Church Requel Blog - Writings of Mark Pierce

This Week at CR: Good Friday and Easter!

Hi everyone! Pastor Mark here with your weekly "what's happening" blog post. I'm writing you a day earlier than normal because I want to remind you about tomorrow's Good Friday service.

Good Friday Service at Noon. We are hosting all the downtown churches for a traditional Good Friday service. Pastor Paul Lintern and I have worked to combine the new (multi-media) with the old (pipe organ) for this worship experience, when we remember Jesus' ultimate sacrifice for us. We have programmed the service to end slightly before 1pm, for those of you who have a lunchtime deadline.

New "Toxic" Sermon Series begins Easter morning. We also have big plans for our Easter service on Sunday morning at Church Requel. Cindy and Trish will be joining me on the praise team. We will be singing some celebration-oriented, contemporary songs about Jesus' resurrection. You'd have to be literally dead not be inspired by the music! Steve will lead our prayer and communion time. Nancy will read our Scripture about the Emmaus Road encounter.

I will be starting our new series, "Toxic," with an emphasis Sunday on our thought life. Many of us suffer from negative, fearful, discontented and critical thoughts - otherwise known as "stinkin' thinkin'." The Bible teaches us that as a man thinks in his heart, so he is. It really is our thoughts that count. Resurrection Sunday really should make a difference in how we think about everything! We'll talk about how to identify and reject our toxic thoughts, and then how to replace them with God's truth.

This is just the first in a 5-sermon series and I'm hoping that it will be a great introduction to the weeks to come. This will be an AWESOME OPPORTUNITY to invite your friends and family to come and see what goes on at Church Requel!

 In Other News...

Five New Members. We had a wonderful Saturday "Belong Class" last weekend. Five people made new commitments to join our fellowship. They are Jack and Sheri Nichols, Sara Scott, Sheri Shick, and Marilyn Baumann. We will officially welcome them all into our church on April 7th. In the meantime, let them know how very glad we are that they've made our church their home.

Game Night on April 12th.  Our party planners, Diana Devolder, Sara Scott and Paul Lintern, are planning a Spring Fling Game Night to be held on Friday, April 12th at 7pm. Mark your calendars and plan to bring a snack and/or 2 liters of pop along with your favorite game to share. It promises to be an evening of fellowship and fun with your Church Requel friends!!

Listen to this week's podcast. Every week I record a podcast. What's a podcast, you ask? It's just an audio letter. I think of it as a conversation that I have each week with all of you - the parishioners of Church Requel. You'll hear a lot of the back story of what goes on at CR behind the scenes, things we probably would never publish or print. If you have a smart phone or tablet, I'd recommend getting a podcast app. Most are free. Then, whenever we publish the podcast it will automatically download to your mobile device. You also can listen to the prior week's sermon at the end of every podcast. It's a great way to reinforce the things you're learning on the weekends. Here's a link to this past week's edition - Podcast #50: Be Happy Do Good!

I love, love, love how our church is growing. New location. New people. New members. And this weekend, a brand new sermon series! If you receive this newsletter every week, but haven't been to Church Requel yet... or in a long while... what are you waiting for? Come join us this weekend for a grand celebration! Hope to see you all soon! With great love and affection, Pastor Mark 

#050: Be Happy Do Good [Podcast]

This week I talk about the tragic loss of a former partner and good friend. This week's sermon was written for me, but I didn't know it at the time. "When The Cheering Stops: 5 Questions To Ask About My F.A.I.T.H."

Click to Listen!

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

Music for this week's podcast is "Blessed Be Your Name" by Robin Mark

When The Cheering Stops: 5 Questions For Holy Week [Sermon]

Today I want to have a conversation with you. Let’s not call this preaching... or even teaching. Let’s call this reflection. Pausing to examine. If ever there was a week when one should stop and consider his faith - it’s during holy week, the week between Palm Sunday and Easter.

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.

When The Cheering Stops: 5 Questions for Holy Week

Scripture: John 12:17-43 

Introduction: What is Palm Sunday? It has nothing to do with our palms. It’s called Palm Sunday because this is the day when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey. The crowds cheered him on. There was lots of talk about a Messiah coming. The Scriptures predicted that the Messiah would come riding into the city on the back of a donkey... and here was Jesus doing that very thing. And the people were cheering.

Not only that, but the word was spreading quickly that just a day or two before Jesus had raised a man from the dead. And we’re not talking about just had a heart attack and his heart stopped and Jesus performed CPR. We’re talking 4 days dead, lying in a tomb, rotting away, decomposing, larvae food, odorous, like “cover your nose,” “can’t breathe,” kind of stinking dead. Worm food dead. Jesus didn’t even touch him. Just stood outside the tomb and called his name. And the dead man got up and walked outside. Here was someone with power over death. And the people were cheering.

Yet between Sunday and Friday, this same crowd would stop cheering and start jeering. Given the choice between Jesus and a known murderer, they chose the murderer and cried for Jesus to be crucified. The easy thing for us to do 2,000 years after the fact is to become judgmental. It would be easy to believe that we would never allow our cheers for Jesus to turn into jeers against him. I want to challenge you on that presumption. I want you to consider 5 questions about your FAITH...

This Week at CR: Palm Sunday With Snow On The Side

Pastor Paul Patches Plafond

Welcome to springtime in Mansfield, Ohio! Good Friday morning to you - all my Church Requel family and friends! I don't know about you, but I couldn't believe it when I opened my morning News Journal and saw this snowy headline. This time last year we were experiencing record-breaking warm temperatures. I guess we will have to rely this year on the warmth of our friendship for one another!

Things are really heating up at Church Requel as we prepare for Resurrection Week! The photo on the right is of our good friend, Paul Lintern, as he continues his patching and plastering of the sanctuary ceiling at the Point of Grace.  We expect the ceiling work to be completed by the end of this week.

Pastor Steve has also spend quite a few days down at the Point this week, continuing his wiring work.  You won't immediately notice his efforts UNLESS you notice that all the cords and wires that used to connect the lights and sound system and used to travel along the carpeting and under pews have disappeared! They've all gone underground! No more stepping over all the lines! Yay! He is preparing for the eventual installation of our new sound booth in the back center of the sanctuary.

And Jonathan was in yesterday soldering the new pulpit mic. You all probably didn't know this, but the old mic line used to pick up a local radio station whenever we tried to use it. No more mixed signals!

There's lots going on this coming week at Church Requel - one of our most important weeks of the year - so make sure you take a few minutes to read over the details!

Membership "Belong" Class Saturday - Tomorrow morning at 8:30am we will be teaching our membership class, which we call "Belong."  The class includes a continental breakfast (Thanks Lisa!) and a Subway lunch (Thanks Steve!), so you won't leave hungry. We have seven people registered for the class, but I printed a few extra booklets if anyone still wants to register. Email me if you'd like to join the fun! There is no obligation to become a member and the class will tell you all you ever wanted to know about Church Requel and its mission. The class will meet at the church.

Palm Sunday - We will enjoy a terrific morning of worship Sunday at 11am. Cindy will join me in leading our singing. The kiddos will be talking about their "Parable of the Talents" experience (more below.) Both Jana and Randy will be reading our Scriptures. We'll follow Steve's lead in taking communion and praying together. And I've prepared some thoughtful questions for us to consider as we enter into Resurrection Week.

You won't want to miss Sunday! Things are really starting to happen down at the Point of Grace. Last weekend we had 23 guests with us - the most ever! And we enjoyed a record offering - also the most for one week ever in CR history. Don't get the wrong idea. We're not bragging here - just celebrating God's blessing. We still have much to do, but it's fun to see things beginning to work out.

Flowers on Palm Sunday. You are invited to bring potted flowers with you this Palm Sunday. Specifically, tulips, lillies and hyacynths  would be greatly appreciated. Our plan is for us to decorate the inside of the church for Palm Sunday and Easter. Then, when the Easter service is concluded, you may take your flowers home with you. Or, if you prefer, any flowers left at the church will be planted outside to beautify the appearance of our property. Thanks Amie for this great suggestion! Let's start a new tradtion here for Church Requel at the Point of Grace!

Children - Parable of the Talents Applied. Moms and Dads, make sure you have prepared your children for Sunday morning. Four weeks ago we gave each child $10 and asked them to put it to work and bring back their offering on Palm Sunday. This is an excellent opportunity for them to learn the Parable of the Talents for themselves - and to have the joy of making an offering to the Lord that really means something to them. I'm hoping that several of our kiddos have some stories to share with us on  Sunday morning. We plan to purchase pew Bibles with the money our children have raised so they'll always be reminded of what God accomplished through their efforts.

#049: The Sequel [Podcast]

This week's podcast is filled with zip-a-dee-doo-dah goodness! It was one of those Sundays when everything went even better than planned. Listen to my version of how wonderful this past weekend was and how we respond to good news. Then, about 30 minutes into the podcast, you'll hear the weekend sermon: "The Sequel: How To Share My Faith With Others."

Click to Listen!

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

Music for this week's podcast is "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah" by Louis Armstrong.

The Sequel: How To Reproduce My Faith In Others [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.

Introduction: We are in the My Story sermon series, learning how to tell our life story in the best way possible. What is the story we want to tell with our lives? What will be our legacy? What story do we want others to remember about us?

Our strategy of giving invites to people for Easter highlights what we most think about when it comes to sharing our faith. Some call it evangelization. Sharing the gospel, the good news.

But there is so much more to reproducing our faith in others. Yes, they must hear the good news. And yes, each person needs to make that personal choice to follow Christ. Too many Christians think that marks the end of their journey. The truth is just the opposite. That is only the beginning.

The Bible is filled with the stories of men and women who left “sequels” of themselves behind. From the beginning it was God’s strategy that we share our faith with others - from beginning to end. God’s people were to be talking about their relationship God, thinking about it day and night, and sharing their common experiences of their God walk. We should do the same. We learn all about this from one mentor to his protege, the Apostle Paul to Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:3-7.

The starting point to reproduce my faith is to ___REMEMBER___.

v. 3: “I  remember you constantly...”

v. 4: “As I remember your tears...”

v. 5 “I am reminded of...”

v. 6 “I remind you to ...”

Nothing we talk about today will be brand new to most of you. The key lesson we see written 4 different times in as many verses. It’s not just learning to do this... it’s also remembering to do this. Paul, the greatest evangelist-missionary who ever lived had to remember! So do you and I!

To Reproduce My Faith I Remember These 5 Actions:

This Week at CR: New WiFi Added!

Good Friday morning everyone! Pastor Mark here with your weekly "What's Happening" blog post. It seems like every week I'm writing to tell you about something new at Church Requel, and this week is no different. Let the bells toll! Let the people rejoice! We have a new WiFi installed at CR! Yay!

Jonathan and Steve are pictured here on the right working on the installation. Steve put in lots of hours running the CAT6 line from the back, where the modem is located, up through ceilings and walls. Now the router is located inside the sanctuary itself, right behind the pulpit, so everyone can have a great internet signal.

Why is this a big deal? Because we want everyone to be able to read their Bible app with the sermon notes installed. Those who have the Bible app on their smart phones could access via their 3G or 4G connection. But those who depend on a WiFi connection for their tablet devices, especially, have just been out of luck. Until now!

So Sunday when you come to Church Requel, bring your iPads, your Nexus 7s, your Kindle Fires and link them up when you come in! You could even bring your laptop with you if you want. Let's see as many Requelers as possible linked up to God's Word Sunday morning. And make sure you give a big thank you to Steve and Jonathan, both of whom made this possible. Thanks guys!

"Sequel" Sunday At Church Requel. What do I mean by a "sequel" Sunday? That's actually the title to the last talk in the My Story sermon series: "The Sequel: How To Reproduce My Faith In Others." This talk will be about the long-term goal of mentoring other Christ-followers. Think of your children and grandchildren. Think of friends and family members. How do we go about helping other people to become the Christ-following people that God has created them to become? Our teaching will come from 2 Timothy 1:3-7. 

In addition to our teaching time, I'm looking forward to hearing Nancy read our Scripture and Steve lead our communion time. I'm also looking forward to returning to my prayer leadership role on Sunday. I love to have others take a part in leading our prayer time, but as your pastor, I especially look forward to my turn to pray for you and your needs too!

"Toxic" Sermon Series Launches on Easter. This Sunday you'll also get a preview of our new sermon series, "Toxic," which launches in two weeks.  This 5-part series reminds us of the toxic environment we often find ourselves in - and most importantly - how we protect ourselves. Think of some of the toxic thoughts, influences, relationships, and words that form your environment.

On Sunday we'll pass out a brochure that you can give to family members and friends to tell them about this new series. Here's an excerpt: 

"Need a little personal poison control? Are there relationships thoughts, or behaviors that quietly compromise our well-being? How can we learn to recognize and remove the hidden dangers in our lives?"

Sound good? I'm really looking forward to this new teaching series, because I think this is something with which we all struggle. And I'm sure that you have friends and neighbors, who would really appreciate the Easter invite as well. We also will be advertising this new series on the Google search pages in Mansfield. Let's do our best to make this available to as many people as possible. I'll tell you more about it Sunday.

In other news...

#048: The Kedging Trick [Podcast]

This week I talk about some personal goals that use the Kedging Trick. Then I update on the great progress made this past week at Church Requel. Finally, I share the sermon from last weekend: "How To Develop A Christ-like Character."

Click to Listen!

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

Music on this week's podcast is "Don't Stop Believin'" by Axel Force.

How To Develop A Christ-Like Character [Sermon Notes]

Most people who know about Christianity know that there is supposed to be a change that happens in our character. To be a Christian means to follow Christ, to strive to be like Christ. But how exactly does this happen?

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.

Character Driven: How to Develop a Christ-like Character - 03.10.13

Colossians 3:1-17 / Video: “More Than Words” [4:48] - AngelHouse

Introduction: We are in the My Story sermon series, learning how to tell our life story in the best way possible. What is the story we want to tell with our lives? What will be our legacy? What story do we want others to remember about us?

Any good story teller or novelist will tell you that character development is crucial in the art of a good story. The same is true of our Christian story. The Bible teaches us that “if we are in Christ we are a new creation. The old has gone and the new has come.” 2 Cor. 5:17. Jana just read to us that we “put off our old self and put on our new self.” Most people who know about Christianity know that there is supposed to be a change that happens in our character. To be a Christian means to follow Christ, to strive to be like Christ.

But how exactly does this happen? We sometimes have the mistaken idea that this change is simply a miraculous one, that someone God zaps us into expressing a new character. Or that somehow these character changes are floating around in the air and that they can just be spiritually encountered (like in the video.) While there is a miraculous and spiritual dimension to our Christ-like character change, we learn today from Colossians 3 that there are 6 pragmatic changes too.

To be character driven like Christ requires 6 changes:

This Week at CR: New Screen Installed!

Jon, Steve and Fred install our new screen and projector.

Hi everyone! Pastor Mark here with your weekly dose of everything Church Requel focused. It's been a great week for our church. I'm pumped about our celebration Sunday morning. Take a moment to read all about it!

New Screen Installed! I'm very excited about this good news. Church Requel has a new wide screen installed! This screen is retractable so when it's up, it is practically invisible! The white case blends perfectly with the front wall. The screen is also designed with a special reflective surface designed specifically for the angle of our projector and the morning brightness of our sanctuary. This results in much more viewable images and movies. It is perfectly framed by the stain glass windows behind it. 

We've also installed the projector up on the beam. This is our first step to getting rid of the pole that has been in the middle front of our sanctuary. As soon as we get the lights relocated to the third beam, that pole will rapidly become a distant memory of our first days at the Point of Grace.

I'm very grateful to Jonathan Pierce, Fred Bohnke and Steve Thoman, all of whom joined me for a workday - and work night - at Church Requel yesterday. Collectively we invested 28 man hours into this improvement.  We enjoyed lots of attic time, ladder time, and fellowship time together. 

Sunday Morning "Character Driven." Our teaching focus this weekend will be about how we develop a Christ-like character. We know that people who call themselves "Christians" should live a different kind of life. Their values and their character should reflect Christ's teachings. The Bible describes it this way: we should "put on" our new Christian characteristics. But how exactly does this happen? We'll take a close look at one of my favorite Bible passages: Colossians 3:1-17, and in the process we'll learn about 6 changes that must happen for our own character to become more like Christ. I wish someone would have sat down with me 46 years ago, when I first became a Christ-follower, and explained this to me. It would have saved me so much doubt and heartache. By the way, the reason this passage is one of my favorites is that it was chosen by Tim and Jillian for their wedding day. Whenever I read it, study it, or preach on it, I think of that special day!

The kids and I learn about the Parable of the Talents.

Children: First Aid Kits Unopened - We also have a special talk planned for our elementary children Sunday morning. I plan to invite them to come up front with me for some special teaching time oriented to the children of all ages in our church. We will continue the focus on how they develop their special talents and gifts and use them for the Lord's glory. Just like a first aid kit is pretty AND pretty useless while unopened and shrinkwrapped, so also is our children's talents when kept all wrapped up inside.

Moms and Dads, remember to be working with your children on their special $10 gift received two weeks ago. We have only two more weeks until we want the kids to bring back their gifts along with the results of their investments. This is the application of the parable of the talents. I can't wait to hear how the kids multiplied the money entrusted to them. I'm also thinking we may be using these funds to pick up some more bean bag chairs for the teaching time up front every other week. We have had 5 bean bag chairs donated so far. (Do you have any you could donate?) We'll buy what we cannot receive as donations. We'd love it if we had a bean bag chair for every elementary age child in our church!

In other news...

#047: 7 Principles of Giving [Podcast]

In this podcast I use the first 20 minutes to talk about the CR ministry. This is followed by two sermons from February 24th and March 3rd, parts one and two of "7 Principles of Giving." Both sermons come from the Parable of the Talents found in Matthew 25.

Click to Listen!

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

Music for this week's podcast is "Give It All Away" by Sidewalk Prophets.

7 Principles of Giving - Part 2 [Sermon Notes]

This is the second of a two-part sermon. Click here to read part one. We study the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25 to learn 7 principles of giving. We covered the first 4 principles last week. We tackle the last 3 here.

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.

Splits & Royalties: 7 Principles of Giving (Part 2) - 03.03.13

Matthew 25:14-29 NIV / Video: “Floored - Parable of the Talents”

Introduction: We are in the My Story sermon series, learning how to tell our life story in the best way possible. What is the story we want to tell with our lives? What will be our legacy? What story do we want others to remember about us?

Last week we learned that giving is an important part of the Christ-follower’s story. We learned that tithing is not so important because of the actual amount we give or not give, but is important because of the heart of why we give.  We considered 5 reasons why giving is so important.

Why Giving Is So Important:

Reason #1 - Giving makes me ___MORE LIKE GOD___.

Reason #2 - Giving draws me ___CLOSER TO GOD___.

Reason #3 - Giving strengthens my ___FAITH___.

Reason #4 - Giving is an investment ___FOR ETERNITY___.

Reason #5 - Giving reveals my ___SPIRITUAL MATURITY___.

Ultimately giving is more about my spiritual maturity than it is about the actual gift. Our finances are the last part of our personal life that we will release in trust to God. We hold on to our money and our wealth as a form of security. We cannot trust in God AND trust in our money at the same time. Giving is the discipline of learning to trust God. And it reveals to us the truth of our spiritual maturity.

The principles behind giving were important to Jesus - the master teacher. Both the gospel of Matthew and Luke tell us the parable of the talents, and both are recorded in the final week of Jesus’ life. Why was this story so important to Jesus? Because in it we find 7 underlying principles of a giving lifestyle! We’ll covered the first 4 last week.

7 Principles of Giving from the Parable of the Talents:

Giving Principle #1 - ___It all belongs to the Master___.

“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them.”   Matthew 25:14 NIV

This Weekend at CR: Neighborhood Meal & Parable of Talents

Good Friday morning everyone! Pastor Mark here with your weekly update on everything happening at Church Requel this weekend. There's a lot going on so read carefully!

Saturday Night, Neighborhood Meals - It's our turn to serve the neighborhood meal Saturday evening at the Point of Grace. Sheri has planned out a spaghetti and meatballs meal that should serve all of our neighbors, and - we hope - all of our volunteers afterward. Sheri, Mary Kay, Nancy, and Cindy will prep the meal starting at 2pm. All the rest of us volunteers should show up no later than 4pm. Our guests will come between 4 and 5 and we will begin serving food at 5pm. Please bring your desserts no later than 4pm. 

Mary Kay has invited a friend's son to sing before the meal. He's a real opera singer!!! And Paul has invited a youth group to sing during the meal downstairs. It sounds like it's going to be a great night at the Point! Don't miss it!

Sunday Morning at 11am - Church Requel will worship together as always on Sunday. Last weekend we had a record crowd and we're hoping for continued growth this Sunday too. We'll continue the teaching we began last week from the Parable of the Talents. We're learning 7 principles of giving. We tackled the first 4 last week. We'll wrap up the final 3 Sunday morning.

We'll welcome Pastor Steve back to lead our communion time and prayer time together. Nancy will share our announcements and read our Scripture passage. And... I'll have a very special video preview to share with you of...

The Bible Miniseries, Sunday at 8pm. This 10-part miniseries debuts Sunday evening on The History Channel. The reviews I've seen from most conservative Bible scholars make this a television event we won't want to miss.  Each Sunday night for the next 10 weeks, you'll see the Bible come alive. For those who want an overview of what's in the Bible, this is a great start. For those of you who are reading through the Bible this year, you'll see some of the characters you've read about with a new appreciation.

I'm going to show you a brief preview Sunday morning of what's in store for you Sunday night. We'll see the story of Abraham taking Isaac to the mountains for the sacrifice. I love this particular clip because it raises the question of what Isaac's mother must have been thinking. Here's a link to the 10-week episode guide. And here's a link to the replay schedule this week on The History Channel, if you miss watching on Sunday.