Church Requel Blog - Writings of Mark Pierce

Facing My Insecurities [Video Sermon]

Most people are insecure about something in their lives. In this video talk we consider 3 sources of our insecurities and then examine 3 Biblical solutions.

Facing My Insecurities from Mark Pierce on Vimeo.

#067: Facing My Insecurities [Podcast]

What a great week at Church Requel! Listen to Sheri's baptism. Hear the exceptionally good news that going on a CR these days. Then listen to 3 causes and 3 Biblical solutions to our insecurities.

Click to Listen!

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

Here's the video link of Brandi singing to the children I talked about in the podcast.

Music for this week's podcast is "Redeemed" by Big Daddy Weave.

This Week at CR: Sheri's Baptism, Brandi's Singing, and Facing Insecurities

Good Friday morning dear Church Requel family!

I have good news to share with you! So much has happened since my last letter to you, so read on! (I promise there will be nothing "insecure" about this dispatch!)

Water Works! When I finish writing you this morning, I'm heading down to Church Requel to join Steve and Jack. They're filling our baptism pool for the first time ever! Yay! Sheri Shick, pictured on the right, will be baptized during our Sunday morning worship service. Sheri and I met this past Wednesday to record her baptism testimony video. I can't wait for you to hear her words of faith and growth. You will be encouraged and inspired!

So far I've received requests for 3 more baptisms over the next couple of weeks. If you also would like to be baptized, please write me back so we can schedule a date for you. 

Amazing Praise! If you enjoy singing and praising God for Who He is and what He has done, then you will want to make your way down to the Point of Grace (Church Requel) Sunday morning at 11. Brandi Walker will be leading our praise music this weekend. Seeing what she has planned, I know we are all in for a wonderful experience. After our congregation sings a couple worship songs, Brandi is planning on inviting the children up to join her in a song that will really "set the table" for the rest of our morning. We are so blessed to have her talent and creativeness leading us before God's throne of grace. For the end of our morning together, Brandi has programmed a visual presentation to punctuate her musical words of encouragement. It will be like finishing with an exclamation mark! Woo hoot!

Play-Doh Talk! I'm always trying to think of the best way to get across God's good news message of love and grace. This weekend I've come up with an idea that involves modeling clay (well, actually Play-Doh.) If you'd like to participate in this "hands on" lesson, I recommend you come down to the church early. It will be fun as well as memorable. We'll continue our Creating A Positive ID sermon series. This weekend's subject is "Facing My Insecurities." We'll consider 3 sources of our self-doubt as well as 3 Biblical solutions. 

We're also continuing our summer video promo - "Where In Mansfield Is Pastor Mark?" Our CR Facebook page has been filled with guesses about where we shot this week's promo. If you haven't seen this 2-minute video yet, you can watch it here. 

While we're on the topic of Church Requel videos, I'm thrilled to report to you that we are back to posting our sermon videos online. If you missed last weekend's talk or just want to see it again, you can watch it here on our website. You can also listen to the sermon as part of our audio podcast.

Push The Red Button. Writing about these videos reminds me that we have lots of opportunities to serve in creative ways at Church Requel. Two weekends ago I set up the video cameras and then totally forgot to press the red button to record the service. There's alot going on for me at the beginning of every CR worship service. Would you like to help me out? I need a couple volunteers who would be willing to "push the red button" at the beginning and end of the service. We also have some other great opportunities to serve:

• Don and Sharma Swanger have volunteered to lead our greeting team. If you'd like to serve at least once a month by extending a friendly hand of greeting to everybody at CR, we'd love to shake your hand!
• If you have a gadget mentality and enjoy sitting high above all the rest in our brand new tech booth, then our tech team could be right for you. We have openings for audio, lighting, and computer graphics. Jonathan Pierce is a friendly, easy going tutor and will be happy to teach you all you need to know.
• Sheri Shick leads our cleaning team and would love to have some extra hands to dust, sweep, and clean our church every week. Plus I hear the fellowship of this team is AWESOME!

If any of these opportunities sound good to you, talk to our ministries pastor - Steve Thoman. Why not send Steve an email right now while you're thinking about it?

My friends, there are many other things going on behind-the-scenes. We're not quite ready to unveil everything just yet. But know that God is doing some incredible things in our midst. Please keep supporting your church with your ongoing prayers, service, and finances. I know many of you have been praying for me specifically and I want you to know just how much I appreciate that. Please don't stop!

As the Apostle Paul ends his letter to the church in Ephesus, so I close with this: "Peace be with you, dear brothers and sisters, and may God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you love with faithfulness. (Ephesians 6:23 NLT)"

Blessed to be your pastor, Mark

Promo Video: "Facing My Insecurities"

Here's our teaser video for this coming Sunday's sermon, "Facing My Insecurities." 

 

Video Sermon: Who Do I Think I Am?

Good news! We're back to publishing our weekly sermons in video format! Here is this past Sunday's sermon - the first one in the "Creating A Positive ID" sermon series.

Who am I really? We all need a positive ID. In this talk we learn 4 reasons why knowing my true identity is so important. It demonstrates my spiritual maturity, defines my responsibilities, decides my priorities, and determines my destiny.

Who Do I Think I Am? from Mark Pierce on Vimeo.

#066: Do I Know Who I Am? [Podcast]

Once you know who you really are, you are going to be able to handle life so much better. In this first lesson of the Creating a Positive ID sermon series, we learn the 4 benefits of knowing who you really are - maturity, responsibility, priorities, and destiny!

Click to Listen!

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

Music for this week's podcast is "Identity" by Israel Houghton.

This Week at CR: Creating A Positive ID

Good Friday morning Church Requel family!

This has been a fantastic week for your church and this weekend promises to be fantastic too! Keep reading to discover all the cool things going on at Church Requel!

New Sermon Series This Weekend! We begin our new sermon series, "Creating A Positive ID." This may be the most important series in which you've ever participated. Why? Because I can't think of more fundamental questions than, "Who am I?" "What am I here on Earth for?" "What is my focus?" "What is my identity?" This series will deepen your confidence and increase your strength and stability. Make sure you come on Sunday and bring someone with you! We're talking about things everyone wants to know about.

We've promoted this series both at the church and throughout the community. I hope you've been taking the invite cards and passing them out. This morning I learned that the proprietor at Paul Revere's has distributed the invites all along the bar! I love it! Where are the unique places that you have access to where you might distribute the invites? We've also got the posters and the banners displayed for the new series as you can see above!

The New Baptistry Arrived! Wednesday morning - early - I received a text message from Pastor Steve, who was at the church working on our new tech booth. "Hey Mark, an 18-wheeler just dropped off our baptistry!" I rushed right down to the church and helped Steve unpack it.  IT IS BEAUTIFUL! You can click on the image at the left to see a larger version of the picture. (You can also click here to see more photos of the unpacking and finished baptistry on our Facebook page.) The baptistry matches our decor so perfectly that you'd swear it was designed just for Church Requel! I'm looking forward to baptizing many people over the coming weeks and months. I hope you are as excited about this as our leadership team is.

If you know Jesus as your Savior, but you haven't been baptized yet as an adult or older child - I hope you'll take this most important step of obedience. Baptism is really a statement to your church community and to the world at large that you are a Christ follower. Jesus himself was baptized. And he left us with the command that all his followers should be baptized as well. Email me back here if you'd like to schedule your own baptism or if your older child is ready to be baptized. I'd love to discuss it with you! I have a feeling that we're in for some exciting weekend worship services at CR!

Fingerprint Video: Where Is Pastor Mark?

We begin our new "Creating a Positive ID" sermon series this Sunday at Church Requel. To celebrate we are making a new intro video for every sermon and will be playing the game, "Where is Pastor Mark?"  Here is a teaser to our first video.

 

#065: God's Antidote To Fearing Your Future [Podcast]

It's completely natural for us to worry about our future because none of us know what the future holds. If we are Christ-followers, however, Psalm 23:6 gives us three great reasons that we shouldn't fear the future. God is watching over us. Grace is working in us. And Heaven is waiting for us! This week's podcast combines two week's sermons into one audio experience. I hope it is as helpful to you as it has been for me and our congregation at Church Requel.

Click to Listen!

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

Music for this week's podcast is "Heaven" by Salvador.

#064: God's Antidote To Your Hurt [Podcast]

When you're hurt in life - and everybody is at one time or another - it helps to know what works and what doesn't. This week we talk about the five things that don't work before turning our attention to Psalm 23:5 to learn about the three things that do work. Joining me on the podcast this week is my daughter, Jillian Vincent, who counsels with hurting people as her profession.

Click to Listen!

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

Music for this week's podcast is "Terminals" by Relient K.

This Week at CR: God's Antidote to Fearing Your Future Part 2

Good Friday afternoon to you all in Church Requel!

We have a great service lined up for Sunday. We didn't finish the sermon on God's Antidote to Fearing the Future, so we'll wrap up the sermon and the series Sunday morning. I'm looking forward to this final talk with you all.

Special Worship Leaders this Sunday. I'm also pleased to let you know that Brianna and Tamira Barnes, pictured on the left, will be leading our worship singing Sunday morning. Brianna and Tamira have been friends (and neighbors) of ours for many years. Brianna is in her second year studying musical theater at the University of Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. She also is playing the role of Eponine in this summer's Renaissance Theater's production of Les Miserables. We're most fortunate that Brianna and Tamira could spend Sunday with us at Church Requel. More than anything, I know Brianna to have a sincere faith and a most encouraging manner of worship leading. 

New Invites to New Sermon Series. This Sunday we'll also be making the new invitations available to the new sermon series, Creating A Positive ID, which will begin next weekend. We hope you'll take a few of the invites and pass them out to your friends.

Here are the talks we have planned for the rest of the summer:

• July 21st - "Do You Know Who You Are?" Once you know who you really are, you are going to be able to handle stress so much better. In this first lesson we learn the 4 things that happen when you figure out your true identity in Christ - maturity, responsibilities, priorities, and destiny.
• July 28th - "Facing My Insecurities." Our insecurities hinder our ability to have a positive self identity in Christ. Together we’ll tackle rejection, criticism, and comparisons. You’ll learn how to change your thinking, embrace your uniqueness, and trust your Creator.
• August 4th - "Winning With The Hand You’re Dealt." The Bible says we’re all wonderfully complex. God made us, but He’s not finished with us. We’ll look at who God meant us to become by examining five factors that influence our identity. We’ll also look at five choices that we can make which will determine who we will become!
• August 11th - "Identity Theft." Do you stretch the image of who you are to become accepted by others?  Our lack of confidence can literally steal our true identity! We’ll examine the Apostle Paul’s identity crisis to discover our own searching, suffering, meeting, morphing, freeing, and feeling. 
• August 18th - "Learning My True Identity In Christ." Your appearance is not your identity. Your spiritual enemy - Satan - doesn’t want you to know what’s going on behind the scenes. There is a spiritual war going on over your identity. We’ll look at the five fingerprints of your true identity if you are a Christ-follower.
• August 25th - "Life Without Limits." Is your life defined by your limitations or by God’s illuminations? Just like Moses, we’ll each eventually come to a crossing that appears uncrossable. Will we stop and retreat backwards or look to God to provide the way forward?

I'm looking forward to seeing each of you Sunday morning! Blessings! Pastor Mark

This Week at CR: God's Antidote to Fearing Your Future

Happy Friday to you,  Church Requel!

This is your weekly update about all the great things happening at Church Requel this weekend. It's sure to be a big bang and it seems as how everyone in town knows about it! Just last night I heard fire crackers and fireworks celebrating the big CR weekend! Ha!

Feed The Neighborhood! Saturday night we start off the big weekend boom with a meal that will surely fill our neighbors' with delicious food and good cheer. Sheri and some of CR ladies will be cooking up a mouth-watering meal tomorrow afternoon. All the rest of you volunteers should show up at the church by 4pm for the meal, which starts at 5pm. And don't forget to bring lots and lots of sweet desserts to make our celebration complete!

The Party Continues Sunday at 11am! There has been some great flag waving around the neighborhood these past couple of days and we plan on continuing that course of action on Sunday morning.  Our first worship song is sure to get your hands a-clapping and your feet a-stomping, along with the flags a-flying! Our own Rachel Swanger, pictured here on the left, showed up to praise team rehearsal on the 4th of July with her own flag in hand. I can promise you that you won't want to be late on Sunday morning and miss the fun!

Our praise team this weekend is made up of Cindy, Sharma and Trish, who sound so wonderful when they sing their harmonies. They also had some fun together Thursday morning at the church, as you can see by this photo on the bottom right. Who said celebrating Jesus' love along with Independence Day can't also be thoroughly enjoyable?

Sunday morning we also conclude our Psalm 23 sermon series with "God's Antidote to Fearing Your Future." I love that last verse in the 23rd Psalm: "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever!" Together we'll learn that if we are a Christ follower, we can face our future confidently!

I've also put together a special "flag waving" sermon for our children this Sunday. Our big kids and little ones alike will learn about both the American flag and the Christian flag - along with the pledges that go along with them.

I love serving as your pastor and can't wait to see you all on Sunday morning!

With both civil celebration and Christian love, Pastor Mark 

#063: God's Antidote To Dark Valleys [Podcast]

Everyone has either just been through a valley, is going through a valley, or will soon go through a valley. Dark Valleys are inevitable, unpredictable, impartial, temporary and purposeful. In this week's podcast we discuss three things to do when you find yourself in a dark valley.

My guest this week is most special - Mary Kay Pierce, my wife and the director of NAMI-Richland County. Together we talk about the unusual experiences we've shared recently. You'll also discover how Mary Kay turned her difficult moments with a family member's mental illness and now has help hundreds of other families, who are also going through those same difficult moments.

Click to Listen!

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

The music for this week's podcast is "Rainy Days and Mondays" by the Carpenters.