Church Requel Blog - Writings of Mark Pierce

Surprises and More Surprises!

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

Thank you all for allowing Mary Kay and I to have a week’s vacation down at Myrtle Beach. We are extremely grateful for the time away. It’s gone by way too quickly. Bright and early tomorrow morning, we will begin the long drive back home. We are looking forward to being with you in person this coming Sunday morning!

Those of you who watch from afar may join us online using either Facebook Live or YouTube. Here is the YouTube link for this coming Sunday’s worship. https://youtu.be/UimJTjx6GZQ

Mary Kay and I were members of the online congregation last Sunday and - as a result - we were in for a wonderful surprise. As the worship service began, I texted Cheryl and asked her if the pew seat next to her was available. She wrote back and asked me where I was? I wrote her back saying I was on the 8th floor and sent her a picture of the Atlantic Ocean and beach. She wrote me back and said she was on the 2nd floor! I thought she was kidding, but it turns out that we were both at the beach at the same time and didn’t plan it or know it! Wow! God sure does have a way of getting his Church Requel children together!

Speaking of surprises… I cannot begin to thank you all enough for your Pastor Appreciation Month gift of the electric ukulele! Wow! Wow! Wow! I truly was blown away!  I am planning on playing it with the band this coming Sunday morning for the very first time. It should be loads of fun for all of us!

Speaking of the band, here are the songs we are planning to sing together this coming Sunday morning: “Build Your Kingdom Here” by Rend Collective; “This I Believe (The Creed)” by Hillsong; “The More Of You I See” by Iron Bell Music; “Next To Me” by Jordan Feliz; and (NEW) “Something Good” by Gateway Worship.

Our sermon Sunday morning is titled, “God’s Plan To Unite.” We will continue our study of Ephesians chapter 1. This time we’ll focus our attention on verses 8 and 9;

“He lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of His will, according to His purpose, which He set forth in Christ.”

Those who want a head start on the sermon can check out your Bible app under Events, or you can use this browser link. http://bible.com/events/48781642

I look forward to seeing all of you again Sunday morning! Love you much! Pastor Mark

Neighborhood Meal Saturday - Worship Sunday

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

This is going to be a great weekend for the church! Saturday night we get to provide our neighbors a warm, free meal. Sunday morning we can enjoy worship together.

Saturday - Those who wish to volunteer to serve at the Neighborhood Meal should be at the church by 4pm. We plan to serve the meal at 5pm. We are usually cleaned up and walking out the door by 6:30pm. Those who are able should also bring a dessert to serve to our neighbors. Many thanks to Don Angel for leading us in this endeavor.

Sunday Worship - We will enjoy worship together at 11am. If you are able, come in person and join us in person. Those who are unable to join us in person can watch online on either Facebook Live or on our YouTube channel.  Here is the link for the YouTube Worship Live Video Feed. https://youtu.be/RjdV2Br4HGQ

Here are the songs we plan to sing together Sunday morning: “Old Church Choir” by Zach Williams, “Reckless Love” by Cory Asbury, “Do It Again” by Elevation Worship, “Oceans” by Hillsong, and “Love Is The Reason” by Unspoken. Many thanks to Brandi for leading us in our worship!

Our sermon Sunday will continue my teaching from Ephesians 1. I have SO ENJOYED this teaching. We are deliberately taking it slow and focusing our attention on some hugely important concepts of how we identify ourselves as Christians. So far we have learned that we are blessed, we are chosen, and we are adopted. This Sunday we learn that we are also redeemed.  I look forward to focusing on just one verse, Ephesians 1:7

“In Him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespassses, according to the riches of his grace.”

Oh yeah, there is more than enough material there for one sermon, don’t you think? For those of you who would like a head start, you can read my sermon notes on your Bible app under “Events” or just go to this link. http://bible.com/events/48773354

These teachings have had such an impact on me personally, that I have written a song - which I will have the opportunity to share with you for the first time on Sunday, October 31st. I can’t wait. The name of the song is “When He Chose Me.” Here are the lyrics to the chorus:

I am chosen, I’m adopted,
I’m a child of the King!
I am holy, I am blameless
To this promise I cling
It’s not about deserving of
It’s all about my God above!
It’s all about my God’s great love
When He chose me!

I am praying that this song will also have a huge impact on you too as we learn to sing it together. In the meantime, I encourage you to live your life as a chosen, adopted, holy and blameless child of the King!

Love you all much! Pastor Mark

Yep, I'm Adopted... And So Are You!

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

As I write you this letter I'm looking out my dining room window and see nothing but clear skies. Wow! So blue! So bright! It's going to be a great day! How are you going to celebrate it?

So what's with the title to today's letter? You may be wondering about my adoption. Maybe you're wondering about your own. Well... I have the adoption papers right here:

"In love [God] predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will." Ephesians 1:5

This will be the topic of our conversation Sunday morning, and I must tell you that I cannot wait! This is such life-changing good news! Most of the time we just don't think about what all this means. I aim to change that Sunday morning. If you're at all like me, you just won't be able to stop thinking about it after our Sunday chat! Actually, we won't even be able to get it all in on one day... we'll be talking about the implications of this for the next three Sunday mornings!

Here are my sermon notes in the Bible app for this Sunday - http://bible.com/events/48773343

You might have noticed that Mary Kay and I were not physically with you in Mansfield last Sunday. We attended our niece Christy Anne's wedding in Southern Ohio Saturday evening. We so enjoyed our family and the wedding festivities.

Those of you who have been with Church Requel from the beginning will remember Christy came up many weekends to help us lead worship in those early years.

While we weren't with you physically in Mansfield, we most definitely worshiped with you online. It's really good for me to be on the other side of the camera every now and again to be able to see what it's like to watch online live Sunday mornings.

Maybe some of you online parishioners are already doing this, but if you're not - let me tell you about my online experience. I had my iPad propped up watching the worship service on YouTube while I had my phone occasionally texting Leanna. It really felt like we were worshiping together even though we were thousands of miles apart. Maybe some of you who worship online each week might get the contact information from those who are also online with you so you can develop your friendships a little more. Just an idea. Later that day I texted Leanna one last time and told her it felt like we went to church together that morning. She agreed!

Here is the link to the YouTube live worship video scheduled for Sunday at 11am EDT. https://youtu.be/5tWcoc9wfdI

These are the songs we'll be singing this Sunday: "Mercy House" by Wendy Kriegel (this is a Church Requel original written by one of our online parishioners!); "Waymaker" by Leeland; "Unstoppable God" by Elevation Worship; "Believe For It" by CeCe Winans; "Adoption" by Ghost Ship; and "More To Come" by Passion. Looks like it will be a super worship time. Thank you so much Brandi for arranging these for us!

One last note to you... I love how the Sequels,  our new student ministry, blasted off in its first month with Eddie Walker piloting. Wow!

If you know of a family with students who are not already attending church somewhere, invite them to come to Church Requel! They will thank you... and so will I! I love this photo of Eddie praying over our students. Don't you?

At the top of today's newsletter I talked about the blue skies and clear weather today. I believe this is true for Church Requel's opportunities right now as well. As a most famous man once quipped, the harvest is plentiful! So true!

Love you all much, Pastor Mark

Loving Our Community!

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

This morning I want to talk to you about our community! Isn’t it rich? This week we are in Mansfield, San Francisco, Louisa, Budleigh Salterton Devon, Pike Road, and Mason. We are many places, but one body of Christ. And I love our community. As I think about all of you I think back to Paul’s earlier message to another community:

“Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.” Colossians 3:16

Now - when I think of what makes for a great church - I don’t think of its size or its finances or its staff or even it’s ministries. I think of its community. I think of the message of Christ dwelling in the midst of this community RICHLY! Everything else follows: the teaching, the admonishing, the wisdom, the psalms, hymn and songs… the singing, the gratitude in hearts - all this flows from the message of Christ in our community.

Community is no longer about a place. Perhaps it never was. Maybe “place” has always been more a function of technology than location. Certainly the places possible prior to the automobile and modern roads were much more limited before the revolution in transportation technology. Yet the people of Christ found community where they could.

Now with the modern developments of the internet technology, why can we not see similar changes in how we find communities where the message of Christ dwells? This is more than just waxing philosophically or poetically. This connection we have to one another is limited only by the strength of our internet connections to one another. It doesn’t matter where we are.

It doesn’t even matter when we are. I’ve been impressed as the California girl gets up early for practice before the worship begins (6am her time) as I’ve been impressed with the British girl almost always being the first to log in each Sunday (5pm her time).

I love it that even our dear friends in Mansfield no longer have to miss a single second of worship time, even if they are confined to their houses, or their rooms, or their beds.

And as impressive as all those different “whens” of the live worship occur in our many time zones, our data tells us that many many more watch throughout the week at times of their own choosing. Who could have known?

We continue to think outside the box about the reach of this worship technology. This thinking takes us into surprising places… places like our nursery rooms downstairs at the church. We don’t have babies (at this time) like we used to, but we have families with children younger than 4th grade. What if we changed the label from “Nursery” to “Family Room” where one side would have comfortable sitting furniture for adults to watch the worship service going on upstairs and also streaming downstairs, while the other side of the family room was a place where the youngsters too young for our student ministry could play and  not have to be hushed by their parents?

Our worship service could be streamed not only across the Atlantic but also down the bottom of the stairs! Right now this is just a theoretical possibility, but I have a strong suspicion this will soon become reality.

Speaking of our children… I am also loving how quickly our student ministry has grown in just the first two weeks. Dave Repp, who has been praying regularly for years for this development walked downstairs to snap this photo of our newest staff member, Eddie Walker, teaching the 15 or so students who showed up for the Sequels last Sunday. Wow! What a blessing! Way to go Eddie! Let’s follow Dave Repp’s example and keep praying for God to add new families to our community!

Here are the songs we plan to sing this Sunday: “Run To the Father” by Cody Carnes; “What A Beautiful Name / Tremble” by Hillsong / Mosaic and mashed together by Brandi; “Lord I Need You” by Matt Maher; “Praise You In The Storm” by Casting Crowns; and “Praise Your Name” by Corey Voss. Thank you Brandi for all the work you do in making our worship experiences so wonderful!

We also continue to have our online community participate in our weekly worship experiences. This week Cheryl Buckley will share our announcements. She will bring us all up to date on the neighborhood meals, food pantry, and opportunities with our new student ministry. She will also talk to us about the Facebook Prayer Chain Group where Cheryl updates our prayer requests and praises on a weekly basis. I love her positive reminders to us along the way. Thanks Cheryl!

If you would like to watch the Sunday worship service on YouTube, here is the link. https://youtu.be/Km-JIyyBFRQ

The Christian life is good these days in the Requel Church! Yes! Amen! Blessed! And thank You! - Pastor Mark

God's Timely Choice

Good morning Church Requel!

What a beautiful morning we are enjoying in Mansfield today! Not a cloud in the sky! I say we should enjoy these days while we still can!

I am greatly looking forward to our time together this coming Sunday morning - whether you will be with us in person in Mansfield or whether you will be watching online with either YouTube or Facebook. I feel like we are going to enjoy our worship experience together. 

If you plan to watch online you can use this link on YouTube - https://youtu.be/noxqd87XuaU

Brandi has picked out some terrific worship songs for us to sing together: "Great Things" by Phil Wickham; "Cornerstone" by Hillsong; "(NEW) "Next To Me" by Jordan Feliz; "Who You Say I Am" by Hillsong; and "Good Good Father" by Chris Tomlin. We'll also sing our new student ministry exit song - "Walk On Water" by Elevation Rhythm.

Speaking of Student Ministry - Aren't you absolutely loving that our students now have a new ministry leader in Eddie Walker? We are working hard to make the investments necessary in technical equipment as well as in cleaning up the downstairs area for our students to enjoy! If you would enjoy being a part of this new, exciting ministry, talk to Eddie. You can choose to help out just one week a month or you can be an even more active volunteer - YOUR CHOICE! We have a place for you with the Sequels!

I'm also excited that this Sunday we get to hear from our online members - Mike and Leanna Perdue. They will be reading our Scripture reading and maybe just a little something more too! Come and see!

Our sermon Sunday morning will continue with our study of Ephesians 1. This chapter is so packed with goodness for our souls! This week our focus will be on verse 4. Maybe we'll even venture into the first few words of verse 5. If you read this verse down below, you'll see why we just have to take it slow:

"Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself." Ephesians 1:4-5a

Which of these words would have me quickly gloss over? Ha! What a great verse!!! What a great promise!!! If ever there was one election you would want to be chosen to win - it's this one!!!

If you would like a head start on reading Sunday's sermon in your Bible app, click on this link - http://bible.com/events/48764559

Let's gather together Sunday morning and rejoice together in worship and praise! Love you all much! Pastor Mark

John Baptized This Sunday! New Ephesians 1 Series!

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

The good news just keeps rolling our way at Church Requel. For the third week in a row we will be baptizing someone. This week’s baptism will be of John Vetter. Wow! I really love this guy! I love his enthusiasm for our Lord!

Last Sunday as I was preparing to preach the sermon, I casually mentioned that if anyone else wanted to be baptized to let me know and we could keep the baptism pool open for another week. Those words were hardly out of my mouth before John leaped to his feet and started waving his arms and said, “Me! Pastor Mark! Me! I want to be baptized next week!”

Ok John! You got it! This Sunday John Vetter will be baptized! I met with John after church Sunday and he immediately let me know that he really wanted to record a testimony video as well. So we went over his schedule. He goes to school all day. Then after school every day he has both football AND band rehearsals. That’s right! He plays on the football team and then at halftime he marches with the band (wearing his football uniform). How can you not just totally love this guy?

Anyway - he has no time available in his schedule to record a testimony video. So I grabbed a video camera and just recorded his testimony right there after church last Sunday. I promise you that you’re going to love it!

Wow! Baptisms three Sundays in a row. This is a first for me too! We often sing a song with the lyrics that God is on the move! Certainly appropriate for us right now at Church Requel!

The Songs We’ll Sing. With so much to celebrate in the life of our church right now, I believe it’s appropriate to sing even more than we usually do. Brandi and the praise band have prepared more than normal for us: “Father’s House” by Cory Asbury; “River of Life” by Mac Powell (our baptism song); “Ever Be” by Bethel; “House of the Lord” by Phil Wickham; NEW - “Walk On Water” by Elevation Rhythm (our new student ministry song); “Broken Hallelujah” by The Afters; and “Nobody” by Casting Crowns. Come prepared to celebrate and worship this Sunday!!!

Here is a link for those of you who want to watch the service online. You can watch on Facebook Live or YouTube. Here is the YouTube link. https://youtu.be/PUQLPgygG84

In addition to all this music, Vanessa has prepared a special song for us and Don will be reading our Scripture and sharing some thoughts on his own baptism traditions from the Church of England. I just love the diversity of the Kingdom of God as well as the growing diversity within our own Church Requel. I was very much touched by Don and Vanessa and their spiritual fervor this week and I know you will be too.

Student Ministry Begins This Sunday! We are so excited about our new student ministry, The Sequels, led by Eddie Walker, starting off this week. Last Sunday 16 of our young people joined Eddie for putt putt and for lunch. We are hoping for a good turnout this Sunday morning for their first lesson time with Eddie! If you know of a student in your family or circle of friends, please tell them about this new opportunity at Church Requel!

New Sermon Series - Ephesians One. I’m also excited to kick off a new sermon series this Sunday studying the tremendous truths we learn about our relationship with God from Ephesians Chapter 1.  Sunday we begin with the mind boggling idea of God’s blessings coming down to us being more than we can imagine or even process! But we’re going to make a good attempt at it this Sunday! Can I just say this about the sermon… You will be blessed! Ha!

For those of you who want a head start and would like to read the sermon notes, you can find them under “Events” in your Bible app. Or you can click on this link: http://bible.com/events/48761165

I am humbled by God’s working within our congregation. And I’m humbled by all of you who are saying “yes” to God and His purposes for Church Requel. I told some members of my own family last week that I feel like I’ve got ahold of a tiger by the tail and I’m just trying to hold on! None of this is my doing at all. None of my plans. None of my efforts. It’s all God’s Holy Spirit moving amongst us! Let’s hang in there together and see where God is leading us!

Love you all much! Pastor Mark

Amy Will Be Baptized! Sequels Go Golfing!

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

Wow! Do I have some news for you! Amy Watson came up to me during our potluck meal this past Sunday and told me that she wants to be baptized too! Yep, you could have knocked me over with a feather. She continued to tell me that she has felt this way for awhile now. I asked her if she'd like to do it this next Sunday and she immediately answered, "Yes!" Good for you Amy!!!    

So... this has me wondering... Who else wants to be baptized? If you know Jesus as your Savior but haven't yet been baptized, I encourage you to take this same step as Amy. Let me know. We can make it happen for you this Sunday. Or we can keep the baptism pool open for another week and baptize you next Sunday!

Let The Sequels Begin! The Sequels is the new name for our student ministry. I'm happy to report that this week Eddie Walker takes the reins of our Church Requel student ministry! Welcome to the CR Staff! Woohoo!

Sunday after church our students (and anyone who wants to join) will kick off our new student ministry this year by going out to putt putt after church. The cost of putt putt and the cost of ice cream is covered. Just head over to Kelly's on Main Street at 1pm. See more details below.

The following Sunday - September 12th - will be our first Sunday morning student class. Eddie has been busy getting everything prepared. I'm truly excited for our young people... and for Eddie.

Sunday Morning Student Ministry Dedication.  In fact I'm so excited about our new student ministry that this will be the topic of our sermon conversation this Sunday. I want to tell you how God has worked in the life of Church Requel to bring about this new ministry. It's a great story and I can't wait to share it with you. For those of you who wish to read my sermon ahead of time, you can find it in your Bible app under Events as well as here - http://bible.com/events/48758390. Afterward I want to bring Eddie up front and have us all gather round him and dedicate him and our students for God's blessing.

The Songs We Sing. I am also looking forward to our worship time together this Sunday morning, Here are the songs we plan to sing: "Death Was Arrested" by North Point Worship; "See A Victory" by Elevation Worship; "Champion" by Bethel Music; "King Of Love" by Jesus Culture; and (NEW) Believe For It" by CeCe Winans. 

I can't wait to hear our ladies sing this new song. I really feel that this song captures what we have experienced at Church Requel this summer: "Move the immovable, break the unbreakable, from the impossible, we'll see a miracle, God we believe for it!"

For those of you who will be watching online, you can watch live either on Facebook or on YouTube. Here is the YouTube link - https://youtu.be/baK3c11XNKY.

I love you all more than you can know! Hope to see you one way or the other this Sunday morning. Pastor Mark