Church Requel Blog - Writings of Mark Pierce

What's Happening at CR: A New Church Home!

Hello Church Requel! Happy Friday morning to you!

What an awesome, exciting, incredible week this has been for our church! Yesterday we secured the lease for our new church home at St. Luke's on the corner of Marion Avenue and Park Avenue West! Yay! [Insert appropriate celebrations here!]  We have the entire church available to us for our use every week all day on Sundays. We will be able to conduct Sunday morning worship services! We will be able to erect permanent signage at one of the busiest intersections in town! And we'll be able to continue a long history - started by St. Luke's - of feeding the hungry a free meal every Saturday evening. God has been so good to us! He provided us just exactly what we needed.

Pastors Paul Lintern and Mark Pierce right after signing the new lease for Church Requel and St. Luke's.

Starting Christmas Eve - Our first worship service in our new location will be on Christmas Eve - Monday evening, December 24th at 7pm. We hope to pack the sanctuary - that means 150 or more people! So start right now inviting everyone you know to come to this special, candlelight worship service.

Decorating the New Church - We will meet at the new church location this coming Wednesday, December 5th, at 4pm to decorate the church for Christmas. We'll be there for several hours, so come whenever you can if you can't be there right at 4. If you work during the day, come as soon as you get off work. Sheri and Jack are bringing chopped pork sandwiches. If you can, bring some chips or pop or dessert to share with others. St. Luke's has over a century of Christmas decorations stored away. Let's start a new tradition of decorating together - should be a lot of fun!!!

Children's Praise Team and Readers Theater - Brandi is putting together a children's praise team for December 16th. It sounds like it will be a great success! Here are the children who have already committed to being on this team. Anna, Paityn, Kailey, Leia, Cohen, Grayden, Sicily, Violet, Landon, Grace, Lauryn, and Isabelle. We also plan on having our children read Luke 2 during the Christmas Eve service. Email me if your little reader would like to participate during our candle light service!

This Sunday Night - We plan on having a grand celebration this coming Sunday night at our regular time of 6pm and at our regular location at Ontario Christian Fellowship.  Brandi and Missie will lead our singing and Brandi will lead our prayer service. Nancy will read a most appropriate Scripture from Psalm 40. Diana has provided us a video picture slide show of our new church home.  And for our sermon time, I'll tell the incredible story of what God has accomplished for us this past week! We'll close with communion and will sing "10,000 Reasons (Bless The Lord)." 

Church Requel, we have so much to be thankful for! Let's gather together and celebrate together. I can't wait to see you all and tell you the story in person.  See you Sunday!

With great affection, Pastor Mark

A Life of Sharing Christ [Sermon Notes]

Every week I publish my sermon notes so that you may read them for yourselves.  For my parishioners, this could be a good review from the weekend before.  And it gives you a chance to see what I intended to say!  For other pastors and ministers, feel free to borrow and use any of this material.  I'd love for God to be glorified by you incorporating these notes into your own worship.

Failing Forward: "A Life of Sharing Christ" 11.25.12

Scripture:  2 Corinthians 4:12-15 NIV 

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Introduction: This Thanksgiving as I consider what I am so thankful for, Church Requel is one of the things that comes to the top of my mind. Of course I consider the deep friendships that I have made with many of you - relationships that define family, “brother” and “sister.” Not only between me and you, but also that same deepening relationship you have with one another.

I’m also incredibly thankful for the relationships that most of you are developing with Christ. As we watched this slide show put together by Diana, I can’t help but think of how vital Church Requel has been for you in becoming and continuing to be Christ-followers. Thanks for the picture reminders of the baptisms, the children learning about Christ, the serving together, the new people who are a vital part of our church who didn’t even attend 2 years ago.

As we “fail forward” - moving from Sunday night to Sunday morning, as we search for a new location for our church family to meet, it’s important that we consider one of our primary reasons for existence as a church: to share Christ with others. We must never become complacent. We must remember that there are other people, who are not yet a part of CR - but a year or two from now could be just as connected to Christ and to this church family (to one another) as many of us are now.

Today I’d like to consider 4 ways we share Christ with new people happens. We learn it from 2 Cor. 4:12-15. Let’s look at it together.

#035: God Is Faithful [Podcast]

This week on the podcast I talk very briefly... and cryptically... about the great things God has been doing this past week to provide us a place to meet beginning next year. We don't have all the details wrapped up yet, so I have to wait to tell you all about it. I hope to be able to share freely in next week's edition. For this week, we suffice to say that God is faithful! Also we share the talk from Sunday night at Church Requel, "Failing Forward: A Life of Sharing Christ." Enjoy!

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

This Weekend at CR: A Life Of Sharing Christ

Black Friday greetings to you Church Requel!

This is Pastor Mark time-warping from the Thanksgiving Eve to Black Friday. I am sending this message into the future so that no amount of tryptophan will keep me from posting to you. There's also the risk of being crushed at a local store on Thanksgiving evening, when Black Friday officially began this year. (When time warping a newletter, writing the past tenses and future tenses become a little dicey!)

I hope you have enjoyed your Thanksgiving holiday with your family and didn't get too caught up in the early Christmas shopping. It seems to me there should be a line in the sands of time NOT to shop on Thanksgiving. How quaint! Seems like only a year ago when stores waited until midnight on Friday morning. (Wait, it was only a year ago!) At the rate we're going, Black Friday will soon be located somewhen in October!

Let's not fast forward too far in advance. How about just a couple days? How about talking about this Sunday night? At Church Requel? You'll need a break by then from all the turkey and all the shopping and all the family! Come enjoy your church family and a little peace and quiet with God!

Steve will lead our communion and prayer, Nancy will give our announcements, Jana will read our Scripture, and Brandi will have a great teaching experience lined up for all our kiddos! I've written a good talk about the vision many of us have for sharing Christ through CR in our future. What will Church Requel look like a year from now? Maybe we'll do a little time traveling together Sunday night. It should be a good time. Hope to see you all there at 6pm.  Affectionately, Pastor Mark.

A Life of Contradictions [Sermon Notes]

When it comes to the question of ministry success and failure, how can we be sure we are successful as God defines success? Often our Christian life seems filled with contradictions that defy our emotions. Using 2 Corinthians 4:7-11, we began our three-week discussion about Failing Forward.

Every week I publish my sermon notes so that you may read them for yourselves.  For my parishioners, this could be a good review from the weekend before.  And it gives you a chance to see what I intended to say!  For other pastors and ministers, feel free to borrow and use any of this material.  I'd love for God to be glorified by you incorporating these notes into your own worship.

Failing Forward Part 1: A Life of Contradictions - 11.18.12 / 2nd Corinthians 4:7-11

Introduction: As we think about CR and the decision to change time and venue to Sunday morning, in many ways feels like a failure. By now I hoped we would be a larger congregation, able to feed and clothe more of the needy in our neighborhood.  Now we find ourselves more than $10,000 behind in this year's budget barely able to meet payroll and rent.

Is this a failure? And when it comes to the Christian life - what is failure and what is success? What we will learn today is that Christianity is made up of failures - at least as far as mankind is concerned. Over and over we have found that our expectations of success and God's definition of success are 2 different things. Ultimately - if and when we truly succeed, it's more a matter of failing forward!

Consider Jesus' ministry. What were the expectations of the coming Messiah? Someone who would lead the Jewish people in military triumph over their Roman oppressors. When Jesus died on a cross - some would have called it the ultimate weakness - many believed Jesus failed. We now know better. If Jesus failed, he failed forward!

The same is true with Paul's ministry.  We now know him as the greatest missionary who ever lived, but as he writes to the church at Corinth, he is writing to defend what some saw as a failure. Paul also failed forward. In 2 Cor. 4:1 he writes about not losing heart. (Read ESV).

I. We are ___WEAK___ on the outside, ___STRONG___ on the inside.

Paul explains that we all need a redefinition of success. Because if we use our own measure of what's working and not working, we ultimately will be relying on our own power and not on God's. Many times these last two weeks, we've said that CR is God's church and ultimately whatever happens will be because of God's power and not our own.  This lines up perfectly with what Paul says:

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.” 2 Cor. 4:7 NIV

Jars of clay refers to a vessel that is weak, fragile on the outside. What is valuable about us is not our outward appearance, but it's what's inside that matters.  Illustration - The most valuable wine would not be stored in golden or silver vessels, but in clay jars. Even today wine is stored in glass containers easily breakable.

Our Christian lives and also our ministry will be the same. It's not what's on the outside, but what's on the inside that matters. In fact, it's not normal for things to be going perfectly well!

#034: We Are Family [Podcast]

We are family! This podcast cover art shows me with two of my grandchildren. Our church has become a family too! This week I talk about the changes happening at Church Requel, looking for a new location, and the feedback that I've heard from our church family this past week.

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[27:54] The sermon is titled "Failing Forward: A Life Of Contradictions.

Music for this week's podcast is "We Are Family" by Sister Sledge.

This Weekend at CR: Failing Forward

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

Last Friday - for the first time in a year, I didn't get out a "What's Happening" post to everyone last week.  I thought no one even noticed until Patty, my friend and waitress at Paul Revere's Family Restaurant, called me on it at breakfast.  "Hey Mark, I missed my Friday email. I looked for it. I searched my inbox. I thought maybe something was wrong with my email service." Thanks Patty for confirming that my weekly missive would be "missed" by at least one person!

Last Sunday night at the potluck celebration, I broke the news that Church Requel would need to change its strategy as we move into 2013. Our attendance and finances have not been enough to continue to support our meeting on Sunday evenings at Ontario Christian Fellowship.  

When we started the Sunday evening services 3 years ago, we thought there would be enough people in Mansfield who would value a Sunday evening meeting time. It turns out there's a pretty good reason why so many churches have made the decision NOT to have Sunday evening services. It's really hard to get people to come. In our Richland County culture, there are just too many other competing events in people's lives to get them to come out to a Sunday night church service.

The Lord truly does know - we gave Sunday nights our very best creative efforts.  There does come a time, though, when it just doesn't make sense to continue doing the same thing over and over again and yet expect a different and more positive result.  

I told our congregation last Sunday that I was committed to Church Requel and asked them to let me know about their own commitment. Should we believe in the future of CR and look for another place where we can conduct Sunday morning services? Or should we assume that this is the beginning of the end for our small church?  

Your response this past week has been so affirming and encouraging. As I think about it, there isn't anyone who was at the potluck this past Sunday evening who hasn't told me of their full commitment. The message from you has been just how much Church Requel really has become your family. Sara said it well: "Tell me when and where CR will meet and I'll be there. Church Requel is my church. I've made so many friends - they've really become my family."

I've received multiple calls of encouragement from Sheri: "Our problems are all about Sunday night. It's not CR. And it's not you, Pastor Mark. We need a place to call our own, where we can plant our own sign, where we can meet as often as we need to. You need an office there too, where parishioners can meet with you. We're going to find that place and we're going to make sure it happens!" Thanks Sheri. True to her word she has called me back with several potential locations.

Randy also met me this past week and echoed what Sheri told me. "We need a permanent home for Church Requel. It's not just about holding church services. We need a location from which we can serve the needs of our surrounding community." Randy added that he's also been in contact with his own real estate agent, whom he uses for his business, to ask about potential locations for Church Requel.

Diana sent me a very long email with every potential place she could think of for us to meet. I just reread her email and counted. She gave me a list of 12 places! I also enjoyed breakfast this morning with Pastor Aaron Rose, who you know has preached several times at Church Requel.  "This is not a negative in any way," said Aaron. "This is the best news possible.  I'm sure you will grow with a Sunday morning time and location." 

This really is only a sampling of the responses I've received this week.  The bottom line - as I write this to you this Friday morning - is that I know you are behind me and Church Requel 100%. Thank you so much. I admit I really did need to hear from you and know I'm not in this alone. I don't know exactly what our next step will be, but I know we'll take that step together - as friends and family with faith in Christ.

Our leadership team has committed to meet every Tuesday morning for breakfast at the Trimble Road Bob Evans to discuss our options. We are meeting at 7am. We welcome any of you who wish to join us. In the meantime - here's what you can do. 1) Please keep praying. Ask God for his direction and guidance for the leadership of our church. And commit to Him that you and we will be responsive and obedient to His direction. 2) Give of your time and financial resources as God directs. 3) Continue to attend and invite your friends and family. This is a time when we must encourage one another as best we can. Filling up the OCF pews on Sunday night these last 7 weekends in 2012 will take us a long way down that encouragement path!

New Sermon Series. Speaking of coming out to Church Requel Sunday evening - I have worked on a new sermon series for the next 3 weekends. These three talks have grown out of my heart's passion for how God is moving in our church. I'm calling it Failing Forward. These talks are all about how God shows us His greatest strength in our moments of greatest weakness. The sermons all come from 2 Corinthians 4:7-16. How's this for words of encouragement from the Apostle Paul:

 "We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed." 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 ESV

Over the next 3 weeks we'll discover that what we are experiencing as a church, and what many of you have experienced individually this year, is not unusual for authentic Christ followers. Often our faith is a matter of failing forward. We experience lives of emotional contradictions,  even while sharing Christ and changing our focus upon Him. I hope you'll come and share these talks with me. We'll also share communion together at the end of every talk for the next 7 weeks. I anticipate this to be an intimate and special time of worship together.

I would love to continue hearing from you. How has God worked in your own prayer life this week? What encouragement have you received from Him and from one another? What words of encouragement could you share with me and others? Please email me or call me. I would love to hear from you!

Failing Forward Into Christ, Pastor Mark

#033: Marriage Prayer [Podcast]

This week I talk about the future of Church Requel, some Westminster theology, and with current news of General Patraeus - 12 ways to affair-proof your marriage.

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

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

[07:00] Future of Church Requel - Last night we faced some hard realities about the current finances of Church Requel.  Some changes will have to be made soon.  Listen for yourself to my talk last night and my follow up thoughts this morning.

[30:10] What is God, part 3 - We wrap up the question #4, "What is God?" from the Westminster Shorter Catechism. My discussion is primarily based on G.I. Williamson's book, "Westminster Shorter Catechism: For Study Classes."

[39:38] 12 Ways to Affair Proof Your Marriage - With the news of General Patraeus' resignation in the news every day, we all could use a good reminder of how to "affair-proof" our marriages. Many thanks to Den Guptill over on SermonCentral.com, who provided 8 of these ideas.

Music for this week's podcast is "Marriage Prayer" by John Waller from his album, As For Me And My House.

#032: Kiss The Rain [Podcast]

How do we integrate God's Word into every area of our lives? In this week's podcast we talk about 6 ways to live a life of Biblical integrity using our 6 memory verses from the 40 Days In The Word.  I also talk about the recent decline in Apple's fortunes, about the Lord's Prayer, and question #4 - "What Is God?" - from the Westminster catechism.

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

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

[9:00] Has Apple Gone Rotten? - Apple Company has been a winner both in terms of its products and its corporate and stock performance. But the last couple weeks have not gone so well.  I talk about the iPad mini and the expectations and disappointment of the recent quarter. I talk about the Saturday Night Life sketch a few week's ago.  Here's the YouTube link to the "Tech Talk" video. Here's an encouraging opinion from The Motley Fool about Apple stock price.

[22:35] The Lord's Prayer, People and Protection - We wrap up our 6-part model prayer discussion. This week - how we use the Lord's Prayer as the basis to pray for other people and for spiritual protection.

[31:17] Question 4b - "What Is God?" - We continue our theological discussion from the Westminster Confession and Catechism. Here's a link to G. I. Williamson's helpful book, "Westminster Shorter Catechism: For Study Classes."

[43:46] CR Sermon: "How To Integrate God's Word Into My Life" - This is the audio talk from Sunday night at Church Requel.  This sermon, written by Rick Warren earlier this year, wraps up our 40 Days In The Word series.

Music for this week's podcast is "Kiss The Rain" by Yiruma from his The Best Reminiscent 10th Anniversary album.

Our Response to Presidential Election

The Mansfield News Journal has asked me to submit a pastor's Viewpoint article for this coming Saturday's paper.  I thought readers of this blog would enjoy an advance reading.

If I claim to be a Christ-follower, what should be my response to the presidential election? Romans 13 provides some important directives: submission and personal responsibility combined with respect and honor toward whichever candidate wins.

Submitting to the results of this year’s presidential election will no doubt be easier for some of my Christian friends than others. As I pen these words two days before the election, the polls tell us that this election is a tossup.  Either side could win.  Some of my friends are convinced that government should be more involved in caring for those among us who are less fortunate. Others point out the need for greater personal freedom and protection for the unborn. All of my Christian friends can quote Biblical chapter and verse to support their voting decisions. 

Whichever way this election turns out, though, Paul’s letter to the church citizens in Rome tell us that we should submit to the winner. The reason given for this is a stunner! It won’t be because one side is more right than the other. Rather, our response of submission to the victor comes because “all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God” (Romans 13:1). 

In other words our response - our submission - is not a Republican or Democratic response, but a godly response. We should see our response not as to Mr. Obama or  to Mr. Romney, but to the Lord God Himself.

Given all the vitriol and acrimony that exists leading up to Tuesday’s election, this command for submission will be no small challenge for many of my friends. Those who have been the most vocal in their support for and belief in their candidate could be downright fearful of losing this election.  

Even here, God’s Word has instruction for us. “Would you like to live without fear of the authorities? Do what is right, and they will honor you” (Romans 13.3). Here’s my way of understanding this. When the election dust settles, let’s not worry so much about what the winning candidate will do or not do. Let us concern ourselves more about what we will do. Let us do what is right. Let us influence our neighbors and our leaders with our own good actions. Let our own activities of Christian love overcome the fear that wells up within us from the uncertainty of our future.

Our response as Christian citizens goes beyond submission and personal responsibility.  It’s not even enough just to pay our taxes and debts to the government. Romans 13:7 tells us to “give respect and honor to those who are in authority.” That’s a personal, from the gut, can’t fake it kind of response. 

This may not be as impossible as we might imagine. I’ve searched Romans 13 thoroughly and have found no place where we are instructed to agree with all the positions of our newly elected president. We are, however, to give him the respect and honor of his office. 

We should respect and honor him not just because he will be our president. We give him respect and honor because he is God’s appointed authority. We give him respect and honor because God’s Word instructs us to do so. We give him respect and honor because that is the correct Christian response toward those who lead us.

This Weekend at CR: Last Weekend of 40 Days In The Word

I'm writing this morning from a Panera in Toledo.

Hi everyone!  Pastor Mark here with your “What’s Happening at CR” blog post and email.  I’m writing this from a very spotty WiFi connection up in Toledo this morning. I got up at 5am so that I could be the transportation specialist for Mary Kay, who is attending a meeting at her brother’s hospital to discuss his ongoing care and housing. I know this will be a challenging meeting for Mary Kay and her family. So your prayers for her and her brother, John, will be greatly appreciated.

Today is our 40th day! Can you believe it? For those of you who have been following the 40 Days In The Word devotions, you know that today is our last devotional. If you’ve been listening or watching every day... congratulations to you! I’m sure many of you are like Diana Devolder, who told me this week that she will be sad to see these excellent daily devotionals end.  

Integrating Into Our Lives.  Actually that is the purpose of our last sermon in the 40DITW campaign - “How We Integrate the Bible Into Our Lives.” What I’m hoping for each of you is that this final devotional will really be a beginning and not an end. Sunday evening we’ll talk about how to make this a reality for you.  If you’ve also been memorizing your six Bible verses over these past 6 weeks, you’ll especially love this weekend’s talk. Those six verses form the outline for our last talk in the series. I love this talk and can’t wait to share it with you! (And if you haven't been part of the 40 Days series or haven't memorized the verses - NO BIG DEAL! Come anyway. The talk will still be helpful for anyone who wants to make God's Word the foundation for their life.)

Dollhouse and Teabag. With my vacation week I’ve had lots of time to think creatively too.  I’ve come up with a couple cool ways to use object lessons to get the point across for everyone who comes to CR Sunday evening.  For the children’s sermon time, I’ll be using a large dollhouse in such a unique way that even the boys will like it! And I’m determined to help even thick-headed adults catch the theme with a teabag illustration they won’t soon forget. (Maybe you all won’t send me away for vacation any more after Sunday. Ha!)

In addition to the teaching time Sunday, we'll enjoy Brandi Walker leading us in our singing. Pastor Steve will lead our communion and prayer time together. Sunday night should be an intimate worship experience together. I can't wait!

Celebration and Potluck Next Weekend. We will be extending our special 40 Days In The Word campaign one more week with a grand celebration planned for next weekend. We plan to meet an hour earlier next weekend - at 5pm - for a wonderful meal together. Plan to come earlier than 5 to set up your food on the tables so we can start eating right at 5pm.  Families bring two dishes. Single folks bring one. 

After our meal next weekend, we'll celebrate the last 6 weeks by sharing with one another what God has done for us during the 40 Days In The Word series. Maybe there was a sermon from Pastor Steve or me that really spoke to you. Maybe one of the devotionals really stood out. Or for some of you, one of the small group sessions was special. Come prepared to share both food for the body and food for the soul.  No sermon from me next weekend. After all have shared what they are led by God to share, we'll break communion bread together.  It should be a special time.

Hope you all can make it to Church Requel Sunday night.  This weekend we meet at 6.  Next weekend we meet at 5.  Love you all much!  See you Sunday!

With great affection, Pastor Mark