Church Requel Blog - Writings of Mark Pierce

Above The Grind [Podcast]

When the celebrations are over, family and friends all go home, and we’re back to the daily grind, how do we get by? How do we get ABOVE THE GRIND when we’re discouraged or disappointed? In this final sermon of the year I share the biblical encouragement we need to hang in there & to celebrate even in the tough times of life!

Follow along with the online sermon notes or download this PDF fill-in-the-blanks sermon outline.

Click to Listen!

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

Above The Grind [Video Sermon]

When the celebrations are over, family and friends all go home, and we’re back to the daily grind, how do we get by? How do we get ABOVE THE GRIND when we’re discouraged or disappointed? In this final sermon of the year I give our CR congregation the biblical encouragement to hang in there and to celebrate even in the tough times of life!

Above The Grind from Mark Pierce on Vimeo.

Follow along with the online sermon notes or download this PDF fill-in-the-blanks sermon outline.

This Week At CR: Twenty 15s For 2015

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

How about this - our last Friday newsletter for 2014! Christmas is still in full swing here for Mary Kay and me. Today we celebrate with my dad, siblings, and all the nieces and nephews in Massillon, Ohio. Tomorrow we celebrate with Mary Kay's siblings, nieces and nephews on the other side of Ohio in Wapakoneta. And we're keeping our phones close by in case Tim and Jillian should call. Her due date is officially January 1st, but our newest grandson could make his grand entrace at any moment!

I hope your Christmas has been filled with the love of Christ, of family and of friends. Our own holidays are so much more fulfilled because of the way we officially began our Christmas with the candle lighting at Church Requel two nights ago. We have all learned to be a part of the same church family, and I for one, am so glad to call you my brother or sister in Christ!

New Sermon Series Sunday. Are all the celebrations now behind us for another year? No way! Brandi and I have some special plans for you Sunday morning. First off, I get to join the praise team fun Sunday morning and partner with Brandi to lead you in our worship singing. We'll sing together some of our most familiar praise songs from 2014.

For the last month I've been working on a new sermon series I'm calling Twenty 15s For 2015. I went through the entire Bible reading every verse 15 in the Bible. After writing down 58 of my favorite verses, I narrowed my absolute favs to 20 verses. This will be the topic of our sermons over the next 4 weekends.

This Sunday we start with the first five verse 15s. The title of the sermon is "Above The Grind." After all the Christmas celebrations are over, family and friends all go home, we all find ourselves back to the grind. How are we going to get by? How do we rise above the grind, when we are discouraged or disappointed? This Sunday's first five 15s will give you the encouragement you'll need to hang in there and celebrate even in the tough times of 2015!

We've got one more awesome bit of news for each week of this sermon series. Kay Butts has agreed to read our twenty 15s, five each Sunday, over the next 4 weeks. Kay reads with such expression. I know you'll be so encouraged when you hear her read the Scriptures.

Happy Birthday To Us! This past Christmas Eve marked two years since we began meeting at St. Luke's Point of Grace. How God has blessed us these past 24 months! Wednesday evening we set a new all-time attendance record at Church Requel. Yay! Thanks to all of you who invited someone to come. I can't wait to see what will happen over the next 12 months. I'm looking forward to another terrific year with you!

Blessings to you! Pastor Mark

Nobody's A Nobody To God

It’s easy to feel like we’re nothing special. Especially at Christmas time. While many love being engaged with family, many others feel disconnected. Even if you are a nobody to the world, you are a somebody to God! Last evening we looked at the first Christmas through the eyes of Anna in Luke 2, where we learn the twin lessons of purpose and peace.

Follow along with the online sermon notes or download the PDF fill-in-the-blanks sermon outline.

Click to Listen!

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

Everybody's A Somebody With God

It’s easy to feel like we’re nothing special. Especially at Christmas time. While many love being engaged with family, many others feel disconnected. Even if you are a nobody to the world, you are a somebody to God! Last night at our Christmas Eve service we looked at the first Christmas through the eyes of Anna in Luke 2, where we learn the twin lessons of purpose and peace.

The Nobody Whose A Somebody To God from Mark Pierce on Vimeo.

Follow along with the online sermon notes or download the PDF fill-in-the-blanks sermon outline.

Waiting Is An Action Verb [Podcast]

Instant gratification can be our enemy. We learn that when we wait upon God, we will learn patience and come to know Him and the reward of His promises so much better. Through our godly waiting we can even bless others! Join me in this audio version of Sunday's talk as we consider the story of righteous and devout Simeon, who was rewarded for waiting.

Follow along with the online sermon notes or download the PDF fill-in-the-blanks sermon outline.

Click to Listen!

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

Waiting Is An Action Verb [Video Sermon]

Instant gratification can be our enemy. We learn that when we wait upon God, we will learn patience and come to know Him and the reward of His promises so much better. Through our godly waiting we can even bless others! Join me in this video of Sunday's talk as we consider the story of righteous and devout Simeon, who was rewarded for waiting.

Waiting Is An Action Verb from Mark Pierce on Vimeo.

Follow along with the online sermon notes or download the PDF fill-in-the-blanks sermon outline.

This Week At CR: Children Christmas Praise Team!

Good Friday morning before Christmas!

I hope this week's newsletter finds you with a joyful, festive spirit. I can feel the Christmas spirit welling up inside of me. As I write to you this morning, I'm listening to the new Christmas album by Pentatonix. My Star Trek office Christmas tree is aglow. Mary Kay is upstairs writing Christmas greetings to a few family members and friends. Later Jessica, Jennifer and Theo are coming over to bake Christmas cookies. Sights, sounds and SMELLS of Christmas! Love it!

Children's Christmas Praise Team Sunday! Plan on coming early Sunday if you'd like to sit in the front third of the church! (The Sunday church service officially begins at 11am.) Last night Brandi and 11 children (and many, many parents!) showed up at Church Requel for a rehearsal for Sunday morning. All I can say is, "WOW!" I love it when our children are involved in our worship services. You'll love it this Sunday too. Here's a HUGE thank you to Brandi Walker for going the extra mile to make sure all the parents and children were prepped for this weekend. And a HUGE HUGE thank you to all the moms and dads who brought their kiddos to the rehearsal last night.

Feed The Hungry Saturday Evening. Would you like to have a great way to give a Christmas present to those most in need within our community? Saturday evening you will have your opportunity. We plan to feed between 100 and 200 of those most needy (and hungry) in our neighborhood. Thanks so much to Jack and Sheri Nichols, our lead cooks for the evening.

You may participate in the Neighborhood Meal in one of three ways:

1. Come and help. Volunteers should show up by 4pm to help set up for the 5pm meal. Cleanup is from 6 - 6:30pm. The entire time commitment is only 2 1/2 hours. (You may volunteer your time without also having to bring a dessert.)
2. Bring desserts by 4pm. Our neighbors always love it when Church Requel serves the meals, because you are usually so generous with your desserts. Bring your desserts to the church by 4:30pm. (You may donate a dessert without also having to volunteer your time.)
3. Can't bake a dessert or donate some time Saturday? No problem! You can still donate large cans of vegetables and/or fruit. Bring them with you any Sunday morning to church and we'll store it up for the next time we serve.

Christmas Eve Candles & Carols. Make plans to start your Christmas Eve with a birthday party for Jesus at 5pm on Wednesday. All your Church Requel friends and family will be there! Dave Strong will play a Christmas pipe organ prelude starting at 4:30pm, so come early if you want to hear those pipes sing! We will sing some modern day Christmas carols and learn their surprising background meanings. Joining Brandi on our special Christmas Eve worship team will be Trish Trubachik, Missie Miller, Dinah Stanfield and Brian Betts. Each one is featured in a special role.

After a talk by yours truly, the house lights will dim and we will each light our own candle. The first candle is lit by the center Advent candle, which represents Christ. As each candle is progressively lit, we will remember that Jesus still is the light of the world. The last two candles will be our two new communion candles, which will be lit in each worship service this coming year.

We all have so much to be thankful for at Church Requel. It was two years ago this very week since we first began meeting at St. Luke's Point of Grace at the point where Marion Avenue meets Park Avenue West. Since then our church has almost tripled in the number of people who attend. I'm convinced this is only the beginning... and not even the best of the news. More than the quantity of souls, I'm excited about the quality of your love for one another. Thank you for making this pastor's Christmas such a special one!

Many Christmas blessings, Pastor Mark

My Response To The King [Podcast]

Our response to the babe born in the manger requires more than the belief that the prophesied King Jesus was actually born. If Jesus really is the King of kings, we should respond in obedience to the commands he taught. In this audio version of Sunday's sermon I examine the unrighteous believer of Herod the Great and share 4 Christmas lessons from Herod's story.

Follow along with the online sermon notes or download the PDF fill-in-the-blanks sermon outline. 

Click to Listen!

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

Our Response To The King [Video Sermon]

Our response to the babe born in the manger requires more than the belief that the prophesied King Jesus was actually born. If Jesus really is the King of kings, we should respond in obedience to the commands he taught. Sunday I examined the unrighteous believer of Herod the Great and shared 4 Christmas lessons from Herod's story.

Our Response To The King from Mark Pierce on Vimeo.

Follow along with the online sermon notes or download the PDF fill-in-the-blanks sermon outline. 

This Week At CR: Christmas In Full Swing!

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

Is it just me or does it seem like this week has just blazed by at lightning speed? We have so many wonderful plans for Christmas at Church Requel this year. Let me tell you just a little about it.

The photo on the right was taken at last night's praise team rehearsal for Sunday morning. Pictured from left to right are Brandi Walker, Cindy Thoman and Dinah Stanfield. They will be leading you in an awesome set, with a couple Christmas carols. When they get to their last song, "The Stand," by Kristian Stanfil, I guarantee you won't be able to sit - even if you wanted to! 

We will also be bringing in our newest members Sunday morning. They are Don and Stephanie Angel, Shelli Jackson, Brian Betts, Bessica Brilla, Dave and Jen Repp, Roger and Judi Marvicson and Doug Konves. Good group of folks! Almost all of them are already involved in serving in one way or another at Church Requel. Make sure you welcome them as we celebrate together Sunday.

Christmas Eve. I enjoyed a creative and encouraging meeting with Brandi yesterday, when we made our final plans for Christmas Eve. All I can say is, "Wow!" I know you hear me say that word a lot and maybe it's lost a little of its luster. So allow me to reiterate about Christmas Eve: "Wow! Wow!" Brandi has come up with a powerful plan to ignite the flames of Christmas joy in your hearts.  

Our theme for the evening will be "The Stories Behind the Carols." Brandi and the CR praise team (including first-timer Brian Betts!) will lead us in many traditional Christmas carols that we don't normally think have any Christian meaning. Does Brandi ever have a surprise for you! Throughout the evening she will tell you why the song was written and what it really means.  I learned so much from Brandi yesterday! I will never sing those Christmas carols the same way again. And neither will you.

At the conclusion of our one-hour Christmas Eve service, we will celebrate together with the candle lighting ceremony and prayer. The center Advent candle will light all of our candles, which in turn will light the two communion candles. These candles on the communion table will burn throughout 2015 and remind us of our Christmas Eve together all year long.

I have two requests for you regarding our Christmas Eve service. #1 - Please make it a priority in your own Christmas plans. We have decided on offering just one service so that we might all worship together. And we've set the time early enough (5pm) so that you can still make your other family plans later that evening.

#2 - Would you please also prioritize inviting your extended family and friends to come with you? I believe we could completely fill our sanctuary for the first time since we began meeting. You do remember that this Christmas Eve will not only celebrate Jesus' birthday, but also our two-year anniversary of meeting at St. Luke's Point of Grace!

This coming Sunday morning I will give you special invitations, which you may pass out to your family and friends. We have printed these up in full color on high quality heavy stock paper. We know that Christmas Eve is one time of year when many people will go to church, if only they are invited! 

Christmas Led By Our Kiddos. I know I'm telling you this story a bit out of order, but I don't want to conclude this week's newsletter without also writing a few words about our December 21st worship service, led by KidsMin. Our children are preparing a very special worship service for you. I'm pretty pumped because there are several new children in the program this year. As of this writing the children involved will be Sami Russell, Dallas Pryor, Paityn Hall, Leia Walker, Sicily & Violet Carrick, Alexis McCune, Anna Scott, Grace Miller, Phyllis & Wyatt Stanfield, Sisilly Angel and Elijah Jensen. I'm guessing that the front seats will sell out quickly so plan to come early next Sunday morning!

What a great time of year! I love Christmas! I love celebrating Jesus' birthday! I also love the opportunities this time of year brings to us. Let us not forget the reason for the season. As you are preparing your gifts for everyone else in your life, consider the gift you will be bringing to Jesus this year. My prayer is that he would look down upon Church Requel and smile!

God bless us everyone! Pastor Mark

Doubts and Faith [Podcast]

As humans, we're right about some things and wrong about others. The key is to be right about the right things. Our Christian faith is one of those tricky things that is easy to be wrong about. Knowing the facts of our Christian faith isn't the same thing as possessing a Christian faith. In this first Christmas teaching of 2014, I consider the life of Zechariah from Luke 1. Like him we can also be righteous doubters.

Follow along with the online sermon notes or download the PDF fill-in-the-blanks sermon outline.

Click to Listen!

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

Doubts and Faith [Video Sermon]

As humans, we're right about some things and wrong about others. The key is to be right about the right things. Our Christian faith is one of those tricky things that is easy to be wrong about. Knowing the facts of our Christian faith isn't the same thing as possessing a Christian faith. In this first Christmas teaching of 2014, I consider the life of Zechariah from Luke 1. Like him we can also be righteous doubters.

Doubts and Faith from Mark Pierce on Vimeo.

Follow along with the online sermon notes or download the PDF fill-in-the-blanks sermon outline.

This Week at CR: MAJOR minor Christmas Begins!

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

How God has blessed us! We are so thankful for our opportunities and our provisions. I hope you all have had a good week. It's been a productive writing week for me. I have so much to share with you today. Let's get right to it!

A MAJOR minor Christmas. This Sunday we begin our new Christmas sermon series. We will consider four minor Christmas characters and learn four MAJOR Christmas lessons. I'm so excited about these four original sermons. What makes for a "minor" Christmas character? Who exactly are they? Here's a hint. None of these four ever make the cut at any nativity scene! Hmmm. To figure out exactly who they are, you're just going to have to come to Church Requel! Don't you just love a mystery? (For our guests our worship services begin at 11am on Sunday.)

Tonight - Historic Church Tour & Christmas Time In The City. Wow! That's a mouthful. Let me tell you what's happening, in case you might be looking for something fun to do this evening. This evening Downtown Mansfield Inc. is sponsoring the "Christmas Time In The City" event. The annual Christmas tree lighting will take place at 6pm at the Richland Carrousel Park with Christmas carols, hot cocoa and cookies. There will also be carriage rides ($2 a person), a reindeer petting zoo, and photos with Santa.

Concurrent with this will be the Historic Church Tour. This also begins at 6pm at First English Lutheran Church. Every half hour the tour changes to another downtown historic church. Each church has the opportunity to tell a part of the nativity story and show off their own unique Christmas decorations. Church Requel's turn is at 6:30 pm. I'm excited to show off your beautiful decorations from last Sunday! We will be telling the nativity story from Mary's point of view. The other downtown churches include Grace Episcopal, First Christian, First United Methodist and St. John's United Church of Christ. Sounds like a most enjoyable event! Pastor Paul Lintern and I will be hosting together at our church this evening!

More About Sunday! Brandi Walker has really been pouring her soul into our Christmas celebrations for December. Want to know some inside scoop? Today I received my 6th different version of the planning sheet for this coming Sunday morning. For those of you who don't know, the planning sheet is our working document for our weekly worship plans. Brandi usually gives me a first look three weeks in advance. We make a few tweaks and then go with it. However, it seems to me like Brandi is going above and beyond this week. Every day I've heard another new idea for either this week's worship service or one of the others in December. My recommendation to you? Don't miss a single Sunday!

Brandi and Trish will be leading our worship Sunday with "Do You Hear What I Hear?" by Carrie Underwood, "I Will Follow" by Chris Tomlin and "All Because of Jesus" by Steve Fee. They also have a couple special songs to share with you: "Walk By Faith" by Jeremy Camp and "What Faith Can Do" by Kutless. (I believe I'm beginning to see a theme about faith... hmmm...)

Meanwhile Down In KidsMin. Our kiddos have been learning about courage. Last week they focused on Queen Esther. Tamira Barnes, our KidsMin director, asked them if they were a king and could make any law - what would that law be? At the right you can see King Lincoln and King Elijah trying to think about that question!

This coming Sunday our children will be learning about the angel Gabriel and his announcement to Mary. I don't know all of Tamira's plans, but I know how creative she is. And I know a video camera will be involved. Who knows? Tamira may have even booked Gabriel! If I were a kid who could be in KidsMin, I wouldn't want to miss it. That's for sure!

Speaking of Tamira, this coming Monday evening at 6:30 pm at Mansfield Christian School, she will direct the annual Christmas musical by the Independent Studies students. It's called "Christmas in Snowflake County." It's free and there will even be refreshments served afterwards. I'm planning to be there to show my support. Maybe a few of you could come too!

Thank you for your faithful support! I met with our leadership team last evening and heard a positive report from our treasurer, Nancy Roop. For the last couple of months we have run in the negative by a little more than $500 each month. That's a change in the trend, because we were positive every other month this year. Last month we prayed about it and decided to give it one more month before we said anything to you as a congregation.

Last night Nancy told us that in the month of November we had a positive cash flow of over a thousand dollars, which made up for the two negative previous months. Isn't God good? Thanks for your faithful, obedient support of Church Requel. Through the first 11 months of this year our total offerings are up $3,463.90 over the same period last year. Again - so thankful! Any of you wanting more details, just email me and I will happily provide you a full financial report.

Also let me know if any of you need help to switch over to online donation giving. About two-thirds of our monthly contributions now come from online donations. It's automatic, easy to monitor and change, and involves no obligation or cost to you.

What's next? Here's some more of the inside scoop of what's coming up at Church Requel!

• New Members Join Next Sunday. A few weeks ago we conducted our Belong Membership Class. Of the twelve people who attended, ten have made the decision to become members! Isn't that great? Next Sunday, December 14th, we will welcome Don and Stephanie Angel, Shelli Jackson, Brian Betts, Bessica Brilla, Dave and Jenny Repp, Roger and Judie Marvicson and Doug Konves as our newest members.
• Kids' Christmas Praise Team December 21st. Our children LOVE to present their Christmas songs. They will lead the way for our December 21st Sunday worship. Parents, you should talk to Brandi this week if your child would like to be involved. (And let's face it - who wouldn't?) They will be rehearsing on Thursday evening, December 18th. Parents, you might want to get this Sunday on your calendar and tell all the grandparents. As a Grandpa myself, I know how much this advance notice will be appreciated.
• Christmas Eve Service. This year we will offer one Christmas Eve worship service at 5pm. Plan to come to church first before your other family events so you might celebrate Jesus' birthday. Plan to bring a guest with you! We will finish the one-hour worship experience with a traditional candle lighting ceremony. It should be simple and special!

Wow! So many exciting things going on this time of year. I hope you are as pumped as I am. I checked in with Tamira Barnes this morning to see how she was faring with everything going on in her life. I think she says it best. "I'm ready to rock and roll!" Love it! 

"For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline."
2 Timothy 1:7

Hope to see you all soon! With affection, Pastor Mark