Church Requel Blog - Writings of Mark Pierce

This Week At CR: Fall Festival!

Good Friday Church Requel!

Mary Kay and I have returned home from vacation to a flurry of activity here at Church Requel. What a great weekend we have planned! Wow! Fall Festival Saturday. Neighborhood Meal Saturday. FANTASTIC worship service Sunday! Read on for exciting news about this weekend and NEW NEWS for the rest of this year!

Fall Festival - I enjoyed hanging out with about a dozen of you all last night in final preparations for this coming Saturday. Lots of candy, free gifts - including a couple bicycles, new children's toys and clothing, and over a hundred toiletry bags to give away. All had to be organized. There are many tables full of goodies in our church basement ready to go for Saturday.

     

Tamira - our fearless leader in this Fall Festival madness - has 3 last minute messages for us. Please take note!

(1) WE ARE ON RAIN OR SHINE! Don't worry about the weather. If it rains, we'll just move the festival inside. Those coming to help setup should show up by 9:30am. The festival itself lasts 3 hours this year, from 12pm - 3pm. Then we clean up and get prepped for the neighborhood meal. If you have signed up for anything please honor your commitment. We're counting on you. If you haven't signed up, come and help anyway! All hands on deck!

(2) STILL NEEDED - Are you wanting to donate and wondering what we still need? #1 on the list is Apple Cider. We have 7 gallons, but could use a whole bunch more! Also - for those looking to donate to children's fun - we could use more face painting supplies. Call or write Tamira if you can still help us out.

(3) THANK YOU! Tamira (and I) really appreciate all your volunteer hours and investments to share the good news with our neighborhood.

Neighborhood Meal Saturday Night! Let's just plan on making a day of it! That's right! We have scheduled our turn to serve the neighborhood meal on the same day as the Fall Festival. We figured that most of us are already here. And most of the people we will be serving at the Fall Festival that day will probably come back for the meal. So why not just enjoy the entire experience!

I just talked to Sheri, who showed up here at Church Requel with her arms loaded with groceries. How fortunate are we to have such dedicated and loving leaders! Let's enjoy our time together with a fantastic meal, given away in Jesus' name.

For anyone not staying the day and wanting to show up (or come back) to serve for the Neighborhood Meal, volunteers should be here by 4pm. The meal begins at 5pm. We're usually walking away with everything cleaned up by 6:30pm.

Worship Service Sunday Morning! No one need to sleep overnight. Go home. Rest up. Come back Sunday morning for a great time of celebration. We will have served our heart out. So it will be time to fill up. Do you believe that God has some good things for those who love and serve Him?

I had the privilege to watch our Praise Team practicing last night. That's right. We had one team downstairs prepping for Saturday and another team upstairs prepping for Sunday. I couldn't help but think how much God has blessed us from those early days in the Pierce living room!

This Sunday I will be teaching you a sermon on God's perfect timing. It doesn't always feel perfect, does it? How do we handle life when we’re feeling delays, detours, disappointments and ultimately doubts? Delays - when life is not getting to our goals fast enough? Detours - when life veers suddenly in a different direction? Disappointments - when life isn’t rewarding us for the labor we’ve invested? Doubts - the end result of delays, detours, and disappointments. Have you ever asked, “God, I thought you were with me in this? I thought this was your plan? Where is your blessing?” Then you will not want to miss Sunday morning's talk! (Want a head start? Here are the online sermon notes.)

New Sermon Series Starts Next Sunday! I'm excited to share with you the new direction we'll be taking with our sermons in the month of November. Most of you know that Mary Kay and I have been working hard on some of our personal health goals since May 1st. Much of my personal Bible study time has been to look at what God's Word has to say to us about our physical health. I loved what my brother Todd had to say in his sermons the last two weeks. We don't "have" a soul. We ARE a soul. We "have" a body.

So what does the Bible tell us about how we should take care of this physical tent we have during our time on Earth? As it turns out, there are lots of good advice and instructions for us. For six weeks we'll learn the following:

(1) November 1st - "Body Motivation"

(2) November 8th - "Principles For Lasting Change"

(3) November 15th - "Goal Setting"

(4) November 22nd - "The Group Factor"

(5) November 29th - "The God Factor"

(6) December 6th - "Identity Choices"

I hope you'll plan on coming to all six of the talks. Not all of our health is up to us. But we do have an obligation to take of these bodies as best we can as befits the gift God has given us. If we're honest with ourselves, most of us could take at least one step in the direction of healthier choices. One more thought - a new sermon series is often an opportunity to invite family and friends. Do you know someone who may be interested in what the Bible has to teach us about our physical bodies? I'm praying that this could be a season of growth for us at Church Requel.

Children's Christmas Program - "Star Trip - Our Faith Awakens." Any similarities to a possible future blockbuster movie are entirely coincidental! Ha ha! Starting next Sunday our kids will begin practicing for our Christmas Program on Sunday, December 13th. Parents and grandparents may want to start reserving their front pews now!

Each week our children will be learning some great Christmas lessons as well as preparing for their musical presentation. Tamira says she wants to lead our children in this fun experience. (Are we lucky to have Tamira or what?)

Consider their first lesson. The Magi were on a quest - follow a star to find the child king foretold in prophecy. Along their journey they encountered both the dark and the light, the good and the bad. In the end they met Jesus, the true star of their trip and the light of the world. I love it! And so will your children! Don't miss a Sunday for your children's sake the rest of this year!

Wow! Do we have some great things in store at Church Requel? I'm so excited to be back with you. And I'm so thankful to my brother, Todd Pierce, for preaching a couple great sermons for us and giving me the break I needed. (You can watch Todd's amazing talks again on YouTube!)

I need to stop writing now, though I promise you all I'm already dreaming about 2016! Isn't life good? I love sharing it with you - my church family. Hope to see most of you a lot this weekend! Love you much! Pastor Mark

Seeing The Unseen - Part 2 [Podcast]

How do we navigate from the temporary grief we see and experience so vividly in this temporal life to the unseen glory we experience in the real, eternal life God provides His children? Join Pastor Todd Pierce in this second part of a two-part sermon, "Seeing The Unseen." So much of what is real to us - like a broken heart - cannot be seen. Most of what we DO see with the human eye is, in fact, not real. Todd helps us to understand that the one real thing we do not see correctly is… “me.” Buckle up for a fascinating trip through the universe, revolving 4 ways at once, and moving from the “public me” to the “real me.”

Click to Listen!

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

Seeing The Unseen - Part 2 [Video Sermon]

How do we navigate from the temporary grief we see and experience so vividly in this temporal life to the unseen glory we experience in the real, eternal life God provides His children? Join Pastor Todd Pierce in this second part of a two-part sermon, "Seeing The Unseen." So much of what is real to us - like a broken heart - cannot be seen. Most of what we DO see with the human eye is, in fact, not real. Todd helps us to understand that the one real thing we do not see correctly is… “me.” Buckle up for a fascinating trip through the universe, revolving 4 ways at once, and moving from the “public me” to the “real me.”

Seeing The Unseen - Part 2 from Mark Pierce on Vimeo.

Seeing The Unseen - Part 1 [Podcast]

How do we navigate from the temporary grief we see and experience so vividly in this temporal life to the unseen glory we experience in the real, eternal life God provides His children? Join Pastor Todd Pierce in this first part of a two-part sermon, "Seeing The Unseen." What is unseen? Everything that matters except for every thing and except for matter! We can see matter but not what’s the matter!

Click to Listen!

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

Seeing The Unseen - Part 1 [Video Sermon]

How do we navigate from the temporary grief we see and experience so vividly in this temporal life to the unseen glory we experience in the real, eternal life God provides His children? Join Pastor Todd Pierce in this first part of a two-part sermon, "Seeing The Unseen." What is unseen? Everything that matters except for every thing and except for matter! We can see matter but not what’s the matter!

Seeing The Unseen - Part 1 from Mark Pierce on Vimeo.

We Know [Podcast]

I wrap up our study of 1 John. We can know God's protection, God's adoption, as well as God's insight.

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.

We Know [Sermon Video]

I wrap up our study of 1 John. We can know God's protection, God's adoption, as well as God's insight.

We Know 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: 1 John Wrap Up

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

May 17th was the day we started with 1st John 1:1 with this bold statement - "Let's teach our way verse by verse through this New Testament letter."  At the time, I had no idea that we'd be wrapping up 1 John 5:21 on October 4th. Twenty sermons! (The entire series is available here on YouTube.)

I don't think I have ever enjoyed working on sermon prep more than I have this summer. Each talk took two to three days to research and write. There were days when I wore out the carpet up in the sanctuary as I read, prayed, walked and thought. At the end of the prep I would send a copy to Brandi and to my brother, Todd, who actually preached one of the 20 - Love Cycle - here at Church Requel. Brandi would then create the worship service around the theme of the talk. Todd would write me back with encouraging suggestions, which then began a series of back and forth emails between us.

There are several fond memories for me. I think my favorite two talks from 1 John were Superhero Christian and Nike Christian. I loved the idea of Christ-followers enjoying the super powers of hearing Christ's Spirit and seeing the eternal in Superhero. The theme of the overcomer in Nike was also powerful for me.

What about you? Do you have a favorite? Has God done something special for you over the course of these past 20 sermons? You'll have an opportunity to share your response this coming Sunday morning at Church Requel. I pray that this could be a time of encouragement for all of us. So come Sunday prepared with good news for one another. Afterward, I'll share some final thoughts from 1 John 5:18-21. (Want a preview? Here are the online sermon notes for Sunday.)

So What's Next? For Mary Kay and I, a vacation is in order. Honestly, my creative juices are pretty depleted at the moment. I'm looking forward to spending a couple weeks with my 84-year-old dad in Myrtle Beach. This October will mark the 17th time we've traveled to the South Carolina coast.

Our Church Requel parishioners are in for a special treat. My brother Todd has agreed to return and preach a special two-part mini-series called "Seeing The Unseen." How do we see and keep our focus on the eternal world around us? Especially when our temporal life, often filled with disappointment and discouragement, doesn't seem so... temporal?

Todd has been thinking about these two talks for a long time. I'm excited for him and for you. You won't want to miss a moment!

Bonfire Tonight! Anyone else besides me excited for our social time together tonight at Dan and DeeDee's home? The bonfire begins at 6:30pm. The church will provide all the food. Just bring yourself AND a chair! Also remember to dress WARM! We'll be dry - no rain - but the temp is supposed to fall to 45 tonight! (Need Logan's address? Message Brandi on Facebook OR email me back.)

Worship Sunday Morning. This coming Sunday morning is the first Sunday of the month, which means our children will be worshiping with us. And that means that we involve them in all the areas of service!

The picture on the right is our praise team for this Sunday: Brandi, Grace, Paityn, and Emma. I love it that Brandi begins their rehearsal time with Bible Study and prayer, focusing on their heart of worship in priority over their perfection of singing.

I was so encouraged as I watched from the tech booth last night during their rehearsal. They are working on being real worship leaders - meaning they will be working to lead you all into genuine worship on Sunday morning. There's just something about watching a child raise her hand in praise as she sings that melts my heart!

Fall Festival Preparations. Let's really gear up this October for the Fall Festival on Saturday, October 24th. This will be our biggest outreach of our year to the neighborhood around us. Around Church Requel we call this an "all hands on deck" event. We need everyone's help! So how can you help? We need folks to start bringing in candy each week. How much candy do we need? Imagine all you can think of and then triple it! We'd also appreciate it if you could bring in hygiene items (the most appreciated gifts of grace last year.) And please please please SIGN UP to work a game, to help setup and/or to help tear down on the 24th. Sign up sheets are in the church lobby.

Updates on Parishioners. I visited with Jack and Sheri this morning at their home. Jack is recovering really well. He is right on track with where he should be. The staples were removed this morning at the hospital. Sheri also had her liver biopsy completed and is optimistic about being able to get the medicine she needs. Please keep lifting up both Jack and Sheri in your prayers.

Some of you may have also heard that Lisa has pneumonia and was admitted to the hospital last night. She has had a persistent cough for 3 weeks. I also had the opportunity to visit with her this morning. She would greatly appreciate your prayers as well.

This week's newsletter has come to a close. I'm always amazed at how much there is to write about each week. God has been very good to us at Church Requel and I never cease to give thanks.

Don't look for a newsletter over the next couple of weeks. I really am going to try not to work while we're gone. I do appreciate your prayers on my and Mary Kay's behalf.

Hope to see most of you this weekend. Remember to dress warm for tonight! Love you all! Pastor Mark