Church Requel Blog - Writings of Mark Pierce

Summer Fun!

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

Our local temperature got down below 50 degrees last night. In June! Brian Betts said this morning he refuses to turn on his furnace. He's not the only one. Yes, it's a tad cool to be talking summer fun - but this too shall pass. We have such a wonderful summer fun activity schedule! Hopefully you already have one of these stuck up on your fridge. If not grab one Sunday morning. They're going fast.

Cleveland Indians Baseball last call THIS Sunday! We know it's more than a month away, but we have to pay for our tickets this coming week. So if you want to go to the game with us sign up AND PAY by this Sunday ($20). For those of you who like to use the online payment system (give.ChurchRequel.org), you'll find that there is a dropdown box for the Indians game. Last time I checked, there are 29 of us signed up! Yay!

Worship Plans For This Sunday. We are blessed to have Brandi, Brian, Amy, Bessica and Stephenie lead our worship singing this Sunday. Last time they were together I captured this terrific photo! What a great group!

Together we will all be singing "This Is Amazing Grace," "What A Beautiful Name," and "Our God." Bessica will also be singing a special song for us: "On My Knees." She says she was inspired to sing this after some comments I made about prayer a few weeks ago. Yay for you Bessica!

I love how many people within our church are venturing out to discover their spiritual gifting to share with the rest of us!

Our sermon Sunday morning is titled "Committed To Committed" and is from Acts 14:21-28. Want a head start? Check out your Bible app or click this link: http://bible.com/events/636258

Singsperation Booked Solid For June 30th! We put it out there for just one Sunday - last week. We made ONE announcement. And wow did you ever respond! Let me pull the curtains back and tell you just a little about it.

Brandi received all your ideas by Tuesday. On Wednesday she and I sat down and put it all together.

The ladies trio will kick us off. Then there will be flag waving by Anna. Dave will sing us a couple songs with his guitar. (He is secretly working behind the scenes on an amazing duet, but I'm not allowed to tell you about that - oops.) There will be a saxophone duet as well as a flute solo. Bessica and Amy will sing a duet. Brian will sing a special. Leia will sing a special. Mark (yours truly) will lead us in a couple new worship songs with his ukulele. And debuting for the first time ever: The Angel Family singers!!! Doesn't that sound like a great morning!

Graduation Potluck on June 30th! Even after we are all inspired by all the great singing, our church morning won't be complete. We're all going to head downstairs to celebrate with Paul Scott for his graduation from high school!

Plan to bring a couple side dishes for each family or one side dish for single folks. Bring your words, wishes and cards to shower upon Paul. He's been a big part of Church Requel almost since the beginning of the church.

12 Hour Prayer Burn - Amazing! Finally - allow me to say what a terrific time many of us enjoyed together last weekend. I saw most of you at some time or another throughout the night.

Our own Jam Band kicked things off at 6pm and trust me when I tell you - they did a super job! There were still about 3 dozen folks - including more of you than I ever expected - who stayed up until I sang a one-hour worship set with my ukulele. If you were one of those dedicated people - well, God bless you.

I was also surprised by how many of you stayed up almost the entire evening - the Betts family and the Angel family both made it almost all the way. There were about 12 of us who shut it down at 6am. I loved the entire thing. Our worship sanctuary is such a perfect venue. I sure hope we get to do it again soon!

These are good days for our church! Thank you for your faithfulness. Thank you for stretching for your spiritual giftedness and being willing to share with the church family. I look forward to every opportunity to be with you all! Love you much, Pastor Mark

Prayer Burn TONIGHT!!!

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

Do you remember when you were a little kid and Christmas Eve rolled along. You were so excited you could hardly wait for the big day to arrive. You could hardly sleep. Suddenly you discover you did indeed fall asleep and you wake up and THE DAY HAS ARRIVED! That's how I'm feeling right now! How exciting to be alive and to be God's child!

Tonight is the Prayer Burn at Church Requel. Worship begins at 6pm - though I think I shall be worshiping all day. ('Slow down big boy,' the voice in my head reminds. 'Long night tonight. Pace yourself!')

Church Requel's Jam Band kicks off the worship from 6pm to 7pm. We rehearsed for 2 1/2 hours last Saturday. I think we would have gone for another 2 1/2 hours for we were having so much fun - but our voices and fingertips said, "Enough!"

All night long we will have different worship lead teams up front hailing from many different Mansfield churches. Music will be only one of many worship events going on. There are now 3 large easels set up on the front right side of the church - where the old choir loft was located for a hundred years. Multiple artists will be painting new creations all night long. This includes our own Roger Marvicsin.

So why am I so excited? Is it just the music? Is it the novelty of being all night long? For me I think it is the closest taste we will have of what worship in Heaven will be like someday. The Bible teaches us that our Lord Jesus will be worshiped all day and night with voices crying out, "Holy Holy Holy!"

In my imagination I can envision that many different groups and choirs from many different cultures and time periods will spend considerable time preparing for their moment to go before the throne and worship the Lord. Some will sing. Some will play musical instruments. Some will paint. Creation in all the arts will be inspired like never before. That's what tonight will be like. Just a little taste of Heaven here right now on Earth. 

Is is beyond imagining that God Himself could be tuning in tonight to receive His praise, His glory? Personally I would not want to miss a single second. Come when you can. Stay as long as you can. (I hear there will be a ukulele player at 1am!) If you can't come, tune in via Facebook. Watch for the live feed on the Burn 24-7 Mansfield page. https://www.facebook.com/burn247mansfield/

Community Meal Saturday! When 6am Saturday morning arrives, our weekend will have only just begun. Get some sleep during the day because we will be gathering back at the church at 4pm to prepare to serve our local community a free, warm, delicious, healthy meal! The more hands the merrier and easier the workload. Thank Sheri Nichols for leading us tomorrow evening. If you can bring desserts to share, that would be so wonderful!

Sunday Morning at Church Requel! Remember those bygone days when the Sunday morning church service was the lead headline for the weekend? How perfect that we will come together for a worship service Sunday morning after already having worshiped and served Friday and Saturday!

Our ladies trio of Trish, Missie and Brandi will lead the worship singing Sunday morning at Church Requel. I had the privilege of running sound for them in their rehearsal last night. Wow! No wonder my heart is so full this morning! Their voices mesh together so well. We should start calling them "One Voice."

Also helping out for the Sunday worship service will be Paul and Chris Scott and Don Angel in the tech booth, Dan and DeeDee setting up the communion table, Trish and Missie greeting, Bessica teaching our Missionary class, Tamara teaching our KidsMin class, Jennifer teaching our Pre-schoolers and Chris leading our counting team. I never cease to be so thankful for so many volunteers in our small church. To God be the glory!

Putt Putt Golf on Saturday June 22nd. Two weeks from tomorrow will be our annual Miniature Golf event at Kelly's. This event is always such a blast! You can purchase old fashioned burgers, milkshakes, and a round of miniature golf. Or you can play cornhole. Or just sit around and chat with all your friends. Bring a lawn chair or enjoy the picnic tables if they are available. Location - 1280 South Main Street. Cost: Depends on what you buy.

June 30th - Sunday Singsperation! June is a 5 Sunday month, so we are planning something special for June 30th. For our entire morning service, we will be worshiping in song! The Jam Band will be playing. The ladies trio will be singing. And we hope that many of you will want to offer your musical talents for worship too. If you or a group of you would like to sing or play something special, please let Brandi know by Monday afternoon. She will be planning out the entire service this week. Should be amazing! After the singsperation we will enjoy Paul Scott's graduation potluck together. 

Paul Scott's Graduation Potluck - June 30th. We are so looking forward to celebrating Paul's graduation from high school. Paul serves at Church Requel once a month in the tech booth as our sound technician. He and his family have been regular attenders going all the way back to the Sunday nights at OCF. We've watched Paul grow up before our eyes. Let's celebrate with him and his entire family with a potluck meal after the Singsperation on Sunday June 30th. Let Paul know how much you love him and wish him the best!

Indians Baseball Game / Fireworks / Dollar Dog Night - Friday July 19th at 7pm. Normally I wouldn't even be mentioning this yet since there are so many other things happening in June. However I remind you of the Indians Game because we only have two more Sundays to sign up and pay for the event. We have reserved 30 seats at $20 each. Right now I think more than 20 of you have signed up. If you want to go, make sure you're signed up and paid for your ticket by June 16th.

How wonderful to be your pastor! How wonderful to be a fellow parishioner of Church Requel. We are family together. I love you all much! Hope to see all of you several times over the next 3 days! Pastor Mark.

Students Lead Worship

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

Today represents so many things for me. Last day of May. Most gorgeous day of the year so far with lots of sunshine. And the 15th anniversary of my mom's passing. Will be thinking of her a lot today.

Mom would have loved Church Requel, I think. She never would have imagined me starting a church. But I know she loved hearing me preach. Almost as much as she love hearing Todd preach! Ha! I recall that in those years before I entered the ministry there was just no way to ever compete with Todd on presents to Mom, no matter how much I spent. He would hand over cassette tapes of his messages and that would be it. Nothing could be better.

Last night her youngest grandchild, Laney, graduated from High School. Don't know if it's a coincidence or not, but Laney has a penchant for pink - Mom's fav color. She would have loved that!

Students Lead Worship! I have the privilege of being the sound guy this weekend. So Wednesday night I showed up along with a praise team of ten - mostly students. Wow! Are you all ever in for a treat Sunday morning. I'm not the world's best sound guy, but with a team like this - I just can't go wrong. They sound so good!

The songs they will be singing Sunday include "Fierce," by Jesus Culture, "God's Not Dead" by Newsboys, "My Heart Is Yours" by Passion and "Only A God Like You" by Tommy Walker. Come Sunday ready to praise the Lord Jesus!

Sermon: "I Resolve To Live A Life Of Integrity." We will continue Resolutions series we began the last Sunday of 2018. On the first Sunday of each month this year we make a new resolution for the month. For the month of June, our resolution will center on having integrity rather than irresponsibility. Not at all surprisingly, the Bible has a lot to say about integrity. I'm looking forward to our time together. Want a head start? Check out the sermon notes on your Bible app or click on this link: http://bible.com/events/628125

One Week from Today - All Night Prayer Burn! Just two weeks from tonight we will join many other churches for a 12-hour prayer burn. This event will be held in our own Church Requel sanctuary. The first hour, starting at 6pm, will feature our own CR Jam Band.

So exactly what is a "Prayer Burn?" Different teams of worshippers, musicians, artists and intercessors will each fill a one or two hour block of leadership to create an atmosphere of worship, prayer and creation. The purpose of the Burn is vertical worship by many different means. We hope worshippers will journal, study, and paint as well as sing along with the worship teams.

Here is the lineup for the Prayer Burn. It will be an exciting time to worship and pray!

• 6pm-7pm /  Church Requel Jam Band
• 7pm-8pm /  Jody Titus 
• 8pm-10pm / Potter’s House Mansfield 
• 10pm-11pm /  Sarah Goff 
• 11pm-12am /  Matthew Parsons 
• 12am-1am / Kristy Hergatt 
• 1am-2am /  Mark Pierce 
• 2am-4am /  Tyler Bellomy & Isabelle Hertz 
• 4am-6am / Jordon Baker & Camden Snivley

This will be an awesome opportunity to worship in a new and different way than our normal church experience. I really want to encourage you to put this night on your calendar. Don't feel like you can't come because you can't stay up all night. (Though I have been pleasantly surprised to learn how many of you are going to try to stay the whole night!) Come when you can. Stay as long as you are able. But do plan on being at Church Requel for at least some of the evening/morning.

Neighborhood Meal - June 8th. As I wrote to you a couple weeks ago, I didn't plan to have our next opportunity to serve a warm, free meal to our neighbors to be on the same weekend as our all night prayer burn. Perhaps God put this together so we would see how we may serve with His power and not our own. For those of you who will be with us all night, plan on sleeping during the day and coming back in time to serve the meal. Maybe we could pray for God's power to enable us!

We have so many wonderful opportunities for worship and fellowship coming up! I love hanging out with you all. Hope to see most of you Sunday morning! Love you much! Pastor Mark

Summer Of Fun Schedule Released!

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

Happy Memorial Day weekend everyone! We love Memorial Day weekend and we all know why, right? We get Monday off? Well, yes, that's true. It's the start of summer? Well, yes, that's true too. But I was thinking of another reason we love this weekend. It's the release of our Summer of Fun activity schedule! Yay! 

To the right you will see a picture of the handout that will be included in your bulletin Sunday morning. If you click on the image, it will enlarge so you can read it or print it out. Here's what Brandi and I have scheduled for this summer:

• Miniature golf at Kelly's on Saturday afternoon, June 22nd at 1pm.
• Indians Game of Friday evening, July 19th, at 7:10. This also included Dollar ($1) Dogs and fireworks!
• Pool Party at Shelly Acres Swimming Pool on Friday evening, August 23rd, from 6pm - 8pm.
• Annual Church Picnic at North Lake Park on Sunday, September 15th, after church.

The event you want to take special note of right now, if you are interested, is the Indians game on July 19th. We have reserved 30 seats at a cost of $20 each. Our seats are in the upper deck behind home plate. We put down a 25% deposit and will need to pay for the rest 30 days in advance. So we'll need to know that you want to come AND have your ticket money by Sunday, June 16th.

So how do you register for these exciting events and make sure you get on the list for the Indians game, you ask? Glad you asked! We have special registration sign-ups for all 4 events waiting for you in the lobby of Church Requel.

The only one you need pay for ahead of time is the Indians game. Sign up and then pay Brandi when you have your money. You don't need to wait to pay to sign up. In fact it's better for us if you sign up early so we'll know if we need more than 30 seats. The last two events - the pool party and the picnic - won't cost you anything. The church has paid for the rentals.

Don't wait too long to register for these summer fun events. I've heard that a certain grandpa is planning on taking all of his grandkids to the Indians game! You don't want to be behind THAT guy!

Sunday Morning at Church Requel. The Jam Band is back! Yay! We all had so much fun playing and singing and worshiping on Easter morning. Check out this great picture to the right!

I have a fun little story to share with you about my day yesterday as I was setting up for the Jam Band. A certain member of our church, who will remain nameless because I know that's how he wants it, came over to my house last week with a gift to the church. He told me that he knew we were having some difficulty being able to hear the drums and he was sure it had nothing to do with either the drum set or the drummer. Then he carried in this giant monitor designed specifically for drums and bass.

So yesterday I'm setting up this new monitor for the first time and connect it to our drum set. Now I don't know a thing about playing drums, but I am pretty good at tech. I figured out how to get everything connected and how to have the drum set play automatically. And then - being a good rock and roll baby (1957 model) - I cranked up the sound. Oh. My. Goodness. I just knew that Jack Nichols (who paid for our drum set) was smiling down from Heaven above.

But wait. There's more! When I turned off the drums I heard a knocking at the church door. When I opened the door I met Sidney Brown, the music / worship pastor at Shiloh Baptist church - one of the churches we attended during the March of Prayer. He was driving by and heard the drums playing through the screen windows of the church, and he said he just had to meet the drummer who was making that great music! Ha! 

The good news is that his church is also considering an electronic drum set. He didn't think it was possible to get such a great sound without having an acoustic set. I showed him all around and told him how we set up our sound system. We spent about 30 minutes together! And now he's also going to come to the Prayer Burn on June 7th. Talk about a divine appointment for everyone!

The songs we'll will be singing together Sunday morning include (1) "Open Up The Heavens" by Meredith Andrews, (2) "Goodness of God" by Bethel, (3) "Who You Say I Am" by Hillsong, and (4) "Trading My Sorrows" by Darrell Evans. Three of the four songs are ones that the Jam Band has never played before. We are gaining confidence!

We will return to our Acts study for our sermon this Sunday. The title of our Sunday sermon is "Stirring Up & Shaking Off." Our Bible focus will be on Acts 13:49-14:7. Because of all the special events at church, we haven't enjoyed a study from Acts since April 14th. It's been good for me - and I hope for you - to return to our walk through the Acts of the Apostles.

Have you ever considered that God may have placed you exactly where you are so that you can impact your world around you? Are you a force for good in a world of evil? Does evil even know you exist? Sunday we will learn that Paul and Barnabas stirred things up wherever they went. They did all they could to speak out God's good news, which caused no little bit of division. As they left town after town they shook off the dust from their feet symbolizing they had done all they could.

Sunday we'll ask ourselves some challenging questions. Are you carrying around extraneous dust because you haven't yet stirred up your world? Want a head start on Sunday's sermon? You can find my sermon text in your Bible app under "Events" or you can click here to see them in your browser window. 

All Night Worship And Prayer - June 7th. Just two weeks from tonight we will join many other churches for a 12-hour prayer burn. This event will be held in our own Church Requel sanctuary. The first hour, starting at 6pm, will feature our own CR Jam Band.

So exactly what is a "Prayer Burn?" Different teams of worshippers, musicians, artists and intercessors will each fill a one or two hour block of leadership to create an atmosphere of worship, prayer and creation. The purpose of the Burn is vertical worship by many different means. We hope worshippers will journal, study, and paint as well as sing along with the worship teams.

Here is the lineup for the Prayer Burn. It will be an exciting time to worship and pray!

• 6pm-7pm /  Church Requel Jam Band
• 7pm-8pm /  Jody Titus 
• 8pm-10pm / Potter’s House Mansfield 
• 10pm-11pm /  Sarah Goff 
• 11pm-12am /  Matthew Parsons 
• 12am-1am / Kristy Hergatt 
• 1am-2am /  Mark Pierce 
• 2am-4am /  Tyler Bellomy & Isabelle Hertz 
• 4am-6am / Jordon Baker & Camden Snivley

This will be an awesome opportunity to worship in a new and different way than our normal church experience. I really want to encourage you to put this night on your calendar. Don't feel like you can't come because you can't stay up all night. (Though I have been pleasantly surprised to learn how many of you are going to try to stay the whole night!) Come when you can. Stay as long as you are able. But do plan on being at Church Requel for at least some of the evening/morning.

Neighborhood Meal - June 8th. As I wrote to you a couple weeks ago, I didn't plan to have our next opportunity to serve a warm, free meal to our neighbors to be on the same weekend as our all night prayer burn. Perhaps God put this together so we would see how we may serve with His power and not our own. For those of you who will be with us all night, plan on sleeping during the day and coming back in time to serve the meal. Maybe we could pray for God's power to enable us!

As I wrap up this monumentally long newsletter (but ain't it great that so many good things are going on?), I just want to remind us all to continue to pray for Grace and Paityn.

Wasn't last Sunday's baptisms just the very best!? I can't think of a better birthday present as a pastor than to baptize two committed young lady Christians! I loved their matching T-shirts. Yet another first for Church Requel. Watch the baptism video on YouTube.

During last Sunday's sermon we talked about the need for prayer- especially for those who make a new commitment of  baptism. The entire congregation raised their hand that they would pray this week for Paityn and Grace. Why don't you stop right now and ask for encouragement, grace and strength for these precious daughters of God.

Love you all much! Hope to see you Sunday at 11am! Pastor Mark

Paityn And Grace Baptized This Sunday!

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

I am so excited for this coming Sunday morning at Church Requel. Paityn and Grace have each decided that they would like to be baptized. Even as I write these words, Steve and Don are setting up the baptism pool and filling it with water.

Both of these young ladies have grown up within our church over these past few years. I've watched as they both have taken their Christian faith more and more seriously. There can be no greater pleasure for a pastor than to see those nurtured within the love and care of the church family to come to the baptism pool to affirm their faith in Christ Jesus!

I have much more to say to you as our church family as well as to Paityn and Grace as they follow Jesus in obedience through baptism. Rather than write it all here, I will share with you all during my sermon Sunday morning. I've titled the sermon, "Real Faith." For those who want a head start, click on this link: http://bible.com/events/620129

One sermon point I will share with you now, because I believe it to be so important: pray for Grace and Paityn. Pray for their faith that they may overcome their doubts and that the evil one would gain no footholds into their young lives. Pray for their encouragement, for their joy, and for their love for the Lord Jesus. This is our responsibility as their church family!

Potluck Meal To Celebrate With Grace And Paityn! To be such a young church, it's amazing how quickly tradition builds. We certainly have built a tradition, though, around the baptism Sunday. We love to celebrate with those newly baptized and their families. Nothing says celebration quite like the church potluck!

Most of you have done this before, but allow me a few words of instruction. The church will provide the ham, paper plates and cups, and plastic eating utensils. We also will provide coffee, lemonade and water. It's up to you all to bring the side dishes and desserts. Single folks bring one dish. Families bring two dishes. Let's be generous in our meal prep as there will be extended family members here for Paityn and Grace and we want to provide enough food for all of them too.

All Night Worship And Prayer - June 7th. Just two weeks from tonight we will join many other churches for a 12-hour prayer burn. This event will be held in our own Church Requel sanctuary. The first hour, starting at 6pm, will feature our own CR Jam Band.

I can tell you that our band members are quite excited about being a part of this. I wrote them this week and asked them what music they would like to sing for their one-hour slot. Within moments I received back a very long list of songs that we couldn't possibly sing in three hours, let alone one! They are pumped about being included and I surely do hope most of you will come to support them - as well as to experience as much of the rest of the worship experience as you are able.

So exactly what is a "Prayer Burn?" Different teams of worshippers, musicians, artists and intercessors will each fill a one or two hour block of leadership to create an atmosphere of worship, prayer and creation. The purpose of the Burn is vertical worship by many different means. We hope worshippers will journal, study, and paint as well as sing along with the worship teams.

Would you like to know the schedule of lead worshippers and musicians for the evening? I just happen to have an inside track! I found out this past Wednesday that yours truly will also be leading a one-hour segment with his ukulele. So I'm working hard on learning some new music to share. Yes, Mr. Ukulele is pumped about being a part of this night. My time slot? 1am to 2am!

Here is the rest of the night's lineup. It will be an exciting time to worship and pray!

• 6pm-7pm /  Church Requel Jam Band
• 7pm-8pm /  Jody Titus 
• 8pm-10pm / Potter’s House Mansfield 
• 10pm-11pm /  Sarah Goff 
• 11pm-12am /  Matthew Parsons 
• 12am-1am / Kristy Hergatt 
• 1am-2am /  Mark Pierce 
• 2am-4am /  Tyler Bellomy & Isabelle Hertz 
• 4am-6am / Jordon Baker & Camden Snivley

This will be an awesome opportunity to worship in a new and different way than our normal church experience. I really want to encourage you to put this night on your calendar. Don't feel like you can't come because you can't stay up all night. (Though I have been pleasantly surprised to learn how many of you are going to try to stay the whole night!) Come when you can. Stay as long as you are able. But do plan on being at Church Requel for at least some of the evening/morning.

Neighborhood Meal - June 8th. As I wrote to you a couple weeks ago, I didn't plan to have our next opportunity to serve a warm, free meal to our neighbors to be on the same weekend as our all night prayer burn. Perhaps God put this together so we would see how we may serve with His power and not our own. For those of you who will be with us all night, plan on sleeping during the day and coming back in time to serve the meal. I'm sure it will all work out (as my brother Paul Lintern often tells me.)

One last word of thanks. Didn't Bethany Pierce do an absolutely wonderful job of teaching last Sunday on Mother's Day? (Click here to watch her delightful sermon.) And didn't Dave Johnson and his friends, Matt and Fernando, do a fabulous job in leading our worship singing? Thank you so much Bethany and Dave for providing me the opportunity to be away for one Sunday. It's great to see those within our church stepping up and taking on responsibility within the areas of their gifting!

Love you all much, Pastor Mark

Special Mother's Day Planned!

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

I'm so excited for our church family this coming Sunday morning. Yes, it is Mother's Day and this year we have something really special planned. Bethany Pierce will deliver our Mother's Day sermon this year! Yay Bethany! As I'm sure you know - or could easily figure out from her last name - Bethany is my daughter-in-law. More importantly for this coming Sunday she is also the mother to four of my grandchildren. What better qualifications could she have?

Well... to be truthful, she is also an excellent Bible scholar. You all might recall that this past December she spoke at Church Requel to fulfill her requirements for a Homiletics class she was taking from Ozark Christian College. She really did a top-notch job, so this past January I asked her if she would consider speaking to us again on Mother's Day. Four months ago I'm sure that Mother's Day seemed like such a long ways away. Here we are! 

This past week Bethany asked me to look over her preparations for Sunday morning. I have one word for her and you all who will hear her speak Sunday. Wow! That's it... just wow!!!

Bethany has organized a talk that frankly, I would never have thought of on my own. She has researched the four passages in the Bible where Mary, the mother of Jesus, has quoted dialog. From those four passages Bethany has come up with her topic, "Motherly Advice." We'll be hearing four good words of advice from a mother (Bethany) from another mother (Mary). Believe me when I tell you that you will not want to miss this creative sermon. Want a head start? Bethany's sermon outline is in your Bible app. You can check it out here: http://bible.com/events/615651

But wait... there's more!!!

Dave Johnson and Friends Will Lead Our Worship. So a little back story is in order. About a year ago, sitting around the Pierce dinner table with all the family, Bethany told us about her upcoming classes at Ozark. She told us that for one of these classes, she would need to deliver a sermon.

For those of you who don't know, Bethany is not a fan of being in front of people. This is so well known within our family that Dave, our son-in-law, immediately declared to the family that the day Bethany Pierce stood up in front of a congregation to deliver a sermon would be the day he would stand up and lead the worship singing!

Well, Dave is a man of his word! He has recruited two of his friends to play with him Sunday morning. They are Matt Dreher and Fernando Rosales. They have faithfully been practicing at the church for 3 Saturday mornings in a row. This past Saturday I had the privilege of helping out with their sound. I can tell you that I was blown away by how good this trio sounded together! They have a song they will play while you're coming in, four songs to sing with you in worship, and even a special musical piece for the children's dismissal and another musical piece for our greeting time! They have worked so much for this coming Sunday morning! I pray they will be as blessed as you will be.

Here are the four songs we'll be singing together along with them: "One Thing Remains," by Kristian Stanfill followed by three songs by Matt Maher, "Because He Lives," "All The People Said Amen," and "What A Friend." I must say I've been singing "What A Friend" to myself all week since I first heard them sing it. It's quite a catchy tune!

I'm so proud of all my family, but this day especially I will be grinning from ear to ear knowing that my son-in-law and daughter-in-law will be leading the charge at Church Requel. I'd say my two middle children - daughter, Jessica, and my son, Jonathan - married right! Come with glad and joyful hearts and let's see together what God will do!

Love you all much, Pastor Mark

Church Requel - Thank You For Your Love!

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

I look forward to this weekly Friday morning hour when I have the chance to sit down and write you all a letter. Thank you for your weekly encouragement. We have developed a pen pal relationship of sorts. I don't quite understand it all, but there is something unique and special about stopping the weekly doing doing doing and just reflecting and writing on what God is accomplishing through our / His church.

My dad taught me many years ago that it's the people who stand by you in the tough times of life who are your true friends. It's easy to be close when life is going great. But when the chips are down, who's around?

On my way to my writing desk this morning I received a phone call from a parishioner and friend to most of you, who told me how much he appreciates his church family. Over the past month as he has attended prayer meetings in other churches he has been made to feel distinctly unwelcome. This morning he called me to thank me for his Church Requel family. Without CR, he confessed, he probably wouldn't be in church.

I wanted to share that with you because you never really know the impact you have on the Kingdom of God by your welcoming, loving, family oriented, arms-opened-wide love that you extend to one another.

Right now we have another member who needs your continued support and care - Kyle Conrad. He has had a tough week in the hospital after 2 brain surgeries. But he has been released back to home. Thank you all for your many prayers on Kyle's behalf. I'm sure there are things we will be able to do to support him now that he's home. I would recommend talking or texting to Marci as she has remained very close to Kyle and his family throughout this ordeal.

Baptisms and Potluck - May 19th. In two Sundays we will celebrate multiple baptisms during our worship service. You won't want to miss this exciting time of life commitment to Christ. Come support those who want to make a public declaration of their desire to follow Christ. As I write this letter to you I know of two of our teens who are planning on becoming baptized - Paityn and  Grace. I know there are a few others who are considering baptism as well.

Afterward we will celebrate with a potluck meal. Church Requel will provide ham, coffee and lemonade, as well as paper plates, napkins and utensils. Families bring two dishes to share. Single folks bring one. Expect many guests as families and friends will likely come to celebrate.

All Night Prayer Burn on June 7th. Friday evening June 7th from 6pm until 6am Saturday morning our Church Requel sanctuary will host a "Prayer Burn." Teams of worshippers, musicians, artists and intercessors will each fill a one or two hour block of leadership to create an atmosphere of worship, prayer and creation.

The purpose of the Burn is vertical worship by many different means. We hope worshippers will journal, study, and paint as well as sing along with the worship teams.

Our Church Requel Jam Band will kick off the event at 6pm on Friday. Other groups and worship leaders who are committed so far include Jody and Titus, The Potter's House, Kristy Hergatt, Tyler Bellomy, and Jordon Baker.  Speaking of which, Jordon, is leading/coordinating this event. Talon is coordinating all the artists, so if you want to paint you should contact her. Let me know if you need her phone number.

This sounds like it's going to be an awesome opportunity to worship in a new and different way than our normal church experience. I really want to encourage you to put this night on your calendar. Don't feel like you can't come because you can't stay up all night. Come when you can. Stay as long as you are able. But do plan on being at Church Requel for at least some of the evening/morning.

Neighborhood Meal - June 8th.Ok - just for the record - I didn't plan to have our next opportunity to serve a warm, free meal to our neighbors to be on the same weekend as our all night prayer burn. Perhaps God put this together so we would see how we may serve with His power and not our own.

So plan to go home during the day and get some sleep. Then on Saturday evening, June 8th, plan to be back at church by 4pm. We serve the meal at 5pm. Bring a dessert to give away, if you can. Many thanks to Sheri for leading the charge! Don’t miss this opportunity to be the hands and feet of Jesus!

Sunday Morning Worship. Before I sign off, let me tell you just a little about our plans for worship this coming Sunday morning! Because this is the first Sunday in May, many of our students will be involved. Our Sunday’s music will be led by many of our youth. Joining Brandi will be Cindy, Chris, Tamara, Stephenie, Sisilly, Tre, Leia, Bubby, Sivon and Saudaie. We are using every audio channel we have for this large praise team! Speaking of audio channels, Grayden and Cohen will be manning our tech booth.

Here are the songs we will be singing together: “Forever," “Indescribable,” "Lay Me Down" and “Your Grace Is Enough” all by Chris Tomlin. Saudaie will be singing a solo for us:  “Control” by Tenth Avenue North.

Our sermon Sunday will continue the mini-resolution series we have been preaching on the first Sunday of each month. This month of May our mini-resolution is to live with a clear conscience and not guilt. I've titled the sermon, God's Solution For My Guilt. 

Psychologists tell us that we experience 5 hours of guilty feelings each week. Unresolved guilt is like having a snooze alarm in your head that won't turn off. Guilty feelings make it difficult to think straight and makes us reluctant to enjoy life. This is not what God wants for us. He created a solution for our guilty feelings. Sunday we will talk about God's plan for our guilt and how we may take advantage of His solution.

I'm hoping our students will continue this year's new tradition of sitting up front with me for this sermon. I really enjoy our interaction together. For those who would like a head start, the sermon notes are now up in your Bible app or you can view them here: http://bible.com/events/612017.

I love you all much! Can't wait to see you Sunday morning at 11am! - Pastor Mark