Church Requel Blog - Writings of Mark Pierce

This Week at CR: Decorating Church For Christmas!

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

How are you doing on this Friday after Thanksgiving? Working? Home with relatives? Fighting the crowds for the Black Friday deals? Here at the Pierce home we have a dozen folks from both sides of  family, who are slowly making their way back into the swing of life this morning. My job every Thanksgiving is to set the table and to carve the turkey. One Facebook friend told me that I got off easy, to which I make no contradicting argument - I am indeed blessed!

Decorating Church Sunday! I know many of you are excited about decorating our 126-year old church building for Christmas. We have a two-hour window right after church to get the job done. With many hands I'm sure the decorations will go up quickly. We will be ordering pizza for all the participants too. This will be a fun event for families; children love setting out our Christmas decor.

We Are Thankful. Last Sunday we filled our fellowship hall with a record crowd for our Thanksgiving potluck meal. I came around and asked most of you what you were thankful for. We put together this awesome Thanksgiving video, which we plan to play for you this Sunday morning.

Children Making Advent Movie. Our KidsMin director, Diana Devolder, told me this week that our children will be making a movie together! They will act out the details of Luke 2. They will also audio record the words from Luke 2. This movie version of the nativity will debut in our Christmas Eve services on December 24th at 5pm and 7pm. The kiddos and Diana will meet together this Sunday morning to work out the details. So if your children would enjoy making a movie to show all their family and friends, make sure they come Sunday morning.

6 More Reasons To Be Thankful. We'll complete our 2-part Thanksgiving sermon series by talking about why Christ-followers should be thankful all year long. We'll discover that there are both practical and spiritual reasons for our daily thanks giving. We'll talk about the Thanksgiving chair illustration that will help you to be thankful in both good times and bad. Our key Bible verse will be:

“Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 2 Thessalonians 5:18 ESV

Christmas Concert Next Friday! We are T minus 7 days and counting down for our first-ever Church Requel Christmas concert. This is a great opportunity to invite all of your family and friends. Take a break from the hustle and bustle of Christmas shopping. This is a terrific way to remember the real reason for the season. Jeff Anderson is a grammy-nominated singer and songwriter, who used to lead the worship at the Columbus Vineyard. I'm hearing that there is some great excitement about this concert, so you might want to make plans to arrive early! Jeff will begin his acoustic concert set at 7pm.

Here are the other cool things going on at Church Requel in the next week.

We Are SO Thankful! [Video]

What are you most thankful for this Thanksgiving holiday? Here's what the people of Church Requel told me they were thankful for.

We Are So Thankful from Mark Pierce on Vimeo.

6 Reasons To Be Thankful All Year Long [Video Sermon]

We celebrate Thanksgiving as a holiday one day a year. The Bible tells us, though, that we should be thankful 365 days a year. In this CR video talk from this past Sunday, I share 6 reasons why Christ-followers should always celebrate Thanksgiving.

6 Reasons To Be Thankful All Year Long from Mark Pierce on Vimeo.

You can follow with the online Bible app notes or download Sunday's outline with Bible verses (PDF).

Recount Your Blessings [Video]

Here's why Thanksgiving should be a 365-day a year activity and not just a once a year holiday. Recount your blessings. Turn FEAR and TEAR into NEAR and DEAR.

 

#084: 6 Reasons To Be Thankful Every Day Of The Year [Podcast]

We celebrate Thanksgiving as a holiday one day a year. The Bible tells us, though, that we should be thankful 365 days a year. In this week's podcast, we talk about 6 reasons why Christ-followers should always celebrate Thanksgiving.

I mentioned this video recorded in 2012 about our ministry one year ago. Read last year's Thanksgiving sermon.

I talked about this music video, "Shake," by Mercy Me.

Here's more info about the Christmas concert on December 6th.

Click to Listen!

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

The music on this week's podcast is "Don't Be A Turkey Just Say Thanks" recorded by Jim Wideman and written by Yancey.

This Week at CR: Potluck Thanksgiving Feast

Good morning Church Requel!

On this Friday morning as I write you this weekly newsletter I am reminded that many of our lives changed dramatically 50 years ago today when President Kennedy was assassinated on the streets of Dallas. For those of us alive then, we can clearly remember exactly where we were and what we were doing. For example, I clearly remember sitting in a 1st grade classroom and hearing the tragic news over the public address speaker. Hard to believe that such news would be broadcast to children, but it was a different time then.

I'm not the only one of us Requelers to remember exactly when and where we were 50 years ago today. Mary Kay tells me she was home watching her mom iron shirts when they both heard the news come across the TV. Marci tells me she was in the cafeteria at Mansfield Senior High.  Steve remembers being in 8th grade English at Johnny Appleseed Junior High School.

Sheri was in 5th grade in Lubbock. Texas. She remembers, "They came over the intercom and told us. Then we had a prayer. We all started crying."

What about you? If you were around 50 years ago today, where were you and what were you doing? Write me back here.

Thanksgiving Feast This Weekend. I'm not sure there is a good transition from the tragic memories of yesteryear to the celebration that we are planning for this weekend. Except that perhaps it is in the midst of the difficult times that it is most important for us to give thanks. I've been studying all the "thanks," "thankfulness," and "thanksgiving" passages all week long in preparation for our next two weekends. There are 170 such references in my Bible. No, I'm not planning to talk about all of them in our sermons. I have, though, been impressed with the concept of "recounting" highlighted in this psalm.

“We give thanks to you, O God; we give thanks, for your name is near. We recount your wondrous deeds.” Psalm 75:1 ESV

Consider the verb, "recount." It is not enough to simply "count our blessings" as we have often been taught. The Bible actually teaches us to "recount." To count them. And then count them. And then count them again. We have a remarkable ability to forget the best news in the universe: that we serve a good God, who does wondrous deeds. We must recount to remember. There is no time when it is more important for us to recount than when we are going through tough times. (Check out these online Bible app notes.)

So we'll celebrate Thanksgiving as a church family this weekend. I have been hearing about all the plans you've been making for this Sunday's feast after church. We've only asked families to bring two dishes and single folks to bring one dish. But I've heard about multiple turkeys that will be roasted. I've also heard that our children have some special plans for decorating our fellowship tables.

Sisters Brandi Thoman and Trish Trubachik will lead our singing during our worship experience upstairs. I'm told they want us to leave our worship upstairs and move toward our celebration downstairs with the fun and joy we should have. So they've dusted off the 1971 Rare Earth song, "I Just Want To Celebrate." Now ask yourself this question: How many other churches will be singing this song this weekend? Ha! It promises to be a very REQUEL experience.

We've also invited the Skit Guys to pay us a video visit again for this weekend. The mini movie is called "I'm Full" and highlights the many blessings we should be "full of" as Christ-followers. Eddie plays the part of the eccentric uncle many of us recall in our own extended families. This is really funny! 

To make the day absolutely and thematically complete, our greeting song is titled: "Don't Be A Turkey Just Say Thanks." I promise you this will be a Sunday morning you are not going to want to miss. I can't wait to celebrate with all of you!

Do you remember last year? Many of you may not because there are a LOT more people attending Church Requel this November than were last November. Every holiday weekend I make it a point to go back to the planning sheets for these weekends in years past. (I try not to repeat things too much.) Last year in this same weekend we were talking about changing from a Sunday evening schedule to a Sunday morning schedule, though we had no place to meet. Looking over that planning sheet I realize now just how desperate many of us were feeling. I was especially taken back when I watched this video prepared at the time by Diana Devolder. We should come to church Sunday and celebrate Thanksgiving - if for no other reason - just because God has been so generous in giving us the Point of Grace in which to celebrate!

Christmas Concert Scheduled! I hope many of you are passing out tickets to our Christmas Concert with Jeff Anderson scheduled for two weeks from today - December 6th.

There will be no charge for admission, but we will collect a love offering for our guest artist.

Jeff was the worship leader at the Columbus Vineyard before launching his touring career. You can learn more about Jeff, including listening to his music, on his website. 

Remember the "invite alternative" for those with a Facebook account is to invite your Facebook friends to the event. This is really EASY to do! Click on this link to go to the CR concert event page in Facebook. 

Here are the other great opportunities coming up at Church Requel in the coming weeks:

Church Requel Christmas Decorating Party - Next Sunday December 1st, we're asking for folks to stick around after our morning worship to decorate the church for Christmas. We plan to finish by 2pm. We'll make a pizza lunch available for everyone who helps. Do you all remember last year, when this event was our very first one in our new location? Wow! There is a signup Sunday so we can plan for enough pizza pies. (So many of you have already signed up! Thanks!)

Women's Bible Study - Ladies, you'll be taking off the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. So your next meeting will be Wednesday, December 4th at 6:30pm at the church.

Men's Breakfast - Fellows, our next breakfast together will be Saturday morning,  December 7th. We'll meet together down at Paul Revere's Restaurant at 9am. We've reserved the small room in the back. There will be a signup sheet at CR in the lobby this weekend.

Neighborhood Meal - We will feed our neighbors a free meal on Saturday evening, December 7th. Plan on making all your fabulous desserts to give away. All the volunteers should show up at CR by 4pm. We will serve from 5pm until 6pm. Volunteers usually are finished cleaning up by 6:30pm.

What an THANKFUL time to be your pastor! I can't wait to see you on Sunday! We're going to have such a good time together. With appreciation, Pastor Mark

3 More Ways To Deal With Difficult People [Video Sermon]

How do you handle the difficult crazy makers in your life? In this Church Requel talk from November 17th, 2013, I explain the difference between forgiveness and trust. We consider 3 more Biblical responses. Refuse to play their game. Refuse to cave in. Always take the high ground.

3 More Ways To Deal With Difficult People from Mark Pierce on Vimeo.

You can follow along with the Bible app sermon notes OR Download the PDF fill-ins with Bible verses.

Stephanie's Testimony and Baptism [Video]

One of life's greatest privileges as a pastor is baptizing those who have committed to following Christ. Yesterday I baptized Stephanie Medina. Here is her story, told in her own words. Her baptism is at the end of the video.

Stephanie's Testimony and Baptism from Mark Pierce on Vimeo.

#083: 3 More Ways To Deal With Difficult People [Podcast]

How do you handle the difficult crazy makers in your life? In this week's podcast, I explain the difference between forgiveness and trust. We consider 3 more Biblical responses. Refuse to play their game. Refuse to cave in. Always take the high ground.

We also catch you up on all the Church Requel news of the week, including a description of how the Christmas concert with Jeff Anderson came about. Lots going on these days at CR! Here's a link to Jeff's website. Here's a link to his Facebook page concert invitation.

Click to Listen!

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

This week's podcast music is "I Want Crazy" by Hunter Hayes.

This Week at CR: Baptism & Crazy Makers Finish

Good morning Church Requel family!

This has been a busy week at the international headquarters of Church Requel! We have lots of new news to share with you so read on...

Stephanie's Baptism - Certainly the highlight of this weekend will be Stephanie Medina's baptism. I met with Steph earlier this week to video record her testimony. We'll play that movie right before her baptism on Sunday morning. Many of you know that Stephanie lost her grandmother a week ago. In her baptism testimony, Stephanie talks about the difference her faith made - and the difference her church family made - while going through her grief. I'm sure her baptism and testimony will be a great encouragement to everyone! 

Crazy Makers Finish! Yes! We will actually finish this sermon series, which we began back in September. I told you all back then that this relationship series would better prepare you for your Thanksgiving day with your extended families. So what do you think? Have we accomplished our goal? I'd love to hear your feedback on this series. Drop me a line here.  This Sunday we'll talk about three more ways to keep the crazy makers in your life from making you crazy. 

• You'll find the Bible app sermon notes for this Sunday here.
• If you missed last week or just want to hear it again, you can listen here or watch here.

100 New Folding Chairs - For the outside reader, this news item may not seem like such a big deal. But for any of our parishioners, who have been tasked with setting up for our neighborhood meals or our KidsMin downstairs, you know how challenging our old chairs could be. There was just no way of folding or stacking them away. Sunday, you'll discover that all those old school chairs have been replaced by folding chairs that can be placed on a rack and stored away. YAY!!! It dawns on me that I've never really appreciated folding chairs before. How about you? We can thank this guy.

Christmas Concert Scheduled! One of the biggest developments this week has been arranging for Grammy nominiated artist, Jeff Anderson, to sing at Church Requel on Friday evening, December 6th. He will perform a Christmas concert for us and for our family and friends.

There will be no charge for admission, but we will collect a love offering for our guest artist.

Jeff was the worship leader at the Columbus Vineyard before launching his touring career. You can learn more about Jefff, including listening to his music, on his website. 

On Sunday I will have "tickets" printed up and available for you to pass out. We are not charging for the concert and the tickets are really more a reminder and announcement. This will be a fantastic way of being able to invite your friends to Church Requel!

Another "invite alternative" for those with a Facebook account is to invite your Facebook friends to the event. This is really EASY to do! Click on this link to go to the CR concert event page in Facebook. From here you'll want to do two things. First, click that you are going! The more the merrier! Second, click on the link to invite your Mansfield area friends. I've also uploaded a photo there that you can share with others. Thanks, Diana Devolder, for thinking of using this great Facebook feature.

Here are the other great opportunities coming up at Church Requel in the coming weeks:

Jeff Anderson To Perform CR Christmas Concert!

We are thrilled to announce that grammy-nominated artist, Jeff Anderson, will perform a Christmas concert on the Church Requel platform on Friday, December 6th. The concert will begin at 7pm. There is no charge for admission. We will collect a love offering for Jeff at the concert.

The evening will consist of a mixture of woship & Christmas songs. We want to have a special night where people can take a break from all the busyness that comes with the Holidays. Wouldn't it be wonderful to just focus on the reason behind Christmas right from the start?

Jeff is a Grammy nominated artist from Columbus, Ohio. He was previously the worship pastor at Vineyard Columbus before following the calling to tour full time. Formerly on Gotee Records, Jeff Anderson previously charted with the contemporary Christian hit, Open My Eyes from his album Seamless. You can learn more about Jeff and listen to his music at http://www.jeffandersononline.com. 

3 Ways To Deal With Difficult People [Video Sermon]

How do you handle the demanding, deafening, discontented, disapproving, destructive, and demeaning crazy makers in your life? In this talk from this past Sunday morning, we consider 3 Biblical responses. Refuse to be offended. Don't wait for an apology to forgive. Refuse to gossip.

3 Ways To Deal Wih Difficult People from Mark Pierce on Vimeo.

You may follow along with the online Bible sermon notes OR you may download this fill-in-the blank sermon outline with Bible verses included. 

#082: 3 Ways To Deal With Difficult People [Podcast]

How do you handle the demanding, deafening, discontented, disapproving, destructive, and demeaning crazy makers in your life? In this talk we consider 3 Biblical responses. Refuse to be offended. Don't wait for an apology to forgive. Refuse to gossip. The sermon begins at 43:40 in the podcast.

I also talk about Veteran's Day at church, the dedication of our "City of Churches" banner, the KidsMin Heaven teaching and the kiddos' responses, and why preaching funerals are even better than preaching weddings for this pastor!

Click to Listen!

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

The music from this week's podcast is "Here's To America" performed by the U.S. Army Band. This is from the Veteran's Day Honor album, free today from Amazon.com mp3 music store.

This Week at CR: City of Churches Banner, New Members, Honoring Our Veterans

Good Friday morning my Church Requel friends!

I really do attempt to write headlines that fit on one line. This weekend, however, our Sunday plans are just so big they could not possibly fit! I hope today finds you doing well. Read on to learn all of our Church Requel plans for Sunday.

I don't often include a full size photo in my weekly writings to you, but this week I just had to fill the space to give you an idea of just how huge is this new addition to our worship space. This week Pastor Paul Lintern and friends unveiled this 14 foot by 25 foot banner on the rear wall of our sanctuary. It's call "Mansfield - City of Churches." Because Mansfield's skyline was dominated by steeples from the 1880s on, especially as it was viewed from the north-side flats as people exited the train station, our city historically was known as the City of Churches.  Timothy McKee created this artwork from images of the 16 downtown churches as they appeared in the late 1800s and filling in with the faces of people who worshipped a century or more ago. We will always be reminded that we worship in the midst of a cloud of witnesses. You really must come and see this for yourselves Sunday! (Have you listened to this week's podcast yet? Paul Lintern and I talk about this and other Point of Grace happenings!) 

New Members Join On Sunday! We will welcome at least 4 new members this coming Sunday morning. As of this writing, Stephanie, Lisa, Kay, and Tom have made the decision to commit to Church Requel membership. YAY! We will take a few moments to welcome them officially to our fellowship right before our greeting time. I have really enjoyed getting to know these folks better over the past couple of weeks. Each have agreed to protect the unity of our church, to share the responsibility of our church, to serve our church, and to support the reputation of our church. Thank you - each and every one!

We Honor Our Veterans. The next day - Monday - will be Veteran's Day here in the United States. On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918, the allied countries signed an armistice with Germany. We now rename "Armistice Day" as Veteran's Day. I believe this should be an important day for us as a church too. After all, it's only because of the sacrifice of our brave men and women who have served in the armed services that we have the freedom to worship freely. There are lots of "frees" in that last sentence. Here's the point, though. Our freedom never comes freely. There is a high cost, especially for our vets. I always think of the service of my own 82-year-old dad. You know people you should honor too. So why not invite them to this "Day-Before-Veterans-Day" worship service to say thank-you for their sacrifice?

How To Deal With Difficult People. We are nearing the end of our 11-week sermon series, You Make Me Crazy. The next two Sundays are the wrap-up pinnacle of everything we've been learning these last 9 weeks. I've named Sunday's sermon, "Keeping The Crazy Makers From Making You Crazy." We'll consider how to deal with those demanding, disapproving, deafening, destructive, discontented, and demeaning crazy makers in your life. (Yes, your pastor does have way too much fun with adjectives.) Let's finish this series well with both attendance and attention.

Coming To A Sunday Near You! Here are some of the cool things coming our way in the near future.

• Sunday, November 17th - Baptism Sunday. We have at least one person, who will be baptized next weekend. We'd love to have more. Please let me know or Pastor Steve know if you'd like more information about being baptized at Church Requel.
• Sunday, November 24th - Thanksgiving Potluck. We celebrate Thanksgiving as a church family on the Sunday before the official, national Thanksgiving holiday. I've already picked out a really fun greeting time song, "Don't Be A Turkey." (LOL - I really do have way too much fun planning our worship experiences!) When our worship service is over, we'll all go downstairs and enjoy a sumptious Thanksgiving potluck meal together. Families, plan on bringing two dishes to share. Single folks, plan on bringing one dish of any kind to share. This will be fun!

Our leadership team met last evening in the sanctuary. We spent a good amount of that time praying together for our church and for many of you by name. Several times throughout our meeting we just stopped what we were doing - talking to one another - and started praying - talking to our Lord. I know some of you are struggling through difficult decisions. I join with the prophet, Isaiah, in writing to you:

"Shout for joy, you heavens; rejoice you earth; burst into song, you mountains! For the LORD comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones." Isaiah 49:13 NIV

I love being your pastor! You bless me so much! Pastor Mark

Escaping The People Pleasing Trap [Video Sermon]

Escaping the People Pleaser prison means dealing with the Crazy Maker that's inside of you. The one telling you that you're not good enough, that you have to measure up to what they have in mind for you. In this Church Requel talk from November 3, 2013, we'll learn 6 facts we must memorize for the next time we feel pressured to please anyone else besides our Heavenly Father.

Escaping The People Pleasing Trap from Mark Pierce on Vimeo.

 You can follow the Bible App sermon notes here or download the sermon outline with the blanks and Bible verses in PDF format.

#081: Escaping The People Pleaser Trap [Podcast]

Escaping the People Pleaser prison means dealing with the Crazy Maker that's inside of you, telling you that you're not good enough, that you have to measure up to what they have in mind for you. In this talk we'll learn 6 facts we must memorize for the next time we feel pressured to please anyone else besides our Heavenly Father.

My guest this week is my partner down at the Point of Grace, Pastor Paul Lintern. We talk about this past year and some exciting new plans we have for Church Requel.

Here's the link to the "It's Our Time" video from Igniter Media that I mentioned in the podcast.

Click to Listen!

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

The music for this week's podcast is the theme from "The Odd Couple."

This Week at CR: Neighborhood Meal & People Pleasers

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

How has your week been? I pray many of you are enjoying the brisk breezes and the spectacular Fall colors. I know some of you have really had a tough row to hoe this week - as my Grandma used to say. The only way to get through it is to get to the end of the row. I want you to know that I pray for each of you. I pray for God to deliver you to the end with a stronger faith and with a solid testimony. Know that God loves you and so do I!

Neighborhood Meal. One way to get your mind off your own troubles is to help other people with theirs. As a church we have the opportunity to do this very thing Saturday evening as we serve free meals to our neighbors down at the Point of Grace. This will be your chance to show your own grace along with your generosity of desserts. Serving free meals to our neighbors is a terrific way to demonstrate authentic Christianity to our children too. They are natural servers when pointed in the right direction. Volunteers should report to the church by 4pm and should plan to stay to clean up until 7pm. Our meal will be offered from 5pm to 6pm. 

Wow Sunday Planned. I am hoping that everybody Sunday walks away from our 11am service with the same "Wow" expression our own Liam shows in this photo taken at KidsMin a couple weeks ago.   Our children will be joining us for our worship services this Sunday. We love KidsMin, but we also love our families having the opportunity to worship together as a family every now and then. Since our children will be with us, we plan to include them in an important part of our worship experience. Liam will join Grayden, Sicily, Anna and Allie in reading our Bible verses. I just love it when our children are involved!

We'll also continue our discussion we began last weekend on the topic of the trap many of us fall into of being a people pleaser. Last week we talked about the trap. (Didn't hear it or want to hear it again? Listen to the podcast!) If you're already in the trap, how do you escape? What's the antidote? Sunday we'll learn six facts to remember so that we can break free from the people pleasing prison. (The sermon notes are already in the Bible app.)

Paul Joins Me On Next Week's Podcast. Since I mentioned the podcast in the last paragraph, let me give you a heads up on next week's attempt at audio audacity. I've asked Paul Lintern - our local pastor resident in what we call the Chome (combination of church and home) - to join me on the podcast next week. Did you know that we are now close to a year since Paul and I began to dream together of what the Point of Grace could become? We talk about some of the history of this past year. Even more interesting, I think, is a revealing discussion of what some of our plans are going forward.  I think you'll want to tune in. Look for the podcast to be up and available sometime early Monday afternoon.

Upcoming Special Sundays - I thought you might like to know about some of the special things happening at Church Requel over this month of November. 

• Veterans Day / Membership Sunday - Nov. 10th. We will be welcoming in our newest members next Sunday. Also we plan to honor those men and women in our congregation who have served in the armed forces, making freedom of worship possible for all of us.
• Baptism Sunday - Nov. 17th. We will be setting up the baptism pool and encourage all who have not been baptized as an adult to consider following Christ's example and command to be baptized. This is always an incredibly positive and encouraging weekend at CR!
• Thanksgiving Sunday & Potluck - Nov. 24th. We have so much to be thankful for! It will be exactly one year ago to this day that Paul and I made our agreement for Church Requel to meet at St. Luke's Point of Grace. And it's the Sunday before Thanksgiving. So what a perfect opportunity to bring in a potluck meal and celebrate together after our morning worship service!

Be encouraged. God is good and He is doing great things both around the world and in our little corner of it at the Point of Grace. Hebrews 10:25:22-25 from The Message is a perfect reminder for us:

"So let's do it - full of belief, confident that we're presentable inside and out. Let's keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps his word. Let's see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching."

Love you all much! Pastor Mark