Church Requel Blog - Writings of Mark Pierce

Lessons From Concert Weekend

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

How are you doing this morning? Seriously! If you're like me, you're still just a bit overwhelmed. Still just a little overflowing with God's grace.  Still realizing just how much God blessed our concert weekend six days ago. At first there was exhaustion from all the effort. Even then the after glow was pretty amazing. As I've been able to rest up and think more deeply about everything that happened last week, I'm even more amazed.

Sunday morning I'd like to tell you the stories of the lessons we affirm from concert weekend!

This will take me two weeks. I couldn't fit it all into one sermon. Six lessons. Two 3-point sermons. You're going to want to hear this. Some of it will be a surprise, so I won't tell you all here. (However, the truly curious can check out this Sunday's sermon notes here: http://bible.com/events/48739773.)

Writing these two sermons brought me such great joy and revelation of how God is working through Church Requel. We have something truly different here and it appears God is working uniquely through us! It's just so special. Multiple times, as I was writing, I had to just stop and sit and sometimes pray, sometimes marvel. There's so much strife and division within the world, and sadly too within many evangelical churches today. We are so fortunate to be blessed the way we have been. All glory and thanksgiving to our LORD!

Certainly one of the wonderful things to watch last week was how much you all worked together to bring this event off in such a grand way. The work truly does go so much more quickly and easily when so many of you are involved. From the bottom of my heart, I want to say "thank you!"

Not only did you give your time and effort, but you gave from your pocketbooks to Reaching Out Homeless Shelter. I'm not going to tell you here the total amount - we must save some surprises for Sunday morning - but I can tell you that you'll be blown away. I know I was!

I was even more blown away by Jason's testimony during our halftime break. How could you not weep when you heard that at his lowest point, in the middle of the night, he came to our front steps and prayed for help from God? That night he found Reaching Out. And now he is a full-time volunteer there helping others out too! Wow! Wow! Wow!

Either Jason or Angie will be at Church Requel this coming Sunday morning to receive our gift!

So you can see that this Sunday will be another wonderful worship experience. A brand new sermon series reflecting the lessons we affirm from Concert Weekend. Reaching Out receiving our gift so that they can continue to reach out to the homeless this winter. AND....

We have some other fantastic news we will be telling you about over the next couple of weeks. God is not done with us yet! There is even more to come. You won't want to miss it! Plans for more fellowship. Plans for more ministry. Plans for more reaching out!

I hope you're like me... I hope you can't wait! See you Sunday morning at 11am! Some of you I'll "see" online either on Facebook Live or on YouTube. (Here is the YouTube link - https://youtu.be/1fNariMK7dY)

Love, Pastor Mark

Excited For Concert Day!

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

Our preparations have all been made. Rehearsals are completed. Planning is finished. Media has been notified. Prayers are still being uplifted. In short, we are as ready as we can be for tomorrow evening’s concert.

The concert begins at 6pm and will last 2 hours. The band will play in front of the church at the point where Marion Avenue meets Park Avenue West.

The concert is absolutely FREE! Bring your own lawn chairs! We will have a TIPS jar available. All donations will go to Reaching Out Homeless Shelter. You also may give to Reaching Out by going to Give.ChurchRequel.org and choosing "Reaching Out" in the designation dropdown box.

We will set everything up at noon on Saturday, so if you'd like to come help out with the setup - we'd appreciate your help. What needs set up? The flags need to be put away. Tables for tech and for food, canopies for the band and tech, cables, speakers, monitors, sound equipment. Don't worry if you don't know anything about tech or music. Do you have healthy arms for carrying? We'll try to get most of the setup done early and then take a break in the afternoon.

We'll reassemble at 5pm to set out the food and begin to welcome our guests. At 5pm we'll also have our final sound checks and will test our internet link for the live broadcast at 6pm.

Live far away and can't make it to the concert? NO PROBLEM! We plan to broadcast on YouTube and Facebook Live at 6pm. Here is the YouTube link. https://youtu.be/u4LTwRPpSeE

Our wider community now also knows about this outdoor worship experience. Our concert made the news in Richland Source yesterday. Read all about it here.

Remember there is also the free neighborhood meal being offered (by another church thankfully, but at our location) at 5pm so between the two events, parking may be crowded right at 5. There is plenty of available parking beyond our own parking lot.

Remember to bring your lawn chairs! Let's pack the front lawn!!!

YES! There is still church on Sunday morning too! So after the concert, we'd appreciate anyone who can help clean up outside and help us carry all the sound gear back into our sanctuary for Sunday morning. Many hands will make this go quickly, I hope!

Our plans for Sunday morning's worship. Last night at our rehearsal, Chris asked me: "What are we doing for church Sunday morning? We're going to be exhausted!" True dat! But we still plan to conduct our normal worship on Sunday morning.

Here are the songs we plan to sing on Sunday. (Only one of these made it to our concert playlist for Saturday. Care to guess which one?) Sunday's worship songs include: "Open Up The Heavens" by Meredith Andrews; "No Longer Slaves" by Bethel Music; "Great Are You Lord" by All Sons & Daughters; "Your Name Is Power" by Rend Collective; and "Revival Anthem" also by Rend Collective.

We will continue our Beatitudes "Blessings Anyways" sermon series, this time focusing our attention on Matthew 5:10 - "Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." The title of the sermon is "Dungeon of Doubt." The sermon notes are already posted in your Bible app, which you can read here.

So... a big weekend for our church! Let's remember all those weekends when we could not gather because of Covid. Let's remember the isolation many of us felt when we couldn't meet. Let's put all that to rest and celebrate, party, serve and sing!

Love you all much, Pastor Mark

Gearing Up For An Outdoor Concert

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

Lots of planning has been underway this past week in preparation for our upcoming outdoor concert on Saturday, July 24th, 6-8pm on the front lawn of the church. May I tell you some of the challenging and also exciting developments over this past week or so?

A week ago and only a little over two weeks before the concert, we received a cancellation call from the man who was going to provide our sound system for the evening. Our original plan was to use a different sound system than our own. Most of our cables connecting our sound system has been permanently installed beneath the floor of our sanctuary. So we planned to use someone else's system on Saturday and then still have ours ready to go on Sunday morning. However the guy who was going to provide his own system has endured some serious back problems and he had to (sorry) "back out."

I have to admit to you that initially I was bummed out about this. Having endured serious back pain in my past, I completely understood. Still... bummed. This is where having a dedicated leadership team is such a blessing. They met with me last Sunday and approached this development as just another obstacle to overcome. I am so thankful for each of them and for their positive spirit.

We went through all the possibilities and ended up deciding to keep our outdoor concert plans and to use our own sound system. Whatever cables we have buried underneath the floors we would just purchase anew for mobile purposes. On Saturday July 24th we will move everything outdoors. After the concert we will move everything back indoors.

By the way, we will meet to move our equipment outside at noon on that Saturday. So if any of you want to help us out either at noon before the concert, or stick around after the concert to help move our gear back inside, that would be great.

We also decided that because we are a church for our online congregation as well as our in-person congregation, we made the choice  to broadcast our concert on YouTube and Facebook Live. This morning I received confirmation from Leanna that she will also participate from afar and manage our online broadcast. So - those of you who live far away - you can watch and listen and comment along! Mark you calendars now!

Have you all been talking to your family and friends about this outdoor concert? Now is the time to get the word out! I've been really pleased that most of the people I have spoken to have told me they would like to come. On Sunday morning we will give you a little flyer that you can hand out or post on a door or window (see above!) Make sure you remind everyone to bring lawn chairs or a blanket to sit upon.

We also are planning to provide free hot dogs, chips and lemonade at the concert. Many thanks to Bryan, who has agreed to bring his Benford 5000 grill! Ha! There is a signup sheet circulating around with all the food items that we need - so check that out on Sunday morning if you wish to help out that way.

Let's not forget why we are doing this concert. Yes we want to celebrate our coming out of Covid. Yes we want to thank God for keeping our church alive. But we also have another important passion - we want to support Reaching Out Homeless Shelter. We consider Angie Henke, the director of Reaching Out, as one of our own. Angie was baptized a few years ago right here at Church Requel. I still watch that video of Angie's testimony whenever I need a pick-me-up. As Covid was becoming a huge problem for us all in March of 2020, Angie and fellow volunteers Jeremy Ward and Jason Knasinksi were nominated as local heroes for the work they do with the homeless in Richland County.

So how does this tie in to the concert? First - let me remind you that the concert is absolutely FREE. Really! No strings attached. Come and sit down and enjoy the concert. A lot of times, when I watch someone else playing music that I like, I find a tip jar and put some money in to show my appreciation. That's what we are going to do. We will have a big round plastic tip jar and you can put money in if you are so inclined. All the proceeds from that TIP jar will go to Reaching Out!

Also - for the next two Sundays, we have opened a special donation designation online for Reaching Out. If you want to make a special one-time donation to them, go to Give.ChurchRequel.org and on the second line where it says "Designation", choose "Reaching Out."  Further, as a leadership team, we have made the decision to make an additional donation to Reaching Out on behalf of the entire church!

This Sunday. I know that in this newsletter I have been entirely focused so far on the outdoor concert. But I want you to know we have some very special plans for this Sunday morning as well. The band will lead some of our favorite worship songs including "House of The Lord," "What A Beautiful Name / Tremble," "The Whole Earth," and "Christ Our Glory." Cheryl will share our announcements. Jack will sing a special song, "Let There Be Peace On Earth." 

And here... I've really buried the lead... Brandi has agreed to share the message with us Sunday morning. She will continue the Beatitude series we've been in.  She will talk about "PeaceMAKERS." You'll have to come or watch online to find out what the capital letters are all about.

Isn't this good news? I'm so excited that Brandi has agreed to do this. I've been encouraging Brandi to speak. I discovered during the stay-at-home Covid days last year, that Brandi was actually quite good in sharing devotionals with us. This will be her first time in the pulpit. I know she's nervous about it, so let's all encourage her the best we can!

I've never been more excited to be a part of Church Requel. How about you? Hope to see you Sunday morning at 11am EDT! - Pastor Mark

God's Continued Blessings!

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

Some weeks I sit down to write you this weekly newsletter and wonder what to write. Then there are weeks like this one - how can I possibly write everything? God has been so very good to us!

Over the past week we have been so blessed to be a blessing to others! Saturday night we served a hot meal to our neighbors in our church kitchen. Monday afternoon we partnered with People Helping People and served lunch to our neighbors outside at the Pavilion down the hill from our church. How cool is that!?

I feel blessed in so many ways. First, just to know that we can once again meet face to face with others is so glorious! Second, that after more than a year of Covid, many weeks not being able to meet together at all, that we are financially able to meet the needs of other people. For all of you who have been so very faithful with your giving to Church Requel over this past year - THANK YOU! We could not have blessed others without your blessings to us!

Here's yet a third way I have experienced blessing this week.  When we served at the People Helping People pavilion Monday afternoon, I saw this large sign inside the pavilion with Matthew 25:36 written upon it. Most of you don't know this, but in the early days of Church Requel, it was my ongoing prayer that we as a church would be able to fulfill this Matthew 25 challenge. Our leadership team talked about it quite often.

Sadly, over the years, there have been many times when we did not know how we were going to pay the basic expenses of operating a church. Many months, we actually didn't even have enough to do that. Yet here we are now - after a year's pandemic - when every human prediction would have forecast that our small church could not have survived - yet here we are providing the needs of others and fulfilling Christ's calling for us.

For me it was like God saying, I got you. Now you know. It's not about your cleverness or your planning or your predicting. It's all about your trusting. God provided for us to be able to fulfill His Matthew 25 calling upon us through His provisions and His blessings. Wow! 

All that should be enough blessings for one week, don't you think? But no! God's not through with me yet! This past Wednesday night I received an urgent text from Brandi asking me if she could FaceTime with me ASAP. This had me plenty concerned because Brandi is on vacation and rarely do we FaceTime. Usually we just text or when necessary have a normal phone conversation. She and her family are vacationing in California this week and I wondered what could possibly have gone wrong!?

So when I FaceTime her, Mike and Leanna Perdue pop up in Brandi's camera feed! At first I thought, did I dial the wrong number somehow? But then it quickly dawns upon me that Brandi and Eddie have managed to connect with Mike and Leanna! Wow... I mean it's not like this is a big country or anything, right? What are the odds of Mike and Leanna, who travel the entire country each week for their jobs, just happen to be in the same place as Brandi and Eddie on vacation!?

Coincidence? I don't think so. God once again was telling me that He is using me in my small way to connect people together in God's big way! Mike and Leanna are two of our newest Church Requel members, who like many others, have become a vital part of our church ministry through our online church this past Covid year. God just keeps doing God things when we give Him our everything!

So do you think God is done with His Godinidences? I'm not sure. Could it be a coincidence that earlier this year several people from my past 30-40 years ago decided to hold a Sunday school class reunion this Saturday - tomorrow? This is the Sunday school class where I first felt God's calling to teach, which ultimately led to my becoming a pastor, which in turn, ultimately led to becoming your pastor. And the reunion just happens to be THIS week. Hmmm... Don't know about you, but I'm getting what Cindy calls "God-bumps" on my arms! Can I say it again? Wow!

This Sunday. Normally I would tell you all about what we have planned for Sunday. But honestly, this is one of those weeks where I'm just trying to get caught up with God for so far this week. So here's my advice. About Sunday. Plan to come and participate in any way you can!

Yes, you know we will sing some great songs of praise. We will pray together for the needs of the congregation. We'll participate together in the Lord's Supper. And we'll hear another sermon from the beatitudes. The whole morning will be awesome! 

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/14taWqrMRhU.

Love you all much! Pastor Mark

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