Church Requel Blog - Writings of Mark Pierce

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

All About Baptism This Sunday

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

I'm praying and thinking about Kyle this morning, who even as I write this to you is undergoing brain surgery. Lord, guide the surgeon's hands please.

Kyle began attending Church Requel from the very first Sunday and hasn't missed since - unless he is working. He has defined who and what our church has become, perhaps as much as anyone. He was 16 when he first started coming and often I still think of him as that age (because unlike the rest of us, he hasn't seemed to get older on the outside.)

Yet Kyle has become an incredibly strong and independent young man, despite his disabilities. He holds down a job. He shares an apartment with his brother, Sean. He walks to Church Requel every Sunday morning.

Maybe as much as anything I admire his smile. I have never seen him not smiling. He enjoys life to the max - even if it means participating in a silly CR game like getting wrapped up as a mummy in toilet paper. Check out the Church Requel Facebook prayer page for updates today. And by all means, keep praying! (And pray for Rachel too. Tough morning to be Kyle's mom!)

Good news for Juanita! For those of you who were praying for Juanita's eye surgery yesterday morning, I'm told that everything went well! Good news for you Juanita! Happy for you!!!

Sunday - Reminder of the Importance of Baptism. We haven't talked about baptism in several years. During that time many of our young people have matured to the age that they are considering their commitment to Christ and their obedience in baptism. While this is an important talk for all of us - maybe some adults are also considering their own baptisms - this Sunday will be an especially important day to have our teenaged children in the service. If your family can't be there, by all means make sure your children watch the sermon video this coming week!

Our praise team Sunday will be made up of Brandi, Brian, Amy, Bessica and Stephenie! it's great to see Stephenie back in the lineup. Did you all see the WMFD chose to use Stephenie's picture as the face of the March of Prayer South Park event a couple weeks ago? If you haven't seen it, click here!

Those of us who know Stephenie, we know she is an enthusiastic worshiper regardless of whether she is standing up front or sitting in the back. (She much prefers to be sitting in the back.) 

For those of you who would like a head start on Sunday's talk about baptism, you can check out your Bible app under Events or you can click here. 

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

Resurrection Day Worship Plans

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

I write that greeting to you every Friday morning, but today it really IS Good Friday! Don't we have so much to celebrate? We don't have to wait until Sunday. Today stop and think about just how much God loves you, that He would give His only beloved Son. Such love is overwhelming. Stop and bask in His love today!

Before I tell you about our plans for worship Sunday, I'd like to write you just a few things about the March of Prayer. Last night was our final event out at South Park. What a spectacular way to end this special miracle of churches coming together to worship.

The band that played at South Park was amazing... not only the great sound, but also the fact that 7 different churches were represented. Our own Don Angel played bass guitar for last night's worship event and he played with his whole heart! I was so happy for him. Consider his journey these past 16 months. His son buys him a left-handed bass guitar for Christmas 2017. He joins the Jam Band at Church Requel, playing for the first time with us in public in April 2018 - exactly one year ago. Then last night he's a member of the all-star worship team. Wow! You go Don!!!

While I'm on the subject of the March of Prayer, I want to thank each and every one of you good folks from Church Requel for attending as many of them as you did. I could always count on seeing familiar, friendly faces from our congregation each night. I've said it before and I'm sure I'll say it again, but I am so fortunate to be your pastor!

Easter Worship Plans. Sunday morning we are planning quite the celebration! The Jam Band will be playing and the ladies trio will be singing... sometimes at the same time!!! Each one of us on the Jam Band was delighted when Brandi asked us to play for Easter. She reminded us that it had been one year since we played publicly for the first time. So she thought it only right that we celebrate by playing again this Easter!

We thought that was awesome and so we planned four songs to open our worship singing Sunday morning: (1) "Hallelujah for the Cross" by Chris McClarney, (2) "Because He Lives Amen" by Matt Maher, (3) "Cornerstone" by Hillsong, and (4) "Forever" by Kari Jobe.

The more we got thinking about it, though, the more we thought it would be even more awesome if the ladies trio came up and sang too. So Missie, Trish and Brandi will be leading on those last two songs, "Cornerstone" and "Forever." It should be pretty special! Before the morning is over our ladies will come up and lead in two more Easter celebration songs: "At The Cross" by Hillsong and "My Redeemer Lives" by Hillsong. When you leave church Sunday morning, you'll be walking about two feet off the ground!

Oh - and did I forget to mention that for one more time, Brian and the ladies trio together will be singing "God of This City?" Wow indeed!

We'll still share communion together and pray together. I've also prepared an Easter message for you from just two verses, John 11:25-26. To be as honest with you as I can be, I am just so full of God's goodness from these 52 days of the March of Prayer, I feel like I'm going to bust. I'm truly excited to share this talk with you on Sunday. My prayer is that this sermon will inspire you and encourage you to view your resurrected life like you've never seen it before. (Want a head start? Click here to read Sunday's sermon notes.) I hope you'll come and that you'll bring a friend!

I have so much more to say to you, but I think I'll keep it for Sunday morning. Blessings on you all. Love you much! Pastor Mark

Palm Sunday Is Diaper Sunday!

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

We surely have an exciting weekend scheduled - Camp Mowana tonight for the March Plus of Prayer, serving the Neighborhood Meal Saturday night, and then Palm Sunday, which will also be Diaper Sunday! Let's start with the last first...

Palm Sunday / Diaper Sunday!
We are super excited to welcome Jordon and Talon Baker to Church Requel this coming Sunday morning. Jordon has agreed to lead our worship singing Sunday morning in place of Brandi, who is off with her family for Spring Break.

Some of you have had the privilege of hearing Jordon lead worship for several of the March of Prayer events. He is a wonderful guitarist and vocalist. Jordon came to faith in Christ through IHOP - the International House of Prayer. Since then Jordon has led many "prayer burns" - times of extended worship and prayer.

Yes it will be a little different than we are accustomed to. But that's a good thing! I've learned to appreciate so many wonderfully diverse ways of worshiping our Lord and Savior. Come Sunday morning prepared to worship with all your heart and voice.

Joining Jordon on the Church Requel platform will be vocalist Isabel Hertz and pianist Camden Snively. These are both incredibly talented young people who have served as part of Jordon's worship team at other prayer burns and March of Prayer events. Oh yeah, there will be one more guy up front - a local ukulele player that you may know.

So what's all this about "Diaper Sunday?" You may recall that Jordon and Talon are expecting twin girls in July. So we thought it would be really great to shower them with lots of diapers. When you come to church Sunday, bring a package of diapers with you! We'll pile them up and give them to Jordon and Talon as a love offering. You can give any size diapers you want! With twins we are sure they will be able to use them.

We will continue our study in the Book of Acts. This will be our 32nd Acts sermon adventure together! We'll be looking at Acts 13:16-48. Our study of this passage is important for a couple reasons. First, it is the first recorded sermon by the Apostle Paul. Second, it is the first time we are introduced to the concept of justification. I'm really looking forward to this morning with you. If you want a head start on the study, open up your Bible app and search for Church Requel under "Events." Or you could also click on this link: http://bible.com/events/599761

Saturday Neighborhood Meal. Continuing our backwards progression through this weekend, Saturday night we will be serving our neighborhood much love in the form of a hearty, warm meal.

I want to extend lots of thanks and lots of support to Sheri, who is planning out the meal for tomorrow night. We all need to show up and help as much as we can.

IMPORTANT - SHOW UP AT 3:30!! We will need lots of extra help in getting things organized for the meal tomorrow. A couple weeks ago you will remember that the water backed up into our basement kitchen. The good news is that this is all cleaned up now. The bad news is that everything is still stacked up on the kitchen countertops and on the front platform. 

Sheri will need people to show up when she gets there at 3:30 so she can make room in the kitchen to cook the meal. So please come early to help out if you are available. And as always, bring your delicious desserts with you.

Camp Mowana / March of Prayer Tonight! Tonight at 6pm, come to Camp Mowana for our 43rd Night of Prayer. Take Ashland Road to Fleming Falls road, then south a short distance to the Camp Entrance on the right.  Go into the middle of the camp, around the pool, and park in the lot; worship will be at Oswego Lodge.

We will have a variety of songs, many from camp days, and will pray for ideas that have come up about what is next for us.  We also will walk and pray for the land as the camp enters its last year of service, and the transition that will happen as Richland County Park District takes responsibility.

Food (pizza) will be provided after the service, including whatever you bring to share!  Paper goods and water also will be provided. See you at Camp Mowana for our Day 43 of this March of Prayer!

Ok - that wraps up this week's Church Requel newsletter. But this is just the beginning of a very exciting weekend for our church. Let's make the most of every opportunity to meet with one another, to pray for one another, to serve one another, and to worship together with one another! Love you much! Pastor Mark

The Morning After

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

What a night! What a blessed night! What a glorious, blessed, holy night!

Thank You Most Holy Father, Son and Holy Spirit! We prayed for You to come and You did in such a powerful way!

There is so much on my mind this morning. Without meaning to be crude, I feel like I'm experiencing a Holy Spirit hangover. And that's a good thing, right? Now I can understand most fully when the Scriptures tell us to be filled with the Spirit rather than with wine. Amen.

I am almost tempted not to write this morning because I just don't know where to begin. Somehow, though, that just seems unfaithful. So I'm going to write down my random thoughts - sorry Julie Andrews - not starting at the very beginning, which admittedly is a very fine place to start. But this morning that would be just way too much work. Since I am a man of order, I'll at least number them. 

#1 - Thank you all. You really came through last night. You showed up early. You stayed late. You rolled up your sleeves and did the work. You cleaned. You practiced. You baked. You welcomed. You loved. You worshiped. You prayed. You were One Body with many hands. I've said it before but I can't say it enough: I am such a fortunate pastor.

#2 - We make our plans... and then God shows up and changes them. It's a good thing to plan ahead. Too many in spiritual leadership just wing it in the name of allowing the Holy Spirit to have His way. Brandi and I started planning over a month ago and worked hard each week refining and polishing. And I'm sure that God will still use what we didn't use last night - all to His glory. When so many people wanted intercessory prayer - so far beyond what either Brandi or I could have imagined - we stayed with the prayer requests.

#3 - People are hungry... no, desperate for authentic, personal prayer. I haven't counted them but I believe we received over 80 prayer requests last night. Waaaayyyy more than I ever thought. I did some math in my head to prepare for this intercessory prayer segment. We usually have 50 to 70 people in church on a Sunday morning. We usually receive 6 to 8 prayer requests, sometimes much fewer. So with 150 people there last night I would have thought 18 to 24. Boy was I wrong!

#4 - Boy, I'm so glad I was wrong... I don't think there has been a night in this March of Prayer, where I haven't heard, "If my people will humble themselves and call upon My Name, I will hear them..." Is that just a great verse about prayer? Or is it a solemn promise from our Lord God? Imagine what would happen if out of His Benevolence, He specifically answered each one of those prayers last night in exactly the way the requesters wished it? Wouldn't we be glad we changed our plans?

#5 - I was so moved by the prayers, especially when I learned some of the back stories. They are still emerging and I'm sure we'll hear more. God's hand was so in the distribution of those cards. I passed them out randomly and mostly to people I didn't personally know. We DO know Saudaie and we DO know her regular prayer request. God gave her the charge to pray for someone else's addiction issues. And how about that longest serving postal worker who received the card to pray for someone's cancer disease. What an emotional, powerful prayer! I learned afterward that he is struggling with his own cancer disease. You think these are just coincidental? One more - I can't tell you how moved I was when I saw all of you get up and pray over one of our own with addiction. Oh Lord, may his prayers (and ours) be answered!

#6 - Speaking of Saudaie... we at Church Requel have been saying and practicing for many years that our children are not the church of tomorrow, but they are the church of today. We include them in our worship. They take up every service role that our adults do. We saw the results last night! Not only Saudaie's prayer was effective but what about little 10-year-old Leia? Singing. Worshiping. Praying. She's one little mighty warrior for Christ. Oh Lord may all our children continue their zeal for you for the rest of their lives!

#7 - And how about that worship singing? Do you recall that our little "Jam Band" was still in the rehearsing stage one year ago? We spent the first 4 months of 2018 just getting together for Sunday lunch twice a month and then jamming together. Paul Lintern was honest in his assessment of those first days as he listened from the other side of the wall: "I just knew your heart was in the right place." Ha! Our little church has been blessed with singers and instrumentalists all beyond any reasonable ratio for a church our size. People were surprised and blessed last night. You should see all the texts I'm reading this morning. You would be so encouraged.

#8 - Small IS mighty when God is there. We talk about our size sometimes and often say, "We're small but mighty." We saw what "mighty" looks like last night. When we come together in Gods power and our unity of mind and purpose, well... the results are just stunning.

#9 - When we commit to blessing others, God blesses us right back. We cannot out-give God. We cannot out-bless God. Of all the texts and messages I received last night, this one from one of our own was my favorite. (I'll leave the identity anonymous since I haven't received permission to share it publicly.) "No words for what I witnessed tonight! So glad to be a part of it. I am transformed! Thank you." How can you not just weep for joy when you hear something like that?

#10 - Be prepared for more. God does not move like He did last night just for a one night stand. God's Spirit IS moving. Yes, through all the March of Prayer! Yes also, through Church Requel. We cannot and we will not shelf this experience as one wonderful celebration. We will not just live off it as a fond memory. We continuously need the fuel of the Holy Spirit today and each day in the future. We are now and will be again... TRANSFORMED! We have smacked our spiritual lips upon what the sweet and tart taste of "surprised by the Spirit" and we like it! No, we love it! And we want more. We will pray for more. We will desire for more. We will expect for more.

#11 - Expect the counter attack. Remember this isn't Heaven. Not yet. If we have learned anything from our study of the early church in Acts, it is that the spiritual enemy is never happy when God's children are obedient and faithful and worshipful and victorious. Know it's coming. Keep on the full armor of God. Keep up with your prayers, your devotions, your service, your charities, your love for one another. Now more than ever, be purposeful. This is not the time to relax. This is the time to charge forward in Christ's Name, the Spirit's Power, and the Father's Holiness.

Love you all much more than you'll ever know, Pastor Mark