Church Requel Blog - Writings of Mark Pierce

#031: Back From The Storm [Podcast]

How should we interpret the text of the Bible?  Pastor Steve offers some practical advice for how to study the Bible. Also Mark talks about the topic of forgiveness in prayer and the 4th question in the Westminster Confession: "What is God?"

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Podcast: Subscribe in iTunes | Play or Download in new window.

This week's podcast is published a couple days later than normal. I'm just returning from vacation.  Here's what I have lined up for you in this week's podcast:

[0:00]  Intro. I talk about my trip to Myrtle Beach and the stormy weather on the way back.

[13:45] Forgiveness and Prayer. We continue to consider the Lord's Prayer as our model for our daily prayers. In this week's podcast we discuss the issue of forgiveness - forgiving others and forgiving ourselves.

[25:25] Question 4. What is God? That's an uncomfortable question.  We're much more comfortable talking about Who is God? We'll take 3 podcast sessions to get started on this question. This theological study comes from G.I. Williamson's book on the Westminster Shorter Catechism.

[39:55] CR Sermon: "How To Interpret A Text." Steve does an excellent job teaching for me this week.  Here are some highlights. A verse of the Bible means what it means.  There may be many applications but only one meaning. There are no secrets in the Bible.  We should look for the most obvious meaning. Steve also shares some great advice about prayer. You can't fall when you're on your knees! If God does not give you what you're asking for, he will give you something better. We're not always good at asking for what is best for us. Prayer is the passwoord to all God wants to do in our life. Prayer is not a spare tire to be taken out when things go wrong.  Prayer is the steerin wheel that guides us! Finally this valuable tidbit: Prayerlessness is practical atheism! This is a great talk! Don't miss it! Thanks so much Pastor Steve!

Music for this week's podcast is The Storm from Ray Boltz's album, Allegiance.

This Weekend At CR: Understanding The Meaning

Hi everyone! Pastor Mark here with your weekly "What's Happening at CR" blog post.  Mary Kay and I are enjoying some sunshine down in Myrtle Beach this week.  We are enjoying a little R&R. 

This weekend at Church Requel, we will be in for some awesome teaching from our own Pastor Steve Thoman. He will be bringing our sixth talk in the 40 Days In The Word sermon series.  His talk is titled, "Understanding the Meaning of a Text." Steve will share with us 4 principles to really understand what a particular Bible verse means.  Steve did a great job teaching three weeks ago and I know he will do another fantastic job Sunday night.  Let's all show him some Church Requel love!

We will enjoy Brandi Walker's leadership during our worship time together this weekend.  I love her enthusiasm for both singing and worship! Nancy will be sharing our announcements.  Brandi will also lead our prayer time.

40DITW Daily Devotionals. Have you been as incredibly blessed as I have with the twelve days of devotionals we've enjoyed together so far? Each day I think to myself, 'I don't know how it could get any better than this.' Then the next morning I watch another pastor share words of inspiration and profound wisdom.  If you haven't yet started your daily devotionals, what are you waiting for? Go to 40DaysInTheWord.com to get started.

40DITW Celebration & Potluck. Circle November 11th on your calendar. We'll meet an hour earlier than normal, at 5pm, for a potluck dinner in the fellowship hall.  Then we'll share with one another the personal highlights from the 40 Days In The Word campaign.  Be on the lookout for your favorite devotional that you can share with the group.

Thanks for your prayers and support. I will see you all next week! Love, Pastor Mark

Taking A Blog Break [Announcement]

My dear readers, I will be taking this week off from publishing the Church Requel Blog.  I plan to have the Church Requel "What's Happening" post up on Friday, October 26th. The next podcast will be published on Wednesday, October 31st. I'll resume my regular weekday writing schedule on Thursday, November 1st. Many blessings in Christ! Mark

#030: Godly Training [Podcast]

The secret to great Bible study is asking great questions. In this week's podcast we talk about the 4 key questions we should ask each time we study God's Word. Our podcast is really godly training because we also talk about meditation on Scripture, prayer, and theology.

Click to Listen!

Podcast: Subscribe in iTunes | Play or Download in new window.

I'm publishing the podcast a day earlier than normal so that Mary Kay and I can get away a little sooner tonight after the CR worship service for a week's R&R. Here's what I have lined up for you in this week's podcast:

[05:19]  Meditation and S.P.A.C.E.P.E.T.S. I talk about the reason we should meditate on Scripture. Then we use an acrostic to remember the application questions we should ask when we meditate.

[17:25] 6-Part Model Prayer. We continue to consider the Lord's Prayer as our model for our daily prayers.

[28:19] Question 3. What's God's Word for anyway? This two-part answer transitions us into the rest of our theological study from G.I. Williamson's book on the Westminster Shorter Catechism.

[37:26] CR Sermon: "How To Study The Bible." I've prerecorded this week's 40 Days In The Word sermon for the podcast. We consider 4 questions in every Bible study. In this podcast we use Philippians 2:19-30 as an example of a Bible passage we will study together. At first glance it doesn't appear that there is much here. However, using the 4 questions, we discover 5 marks of a godly man or woman. Many thanks to Rick Warren for writing this sermon and making it available for us to use!

Music for this week's podcast is "Gonna Fly Now (Theme From Rocky)."

This Weekend At CR: Clothing Bazaar!

Hi Church Requelers!  Pastor Mark here with your weekly blog update of all the cool things going on this weekend at Church Requel.

I struggled a little bit with the heading for this particular post.  My first thought was "Clothing Exchange at CR!" but somehow that didn't seem to come out quite right.  Neither did "Clothing Give Away." All well intended but not exactly right. Ha!

Clothing Ministry. Here's what IS happening this weekend. For the last six weekends you have all been bringing in your gently used clothing. You have brought in A TON of nice stuff! This weekend we will set it all out very attractively according to gender and size. You and your invited friends will be able to go through everything to see if there might be something either you or your friends could use personally. You also will have the option of taking anything home you think might be of use to a friend or family member.

Everything left over, which will probably still be a great deal of nice clothes, will be donated to local Christian charities starting with the priority of the local women's shelter. They and their children often arrive at the shelter with just the clothes on their backs.

Isn't this a great idea? Thanks Lisa, Jennifer and Sara for coming up with the idea.  They could use your help either setting up on Sunday or taking everything down Sunday night after church. Call them or email them. If you don't know their number, email me. The more hands on deck we have, the easier the task shall be!

How To Study The Bible. We will also continue our 40 Days In The Word sermon series. This weekend we will talk about how you can study the Bible on your own.  We'll learn that the key to great Bible study is to ask great questions. We'll take one Scripture passage and work our way through it together this weekend.  So make sure you bring your Bibles with you.  Those who want an advance look can check out the YouVersion sermon notes here. 

40DITW Celebration & Potluck. Circle November 11th on your calendar. We'll meet an hour earlier than normal, at 5pm, for a potluck dinner in the fellowship hall.  Then we'll share with one another the personal highlights from the 40 Days In The Word campaign.  Be on the lookout for your favorite devotional that you can share with the group.

That will wrap up this week's CR blog post. I hope you have a great weekend. And I hope to see you Sunday night at Church Requel!  With affection, Pastor Mark

Real Age Test Motivates Me Toward Healthier Choices

Mark Twain said, "Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter." A century and a half ago Mark Twain didn't have the benefit of RealAge.com. Today my real age is more important than my actual age. Knowing my real age and working to lower my real age requires not only my mind, but my attention and discipline as well.

According to RealAge.com, I'm seven years younger than I actually am. The amazing thing about this is that when I began my exercise and diet routine on January 17th this year, my real age was slightly above my actual age. Without any science fiction time travel I've become younger as I've aged these last ten months!

In June I wrote about the five primary things I've done this year to improve my health. In August I shared an app that has helped me tremendously. In this post I'd like to share the Real Age Test itself and why knowing your real age is so much more than knowing the number of candles on your last birthday cake.

The test itself took me about 30 minutes to complete. I was asked a series of lifestyle, genetic, and health history questions. Some of the questions were what I expected: What is my weight? What is my waist size? What is my blood pressure? However, there were a lot of questions that I didn't expect.  For example, How many relatives do I see or hear from on a regular basis each month? Does anyone rely on me to do something for them every day? What is my marriage like? How hot-tempered am I?

According to Dr. Keith Roach the new Real Age Test is based on recent scientific studies that tell us more than we've ever known before about the aging process.  "In the last 2 or 3 years, a group of big, long studies wrapped up one after the other, which changed much of our knowledge about what makes you grow old too fast -- and what makes you stay young longer."

Pastors, Here Are 3 Ways To Go 'Thrifting' For People

My baby daughter, a beautiful and fashionable 23-year-old, introduced me to a new (to me) verb this year: "thrifting." She loves to "go thrifting." By this she means going to thrift stores and second-hand clothing stores to find treasures. Now I too love to go thrifting. The other day I found a beautiful sport coat that fit me as if it were made just for me. Not only did it fit perfectly, but it was made of the finest wool and was a beautiful blue pattern that I had not seen in any other store. In short, it was a treasure. The price? $4.99.

This got me to think about my church, Church Requel, and the job that we pastors, I believe, are called to do. One of our most important jobs as leaders of local churches is to go thrifting for people: to find value in people that they and others don't see. After all, this is what God Himself does.  He sees the value in us that even we don't see or that we forget about.  When Jesus gave his famous Sermon on the Mount, he assured his listeners about how much God values their lives:

"Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?" Matthew 2:26

The constant reminder of the Scriptures is how much God sees the true soul of each man and woman, not the outward appearance that most of us put so much stock in.  Yet as pastors, it's easy to fall into the trap of looking more at what is stored away in barns. James 2:1-7 is especially poignant for us pastors to be looking for those "rich in faith" even if poor in other ways. 

How should pastors "go thrifting" for people?  Here are 3 practical ways I work to see people as God sees them:

1. Work hard on remembering names. People love hearing their own name, especially when it comes from the lips of their pastor. Certainly small church pastors have an advantage over their larger church brethren. However, having served in both a very large church (more than 2,000 people) and now a very small church, I find this is more a matter of attitude on the part of the pastor than anything else. When I meet someone for the first time, I ask them their name - and here's the key - I really listen to what they tell me. So often we ask someone's name as a matter of politeness, but then we just as quickly forget. I listen and then, as often as I can in the next few sentences, I repeat their name back to them. I do this not just to be nice to the new person. It's because I really want to remember. Nothing helps the memory more than me hearing myself say something out loud. We remember more through our ears than our eyes! Then, when I get away to myself, I write down the name in my smart phone contact program along with tidbits of the conversation. This also helps with my memory and gives me something to refer back to again. Finally, when I see them again I try to repeat their name quickly, but if I don't recall - which happens often - I've learned not to fake it. Here's something else I've learned to say: "I'm really sorry. What's your name again? I really want to know." After the person tells me their name again I'll say: "In baseball the batter gets three strikes. That's my first strike. Will you give me three strikes before I'm out?" We'll usually laugh together. People are most forgiving when they know you are sincere.

Kindle Paperwhite Review - The White... And Dark Sides

I love my new Kindle Paperwhite. The lighted screen combined with the thin and light form factor has brought back the fun of reading on an e-ink reader. It's not all light and happy, however. In this review I'll also talk about some of the dark sides of Amazon's new Paperwhite.

The Light. Let's start with the best reason to buy this device - the new lighted screen. It truly makes a significance difference in reading.  Once you read for 30 minutes with this revolutionary new lighting system, you'll wonder how you ever managed to read the old e-ink displays. Amazon has figured out how to distribute the light evenly across the entire screen for a dramatic improvement in ease of reading.  Like others, I've found that I keep the light on in almost every reading condition - with the only possible exception of direct, bright sunlight.

The Shadows. I'd heard so many positive things about this new lighting system that my expectations were off the chart. Perhaps Amazon has slightly oversold here. When I received my new Paperwhite I was concerned because of the four small shadows along the bottom of the device between the lights themselves. I honestly thought I had received a defective device. Then I heard Len Edgerly's weekly Kindle Chronicles podcast and discovered this was normal on all the devices. For me this is no big deal. It impacts only one line of text along the bottom. If I were grading this lighting system, I'd give it a 95% - still an easy "A." The problem is that I was expecting a 100% from all the hype.  Compared to all the other non-lighted e-ink readers, the clarity of the reading experience jumps from a B to a solid A, a dramatic improvement.

Look Ma... No Buttons! I love the touchscreen. Amazon has figured out how to make the screen advance or go back a page with just the touch of my thumb or finger. There is just enough of a texturized feel, a fine grain added to the screen, that gives me a good indication of how much pressure I need to apply. It's easy to advance without accidentally changing pages. For those who want to know - I'm jumping a generation from the Kindle Keyboard to this.  I didn't buy last year's model, the Kindle Touch, so I can't compare the Touch to the Paperwhite. However, I have heard that this Kindle's capacitive touch is a more responsive than last year's IR interface. And it's miles ahead of having to push buttons on either side of the device to change pages!

How Fast Do You Read? I love the new "Time To Read" function in the bottom left hand corner of the reader. I can toggle between location numbers, time left in the entire book, or - my preference - time left in this chapter. This "Time To Read" function changes to fit your actual reading pace. This is especially helpful when I know I only have so much time and wonder if I can fit in another chapter. It's also helpful when I'm in bed at night and near the end of a chapter. "Hang in there Mark! You can keep your eyes open for 3 more minutes!" With this in mind, I do miss the old inteface of horizontal chapter marks along the bottom. There's also no easy way of advancing directly from one chapter to the next, as was the case with the Kindle Keyboard. (One can use the menu of the Paperwhite, requiring at least 3 taps.)

#029: Seeing Clearly Now [Podcast]

When we read the Bible, how can we see clearly what God wants us to see? In this podcast we'll 4 good things that happens when God opens my eyes. We'll talk about 5 ways to prepar ourselves to see what God wants me to see.  

Click to Listen!

Podcast: Subscribe in iTunes | Play or Download in new window.

Here's what I have lined up for you in this week's podcast:

[8:00] 4 Questions To Ask Before Posting Political on Facebook or Twitter.  The Pastors.com staff put this good advice up on Aug. 14th. It seemed most appropriate now as we are entering the final weeks of the U.S. national election.  I talk about the importance of showing perfect courtesy to all people all the time. 

[20:34] The 6-Part Model Prayer. We continue our discussion about our prayer life by looking at the model prayer Jesus gave us.  Most of us know this model prayer as "The Lord's Prayer." How can we use this prayer to form our own more personal prayer life?

 [32:26] Question 3 - What's God's Word For? We continue our discussion of the Westminster Confession with the important transition question. The answer to this question sets up the next 104 questions! Listen and you'll hear why. We continue to use G.I Williamson's Shorter Catechism book.

[45:15] CR Sermon: "Seeing What God Wants Me To See" In this 4th part of the 40 Days In The Word series we consider the subject of illumination. What happens when God opens my eyes? How can I prepare myself? You can follow along with the YouVersion sermon notes.

[1:40:15] Wrap Up - Friends invited us over after church so I didn't wrap up until Monday morning. Short and sweet!

Music for this week's podcast is "I Can See Clearly Now" by Johnny Nash.

This Weekend at CR: Seeing What God Wants Me To See

Hi Church Requel! Pastor Mark here with your weekly "what's happening" blog post. Hope your week is going well.

Mary Kay and I arrived back in town this past Tuesday safe and sound from our vacation in Myrtle Beach. We had a great time of family, food and rest. My dad invited us to share his condo with him right on the beach. I thought you might enjoy the view from our 16th floor balcony.  I took this picture using the panorama setting on my iPhone. What do you think? (This is only a thumbnail. If you click on the image you can see the whole picture.)

I did a lot of reading with my new Kindle. I finished two books and got a good start on another four books!  Dave snapped this picture of me from the balcony just down by the pool relaxing, what my sister Kimberly has dubbed "poolaxing!" Sometimes Mary Kay and I would walk the beach, hand in hand - yes, I know I'm still a hopeless romantic!     I thought you might also enjoy this photo - a self-portrait of a wind-blown couple by the pier. (Alright... enough vacation snapshots.)

I'm really looking forward to being back with you all this coming Sunday evening! We are halfway through our 40 Days In The Word campaign. By the way, didn't Pastor Steve do an outstanding job last weekend? I was so thrilled when I listened to last weekend's podcast. 

This weekend I'm really looking forward to sharing the talk with you. We are going to consider the topic of illumination.  Have you ever read a passage from the Bible that you've read many times before and then said to yourself, "I never saw that before!" It happens to me all the time.

Sunday night we are going to learn that when we become Christ followers, we receive new spiritual eyes. The Holy Spirit helps us to see things in the Word of God that He wants us to see. We'll share 4 examples of spiritual insights from the Bible and then talk about 5 ways to prepare ourselves to see what God wants us to see. It's an outstanding talk. (I can say without boasting because I didn't write it; this is another of Rick Warren's fantastic messages!) You won't want to miss Sunday night at CR!

Clothes Closet. Remember to bring your slightly used clothing with you this Sunday night. You've been doing an outstanding job. This will be our last week of collecting clothes. Next weekend we will need all the help you can give us to display the clothes for an hour before and an hour after the worship service.  Next weekend you can take home anything you can use or that you know someone else could use. Whatever is left - which will probably be most of it, we will offer to the Women's Shelter. The rest we will donate to other charities. If you have the time, please let Jenn Carrick, Sara Scott or Lisa Hatfield know that you can help with the display of the clothes next weekend.

40DITW Celebration Potluck. Circle November 11th on your calendar! Sunday evening, 11/11th at 5pm we will gather in the fellowship hall for a potluck meal together. (You can bring your food a little earlier so we can start eating at 5pm.) After our meal together, we will stay in the fellowship hall that evening and share with one another how God has blessed each of us during this 40 Days In The Word campaign. As you go through the devotional messages, be thinking about what you could share that would encourage others at Church Requel on November 11th!

That will wrap up this week's blog post. Can't wait to see you Sunday night! With great affection, Pastor Mark

#028: Back from the Beach [Podcast]

The Bible is unlike any other book. There is a good reason it is called the HOLY Bible. It has the ability to change us in remarkable ways. Also Pastor Mark is back from his beach vacation.

Click to Listen!

Podcast: Subscribe in iTunes | Play or Download in new window.

Here's what I have lined up for you this week:

[0:00] Opening - I'm back from vacation and I promise not to talk about it too much!

[08:40] 10 Things God Can't Do.   I know this sounds wrong, but you'll be so encouraged when you hear this.  Thanks to Shannon O'Dell for his article in Pastors.com. 

[24:00] Right Attitude of Prayer. We continue the series on prayer we began last week on the podcast. This week we consider what Jesus teaches about the attitude of prayer right before he teaches us the Lord's Prayer.

[39:39] 3 Characteristics of God's Word. This week in the doctrine segment we continue to look at question #2 of the Westminster Confession of Faith. We are using G.I. Williamson's instructional book: "The Westminster Shorter Catechism."

[53:36] CR Sermon: "How The Bible Changes Us." This sermon was written by Rick Warren and is the 3rd sermon in the 40 Days In The Word series. This is also the first sermon ever delivered by Pastor Steve Thoman at Church Requel. He did a great job! Follow along with the YouVersion notes.

[1:35:12] Wrap Up. I wrap up the podcast with some final thoughts.

Music for this week's podcast is "[Sittin' On] The Dock Of The Bay" by Otis Redding.

This Weekend: 7 Ways The Bible Changes Us

Hi everyone! Pastor Mark here with your weekly "What's Happening at CR" blog post.  Mary Kay and I are enjoying some sunshine (and a little rain) down in Myrtle Beach this week.  We are enjoying a little R&R. I can't wait to get back and tell you all about it!

This weekend at Church Requel, we will be in for some awesome teaching from our own Pastor Steve Thoman. He will be bringing our third talk in the 40 Days In The Word sermon series.  His talk is titled, "How The Bible Changes Us." Not only will Steve tell us 7 ways that God's Word changes us, he will also give us 3 ways to gain the benefits he will be sharing. I love that about Steve. He never just gives us good ideas. He is so practical! He will tell us how we go about it!  This will be Steve's first full sermon preached. You definitely want to come out and support him. Let's all show him some Church Requel love!

We will enjoy Brandi Walker's leadership during our worship time together this weekend.  I love her enthusiasm for both singing and worship! She has also chosen a beautiful song to sing during our communion time together.

Our leadership team of Nancy, Jonathan and Shaun have all agreed to participate in our weekend service too with announcements, prayer and communion.  I know they are all stretching a little with their roles this weekend too - so give them LOTS of encouragement!

40DITW Daily Devotionals. Have you been as incredibly blessed as I have with the twelve days of devotionals we've enjoyed together so far? Each day I think to myself, 'I don't know how it could get any better than this.' Then the next morning I watch another pastor share words of inspiration and profound wisdom.  If you haven't yet started your daily devotionals, what are you waiting for? Go to 40DaysInTheWord.com to get started.

Clothing Drive. For two weekends now you have been bringing in clothing so that we may give it away to others who need it. One whole corner of our storage room is filled with close to 20 bags of clothing! Jenn Carrick, Sara Scott, and Lisa Hatfield will have their hands full organizing it all for our October 21st delivery date. Keep on bringing your gently used clothing each weekend. If you also have plastic totes we could use to store clothing, that would also help. Finally, let Jenn, Sara or Lisa know if you can help with the setup on Ocober 21st. We'll need all hands on deck!

Thanks for your prayers and support. I will see you all next week! Love, Pastor Mark

Taking A Blog Break [Announcement]

My dear readers, I will be taking this week off from publishing the Church Requel Blog.  I plan to have the Church Requel "What's Happening" post up on Friday, October 5th. The next podcast will be published on Wednesday, October 10th. I'll resume my regular weekday writing schedule on Thursday, October 11th. Many blessings in Christ! Mark