Hi everyone! Pastor Mark here with this week's most AWESOME blog post about all of the FANTASTIC things happening at Church Requel this Sunday.
Now I know some of you may be skeptical. It's true that I tend to be overly excited about everything at CR. But really, you have to read this post. This week is incredible! You'll be so enthused about your church!
Five New Members! First of all the church is growing! Jack, both Sheri's, Sara and Marilyn have all decided to make Church Requel their home church! YAY! We'll celebrate with them Sunday morning. You won't want to miss the opportunity to welcome them aboard the good ship, Requel!
Guest Singers! My good friends, Roc and Kim Marietta, will join me as our praise team Sunday. The three of us (along with Sue) sang together for five years. Those were such happy times. I looked forward to each and every opportunity. Sunday we're singing together again - and we've chosen 3 songs that we loved then and that you still love now: "Majestic," "Rise Up And Praise Him," and "Open The Eyes of My Heart." We practiced together last night at the Point of Grace until almost 11pm. Paul couldn't resist and came over from the Chome and listened too. Thanks Roc and Kim for being such good friends - both of mine and Church Requel's!
Also singing Sunday morning will be my niece, Christy Anne Pierce. It's been over a year since Christy's beautiful soprano voice graced CR, so some of you newer folks may not have heard her before. I know I'm biased, but you are in for such a treat! A few years ago at the Great Ohio Bicycle Advenure Christy sang for the 3,000 cyclists. They loved her so much they gave her a free pass to next year's GOBA! Christy will be singing one of our most popular songs - it's played all the time on KLOVE. Perhaps you've heard it: "Not For A Moment" by Meredith Andrews. I love the lyrics, because it's a theme we repeat often here at CR: "Not for a moment will You forsake me!"
Kids Pass Out Pew Bibles! This weekend will be the big reveal for our kiddos, who have been working so hard on their Parable of the Talents exercise. Some of our kids took $10 and turned it into more than $50! With the help of a local businessman, who matched the children's offerings, we had enough to purchase the pew Bibles.
You should have seen it when the UPS truck pulled up. The delivery guy had to use a hand cart because the boxes were so heavy!
I've asked Mike and Lisa Gilbert to help me out with the Children's sermon Sunday morning. They have wrapped each of these gigantic boxes, which will be stacked mysteriously up front Sunday morning. Our kids (big kids and little ones alike) will learn that we can't outgive God. He matches our little bit of faith with His gigantic resources!
Oh, one more cool thing about the kid's sermon - we've received TWO MORE bean bag chairs! Our eclectic collection of kid's seating is growing almost as fast as the number of kids, who are coming to Church Requel! If you have access to a bean bag chair, please donate it! We still need more!
But wait, there's more! No, this isn't a Ronco commercial. There are no operators standing by. We do have so much going on Sunday, though! We continue our "Toxic" sermon series. This week we talk about Toxic Influences, the culture around us that can poison our minds away from the good things God has for us. We'll define it, decode it, describe it, debunk it, and decide it Sunday morning!
Nancy will lead our announcement time. Steve will lead our communion and prayer time. And my daughter Jillian, also in town this weekend for Jessica's wedding shower, has agreed to read our Scripture Sunday morning. One more thing... Steve and Jonathan have been busy with their tech improvements this week, so we'll have the new color splash lighting ready to go Sunday. Are you getting the idea? You don't want to miss this Sunday!
In other news...
Women's Bible Study on Wednesday. Our ladies are really enjoying the teachings of Beth Moore every other Wednesday night. This coming Wednesday, April 10th, the glory gals will meet again at the Pierce's home at 6:30. They will continue their book study, "Esther: It's Tough Being A Woman." Food, fellowship, fun. What's not to love?
Spring Fling Game Night - Friday, April 12th. Sara, Diana, and Paul are hard at work putting together another fun social evening for us all. We enjoyed our first game night in February. As I recall, everyone had a really fun time. There will be lots of desserts and social time to get to know one another. Everyone should bring some snacks and pop, along with your favorite game. There will be some time set aside when we'll all play together, and then there will be opportunities to break up into smaller groups to play cards and board games. The fun starts at 7pm!
Our Next Neighborhood Meal - May 4th. We love serving our neighbors, don't we? Our next turn to cook and serve will come in one month, on Saturday May 4th. Sheri Nichols will lead the charge for us. We're still figuring out what the menu will be, so stay tuned. But we know we could use cans of fruit, if you want to start bringing food on Sundays. Of course on May 4th we'll need lots of volunteers and lots of desserts. Volunteers should show up by 4pm. The hungry will be fed at 5pm.
I titled this blog article with the words, "Oh My!" Now you can see why! You are the most active, engaged, fun group of people that I have ever had the pleasure to be a part of. I can't wait to see you and celebrate with you Sunday morning at 11am.
It should go without saying, but I've never been very good at NOT saying something... remember to invite your friends and family. You did such a wonderful job this past Sunday! Did you know that we had 35 guest for our Easter service? (That's just one of the many little insider scoops you'll hear on the weekly podcast!) This coming Sunday will be another great opportunity to bring a friend with you. Forward this blog post and tell them how much you love it. They'll thank you and so will I!
See you Sunday at the Point of Grace! Pastor Mark
