Church Requel Blog - Writings of Mark Pierce

Blizzard Church SATURDAY at 11AM!

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

Twenty-four hours from the time I'm writing you this newsletter two things will be happening: (1) a major winter storm will begin descending upon Mansfield and (2) we will worship our Lord and Savior together! In case you have not heard...

This weekend we have moved our worship service from Sunday morning to Saturday morning at 11am!

We've been warned earlier in the week that the snow fall is 100% predicted for Saturday with estimates of accumulation from 6 to 11 inches of snow. We felt the chances were very high that our Sunday morning worship service would be forced to be closed. Rather than wait for what seems like the inevitable, we decided to move our worship ahead by 24 hours. Yes, the snow will start falling before 11am, but hopefully will still be passable for us.

One huge advantage of a smaller church is flexibility. We have called everyone we know within the church and asked them to call everyone they know too. Hopefully everyone has been contacted, and - weather permitting - we could actually have a high attendance for us Saturday morning. No matter what it will be so much better than the alternative of closing!

And what could be a better way to enter into a blizzard than worshiping with all your church family? Instead of being cut off from everyone for two weeks, we get to bring joy into our midst (and not just a little bit of excitement!)

Brandi, Bessica, Amy and Brian rehearsed all last night - I can tell you they are super pumped about the songs we're going to sing. Pastor Paul and his wife, Pam, are also going to attend and Paul has agreed to lead our communion time together. I've been preparing a sermon from the Book of Acts about how we should respond to miracles (like the miracle of a Pre-Blizzard Worship Event!) Finally, Brandi has prepared a special song about our freedom from sin. Believe me when I tell you that you will walk away from tomorrow's worship inspired!

So don't let the snow keep you indoors. Get out of your house and get into God's house to warm the insides of your soul. 

More Good News! Our announcement on Facebook about our Pre-Blizzard worship service has really caught on! As of this morning it has been viewed by 3,578 people with 115 responses and been shared 51 times. Many of those shares have been by you - so thank you for that. But as of this morning our announcement has been shared more by people NOT associated with Church Requel in the past. What does that mean? Well, maybe only that some people think the idea of a time-traveling church is a pretty cool one. But there's also the possibility that we will have more folks attending our church Saturday morning than normal! Wouldn't that be just like God to create something good out of something not so good?

What can YOU do? First off, make every effort to come to Church Requel Saturday morning. Try not to let anything keep you away from the worship party. Second, call your family and friends. Tell them about the Pre-Blizzard worship church. Tell them about the time travel idea from Sunday to Saturday! Be excited! The chances are really good that others will be excited if you are too. Let's face it - when was the last time you were excited about anything (not vacation related) in January in Mansfield? Here's our opportunity!

Love you all much! Hope to see you Saturday morning at 11am! - Pastor Mark

 

Recovering and Thankful

Good Friday morning Church Requel

This week has been an inauspicious first week of the new year for the Pierce household. Mary Kay and I have both been sick with the flu, but now are hopefully recovering. We've used a normal year's worth of Kleenex boxes and NyQuil in the last 7 days. Mary Kay seems to be a little further along in her recovery than me. Just how bad has it been? I have yet to pick up my ukulele. No joy here at all!

We appreciate your prayers for recovery as we're both hoping that we can join you Sunday morning for worship.  Brandi sent me a text yesterday to say rehearsal last night with Missie, Cindy and Dinah was AWESOME!

Also Brandi talked with Juanita who is THRILLED that she will be reading our Scripture this Sunday morning.

Brandi will also be singing a new special song: "Who You Say I Am" by Hillsong. 

I can't begin to tell you all what your soups and notes of encouragement have meant to Mary Kay and me this week. Thanks so much for being such a wonderful church family.

Hope to see you Sunday morning. Love, Pastor Mark

 

Mini-Resolution #1 - Love Not Lust

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

Welcome to 2019! As a church we enjoyed some tremendous achievements - our best attendance, our best giving year, marriages, baptisms,... and sadly a couple funerals of friends too quickly taken from our midst.

As wonderful as 2018 was, I believe this year - 2019 - will be even better yet! We have a few new people who've begun attending this past month. And the feedback that I'm receiving from everyone is most positive. I believe God is working in our midst! Are you up for 2019?

2019 - The Year Of The Mini-Resolutions. For those of you who came to our last 2018 worship, you know that we declared 2019 the year of the mini-resolution. What do we mean be that?

We established one overall resolution for ourselves this year: "I resolve to live out God's will in my life in 2019." We decided to narrow that down each month to one godly characteristic that we would work to be like.

For January, our mini-resolution is this: "With God's help I will love more and lust less." We WILL talk about the biblical definitions of both love and lust. However, our talk will not just be about should's and shouldn't's. As is true of almost any resolution we make, it's not usually about lack of knowledge that leads to a lack of follow-through. For example, we all know that we should exercise and eat more healthily. The knowledge of it doesn't provide the execution of it.

So I'm planning a good deal of each mini-resolution talk to be practical "how-to" advice of living out our resolve. So this Sunday I'll talk about the humanity principles of MORE and LESS. We'll talk about the importance of measuring our progress. And finally I'll give you three really helpful prayers you can use each day to improve your results.

A Note To Parents. I have been deliberate in choosing the first Sunday of each month for our 12 mini-resolution talks. I want our children to be present. I believe nothing could be better for your kiddos this year than to hear 12 "how-to" sermons of living out a more godly character in their lives. With that said - and especially for this first month - I will be very conscious of the fact that our children are present and will choose my words accordingly.

Our Children Super Involved Sunday!  Joining Brandi, Cindy, Tamara and Chris on the praise team will be Saudaie, Bubby, Sivon, Leia, Tre and Paityn. If I added that up right, that's 10 singers this week. Brandi is starting it off right! 

And for all of you who helped invest into our soundboard a few years back - remember your investment and be blessed on Sunday!

Paityn and Bubby will be singing a special song for us. Also, Paul and Chris will help out in the tech booth. 

I think this year is going to be really special for our young people too. I love the picture above showing the keen interest everyone had in Juanita teaching her cookie-making talents to our children. It was truly a "sweet" lesson! More of that to come on Valentine's week this year!

New Adult Bible Study Starting Up!  Here's another piece of good news for 2019! Starting February 5th, Brian Betts will be leading a study open to all interested adults going through The Holiness of God by R.C. Sproul.

This will be a 12-week study, where we’ll be studying God’s holiness, as well as how people responded to experiencing it. The book we’ll be using is $9.73 through the Kindle store.

The study will be held at Brian’s apartment in Galion on Tuesday evenings at 6. Child care will not be provided. If you’d be interested in joining our study, let Pastor Mark or Brian know.

I know that Brian has been thinking about doing this for a long time. He is hoping to attract some of his Galion friends too. Bravo Brian! Way to kick off the New Year!

Women’s Bible Study Starting Back Up. The women of Church Requel will meet this Wednesday, January 9th at the church from 6:30pm-8pm. They will continue their study of the devotional called “Stuck” by Jennie Allen.

All are welcome to come for fellowship and learning. Even if you haven't attended this study before, it's not at all too late to join in.

These ladies have a great time together, not only studying God's Word, but also praying and supporting one another. Thank you again Dina for getting this started.

Community Meal 2019 Schedule. Here is yet MORE GOOD NEWS for 2019! We are back on the schedule for community meals! Yay! Church Requel will serve on the second Saturday of every even month.

For those of you that like to calendar your dates ahead, plan for Feb. 9th, April 13th, June 8th, Aug. 10th, 
Oct. 12th and Dec. 14th.

Some new changes to the community meal program involve providing live music and entertainment from 4pm - 6pm. The first hour for those prepping (and early meal arrivals) and the second hour for those eating the meals. No more waiting upstairs until 5pm. Starting in 2019 everyone will just come downstairs and be seated and wait for 5pm. Plan now for your community serve!

Like I said at the beginning of this weekly newsletter, I believe 2019 is going to be a great year for Church Requel. The things I wrote about are just the things we know about now. Imagine what God could do with us if we pray daily for Him to use us mightily for His kingdom in 2019!

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

Mini-Resolutions in 2019

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

Here is the very last email newsletter you'll receive from me this year! I resolve to write no more email newsletters this year! Ha!

So... resolutions. Where do you come down on resolutions? Are you a resolution kind of guy or gal? Or do you never make them? Do resolutions help? Have you ever made a resolution that you've kept for more than a few weeks?

I'm coming off a pretty good resolution year personally. I received my ukulele on December 31st of 2017 and resolved to learn to play it in 2018. Even as a resolution kind of guy, I'd say last year was rather exceptional for me and not at all the rule of my other 60 years.

This past week I listened to a news program that related 2019 to be the year of the mini-resolution. Have you heard about this? The idea is to make multiple smaller resolutions throughout the year rather than one big resolution at the beginning of the year, which we give up on before the first month is over. I thought to myself that this was a pretty good idea.

I further thought to myself what if we made one big resolution that could be achieved by mini-resolutions throughout the year. (I'm liking this idea more and more!) So I came up with the game plan for us as a church in 2019. Here it is...

I resolve to live out God's will in 2019!

This sounds pretty good, but in reality doesn't help us very much. Why? Because there are at least three different definitions of God's will that I can think of. Which do we mean?

There is God's SOVEREIGN will, God's secret plan that determines everything that happens in the universe. There really isn't any choice here. What God wills in His sovereignty happens - regardless of what we will. And resolutions are all about what we will.

There is God's MORAL will, God's revealed commands in the Bible that teach how people ought to believe and live. That would be a pretty good resolution. Except it's pretty broad. There's a lot of revealed commands in the Bible. Which ones are we talking about?

There is God's INDIVIDUAL will for each of our lives. I think this is what we usually have in mind. If we were to define it, we might put it this way: God's ideal, detailed life-plan uniquely designed for each person. This too is fraught with challenges, not the least of which is this: exactly what is God's individual will for us? How detailed is this plan? What decisions to I include in God's individual will for me and what do I think are just my own choices that I'm free to make on my own? And how do I decide which choice is ok for me to make and which choice I should ask God about? Put another way, should I pray each morning when I open my sock drawer and ask God for His will in the matter? No? Why not?

Where am I going with all this? This is what we'll be talking about in the sermon this coming Sunday morning. It's a good, thought-provoking sermon. It's a concept I've been thinking about for the last 40 years or so and I can't wait to share some of my thinking with you. Want a head start? Here are the online sermon notes: http://bible.com/events/537138

It also will kick us off for a new monthly series of talks in 2019. On the first Sunday of each month - coincidentally when all the children will be in the service with us - we will make a mini-resolution to keep for the rest of that particular month. Over the course of the year, we will make 12 mini-resolutions together. Sound like a good idea?

Sunday morning will be our last opportunity to worship together in 2018. I'm looking forward to seeing each of you! With Christ's love, Pastor Mark

Christmas 2018 Is Here!

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

This is THE week! Christmastime is upon us! This time of year is special for all of Christendom but is especially so for us! Six years ago on Christmas Eve we held our very first worship service at the Point of Grace!

There are so many special things happening this Sunday and then on Monday evening. Allow me to tell all!

Our worship singing Sunday morning will be led by the Jam Band, including Brandi, Dan, Don, Brian and yours truly. We'll welcome you into the sanctuary with Jingle Bell Rock. Then all together we'll sing three Christmas carols: "The First Noel," "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," and "Joy To The World." While you all are greeting one another, we'll play the festive "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree." This will be our first Christmas Sunday service with live music! We're all pretty pumped about it. Hope you are too.

During the offering, Violet Carrick and Cohen Pierce will play a saxophone duet, "First Holiday Concert." How did we ever get so lucky as to have two saxophone players in our small church family? Wow!

I've also been working on a special song for the last 2 months - "Glory In The Highest" by Travis Cottrell. I spent weeks watching him play it on the piano and then figuring out how to play it on a ukulele. I'm pretty certain that Church Requel will be the only church in the universe Sunday with a "Glory In The Highest" ukulele special! Ha!

Monday evening - Christmas Eve (at 5pm) - we also have lots of very special music planned.

Our Christmas Eve worship team will be led by Brandi, Trish, Missie, Paityn, Dinah and Amy. Together we will all sing "Born Is The King (It's Christmas)" by Hillsong, "Angels From The Realms of Glory / Immanuel" by Paul Baloche, and at the end of our worship together we will all sing a Christmas medley.

Our special music on Christmas Eve will include:

(1) Amy singing "O Holy Night" by Adolphe Adam

(2) Brandi singing "When Love Was Born" by Mark Schultz

(3) Dinah singing "Noel" by Lauren Daigle

(4) Paityn singing "Mary Did You Know" by Meredith Andrews

(5) Yours Truly leading us all in "Away In A Manger" with the ukulele.

As has been our tradition these past 6 years, we will light all our candles from the Christ candle in the center of the Advent wreath. From all our candles together, we will light our communion candles, which will be lighted for every worship service in 2019. This candle lighting Christmas Eve service is so special. Remember to invite your family and friends!

Our Christmas sermons will continue the same theme we began last Sunday. We're calling it "Giving Away Immanuel." 

Sunday morning - Christmas is a season of giving because God first gave His Son to us. We learned last week that Christmas can be a 365-days-a-year event if we continue to give Immanuel away to others by giving away the gift of ourselves. HOW do we do that is the topic of Sunday's Christmas message. 

Monday evening - Immanuel "God With Us" is God's very special present to us. We remember how He gave His Son to us as the baby Jesus in the manger. This idea of Immanuel is something we can give away too! What a great gift to give ourselves fully away while filled with God's Holy Presence in our lives. But can we give away Something or Someone we have not first received ourselves? Are you ready to receive Him? Are you ready to give Him?

Want a head start on the next "Giving Away Immanuel" sermon? Open your Bible apps and you should find it under "Events.' Or you can click here to see it in your browser window.

Everyone - thank you so very much for your enthusiastic support of Church Requel. In every way imaginable. I count myself so fortunate to be your pastor. Merry Christmas! Love you all much, Pastor Mark

 

Giving Away Immanuel - New Sermon Series

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

What a fantastic Sunday we all enjoyed last week! The kiddo's Emoji program was so fantastic. I just don't think I can thank the parents and Tamara enough for all their work with the children. We had a record attendance too! Everyone had such a wonderful time watching our children sing and act out their production. What a fantastic way to remember the real Christmas story!

And such a wonderful potluck afterward. Thanks so much Sheri, Steve, Cindy, Dan, DeeDee, Mary Kay, Juanita and Don for all your work getting it all set up and cleaned up.

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How will we ever top last Sunday? We are sure going to try to keep the momentum going! I've been hard at work on a brand new Christmas sermon series entitled, "Giving Away Immanuel."

Christmas is a season of giving because God first gave His Son to us. We exchange presents because of God’s generosity first to us.

But have you considered the possibility of Christmas giving 365 days a year? God not only gave His Son, but He also gave us His Spirit. We think of Immanuel, or God with us, at Christmastime. But He never leaves us! What might this mean for how we give ourselves - and Him - away?

I won't attempt to answer this question all in one sitting. I've arranged my thinking on this over 3 different talks - December 16th, 23rd and 24th - so I encourage you to come to all of them if you can. For those of you who would like a head start, you should be able to find the sermon notes in your Bible app. Or you can check them out here.

Our worship team are getting fully into the Christmas spirit too! Joining Brandi on the Church Requel platform this weekend will be Amy, Bessica, Cindy and Brian. They will be leading us in singing:

1) "Who Would Imagine A King"

2) What A Savior

3) Silent Night (Christ The Savior Is Born)

and 4) Joy To The World (Unspeakable Joy)

Steve will bring our announcements. Steve and Cindy will light our Advent candle.  We'll also have another opportunity for all of you to share your God Stories this Sunday, so be thinking of how God has blessed you this week!

Christmas Eve at 5PM. Our Christmas Eve candlelight services will be Monday, December 24th at 5pm. We hope all of you will not only come, but also bring someone along with you!

Sunday you will receive special invitations to our Christmas Eve candlelight service (pictured left). These invitations are not meant to invite you, our faithful congregation. They are intended for you to give out to other family and friends to invite them to come.

Most people will gladly accept your invitation at this special time of the year. We are planning for the Christmas Eve service to begin at 5pm and to last one hour. Many people are participating bringing special music they have prepared. This is the perfect way to get your Christmas started right! Don’t miss the candle lighting and singing carols together!

Personal Note. I've been sharing the gift of Christmas this year by singing and playing my ukulele at many nursing homes, assisted living and retirement centers (18 places altogether!)

Tonight and next Friday night I'll be playing and singing at Paul Revere's Family Restaurant at 5pm. If you enjoy a good fish dinner and want to hear some ukulele Christmas carols, come out to the early bird special from 5-6pm. For those who would like to hear the carols online I've posted 21 so far on YouTube.

Can't wait to see you all Sunday morning at 11am!

Love you all much, Pastor Mark

Emoji Christmas - THIS Sunday!

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

Wow! What a wonderful weekend we have planned together at Church Requel! This is the Sunday when our children will present their Christmas play, "Emoji Christmas." They've been working on it since the beginning of October! Many thanks to Tamara and her faithful sidekick, Chris, for all their work with our children!

Tamara and Chris are modeling just two of the yellow emoji T-shirts our children will be wearing Sunday morning. Each child has picked out his or her own personal emoji character. As you can imagine, this production is a super cute story about the importance or our emotions on Christmas Day. I don't know about you, but I especially like the smiles on the faces of Tamara and Chris as they show off their handiwork!

I like Brandi's words of wisdom in her email to all the servants this morning...

This Sunday is The Emoji Christmas Play!!!  YAY!!!  So what that means is there are A LOT OF US (especially kiddos) involved in our service, which means A LOT OF GUESTS!!  Woo Hoo!! 

 

With a lot of guests that means we need to be ready to serve in our area, and, more importantly, we are ready to greet new faces, show them the cookies & coffee, point them to the restrooms, etc.

TOMORROW - SATURDAY, December 8th at 10am is the Dress Rehearsal for the Emoji Christmas play. Every child participating in the play MUST be at the dress rehearsal. It will last for a few hours and then there will be pizza afterwards. PLEASE mark your calendar for 10am TOMORROW for the Emoji Christmas Dress Rehearsal!

Potluck Meal Afterwards! Is there a chance we have buried the lead? POTLUCK! The very word gets our mouths watering! The picture at the left is of Dave, Sandy and Aaron loading up their plates last year. I can still taste how delicious that ham tasted!

We are asking that families bring two side dishes or desserts and single folks, bring one side dish or dessert. Church Requel will provide the meat and drinks.

When we finish eating we still won't be finished! We're planning on a Christmas caroling time together led by yours truly and his trusty ukulele! The entire morning is just going to be super emoji special! 😀😇😍👍💁😛😎🤩

The Church Requel Winter Wear Has Arrived!

This weekend is like an early Christmas! Wow! Santa himself showed up at my house yesterday in his trusty brown UPS truck. Ha! It took him two trips and two gigantic boxes to bring all the winter wear goodies to my door!

If you've ordered yourself or a special member of your family either a Church Requel hoodie sweatshirt or a long-sleeved T-shirt, be sure to show up Sunday morning to pick up your new winter clothing. What a fantastic way to get the word out about our church: loving God and loving people!

New Christmas Sermon Series Starts Next Sunday!

I'm very excited about the three sermons I'm writing. What a joy when I sit down at my computer and think of each of you. We are so blessed! Do you know that this Christmas season marks the 6th year we've been worshiping in our present location and 10 years since we got started? Wow!

So as I thought about you all I thought about what a wonderful gift you have all been to me! When it comes to Christmas, we don't often think of ourselves as a gift to others - but YOU ARE!

I'm overwhelmed at the thought of Immanuel, which means God with us. Now if this is true - that God is with us - it means He is with each one of you who name yourself as a Christ-follower. And THAT means that when you interact with other people you bring the gift of the Savior with you. This is indeed exciting!

God knew each one of you for a long time before you were born. He has great plans for how you will be His present of Immanuel to everyone you meet. I can't wait to share this with you!

Christmas Services Schedule. We will have our normal Sunday morning worship service on Sunday, December 23rd. We will then have an additional Christmas Eve candlelight service on Monday, December 24th at 5pm.

Love you all so much! Can't wait to celebrate with you! Pastor Mark