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
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