Church Requel Blog - Writings of Mark Pierce

Lots of Stone Throwing Going On

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

Has anyone else noticed this besides me? There's lots of "stone throwing" going on these days. Not literally. But with words - accusations, complaints, put downs, rumors and gossip. I can't turn on my television in the morning without hearing one side talking down the other side. I change channels and find the other side talking down the first side.

So it's incredibly timely that we come to Sunday's passage of Scripture. We'll be looking at an actual stone-throwing situation from John 8. Along the way you'll discover what God thinks of equal justice, how Jesus was a man way ahead of his time, just how many rules the people of his day were supposed to follow and the fascinating little fact on how they came up with that particular number of do's and don'ts. 

We'll have Don Causley from England read our Scripture Sunday morning. Then we'll ask ourselves 4 key questions. Along the way we might even discover some answers together. I encourage you to begin right now reading John 8:1-11 and allow it to begin simmering in your mind. What are the questions you'd be asking yourself? If you want a preview, you can read Sunday's sermon here: http://bible.com/events/49017692.

Here are the songs we are planning to sing this Sunday: "By The Spirit" by Pat Barrett; "Mighty To Save" by Hillsong; "Hurry" by Jesus Culture; "Break Every Chain" by Jesus Culture; "Tell Your Heart To Beat Again" by Danny Gokey; and "Unstoppable God" by Elevation Worship. I sure hope you can come to church in person Sunday morning. But if you cannot, you can also watch online on our Church Requel Facebook page or on our YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/wnNOgQg6bSA.

Love you all much! Pastor Mark

Making Sense Of It All

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

Do you ever look at the world around you and wonder? And not in a good way? I do. Maybe it's a sign of my age. But it sure does seem to me that our culture is asking questions that I thought were pretty well settled a long time ago. Last year a Supreme Court nominee could not answer the question, "What is a woman?" Personally, I settled this question in my mind many decades ago.

Why is this happening? That is the topic of our sermon this coming Sunday morning. Our Scripture mostly comes from John 7 and 8. I encourage you to give some time to reading these chapters so you'll be prepared for our study together on Sunday. For those who would like to read the sermon ahead of time, just click on this link: http://bible.com/events/49013716.

Brandi and her worship team have a wonderful experience planned for us. Here are the songs we are planning to sing together: "Great Things" by Phil Wickham; "Ever Be" by Bethel; "Fierce" by Jesus Culture; "Love The Lord" by Lincoln Brewster; "Stay Amazed" by Gateway Worship; "The Way (New Horizon) by Pat Barrett; and "Praise Your Name" by Corey Voss.

For those of you who cannot attend in person Sunday morning, you can watch the worship service live online by going to our Church Requel Facebook page or by tuning into our YouTube channel. Here's the link for Sunday - https://youtu.be/ahF9qKPu5io.

I'd also like to give a shout out to Eddie and the terrific job he is doing with our young people. If you know of someone in school not already going to church somewhere else, you should definitely invite them to join the Sequels on Sunday mornings. They have a good thing going downstairs. Eddie is very creative in putting together his lesson plans each week.

Hope to see you all Sunday morning. Love you much! Pastor Mark

Are You Offended By God?

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

The title to today's newsletter to you is also the subject of our sermon Sunday morning. It's based on the back half of John 6. At one point Jesus asks his closest students, "Are you offended by me? Will you leave me too?"

I know our first response to this might be: "No way!" But hold on for just a second with me. Have there been times in your life when you prayed for something and it just didn't happen? Have you ever wondered how a close loved one could leave you - either through a breakup in the relationship or through death? Have you ever wanted to be free from an addiction but you just couldn't seem to lick it. You asked God for help. But still it just didn't happen?

Disappointment. Disillusionment. Unmet expectations. Sometimes our relationship with God can be more challenging than we think. And we then add on guilt because it can't be God's fault. We must be doing something wrong.

If that's the case then you will want to come to our worship service this Sunday morning at 11am. I have been deep in the weeds with this sermon topic this week and I hope you will find it to be as helpful to you as it has been for me.

I encourage you to read John 6 several times between now and Sunday. Try to put yourself in the scene. How do you think you would have responded? What would you have said?

If you want to read my sermon notes, you will find them here: http://bible.com/events/49009983

If you cannot come in person, you can watch online by tuning into our Facebook page or you can watch our YouTube channel by clicking here. https://youtu.be/VIjyt2ZI4CM

Hope to see you Sunday morning! Love you much! Pastor Mark

Bring In The New Year Right - Worship Sunday at 11am

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

It feels like it has been so long since I have seen you all! That's what happens when we have negative 10 degrees on Christmas Eve!

Good news! That's not the case this week! As is typical for Ohio weather, we will see a swing of 60 degrees F with high temps around 50 degrees all weekend! Woohoo! Break out the Hawaiian shirts! Ha!

Seriously, some have wondered if we are changing anything for this Sunday since it is New Year's Day. The answer is everything will go forward as normal with our worship at 11am EST Sunday morning. We have endeavored to arrange a meaningful worship service for you all - we can't think of a better way to kick off the new year right than with worship.

If you cannot be with us in person Sunday morning, you can watch on our Facebook page and on our YouTube channel. Here is the link for the YouTube video. https://youtu.be/pne3VBh2H_o

Hope to start the New Year 2023 with each of you on Sunday! Love you much! Pastor Mark

Christmas Eve Service Online Only

Merry Christmas Eve my friends,

We have waited as long as we could to make the call for tonight's Christmas Eve service. Sadly - as of 7:30pm EST - we are still at a Level 2 Emergency here in Richland County. The roads are still slick and there is lots of blowing snow. Sooo... we won't have a public Christmas Eve candle lighting service at the church tonight.

HOWEVER!!!! We will still stream a Christmas Eve service at 11pm tonight!!!

One thing we learned extremely well during the 2020 Covid year was how to make adjustments when we couldn't meet publicly. Brandi and I will host tonight's Christmas Eve service online. We will each be broadcasting from our own homes, so don't go to the church building tonight. We won't be there. But we will be on Facebook. And we will be on YouTube!

Here is the YouTube link: https://youtu.be/Wxt8cmhS05I

Plan to tune in and please please please... participate! You can write lots of comments and wish one another Merry Christmas. You can find a candle to light. You can get your communion bread and juice/wine ready. And you can tell everyone you know - friends and family alike - about our Christmas Eve service online. They can watch no matter how far away they live! So tune in to our Facebook page or the above YouTube link at 11pm tonight EST.

Hope to "see" you at 11pm tonight! Love you much! Pastor Mark

Christmas Eve at Church Requel

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

Christmas 2022 is almost here! Despite the cold wintry weather outside, I'm sure excited on my inside about our plans for this Christmas.

Christmas Eve Candlelight Communion will begin at 11pm. We haven't started it this late in the evening before. But we thought it would be a great idea to end our Christmas Eve worship by beginning Christmas morning - 12am - worshiping Jesus together. So we sure do hope you will join us.

The band will be leading us in some great Christmas music. Brandi has arranged some of our Christmas songs and mashed them into some praise songs we often sing. It's pretty special and I can't wait until you hear. We also have several people who have stepped up and volunteered to sing special music.

I have written a new Christmas Eve sermon about the angels singing. Or did they? You'll have to come to find out. Or you can read the sermon in your Bible app or click here: http://bible.com/events/49005267

We also will be sharing a very special communion service together, literally breaking bread together before our final candle lighting. I'm looking forward to celebrating this communion with you all!

Finally - as we do each year - we will end our Christmas Eve service lighting all our candles, and then finally the new communion candles. These candles on the communion tables are replaced each Christmas Eve and always remind us of the Christ candle from which it was lit.

If you cannot be with us in person, you will be able to watch the live stream on Facebook and on YouTube. Here is the YouTube link. https://youtu.be/Wxt8cmhS05I

Lastly, I know the weather outside is frightful right now. As I write I am reminded that we are currently under a Level 2 Snow Emergency. It is my deepest hope that this travel ban will be lifted by tomorrow evening. If we are forced to close tomorrow night, we will post on our website and on our Facebook page. Also this reminder - we will not be having a worship service this Sunday morning.

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope to see most of you tomorrow night! Love you much, Pastor Mark

Remember To Set Your Clocks Back

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

First things first. Remember to set your clocks back one hour Saturday night. Though, as far as I'm concerned, anyone wanting to join us an hour early will be most welcome. Yours truly and all the praise team and tech team will certainly be at church more than an hour ahead of time. The more the merrier!

The Midnight Theologian. How have you been enjoying our sermon series from the Gospel of John? I know I have. Each time I pick up John's Gospel, I imagine the sermons that he must have preached about those special Jesus moments he remembered. This week is no exception as we consider the nighttime visit from Nicodemus. Herein we find the most memorable verse in the Bible: John 3:16. Make sure you come Sunday morning to find out some incredible things about how God has been spreading the Word about John 3:16!

For those of you who would like a head start on the sermon, you'll find all my notes here: http://bible.com/events/48980210.

The Songs We Sing. I know I brag about Brandi all the time - but really we are quite fortunate to have her as a team member. This week she has outdone herself once again. We will be singing 7 songs in total. Wow! One will be a brand new song for our Church. On two of them, she has asked me to play the keyboard so she is freer to lead our worship time. I'm excited to see how that goes! Also we welcome Dave back to the band after a well-deserved vacation.

Here are the songs we plan to sing: "Church (Take Me Back)' by Cochran & Co.; (NEW) "Sing Hallelujah" by Kingdom Kids / Shane & Shane; "Jesus" by Chris Tomlin; "I See Grace" by Micah Tyler; "Holy Spirit" by Francesca Battistelli; "Spirit of The Living God" by Vertical Worship; and "God So Loved" by We The Kingdom.

For those who will be watching our worship service online, you can log into our Facebook page or our YouTube channel shortly before 11am. Here is the link to YouTube: https://youtu.be/FCPi5dS5Quo.

Largest Sequels Group Yet! Congratulations go out to our Students Ministry Director, Eddie Walker, and his team. This past Sunday was the largest Sequels group yet! Yay! Eddie began the Sequels ministry just a little over a year ago and we are beginning to see the fruits of his labor. If you know of a student that isn't already going to church somewhere - invite them to Church Requel! I believe we are on the cusp of some great things in our student ministry. Congrats Eddie!

A Week Of Thanksgiving Services. Above you can see the schedule of Thanksgiving services in our fair city of Mansfield, beginning Wednesday November 16 and ending Wednesday November 23rd. 

Church Requel's Thanksgiving Service will be Saturday, Nov. 19th, at 6pm. 

We encourage you to attend as many of these as you are able. This is a great way to worship in different ways with different churches all praying a thanksgiving prayer to our Lord. We especially invite you to come Saturday night to our church as the praise band will be leading us in a very special Thanksgiving service with the music and enthusiasm you've grown to know and love. For those who cannot be here in person, we will also be streaming this special night. So put this on your calendar! Don't miss!

(I have added a download link at the bottom of this letter for the PDF flyer if you'd like to share this with someone else or put this reminder on your refrigerator.)

Thank you for your prayers and condolences. Finally, Mary Kay and I would both like to thank you all for your many thoughts and prayers for us as we attended Patrick's funeral this past Monday. Patrick died way too early - in our view - leaving behind a young wife and daughter. Many members of Mary Kay's family were there to support Amy and to celebrate Patrick's life. The photo above was taken at the dinner which followed the funeral. These are 8 of the 21 nieces and nephews on Mary Kay's side of the family. You can see two of our daughters, Jillian and Jennifer on the left. Amy is in the middle, four from the right.

Hope to see most of you - one way or the other - Sunday morning at 11am EST. Love you much! Pastor Mark

Download THANKSLIVING '22