Good Friday morning Church Requel!
I am writing you this morning from our hotel room in Wytheville, Virginia. Later today Mary Kay and I will return to Mansfield from our vacation in Myrtle Beach. We had a wonderful, relaxing time with my dad right on the ocean front. Dad and I read from our Kindles, while Mary Kay and Julie discovered all the great shopping opportunities. Also, we ate incredibly well - cooking most of it ourselves. The picture on the right is one Mary Kay took out our car window as we rolled into Wytheville last night at sunset. The sun was setting on our left while this amazing rainbow shone through on our right. It was almost as if God was telling us, "Welcome back."
We are incredible grateful to our leadership team for granting our time off and making possible the terrific worship service at Church Requel last weekend. What a wonderful surprise to hear that Brianna, home from college for the weekend, joined her mom and dad - Jeff and Tamira Barnes - as our worship leaders. We've also heard nothing but great reports about the sermon my brother Todd delivered. I think it's really cool that these two past church planters could join together in leading Church Requel for a Sunday.
Mary Kay and I were both mega excited about the kids' quizzing teams this past Sunday. We watched the video over and over. I know I couldn't have answered all those Bible questions right, and I've been to seminary! Once again we see what a great job Diana is doing with our children. If you haven't seen this short, 5-minute video yet, you can watch it here.
Taking The Initiative To Resolve Conflict. I'm looking forward to teaching you this coming Sunday morning about the Christian approach to conflict resolution. Not only does this fit well into our Crazy Makers sermon series, but what a timely talk for our culture right now! It's not just Washington D.C. that seems to have a hard time getting along these days. Some of the things I've been reading on Facebook these last 10 days tells me that we all need to be reminded about the Biblical way to handle conflict. Whether your conflict is political, family-related, or work-oriented - these next two weekends will be critical for all of us. For most of us, no one has ever sat down and taught us the right way to handle conflict in our lives. Don't miss Sunday morning at CR!
Here's everything else going on at Church Requel in the days ahead, so grab your calendar and reserve a few dates.
Men's Breakfast TOMORROW Saturday, October 12th. Plan to show up in the Church Requel kitchen by 9am tomorrow morning. Randy Craig and I are going to arrange a super breakfast for all the guys in our church. Should be a great opportunity to get to know some of the other men in the church. Dads, you're also welcome to bring your sons with you. In addition to great food and awesome fellowship, we plan to introduce a new Bible study aimed right at the heart of men. Thank you Randy Craig for getting us started!
Women's Bible Study Wednesday. Our ladies got off to a great start last month with this new Beth Moore Bible study, Living Beyond Yourself. Over
the course of this quarter the ladies will be talking about the gifts
of the Spirit. How do you live in God's power and outside of your own
power? So many women have joined up that we've had to move the venue
from the Pierce home to the church fellowship hall. If you missed one or
two sessions, it's not too late to join up. Show up at the church at
6pm this coming Wednesday, October 16th! Time Change: the ladies decided to meet at 6:30 rather than 6pm. (Ignore that well-intentioned graphic above!)
Game Night Friday, October 18th. One week from today! We love to play games at Church Requel! Board games. Card games. Parlor games. (You don't know what you're missing until you've played Sardines in the Chome!) So next Friday evening, October 18th at 7pm, plan on bringing your favorite games and your favorite snacks. We'll set up the tables downstairs in the fellowship hall for a grand festival of gamesmanship. This is a fun event for kids of all ages. All children are invited. (Remember, everyone is a child of someone!)
Membership Class, October 26th. Our next Belong Class will be held at the church on Saturday, October 26th starting at 8:30am. Already a half dozen of you have signed up. Here's the scoop about the class. Registration begins at 8am. We'll serve a continental breakfast so you won't be starving and we'll keep the coffee flowing all morning long. We'll serve a Subway lunch at noon. We expect the class to be finished by 1:30pm. If you want to know more about Church Requel, I urge you to sign up. You are not obligated to become a member if you decide to come to the class. However, you cannot become a member without first attending a Belong Class.
We're driving back to Mansfield even as you read this. Can't wait to get back to leading the most awesome congregation a pastor could ask for. Love you all much! Pastor Mark
