Church Requel Blog - Writings of Mark Pierce

September Church Requel Photos

The end of September is upon us.  I don't know about you, but I'm sad to see the summer exit.  However, thanks to Stacie Shoemaker, we can remember what September was like. She took lots of Church Requel photos!  I especially love the collage she put together above.  I also love the fact that she captured so many of our young people involved in Church Requel.  Cool.  If you'd like to see the entire photo album, click here.  Thanks Stacie!

Samaritan Preview for this Weekend

Would you like to see a short video preview of what we have in store for this weekend?  Check this out!

 

Video Sermon: Hidden Treasure

This past weekend we learned the basics of parable interpretation.  And we celebrated three lessons from the Parable of the Hidden Treasure.  Join me in this video sermon as we study Matthew 13:44.

Hidden Treasure from Mark Pierce on Vimeo.

I have made the following resources available for this sermon:

• Download Weekend Program Without Answers (PDF - 958 KB)
• Download Weekend Program With Answers (PDF - 963KB)
• Download My personal sermon teaching notes (PDF - 139KB)
• Download My sermon notes in Kindle Format (AZW - 16KB)
• Download Sermon Notes with Slides (PDF - 3MB) - used by tech team.
• Download Worship Service Planning Sheet (PDF - 37KB) - to provide ideas to other worship leaders.

All of the Church Requel sermons are available either in the CR Video Library or the CR Audio Library or you can listen on the Church Requel Audio Blog.  Would you like to subscribe to the weekly audio podcast and receive the sermon each week?  Subscribe here for iTunes or here for all other mp3 devices.  You can also subscribe to the weekly video podcast!  Would you like to read my notes for this sermon? Just click on the "Continue reading" link below.

Audio Sermon: Hidden Treasure

We started the Modern Parables sermon series last night.  Before the sermon we watched a 13 minute film together.  Then we learned the basics of parable interpretation.  And we celebrated three lessons from the Parable of the Hidden Treasure.  Join me as we study Matthew 13:44.

100926HiddenTreasure

Subscribe to this audio podcast!  It's available every week on iTunes or for any other mp3 player.

Hidden Treasure Parable - This Weekend!

I am so incredibly pumped about this new sermon series.  Seriously!  I think about it when I go to bed, when I wake up, and constantly throughout the day.  So many things will be new and different at Church Requel this weekend.  The artwork.  The slides.  The movie.  The talk.  I can't wait.  And I hope you can't wait either.

And I hope that you will invite someone else to come with you.  Last weekend we gave you tickets to give away.  Some of you have given them all away and have asked for more.  But I'm sure some of you still have them stuck in your Bible somewhere.  Dig 'em out and pass 'em around.  This weekend at Church Requel is going to be fun, entertaining, AND (most importantly) life changing!

If you haven't seen the preview trailer movie, click here.  I love the line where the brother-in-law comes up to our lead character and says, "I heard you're selling everything.  What's going on?"  And our lead responds almost nonchalantly: "I'm selling everything."  For your thinking between now and Sunday night:  What do you think the connection is between our hero selling everything AND doing so joyously?  That's been on my mind all week long... and it kind of makes me want to skip instead of walk!

If that wasn't enough, Sunday we have lots of other cool things happening too!  We have a full band lead by Nate Williams, joined by Stephen, Ryan, and Matt...  AND (drum roll) for the first time, Haleigh!  Haleigh has been faithfully working every other Sunday behind the scenes running our computer graphics for us.  This is a big step out in front for her.  Also for the very first time on the CR platform will be Caleb reading our Scripture reading for us!  One of the really great things about a young church plant is that our young people really get a great chance to be a participant in the worship services.  So come and let Haleigh and Caleb know how much you value their help.

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

Hidden Treasure Weekend Preview!

This weekend we begin our new Modern Parables sermon series.  We start off with the Parable of the Hidden Treasure from Matthew 13:44.  One small verse with tons of significance!  Each weekend at Church Requel we will kick off our sermon with a modern film rendition of the parable.  Check out this short trailer from the 13-minute film we'll watch together Sunday evening!

  

Video Sermon: Financial Partnership

This past weekend was special in several ways.  First, we completed our 16-week series from the New Testament letter to the Philippians.  This series was a milestone in many ways.  It connected our Mid-Ohio Conference Center experience at the beginning of the summer with our Ontario Christian Fellowship location at the end.  And through all the moving and adjusting to our new location, we actually grew in size and commitment.  Cool!

Second, this talk was the first time that I used an interview at the end as an example of the day's topic.  In this particular case, our Philippians text focused on the financial partnership between the Apostle Paul and his former church in Philippi.  We drew two primary lessons from this text.  #1 - We each have a responsibility to support the expense of the gospel.  And #2 - our responsibility goes beyond our own church's ministry. 

To illustrate the application of this message, Church Requel will be taking part in the Coins 4 Kids campaign for our local Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF).  I invited CEF Director Dale Baer to participate in a conversation with me at the end of the message.  For anyone wanting to watch Dale's interview (and the CEF photos that go with it), go to 24:19 in the video.

Financial Partnership from Mark Pierce on Vimeo.

I am making the following resources available to support this sermon.

• Download Weekend Program without Answers (PDF - 1MB)
• Download Weekend Program with Answers (PDF - 1.1MB)
• Download My Personal Sermon Teaching Notes (PDF - 143KB)
• Download These Same Sermon Notes in Kindle Format (AZW - 16KB)
• Download My Sermon Notes with Slides - used by our tech team (PDF - 2.7MB)
• Download Weekend Planning Sheet - ideas to support the topic (PDF - 37KB)

All of the Church Requel sermons are available either in the CR Video Library or the CR Audio Library or you can listen on the Church Requel Audio Blog.  Would you like to subscribe to the weekly audio podcast and receive the sermon each week?  Subscribe here for iTunes or here for all other mp3 devices.  You can also subscribe to the weekly video podcast!  Would you like to read my notes for this sermon? Just click on the "Continue reading" link below.

Modern Parables Series Begins This Sunday

Church Requel begins it's new sermon, Modern Parables, series this coming Sunday evening.  Each Sunday for the next six weekends, we will feature a different parable of Christ.  

Each weekend we will feature a short film which retells the parable in a new and fresh way.  A very requel idea, don't you think?  The combination of the weekly film with the Biblical teaching from me (I hope) will re-create the emotional immediacy that Jesus' 1st-century audience also felt when they heard the parables.  The gut-level understanding made possible by the films is intended to drive movie viewers into a deeper understanding of the Bible.

All six modern parables are:

• Biblical - They very accurately follow the original text of the Bible.  The goal of these 6 weeks is to re-create the emotional, intellectual, and spiritual impact of the original parables.  It is the high integrity to the Word of God in all its parts that will make our study so effective.
• Entertaining - All of the films have been produced with strong production values that are immediately apparent to any observer.  Each of the films has been based on the style of different directors from the past, so each film looks and feels very different from the rest.
• Relevant - By moderninzing the parables, the films and sermons become more accesible to a contemporary audience.  People can immediately relate to what the films are saying as well as to what I will be teaching.

I'm really looking forward to this new series.  I hope you are too and will invite some new folks to come experience it with us!

Audio Sermon: Financial Partnership

Paul concludes Philippians by explaining that we have a responsibility to support the gospel and that this responsibility goes beyond our own church.  Join me in this audio sermon as we study Philippians 4:14-19.

100919FinancialPartnership

Philippians: The Big Finish!

Sixteen weekends!  Verse by verse we Church Requel folks have worked our way through the New Testament letter to the Philippians.  And it all ends this weekend!  If you have been with us during this study, you will not want to miss the big finish Sunday night.

We will make a close examination of chapter 4, verses 14 through 19.  We find Paul, in prison, thanking the Philippians for their ongoing care of his needs - even after he had moved on from Philippi.  He commends them for being the only church to continue to provide financial partnership with him.  We'll take away two big points from this passage: #1 - we have a financial responsibility for the gospel and #2 - that responsibility is bigger than just our own church.

We plan to put action to these good words.  I've invited Dale Baer, 
who is the director of the local chapter of Child Evangelism Fellowship to come and be a small part of our service Sunday night.  I've met Dale through the brown bag lunches that evangelical pastors in Mansfield enjoy once a month.  I've been impressed with Dale and with his organization's success at reaching our youngest generation for Christ.  At the end of my talk I'd like to interview Dale for five to seven minutes about his ministry and about how we might support him.

The big finish of Philippians, of course, means the big beginning of our next sermon series!  We're calling it "Modern Parables."  Each week for the next six weeks, we'll study one of Jesus' most famous parables.  In addition to our Bible study we also have a really cool treat for you.  We have purchased six short films that take a parable and retell it and reshow it in a most requel way!  And this Sunday night we have a special preview for you.  We'll show you the one-minute trailer of next week's movie, "Hidden Treasure."  It's a comedy that makes this parable most memorable.  You won't want to miss either the trailer this weekend or the movie next weekend.

The whole Church Requel team will be enjoying worship together Sunday night.  Cory Smith, who some of you might remember was critically ill in the hospital a few months ago, will be back on the CR platform playing his bass guitar and joining Nate, Jana, and Ryan.  And we have a really cool video entitled, "It's All About Him," to open our worship time (... so don't be late!  You'll want to see this new video and get started right!)

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! - Pastor Mark

Video Sermon: Contentment In All Circumstances

When is contentment a function of self-sufficiency?  When we are rooted in Christ and chasing after God.  Join me in this video sermon as we study Philippians 4:10-13.

Contentment In All Circumstances from Mark Pierce on Vimeo.

Here are resources available to support this sermon:

• Download Weekend Program without answers provided (PDF - 922KB)
• Download Weekend Program with Answers provided (PDF - 938KB)
• Download my personal teaching notes (PDF - 172KB)
• Download my personal teaching notes in Kindle format (AZW - 16KB)
• Download sermon notes with slide in margin used by our tech team (PDF - 2.9MB)
• Download our worship service planning sheet - ideas for other worship leaders (PDF - 37KB)

All of the Church Requel sermons are available either in the CR Video Library or the CR Audio Library or you can listen on the Church Requel Audio Blog.  Would you like to subscribe to the weekly audio podcast and receive the sermon each week?  Subscribe here for iTunes or here for all other mp3 devices.  You can also subscribe to the weekly video podcast!  Would you like to read my notes for this sermon? Just click on the "Continue reading" link below.

Audio Sermon: Contentment In All Circumstances

When is contentment a function of self-sufficiency?  When we are rooted in Christ and chasing after God.  Join me in this audio sermon as we study Philippians 4:10-13.

100912Contentment

Subscribe to this audio podcast!  It's available every week on iTunes or for any other mp3 player.

Sunday Night Focus On Contentment

When you think of contentment, I bet you think of things like having enough, knowing sufficiency, being satisfied.  And often this is exactly how the Bible uses the word as well.  Jesus tells the soldiers to be content with their wages (Luke 3:14).  Paul writes Timothy that if they have food and clothing, they will be content (1 Timothy 6:8).

But in the passage we are going to study Sunday evening, Philippians 4:10-13, the word used for contentment also means "self-sufficiency!"  I don't know about you, but when I came across this in my own studies this week it threw me for a loop.  How could Paul talk about self-sufficiency and then in the next breath talk about "doing all things through him who strengthens me?"  Maybe you'll want to come Sunday night to find out?

Beyond our next-to-the-last Philippians study, we also have some other exciting things happening Sunday.  Nate, Stephen, Jana and Jean have worked hard on their Praise Team worship set.  Also Nate wrote an original acoustic guitar piece, which he will be playing during our communion service.  And, for the first time on the CR platform, Scott McKinney will be reading our Scripture for the evening.

Finally, as many of you learned last weekend, I'm an NFL football fan.  One of the things that make football on television so much fun is the instant replay.  We'll be using our own version of the "instant replay" during Sunday night's sermon.  You'll want to come and see what it's all about!

Hope to see you this weekend at Church Requel!  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! - Pastor Mark

CR Board of Directors Provides Leadership

Board Meeting days are usually my longest days of the month.  Of course it is senseless to complain since each of our leaders are also providing a couple hours (or more) of their own time and effort away from their own families AFTER they each have worked an entire day themselves.  Yet not a single one of them ever provide a glimmer of complaint or hardship - each demonstrating great grace, love and support for me and for one another.

Tonight we dealt with no fewer than a dozen different items of business.  My role of pastor also includes chairing these monthly leadership gatherings.  I do my best to think through our agendas ahead of time, providing our board members not only with an orderly docket, but also with motions written out except for key variables that can be filled in by our decision makers.  I run the meeting with a nod toward Robert's Rules of Order while also providing room for natural conversation.  My aim is to keep us focused on our agreed upon goals, while also providing for fellowship and good will.

Consequently tonight we dealt with a dozen different items of business for Church Requel.  While not all of our meetings are always unanimous in every issue, tonight's decisions were all unanimous.  Here are some of the decisions we made tonight:

• We approved our sermon series for this fall.  After we finish our Philippians series in a couple weeks, we'll begin the Modern Parables series.  We agreed to purchase six short films from ModernParable.com and use these short movies to supplement the sermons in six evening services at Church Requel the last Sunday of September and every week in October.
• We also decided to conduct a Belong sermon series for six weeks in November and December.  We plan to conclude this series with our first new members to join Church Requel on December 12th.  I am particularly excited about this - I'm looking forward to belonging!
• To prepare for the Belong sermon series, we decided to meet together in two weeks for a special board meeting to focus on the issues of baptism and to begin writing our core values statement.
• We made some decisions that impact me personally as the pastor.  Sadly, because our finances are so tight right now, we cannot afford to send me to seminary this fall quarter.  We'll look at it again for the Winter quarter.  I could feel the collective disappointment of our leadership team with this hard choice.  I want to continue my education and I know our church wants to support this educational direction. 
• We also approved a week's vacation for me in October.  I'm really feeling the need for this - I haven't taken any vacation time yet this year.  I've noticed lately how tough it is for me to keep up the creative work week in and week out.
• We finalized the music ministry requirements for people who desire to serve as worship leaders within our church.
• We decided to hold a Pot Luck dinner before our evening service on October 24th.
• We also decided to support our local Child Evangelism Fellowship in their COINS 4 KIDS fund raising efforts beginning September 26th.  I was particularly proud of our leadership tonight as they saw this as an opportunity to be a small part of God's Kingdom in our local community.  I know Dale Baer, director of CEF, from our monthly brown bag lunches with other evangelical pastors.  It will be a joy to be supportive of him as he and other local pastors have been so supportive of me and Church Requel.

There were other things we dealt tonight, but those were the big items.  If you happen to see Steve Thoman, Mark Shaw, Jonathan Pierce or Shaun Jourdan, let them know how much you really appreciate their leadership efforts on behalf of Church Requel.

Video Sermon: Changing My Stinking Thinking

To change my stinking thinking I need to be aware of six fundamental concepts of how my thought life impacts my life, today and tomorrow.  Join me in this video sermon as we study Philippians 4:8-9.

Changing My Stinking Thinking from Mark Pierce on Vimeo.

To assist you with this sermon, I have provided the following resources:

• Download Weekend program without answers provided. (PDF - 922KB)
• Download Weekend program withoug answers (PDF - 3.5MB)
• Download my personal teaching notes (PDF - 180KB)
• Download my teaching notes in Kindle format (AZW - 16KB)
• Download my notes with slides in margin used by our tech team (PDF - 4.1MB)
• Download our weekend planning sheet for ideas to support theme (PDF - 41KB)

All of the Church Requel sermons are available either in the CR Video Library or the CR Audio Library or you can listen on the Church Requel Audio Blog.  Would you like to subscribe to the weekly audio podcast and receive the sermon each week?  Subscribe here for iTunes or here for all other mp3 devices.  You can also subscribe to the weekly video podcast!  Would you like to read my notes for this sermon? Just click on the "Continue reading" link below.

Audio Sermon: Changing My Stinking Thinking

We enjoyed a wonderful  Labor Day weekend worship service at Church Requel this past Sunday night.  Nate led a terrific praise team which included not only regulars Stephen and Ryan, but also new member Jean McKinney and guest Toby Loy. 

We also enjoyed the presence of local author and OCF elder, Dan Manningham.  Dan stayed after the service and joined our church in an ice cream social.  He also had the chance to talk a little about his books, both of which fit in well with the weekend topic.

To change my stinking thinking I need to be aware of six fundamental concepts of how my thought life impacts my life, today and tomorrow.  Join me in this audio sermon as we study Philippians 4:8-9.

 

100905StinkingThinking

 

Subscribe to this audio podcast!  It's available every week on iTunes or for any other mp3 player.

Church Requel Welcomes Dan Manningham

Sunday night promises to be another very special evening for Church Requel!  Our teaching time will focus on "Changing Our Stinking Thinking," a close inspection of Philippians 4:8-9.  Pastor Mark will teach the three things required by anyone who desires a peaceful mind.  We also will consider the six basics of right thinking.

As a wonderful bonus, we will be joined in our service by local author Dan Manningham, who recently wrote the book, Eight Stone Gates: Taking Thoughts Captive.  Dan was recently interviewed in the News Journal for his insights into Philippians 4:8. 

"We think all the time and sometimes our thoughts drift into unproductive or inappropriate thoughts," said Manningham, 73. "To curb this, there are eight topics that Paul has described to center our thinking."

After reading the News Journal article, I realized that our teaching was also scheduled this weekend on this exact same passage.  So I called Dan up and asked if he would be willing to come to our service and stay over afterward for some punch and cookies.  Since the following day is Labor Day - a holiday for most of our parishioners - I'm hoping that many will be able to stay afterward for some fellowship time.  Dan will spend a few minutes telling us about his book and we will be able to ask him any questions we may have.  Copies of his book will be available for sale and Dan would be more than happy to sign his book for anyone who would like that.

We also have a wonderful Labor Day service planned for the evening with a special Labor Day countdown and a special video celebrating the value of work... and rest!  Nate Williams will lead our praise team with Ryan, Stephen, first-time guest Toby Loy and also for the first time on the Praise Team, Jean McKinney.  Nancy Roop will read our Scripture and Nate will lead our prayer time.

We are looking forward to a wonderful worship experience Sunday night.  Hope you can join us! 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! - Pastor Mark

Video Sermon: From Anxiety to Peace

The Bible tells us that we can choose peace rather than anxiety.  How?  What kind of prayer provides God's peace?  And what is so special about the peace of God?  Join me in this video sermon as we study Philippians 4:6-7.

From Anxiety to Peace from Mark Pierce on Vimeo.

I have provided resources for this week's sermon:

• Download Weekend Program without Answers  (PDF - 1.2MB)
• Download Weekend Program with Answers  (PDF - 1.2 MB)
• Download my personal sermon teaching notes (PDF - 209KB)
• Download my teaching notes in Kindle format (AZW - 20KB)
• Download my notes with slides in margin used by tech team (PDF - 3.2MB)
• Download our service planning sheet for how we implemented theme (PDF - 37KB)

All of the Church Requel sermons are available either in the CR Video Library or the CR Audio Library or you can listen on the Church Requel Audio Blog.  Would you like to subscribe to the weekly audio podcast and receive the sermon each week?  Subscribe here for iTunes or here for all other mp3 devices.  You can also subscribe to the weekly video podcast! 

Would you like to read my notes for this sermon? Just click on the "Continue reading" link below.