? Everything is a NEWS FLASH. Everything is RIGHT NOW. All the news is BREAKING NEWS.

What if we gave the same attention to 1 John? NEWS FLASH! God IS love! RIGHT NOW! God loves us even as we are sinners! BREAKING NEWS! God has made a way for our sins to be atoned for! THIS JUST IN! We are hearing about something called "propitiation!" We are scrambling our reporters to uncover more!

As I have been preparing our sermon this week, the little doubter that sits on my shoulder tells me that there's nothing NEW here. Really? Another sermon about God's love? Yes, even pastor's have the little doubter that sits on their shoulder. But the Spirit inside of me reminds me that God's love IS NEW and fresh and abundant every day. The question for me and you is where do we REMAIN? In God's love? Or anywhere else?

1st John is a small letter. Only takes ten or fifteen minutes to read from beginning to end. I challenge you to read it this weekend - before Sunday. Pray that the Lord gives you a mindset to read it as if you've never seen it before. Make it personal. Imagine the Lord Himself reminding you of just how much He loves you. Then ask yourself, 'Why would I ever want to live anywhere else rather than right in the middle of God's love?'

We have some great things planned for this Sunday morning. Fittingly the band will actually open with the new song, "God So Loved" by We The Kingdom. (Bet you didn't see that one coming. Ha!) We'll take communion together right after while we are still in the glow of those glorious lyrics. Bethany Pierce has prepared some special instructions for our communion together this week. 

We will enjoy LOTS more music this week all helping us focus on God's amazing love for us including, "Praise Him Forever" by Chris Tomlin, "The Way" by Pat Barrett, "The Blessing" by Kari Jobe and friends, "Ever Be" by Bethel, and "My Feet Are On The Rock" by I Am They. What a great mix of songs!

I surely do hope I might see most of you this Sunday morning at 11am. For those who cannot be with us in person, we understand completely and will continue to stream our worship service over Facebook on our Church Requel page. Love you all much! Pastor Mark

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