Church Requel Blog - Writings of Mark Pierce

Neighborhood Meal Saturday. New Band Sunday!

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

I hope you're excited about today. It's the only today we have! And it's a beauty. As my dad likes to say, "The sun is shining. The birds are singing, The bees are making honey!"

Tomorrow night - Saturday - we have the opportunity to serve our neighbors a warm, healthy meal. Here's the team we have so far (that I know about): Sheri leading the charge, Don and Stephenie, Steve and Cindy, Roger and Judi, Mark and Mary Kay, Chris and Tamara & family, and Marci. Thank you all so much for volunteering. If I failed to include you and you want to help out, please come! The more the merrier. We set up at 4pm. We serve at 5pm. And we are usually finished between 6 and 6:30pm.

New Band Singing Sunday Morning! Brandi is enjoying a much deserved vacation with her family this week. Dave Johnson convinced Bethany to join him and his friends, Matt and Fernando, in a new praise band for Church Requel this Sunday morning. It should be really special!

Here's what we'll be singing together: (1) "My Heart Is Yours" by Passion, (2) "Alive" by Big Daddy Weave, (3) "What A Friend" by Matt Maher and (4) "Glorious Day" by Passion. Our hearts will be alive as we celebrate our friendship with Jesus on that glorious day!

Of course we appreciate everyone helping with our worship services. At a small church like ours, everyone pitches in and works together. Don't you love it!? Roger will be leading our prayer time. Dan and DeeDee will bring the communion bread and set up. Marci is bringing the snacks. Steve will be greeting. Shelli will be counting. Cindy, Karen and Mary Kay will be teaching our children. Thanks one and all!

When God Changes Our Plans. We continue our Sequel and Requel sermon series Sunday morning. This will be our 40th sermon from the Book of Acts. Wow! Did you know that the entire series is available on both our website as well as on YouTube? In fact while I'm on the topic, on our website you can find every sermon ever preached at Church Requel by date, by series, by speaker, and by title. It's a great resource of 455 sermons so far and I pray you all take advantage of it.

Back to this Sunday morning: What should we do when it feels like every door is closed? When our plans just aren't working out? Should we stubbornly try even harder or should we ask if God has something different in mind for us. We will study Acts 16:6-10 and discover that Paul's plans were literally roadblocked at every turn. We'll learn what to do - and not to do - when it seems like God is changing our plans. Want a head start? Check out the sermon notes in your Bible app or you can view them here in your browser. 

School Supplies Distributed Sunday. We appreciate everyone bringing in school supplies for our students these past few weeks. This Sunday will be your last opportunity to bring them in. I understand that Amy and her crew will be distributing out the school supplies to our students at the end of the worship service on Sunday, so make sure you come and take your school goodies home. I understand that some of our students will be starting school within the next week. Wow!

Free Produce - Tuesday August 13th. Free Produce Distribution will be offered this coming Tuesday, Aug 13, 2019 from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM. This will be held in the parking lot west of the First English Lutheran Church at South Mulberry St. and Park Avenue West.

Bring your ID and cloth bags, carts, and boxes to get your produce to your car. Volunteers will be available to help you. Second Tuesday of each month, April through November, produce is provided by the Greater Cleveland Food Bank. Got questions? Contact Jan Fisher at 419.589.2820.

Pool Party in August / Picnic in September! Make sure to plan for the pool party coming up later this month. The picture to the left is from last year's fun event. This year we will also meet up at Shelly Acres, 1002 Twins Lane. We have reserved the entire pool from 6pm to 8pm. This should be a funtastic event for the whole family!

And while it's still a little on the early side, make sure you keep September 15th on your calendar too. That's the day we will enjoy our annual picnic. After church we will meet together at North Lake Park. Lots of games too. Plus this is the time we take our annual group photo!

Love you all much! Hope to see all of you soon! Pastor Mark

AAA Sunday - Astounding Attitude Adjustment

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

I hope your weekend is starting out wonderfully. Mary Kay and I have big plans for this weekend. Tonight we GET TO watch my grandson in his summer play. Tomorrow night we GET TO watch the Orange & Brown Scrimmage up at First Energy Stadium. Sunday morning we GET TO worship with all of you at Church Requel.

Are you seeing a theme already? Sunday morning my talk is titled "Get To Not Got To." We'll continue our 2019 monthly mini-resolution series. Our August resolution is focused on our attitude of eagerness rather than compulsion. What a difference this "GET TO"attitude makes in our lives. We will consider five areas where an eager attitude matters in a big way. You can't wait for Sunday. Ok! Then you get to have a preview of the sermon notes here: http://bible.com/events/663263 .

I have to tell you that I got an up close and personal view of this positive attitude yesterday from Juanita. She had a much needed knee surgery the day before, so I went to the hospital to visit her. I expected to find her laying back in bed in great pain and needing much tender loving care and understanding. NO! What did I find?

Juanita was fully dressed, looking great, sitting up, legs dangling over her bedside. "Oh Pastor Mark - I've already gone for my first walk. I'm getting ready for my second physical therapy session. All the people here are so wonderful! I'm going to write a letter to Ohio Health and tell them what a great job they're doing. And - oh Pastor Mark - all the people of Church Requel have been so helpful and supportive. Sheri stayed with me all day yesterday. I know everyone has been praying. I'm just one of the luckiest ladies in the whole world!" Yeah. She should preach my Sunday sermon! You go Juanita!

Students Sing Sunday! A triple S for a triple A Sunday! Ha! As you can see from the photo on the left, Sissily and Gus join their mom, Stephenie and Leia joins her mom, Brandi on our worship team Sunday morning.

They are planning to sing some great songs that I know you all love: (1) "Indescribable" by Chris Tomlin, (2) "Revelation Song" by Kari Jobe, (3) "How Great Thou Art" by David Phelps and (4) "Lay Me Down" by Chris Tomlin."

I love the first Sunday in the month, when many of our students participate in our worship experience. Also serving Sunday morning will be Grayden and Cohen Pierce in the tech booth.

Neighborhood Meal - Saturday August 10th. Our turn to serve our neighbors with a neighborhood meal comes up one week from tomorrow. In the past we have enjoyed great support from all of you.

However, the summer months can run a little lean with volunteers. In June we only had 6 people show up - and that was a bit of a stretch. I know some of our regulars will be on vacation on August 10th. So I'm asking for you all to do me a favor. Would you (A) - be willing to serve and (B) - sign up on our sign up sheet Sunday morning? I've put a signup sheet in the lobby so we will know that we have plenty of people to help us out. Thanks so much!

Bring In School Supplies. Take Advantage of  the Tax-Free weekend! 

We appreciate so much the donations that have already been made. I was amazed when I saw the overflowing box pictured at the right.

If you haven't had the chance to go shopping for school supplies yet, this is the weekend to do it! Beginning today and continuing through Sunday, Ohio enjoys a special Sales Tax Holiday!

During the holiday, the following items are exempt from sales and use tax:

• Clothing priced at $75 per item or less;
• School supplies priced at $20 per item or less; and
• School instructional material priced at $20 per item or less.

Free Produce - Tuesday August 13th.

Free Produce Distribution will be offered on Tuesday, Aug 13, 2019 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM. This will be held in the parking lot west of the First English Lutheran Church at South Mulberry St. and Park Avenue West.

Bring your ID and cloth bags, carts, and boxes to get your produce to your car. Volunteers will be available to help you. Second Tuesday of each month, April through November, produce is provided by the Greater Cleveland Food Bank. Got questions? Contact Jan Fisher at 419.589.2820.

Pool Party in August / Picnic in September! Make sure to plan for the pool party coming up later this month. The picture to the left is from last year's fun event. This year we will also meet up at Shelly Acres, 1002 Twins Lane. We have reserved the entire pool from 6pm to 8pm. This should be a funtastic event for the whole family!

And while it's still a little on the early side, make sure you keep September 15th on your calendar too. That's the day we will enjoy our annual picnic. After church we will meet together at North Lake Park. Lots of games too. Plus this is the time we take our annual group photo!

Love you all much! Hope to see all of you soon! Pastor Mark

The A Team Sunday Morning!

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

I hope you're enjoy these beautiful summer mornings! Wow! My favorite time of year, I do believe!

Last night I enjoyed so much making music with Don, Dave, Brandi, Brian and Chris!

Singing and playing with the Jam Band has become a passionate love for me. I love how we each come together with our different talents and together we become something so much more than what any one of us could be on our own. I also love how each team member makes suggestions for how we arrange our music so that the end results is different than I could have imagined on my own.

Last night we planned to set up at 5:30 and start rehearsal at 6:30. Yes, it takes about an hour to get everything plugged in and tested before we ever play a note of music. I arrived promptly at 5:30 only to discover that Don had arrived even earlier and had most of it already set up! The majority of us arrived way before rehearsal time. Gotta love that enthusiasm.

We practiced for 2 hours - until 8:30. Then most of us stayed out in the parking lot just talking with one another as the sun set and dusk settled in. We made beautiful music (in my humble opinion) but the real beauty came in our fellowship together. Looking forward to Sunday morning and hoping for all your sake (and ours) that the music Sunday is just a beautiful as it was to us last night.

Sermon Sunday Morning. If you thought by the title that I was referring to our Jam Band as the A-Team (and thus inferring all the other praise teams as something less), then you would be mistaken. I'm talking in the sermon Sunday about how to build the best possible team, an A-team!

I was talking to Brandi on Tuesday morning about building the A-Team. I asked her if she remembered the A-Team. She just looked at me with that blank, sympathetic look that I recalled from when my dad would talk about The Lone Ranger on the radio. I then remembered that The A-Team came on TV when Brandi was only 4 years old. Then I felt really old. Ha!

The whole idea of the A-Team was how a very diverse set of individuals with widely divergent and specialized skills came together to form a fabulous team. It's wonderful when that happens. It's even more special in church! 

Sunday we consider Acts 16:1-5 and discover how Paul added Timothy to his team. What did Paul see in Timothy? What should we look for when either we become a team member or we want to add someone else to our own ministry team? That's what Sunday morning will be about. Can't wait!

Back To School Collection Box. Sunday morning look for the collection box in the lobby and each Sunday over the next month bring some back to school supplies with you. Our students - and especially our parents - will  greatly appreciate your generosity.

Pool Party in August! Despite the previous paragraph, summer is not over yet by a country mile! The picture to the right is from last year's fun event. This year we will also meet up at Shelly Acres, 1002 Twins Lane. We have reserved the entire pool from 6pm to 8pm. This should be a funtastic event for the whole family!

And while it's still a little on the early side, make sure you keep September 15th on your calendar too. That's the day we will enjoy our annual picnic. After church we will meet together at North Lake Park. Lots of games too. Plus this is the time we take our annual group photo!

Love you all much! Hope to see all of you soon! Pastor Mark

Indians Game Tonight / Disagreement Talk Sunday!

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

I look forward to my Friday morning Pen Pal opportunity with you all every week! As I write this morning I can't help but think of how this day will end - at Progressive Field together with many of you eating one dollar hot dogs.  

And - of course - we're going to watch the Indians open up this weekend against the Kansas City Royals. We are lucky. We've caught the Indians on a hot streak, going 8-2 their last 10 games. The Royals are enjoying a hot streak of their own going 7-3 their last 10 games.

It should be fun to watch. No matter who wins the game, the fireworks should be amazing afterwards. 

Sunday's Sermon. The fireworks continue Sunday morning as well! Have you ever disagreed with anyone? That's like asking if you've ever breathed! Ha! Of course you have. Have fireworks ever ensued? Sunday we're going to talk about how to agree to disagree. 

Is is ok to disagree with fellow Christ followers? We will study Acts 15:36-41, where we discover that Paul and Barnabas had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Along the way we will learn the right way to agree to disagree when we think someone else just isn't right!

Want a head start on this Sunday's talk? I've written it out for you and posted it in your Bible app. You can also read it in your browser here: http://bible.com/events/655668.

Great Music This Sunday Too! I had the privilege to run the sound for the Praise Team last night. Brandi, Bessica and Brian were wonderful together as a praise team trio!

Here's what we're planning to sing together: (1) "Open Up The Heavens" by Meredith Andrews; (2) "Say Amen" by Finding Favour; (3) "Whom Shall I Fear" by Chris Tomlin; and (4) "Made New" by Lincoln Brewster.

After the praise team finished their rehearsal, I sat down in a pew and just closed my eyes as Brandi played on the piano and sang, "What Do I Know Of Holy" by Addison Road. Such a beautiful song and performed brilliantly too! I'm so proud of Brandi. Playing the piano and singing at the same time has been a real stretch for her, but over the last 18 months she has come so far! Way to go Brandi!

Back To School Collection Box. My fingers got sweaty just typing those words! But there are some wise people among us who have reminded me this week that if we want to be able to help out our students when they return to school, we should start collecting supplies now. So Sunday morning look for the collection box in the lobby and each Sunday over the next month bring some back to school supplies with you. Our students - and especially our parents - will  greatly appreciate your generosity.

Pool Party in August! Despite the previous paragraph, summer is not over yet by a country mile! Baseball tonight and pool party next month. August 23rd to be exact!

The picture to the left is from last year's fun event. This year we will also meet up at Shelly Acres, 1002 Twins Lane. We have reserved the entire pool from 6pm to 8pm. This should be a funtastic event for the whole family!

And while it's still a little on the early side, make sure you keep September 15th on your calendar too. That's the day we will enjoy our annual picnic. After church we will meet together at North Lake Park. Lots of games too. Plus this is the time we take our annual group photo!

Love you all much! Hope to see all of you soon! Pastor Mark

Waymaker Sunday!

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

How are you doing this fine Friday morning? We are in the middle of summer and enjoying the sunshine AND the Son-shine!

This Sunday our ladies trio of Brandi, Missie and Trish will lead us in a couple new songs, including one I've been listening to for a few months now - "Way Maker" by Sinach. I love those lyrics inspired by Isaiah 43 - "Way maker, Miracle worker, Promise keeper, Light in the darkness, that is Who You are!"

I don't know about you, but sometimes I need to gather with the saints and sing songs like this to remind myself of the truth and power of Christ in our lives. Thanks ladies for leading us this Sunday!

Speaking of gathering with the saints and the encouragement we derive together, I'm still awash in enthusiasm from our students leading us in so many ways last Sunday! Our hats off to Cindy Thoman as she led our students in their sketch, "Hats Remind Us." What a fun way to be reminded of God's goodness to us!

And I loved all the singing and flute playing and tech booth and ushering and greeting accomplished by our students. They are truly a vital part of our Church Requel today!

Finally, weren't we blessed all the way through with Brian's teaching last week? I couldn't believe that this was the very first time he had ever preached. I am marveling that God has provided our small church with multiple teachers between myself, Bethany and Brian. Yep - blessed all the way through!

This coming Sunday morning I will be back in the pulpit continuing our Sequel and Requel series. We will focus on Acts 15:20-35. This will be our 37th sermon from Acts. Yay! 

Is it possible that we rely too much on the outside marks of pretend Christianity rather than the inside marks of the Holy Spirit's life within us? After the circumcision crisis of the early church, the apostles gave only 3 instructions for outward living. We will take a behind the scenes look at why they chose these three and what it might mean for us in this day and age. Want a head start? Here are the sermon notes.

Keep Praying! Last weekend we received 15 prayer requests from old and young alike. I love the fact that we are a praying church. When you hear those prayer requests in church, write them down so you can pray too. If you'd like to be included on the official prayer team, let me know. Right now we have 3 people who have committed to praying each week for these requests - Loni, Don and Roger. 

Thanks For Your Faithfulness. Today I received a six-month year to date financial statement from our treasurer, Nancy Roop. We are in very good financial shape right now thanks to so many of you being faithful with your tithes and offerings. Thanks and blessings upon you!

Love you all much, Pastor Mark

We Welcome Brian To The Pulpit!

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

We have planned a special treat for this Sunday morning. Brian Betts will preach! Yay! Brian has demonstrated his excellent teaching skills in the Bible study this past Spring. During one of the sessions I challenged him to consider teaching the whole church on a Sunday - to which he responded: "I don't think that's ever going to happen." I asked him to pray about it and he did. About a month ago he let me know that he felt the Holy Spirit urging him in this direction.

One of the things that I am most excited about as your pastor at Church Requel is encouraging people to seek out and develop their gifts and talents and to use them for the Lord and His church. I feel like this is happening at CR with both Bethany and Brian. Bethany is currently enrolled in a ministry degree program at Ozark Christian College. Brian will be starting at Liberty University this fall. Why wouldn't we, as a church, want to encourage them as much as possible?

I assigned Brian the task of continuing the Resolutions sermon series we have been working through on the first Sunday of every month. The planned topic for July? "Diligence Not Laziness." Brian's starting point was to find what God's Word had to say on this particular topic. He found more than he ever could use. It turns out that the Bible has a lot to say on the topic.

From there, Brian wrote out what would turn out to be the first of three sermon outlines and sermon drafts. Each time he would submit them to me and each time it was excellent. But each time I would make a suggestion of how he could improve it. I have loved Brian's teachability throughout this entire process. Each time he would completely re-write and re-submit his sermon and would incorporate my latest recommendation. The last one was just right.

This afternoon I will be meeting with Brian over at the church and we will work on his presentation skills. I know you all will love the final result this Sunday morning. A person's first sermon is a big deal in my book. I hope you all will join me on Sunday and be there to support Brian in his newest effort. Let's let him know how much we love him and encourage him all that we can!

Wasn't last Sunday Amazing? Speaking of encouraging one another to explore our gifts and talents and use them in the church... didn't you just love seeing all those who came forward to share their music with us? I'm still glowing from it all. Here are just a few pictures I thought you might enjoy. If I did it right, you should be able to click on any one of them to see a larger image.

Everyone I have spoken with has told me they loved the whole thing. So I'll chalk the "Singspiration" idea up as a good one. Don't be surprised if we try it again during a 5-Sunday month.  

I also loved the potluck meal we all enjoyed together right afterward. Thanks to all who shared an encouraging word, gift or card with Paul Scott for his graduation. I know he appreciated it so much!

Students Lead This Sunday! This will be the first Sunday of the month, when we try to involve as many of our children in the worship service as possible. I think this Sunday may be a new record for how many students will be involved. Joining Brandi, Cindy, Stephenie, Chris and Tamara will be Leia, Tre, Saudaie, Bubby, Sivon, Sisilly and Gus. (Yep - our largest praise team to date.)

Our Missionary Class and KidsMin class have been working on a special skit for Sunday morning called, "Hats Remind Us"! The last I heard these students will be involved: Anna, Grayden, Lila, Cohen, Lincoln, Leia, Tre, Sophie, AJ, Claira, Sisilly, Gus and Saudaie.  Speaking of Saudaie, she has also prepared a special song for us. And Grayden and Cohen will be manning our tech booth Sunday morning. We like to say that our students are not the church of tomorrow, but the church of today. We are living that out this weekend!

I love watching all of you roll up your sleeves and take on the work of the church. It is Christ's church. We are here to serve and praise Him. When each person finds their fit and plugs in, the easier and richer the experience for all of us in the body of Christ.

Love you all much! Pastor Mark

Sunday Singspiration and Potluck!

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

Summer has finally arrived in all its warm glory! To celebrate that along with all the other great things going on these days at Church Requel, we plan to enjoy a singing inspiration Sunday morning.

We're calling it "Singspiration" for short. This will be a Sunday morning filled from top to bottom with musical praise honoring our Lord Jesus. Many of you are participating. Normally we say the more the merrier. Perhaps in this case it should be the more the melodious-er? Ok, not a word. But I should get points for trying.

We've never attempted a singspiration before at Church Requel, and we have attempted a lot of things. So that's saying something. So for you loyal newsletter readers, what's it going to be like? Well, like I wrote earlier, we are planning for 100% music from beginning to end. Our ladies trio will open up our special worship morning with 4 wonderful songs sure to get your adoration for Jesus flowing.

On the 4th song, Anna Scott will come forward with her flag waving and banner flying! Anna is well trained - you'll be able to see her skills Sunday. What I love about her, though, isn't her ability to wave a flag, but the infectious smile she shares. You just know her heart is in the right place.

Others who will be singing and/or playing their musical instruments Sunday morning will be Dave Johnson and Bethany Pierce singing a couple duets while Dave plays his guitar. Violet Carrick and Cohen Pierce playing a saxophone duet, Bessica Brilla & Amy Watson singing a duet, Brian Betts singing a solo, Sicily Carrick playing a flute solo, the Angel family singing together, Leia Walker singing a solo, and finally yours truly closing out the day with a couple of new ukulele worship songs.

So what about other staples of our normal worship service like communion, prayer and God stories? I plan to open up the Singspiration with some instructions - which will go something like this.

The communion table is set up with the elements of the bread and the cup. At any time during the morning, you may go to the communion table and celebrate Christ's victory in your life.

I will be emceeing between the various worship teams coming up to the front and during those times, if any of you place a prayer request in the basket, we will pray for those requests as we transition from one group to the next.

Lastly, if God's Spirit moves in your heart Sunday morning by the music, then by all means stand up and tell us how God has been blessing you this week! We want to hear it!

And Potluck Too!? Wow!!! The Sunday Singspiration by itself would be awesome enough, but we're not done yet! When the singing celebration ends, we will all go downstairs for an amazing potluck meal together.

Not that we ever actually need a reason to enjoy a potluck, but in this case we do! We'll be celebrating Paul Scott's graduation from high school! So bring a card filled with encouragement for Paul. Let him know how much you love him. As far as the potluck goes, the church will be providing ham, paper plates, plastic eating utensils, napkins and water and lemonade to drink. You all bring the rest. You know the drill. We never ever have a shortage of food to eat at one of these potlucks. I don't know about you, but my mouth is already salivating!

New Prayer Team Starting Up! We have all seen the exciting results of prayer this year, haven't we? With the March of Prayer to the Prayer Burns, it feels to me as if the Holy Spirit is moving even more in our lives to be diligent in the discipline of prayer. 

Yesterday I visited with Mark and Loni Baserman for a couple hours while Loni was receiving chemotherapy. Loni's heart and conversation with me were humbling, to say the least. She lamented her physical inability to be present very often in the worship services. (Though she never misses - she and Mark watch online every week!)

Loni told me that she was praying recently and admitted that she felt she had a complaining spirit about her life recently and specifically about her inability to participate in church. She then told me that she felt that God was telling her very clearly that He had a most important role for her to play at Church Requel - and that was to pray, pray, pray. She then told me that she has been praying as much as she could for each one of you by name!

That got the brain cells in my little head firing through their synapses. Why not send Loni a list of all the public prayer requests each week from the Sunday morning worship service? That way those prayer requests would continue being lifted up by someone other than me. Loni loved the idea and as soon as I got home, I sent her the list from this past week.

Then, I thought to myself, perhaps there are others in our congregation, who would also like to pray regularly for those prayer requests. Perhaps there others who feel like they can't do other things for one reason or another, but they DO have the time and discipline to pray regularly. I could easily add other people to whom I send out these weekly prayer requests. Would you like to be included? You could even be like Loni - someone who watches regularly online. We'd love to include you too. Let me know.

I really love how so many of you are looking for your spiritual gifts to share with the body of Christ. I'm so excited to share this ministry with you. Thanks for your willing and cheerful spirits. Hope to see most of you Sunday morning. Love always, Pastor Mark