Church Requel Blog - Writings of Mark Pierce

Audio Sermon: Independence From Self

After enjoying the holiday Monday off, I'm back to work this morning.  (Wait a minute... Monday is my regular day off anyway.  Nothing special there!)  Below you'll find the audio sermon from our Independence Day service at Church Requel this past Sunday.  First, I thought I would share a couple highlights.

Our attendance was down pretty significantly Sunday night.  I don't think we topped 40.  Six months ago I remember reading Nelson Searcy's book, Fusion: Turning First Time Guests Into Fully-Engaged Members of Your Church, and laughing with him as he described how through his remarkable leadership he grew his church from over a hundred on opening day to 35 people.  It now looks like I've done the same.  I remembered when reading Searcy's story thinking that such a drop in attendance must have been a catastrophe. 

Now that we've been there and done that, I believe this weekend was anything but a catastrophe.  Sure, it would have been great if more folks showed up.  But the ones who did come seemed to appreciate the service.  We enjoyed it.  God was honored.  We were reminded of some important truths.  And we had the chance to worship together freely.  And the air conditioning worked splendidly on a very hot day. 

I know it probably sounds like I'm just being optimistic for the sake of optimism, but I told our small audience that I wasn't deterred.  In fact, I remembered distinctly that we only had a dozen people in our living room last 4th of July weekend.  So, in point of truth, we tripled in size this past year!

Weekly I receive an email from StartCHURCH, who helped us get Church Requel up and running last year.  The title of today's email was: "Why Many Pastors Quit on July 5th!"  Here is an excerpt:

For many pastors the Monday after July 4th is a very depressing day.  That is the day when countless pastors feel the most abandoned by God and by the congregation.   Though the reasoning is not clear, it seems that we pastors, from the day we say "Yes" to God's call, associate His blessing on our life with the size of the crowd and the offering on Sundays...which is why many pastors want to quit the Monday after the fourth of July!

What happens when July 4th falls on a Sunday?  Every time the 4th of July falls on a Sunday, churches all across America experience the lowest attendance of the entire year.  After all, it is the peak of the summer break and most families choose to finally take that weekend and do something they have not done all summer; get away!  That may be a good thing for the family, but it is usually a bad event for a pastor.

Fortunately I was prepared for this in my own mind.  In my previous job, the senior pastor would regularly ask me to preach the first Sunday of every July.  He knew the attendance would be down and so he always began his annual study break at the beginning of July.  He also knew I would be thrilled to preach no matter what.  The same is still true for me - still thrilled no matter the size of the crowd!

A second highlight is a private one - a small laugh at myself that I thought you, the reader, might also enjoy.  I have become accustomed to taking my watch off and placing it on the table where I preach.  But Sunday night, because of the angle of the lights, I couldn't see my watch no matter how I angled it.  About halfway through, controlling my own panic at not knowing how much time I had taken, I glanced up and saw a big, round clock on the back wall staring back at me.  No one knew it but me (I never stopped, paused or even grinned on the outside), but inside I was cracking up.  Obviously I'm still becoming accustomed to our new venue at Ontario Christian Fellowship.

Here is the audio sermon.  Since we were conducting our service on Independence Day, it seemed like a good idea to launch from this concept of freedom.  Christians also need a declaration of independence... from self.  In this sermon, we examine four ways we gain F.R.E.E.dom from self.  Join me in this audio sermon as we study Philippians 1:27-30.

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Today We Celebrate Dual Citizenship

This evening at Church Requel we will study the first half of Philippians 1:27, which is the New International Version of the Bible reads this way, "Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Christ." The main verb used is πολιτεύομαι (politeuomai), which has as its root the word polis, the word for city.  New York City is often referred to as Metropolis.  Here in Ohio on the Ohio River we have Gallipolis.  It's where we get our word for politics.  The New Living Translation, I think, really gets it right when they translate: "Above all, you must live as citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ."

Today, as we celebrate Independence Day here in the United States, Christ-followers celebrate dual citizenship.  We conduct ourselves in a manner consistent with the freedoms and responsibilities of the citizen BOTH of the U.S. and of Heaven.  There is no inconsistency or contradiction here.  Citizens of Heaven should make excellent Americans.

Certainly our founders thought so.  We may forget in this modern age that the first settlers came to America seeking religious freedom.  In the midst of difficulties, trials and debate - when it seemed like the Continental Congress might not be able to agree on the Declaration of Independence - which we celebrate today, they paused for prayer.  Out of that prayer came the phrase "e pluribus unum," One out of many.

Yesterday the Washington Post reported an exciting new finding about our Declaration of Independence.  Researchers have scientifically figured out that in one of his early drafts, Thomas Jefferson changed his wording of Americans from "subjects" to "citizens."  He smudged his ink so well and then traced his original lettering so closely that it has taken 234 years for us to figure out what he originally wrote down.  Today we are not "subjects" of the crown or of the government.  We are citizens!  That has an entirely different meaning, with all the rights, privileges and responsibilities that go along with it.

In the same way, we Christ-followers are not just "subjects" of heaven.  We are citizens of it.  We live as if we were in the Presence of God (heaven) regardless of our place, time, or company.  We live in a certain manner - not because we are better.  We are, after all, sinful men and women saved by grace.  We live in a certain way because of Who we know.  And because of Who knows us.

Today on this 4th of July I encourage you to celebrate your freedom with all the gusto you can gather.  But as you do so, remember your dual citizenship.  Celebrate not only your freedom as an American, but also your freedom in Christ.

Worship Programming for the Holidays

Tomorrow is Independence Day here in the United States.  It also happens to be Sunday, a day of worship.  Only once every seven years, the 4th of July actually falls on a Sunday.  We plan to make a big deal out of Independence Day on Sunday at Church Requel.  The question has occurred to me of how the worship planner should respond to the secular and cultural calendar.  It seems to me that there are three options.

Option #1 - Ignore the Holiday. The great preacher, theologian and reformer, John Calvin, was somewhat famous for ignoring even the sacred calendar, let alone the secular calendar.  He had a preaching schedule and he stuck to it.  This has the benefit of remaining focused on preaching only the Word of God and not being sidetracked.  Calvin rightly figured that if he adjusted his preaching schedule every time something special was on the calendar, he would be adjusting a third to half the time.  But, it seems to me, that ignoring the holiday has the disadvantage of missing a key launching point, which is already in the forefront of parishioner's minds.

Option #2 - Cater to the Holiday.  Design the entire service and sermon around the Holiday.  This is the exact opposite of Option #2.  The idea here is that since people are already in "Holiday" mode, the worship planner should make the weekend service and sermon about the Holiday.  I was surprised when I visited the Sermon Central website this week to discover how many of the sermons were designed around the history of the Signing of the Declaration of Independence. Many of my contemporaries then launch into a sermon about the rights that we, as Americans, may be losing.  This option is really not an option for me, since a) I want my preaching ALWAYS to focus on God's Word and its application for us today, and b) I never want to allow my personal political views to stand in the way of someone hearing and receiving the Gospel of Christ.

Option #3 - Mash with the Holiday.  Use the holiday.  Don't ignore it or cater to it.  One of the most popular shows on Fox is Glee (not recommended from my point of view because of the very loose moral values portrayed).  Part of the winning formula for Glee is the mashup: when they take two different musical themes and "mash" them together.  This is what I like to do with the holiday schedule.  We take people from where they are in their minds when they walk into the service to the Biblical principles and applications that we have planned and scheduled.

This weekend is a perfect example.  We plan to teach our way through Philippians this summer.  Option #1 would have us totally ignoring the 4th of July and would make us act as if tomorrow's Independence Day festivities weren't happening, while we plow our way through the scheduled Scriptures.  Option #2 would have us set aside our Philippians study.  But option #3, which takes a little more creative thinking, provides some wonderful opportunities, which I plan to exploit tomorrow. 

• What does the Christ-follower need to be set FREE from?
• What was the unity required of the Continental Congress?
• What was the sacrifice required of them?  What is the sacrifice required of us?
• Is there a connection between "e pluribus unum" of the American founders and the "one mind, one spirit" admonition of Paul?

Mashing the secular and/or temporal with the eternal precepts of God's Word actually is not an original concept with me.  Jesus was famous for it.  How often did he take the talk of the day (taxation, for example) and turn it into eternal precept (Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and unto God what is God's).

When parishioners visit Church Requel tomorrow, they will watch a "stars and stripes" countdown before the service.  They'll then watch a one-minute opening video that reminds us that we are "One nation under God."  After the worship songs, they'll view a funny 4th of July video from the Skit Guys at a cookout, with the not-so-subtle message of how God has blessed America.  Before the sermon, the CR church attendee will again be reminded in a visually stunning video of the freedoms we enjoy as Americans, ending with the Christ-follower's freedom in Christ.

Is that overkill?  Think about it this way.  Those 3 videos will take 6 minutes of the 75-minute service.  They have been carefully chosen and placed for the entire purpose of bringing the mind of everyone right to the exact point I want to start the sermon.  If I've chosen well, I will have created a great platform from which to preach the Word of God.  And, even if someone walks away not remembering my words, they very well might remember one of the videos - each one of which could stand alone as a mini-sermon!  Seems to me to be a win-win all the way around.

Independence Day Celebration at Church Requel

We have some really exciting plans to celebrate Independence Day at Church Requel this weekend.   The sermon is a very special one, I think, and nicely mashes together some little known facts of our nation's Declaration of Independence with our Philippians' passage.  Here's a hint: at one point our nation's founders prayed together and ended up with the now famous "e pluribus unum" - One Out of Many.  We also learn from Paul's letter to the Philippians that we should "stand firm in one spirit, with one mind."  Hmmm.... seems like a theme!

I met with Nate yesterday to make our final plans for Sunday's service and he told me some really exciting news!  Jana will be playing the keyboard as part of the Praise Team.  Wow!  I didn't even know she played.  Seems as how Luke let the musical cat out of the bag. 

We also have some pretty incredible special things happening.  I promise you that you will not want to miss a special "4th of July" appearance by The Skit Guys!  (Who says we can't enjoy a good laugh at church?)  Also this weekend will see the grand opening of our Church Requel bookstore!  You'll want to come early and/or stay late to get some good Monday - day off reading material.  Finally, don't forget that we have the Elementary Children's class up and running now.  This will be the second week.  The only complaint from the kids last weekend was that they didn't get to spend enough time in their class!  So this weekend we'll dismiss them a little earlier.

I'm sure by now you have become accustomed to my enthusiasm.  But honestly, doesn't this sound like a great Independence Day worship service?  I can't tell you how much I appreciate Nate, Luke, Stephen, Jana, Nancy, Jonathan, Shaun, Kyle, Rachel, Mark, Steve, Cindy, and Jessica's commitment to make CR happen this weekend.  If you see them, let them know how much you appreciate them too!

Remember - our new location is at Ontario Christian Fellowship, 636 S. Lexington-Springmill Road, just one mile south of Richland Mall.  See you Sunday at 6PM! 

Patio Office, Worship Planning and Toy Story 3

It's Friday morning so I must be at Panera Bread.  Wait, let me snap a picture with my new Evo.  Yep, that's me this morning sitting in my favorite booth.  Classical music is playing inside and the sun is shining bright through the windows outside.  It's going to be a GREAT day!

Yesterday, after a really long day on Wednesday, I got up bright and early and worked hard straight through until 3PM.  Then I cut out early and took my daughter, Jennifer, and her daughters, Sicily and Violet, to watch Toy Story 3.  What a great movie!  Yes, the Pixar visual magic was as stunning as always, but what made this movie so wonderful was the fantastic story telling.  The movie viewer easily identifies with life as a toy.  But also she will be drawn into the very human emotions of life change and the loneliness that often comes with change. 

I'm reminded of the fact that as a pastor I have the privilege to tell the greatest story ever told.  I dare not slack off and not do my very best to share the gospel message as well as I can.  I actually love the creativity that comes with my role as a pastor.  It gives me great joy to think, plan, write, and research to make each Sunday evening as memorable as possible.

Along those lines, I met with Nate yesterday afternoon as I do every Thursday.  We worked on the worship services for the next month - reviewing the next two weeks in detail.  We have some great things lined up for this Independence Day weekend.  (I'll fill you in on those details in a separate post.)  Suffice it to say here that things are going really well.  I'm incredibly impressed with Nate's organization.  He, Luke, and Jana practiced last night and are ready for a fantastic Sunday.  Yes... I said Jana!  Who knew that she could play the keyboard!  That's right, we're dusting off that most expensive instrument we purchased nine months ago and will enjoy it this weekend!

The weather this past week has been so delightful that I have avoided going down into my basement office.  How could I walk down into that dark cave of an office (as nice as it is) while the sun shines with practically no humidity, modest temperatures and a nice breeze?  The patio office has come back in a big way.  With laptop, cell phone, and an armful of Bible commentaries I have thoroughly enjoyed working outside this week. 

Speaking of an armful of books, the Big Brown Truck (UPS) stopped in front of my house yesterday.  The first delivery for the Church Requel bookstore has arrived!  I can't wait to open those boxes and dig into the new books we'll begin selling this weekend.  But I'm being disciplined.  Write my sermon first.  Then open boxes later.  Better get crackin' on that sermon or those Amazon boxes may never get opened.  'Til next time, Mark.

Books, Movie Clips, and Planning Sheets

"Books, Movie Clips, and Planning Sheets" - a most eclectic title to a blog post, but it best describes my day yesterday - a day that started early and didn't finish until 8:30 last night.  I didn't even stop for supper - Mary Kay said she could see I was "in a zone" and didn't want to disturb me.  I suppose after 31 years together, she knows me pretty well.

First, let me tell you about the books.  Steve Thoman, one of our leaders, came up with this great idea for a Church Requel mobile bookstore.  We purchased and Steve assembled a four-sided, black metal, book display case on wheels.  We'll be able to roll it out into our lobby on Sunday nights. 

Our first thought was that it would be a great place to display our past sermon series on CD.  But when we put up the sermon CD kits on the display, it was obvious that we needed lots more resources. 

So yesterday I sat down at the Amazon storefront and thought through all the important books in my own life.  We ordered 25 different books, including several Bibles, a Bible handbook, and many Christian discipleship and Christian living titles.  The cost was over $300.  I kept telling myself that we would eventually recoup this from people buying the books.  And I thought of the joy and growth that our parishioners would be able to experience as a result of reading this outstanding works.

I showed the list to my youngest daughter, Jillian, thinking it would be good to get both a younger perspective as well as a female perspective.  I'm so glad I did.  She gave me 5 more titles I hadn't thought about.  (What would a Christian bookstore be without Brennan Manning's Ragamuffin Gospel?)

After working on the weekend program I began working on the  July Planning Sheets - a job that would take another seven hours.  Nate Williams, our worship leader, and I have been working on trying to get ahead in our thinking and planning.  I know this begins with me and getting my sermon outlines together weeks ahead of time.  This, in theory, would give Nate time to think through the music that we will use in our services. 

Nate has done a really great job of organizing the Music Ministry group in our Online Community.  We have a dozen people now who are part of the Praise Team.  They can now log in to their online group and see their worship music schedules - both the songs as well as who is scheduled for the weekend - for the next four weeks.  Not only that, but Nate has embedded YouTube videos of each song so that musicians know the arrangements.  In many cases Nate and Dave Johnson - another one of our guitarists - have recorded and uploaded their own videos complete with special chord instructions!  (Check out the RequelPractice channel on YouTube!)

So what, you may ask, took me seven hours yesterday?  I took Nate's online work and my sermon outlines and wrote out our sermon planning sheet - as best I could think it through - for each of the 4 weekend services in July.  Along the way I emailed people asking them if they would like to participate in various ways on the tech team, praying, and reading Scripture.  And now each service is pre-programmed into our ProPresenter software, the program we use for all the video and some of the audio for our services.

I also went shopping for our videos.  One of my resource websites is the awesome Worship House Media store.  I'm not sure how many people know about this, but every three or four weeks Collide Magazine and Worship House partner up to create a video podcast, and near the end they provide a discount code - usually 30% off!  Needless to say, I watch this video podcast faithfully and write down the code.  It can only be used once.  So, the more I can plan ahead our video needs, the more our church can save.  Yesterday this code was worth $23 to us!

By the time I turned off the computer I had exhausted my brain cells and was really hungry!  But I felt like we were more on top of things than we've been for a very long time.  This is a great feeling since we're just one week into our new location.  So much of my time and effort this past month has been focused on the move.  It was wonderful to get back to the creative side of my pastoral job.