Church Requel Blog - Writings of Mark Pierce

This Week At Church Requel: Photo Directory

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

We are excited about the new photo directory project being led by Ron and Roger over the next two weekends. (And we appreciate Ron sending over this picture of him with his photography equipment. Ha!)

Seriously, this is a great idea. Your pictures will be placed into a printed photo directory, which we will distribute later this year. This will give you the opportunity to put a name to a face. 

You may get your picture taken before or after the worship service at Church Requel over the next two weekends. Ron will be read to take pictures by 9:30 each Sunday and will stay as long as necessary after each worship service.

Roger will use his talents to organize the photos and accompanying information into a printed directory. I love that these two men (and their wives) saw a need within the church and took it upon themselves to do something about it. Thanks Roger and Ron!!!

Fifth Weekend Praise Team! I'm excited for another reason. This Sunday we will celebrate with a different praise team than has ever worked together before. Here is who is leading this weekend: Amy Watson, Fred Wiegand, Aaron Parson, Brian & Emma Betts, Chris Thoman, Tamara Engstrom and yours truly! I think we will use every microphone we own this weekend. 

Woe Is Me! We come to a section of Luke commonly called the "Woes" passage, where Jesus is highly critical of the religious leaders of his day. I've titled the sermon, "What Really Ticks Jesus Off." Seriously, these are six thing you really don't want to do as a Christ-follower.

Children Continue Their Preparations. Our children are preparing for our Christmas program on December 11th. Also our KidsMin kiddos (K - 4th grade) are preparing to lead worship on November 6th. Parents - thank you so much for your support. We think you'll love watching your children in worship on both days. 

Chili Cookoff and Movie Night, Friday, Nov. 4th at 6pm. We are offering a new event on Friday, November 4th - a chili cookout and movie night at the church. Put together your finest chili recipe and bring it. Everybody who comes can also judge their favorite chili. We'll also offer a few fun games for the entire family. Then we'll enjoy a double movie night with 2 different movies - one for the kiddos downstairs and another for the adults upstairs.

Here are the movies. The adults upstairs will watch Luther, starring Joseph Fiennes in the lead role. This 2003 movie has had a profound impact upon my life ministry and I'm really excited to share it with you. Since we worship in a church that was founded originally as a Lutheran church, doesn't it make sense we should know some history about what "Lutheran" means? 

Meanwhile, the children downstairs will watch Zootopia, another great flick with a ton of positive influences for our youngsters. We'll also make some popcorn for the big kids and small kids alike.  Should be a lot of fun!

Neighborhood Meal - Saturday, November 12th. Our turn to provide a free, heal meal to our neighbors is coming up on November 12th. Thank you Sheri for leading our ministry team so well. Volunteers should show up by 4pm. We begin serving meals at 5pm. We usually have everything cleaned up and are going home by 6:30. Bring desserts to share if you can.

Christmas Decoration Sunday - November 27th. If you are able and want to enjoy the company of your CR friends - stick around after church on Sunday, November 27th. We will take out all the Christmas decorations and set them up. With many decorative hands the job goes quickly. Paul will make all his manger scenes available for our children to set up around the church. They usually love to do this - a fun activity for the entire family!

Children's Christmas Program and Potluck - December 11th. I know I already mentioned this earlier in the letter, but so many great things will be happening on this day. Almost all of our children will be involved in one way or another. Lots of singing. Lots of special lines. I also understand they will be making a special movie for that day. We even have children using their art skills to help tell the story of Jesus' birth in a creative way. You definitely want to be at church on the second Sunday in December.

We will also celebrate with a special holiday meal downstairs after the children's program. One thing I know about Church Requel - you surely do love your potluck meals! What a great day this promises to be!

Don't we have a great time together? I love doing life with all of you! Love you all much! Pastor Mark

Headlights For Your Life [Podcast]

When it’s dusk in Richland County, we drive with our headlamps on “bright” watching out for deer! In the same way we need to keep the headlamps of our souls on and bright according to Jesus in Luke 11:33-36. Let’s learn all we can about being a bright light to everyone we know and love.

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.

Headlights For Your Life [Video Sermon]

When it’s dusk in Richland County, we drive with our headlamps on “bright” watching out for deer! In the same way we need to keep the headlamps of our souls on and bright according to Jesus in Luke 11:33-36. Let’s learn all we can about being a bright light to everyone we know and love.

Headlights For Your Life 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 Church Requel: Headlights For My Life

Good Friday Church Requel!

Mary Kay and I are so happy to be back with you all - our church family. Our first day back, Wednesday, was spent with most of you during Jordan's funeral. Our hearts continue to go out to Don and Stephanie and their entire family. What a tragedy. So sad. And yet, what a remarkable church you proved yourselves to be! Thank you all so much for showing such tremendous love. We were so impressed with the way you all came out and provided hugs, shoulders to cry upon, and so much food - enough for every funeral guest. 

I couldn't help but think of my brother Todd's message to you the Sunday before - demonstrating love to one another and to the community around us. What a timely sermon! But also what proof that you are the real deal! So many people that day told me how thankful they all were for your love in action. So from my heart to yours - Thanks! Keep it up!

So Many Opportunities! I just left a record-setting staff meeting. I met for three hours this morning with Brandi and Tamira. There are so many opportunities coming up for our church. Our staff is so excited - we left this morning so encouraged! Let me share a few of the things we are looking forward to enjoying together.

This Sunday Morning: Headlights For My Life. We continue our Luke teaching series this week, focusing on just four verses, Luke 11:33-36. How powerful are these words from Christ! Just like a car needs headlights to see - and to be seen! - at night, so too do we have a responsibility to turn on the light of Jesus while living in this dark world. I pray you will be encouraged by this teaching.

Cindy, Jan, Ron and Bessica will lead our worship. Nancy will share announcements. Jan will lead our communion. Ron will lead our prayer time. 

Children Continue Their Preparations. For 3 weeks now we've been reminding parents to bring their children as often as they can - every Sunday morning. They are preparing for our Christmas program on December 11th. Also our KidsMin kiddos (K - 4th grade) are preparing to lead worship on November 6th. Both of these Sunday morning events were the reason your staff spent so much time in preparation in this morning's meeting. Parents - thank you so much for your support. We think you'll love watching your children in worship on both days. We have been hearing reports of how some of our youngest children are learning to pray and actually practicing what they've learned when they get home. That's the goal!

Chili Cookoff and Movie Night, Friday, Nov. 4th at 6pm. We are offering a new event on Friday, November 4th - a chili cookout and movie night at the church. Put together your finest chili recipe and bring it. Everybody who comes can also judge their favorite chili. We'll also offer a few fun games for the entire family. Then we'll enjoy a double movie night with 2 different movies - one for the kiddos downstairs and another for the adults upstairs.

Here are the movies. The adults upstairs will watch Luther, starring Joseph Fiennes in the lead role. This 2003 movie has had a profound impact upon my life ministry and I'm really excited to share it with you. Since we worship in a church that was founded originally as a Lutheran church, doesn't it make sense we should know some history about what "Lutheran" means? 

Meanwhile, the children downstairs will watch Zootopia, another great flick with a ton of positive influences for our youngsters. We'll also make some popcorn for the big kids and small kids alike.  Should be a lot of fun!

Neighborhood Meal - Saturday, November 12th. Our turn to provide a free, heal meal to our neighbors is coming up on November 12th. Thank you Sheri for leading our ministry team so well. Volunteers should show up by 4pm. We begin serving meals at 5pm. We usually have everything cleaned up and are going home by 6:30. Bring desserts to share if you can.

Children's Christmas Program and Potluck - December 11th. I know I already mentioned this earlier in the letter, but so many great things will be happening on this day. Almost all of our children will be involved in one way or another. Lots of singing. Lots of special lines. I also understand they will be making a special movie for that day. We even have children using their art skills to help tell the story of Jesus' birth in a creative way. You definitely want to be at church on the second Sunday in December.

We will also celebrate with a special holiday meal downstairs after the children's program. One thing I know about Church Requel - you surely do love your potluck meals! What a great day this promises to be!

Finally I want to say "thank-you" to my brother Todd for preaching for me while I was gone. I watched as best as I could from our condo. Admittedly the first Sunday was kind of touch, with a hurricane going by and not having any power... but eventually I was able to watch. Both Sundays it looked to me like the church did well in our absence. My guess is that you could watch Todd's talks several times before you were able to catch all the good things he shared with us. I'm working hard to get those sermons up on the website for you.

Love you all much! Pastor Mark

A Christian Vision For The World [Podcast]

When we look at today’s news headlines, do we see doomsday right around the corner? How do we hold on to hope in the midst of calamity? Todd Pierce contrasts the differences between the doomsday perspective and the Lord’s Day perspective.

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.

A Christian Vision For The World [Video Sermon]

When we look at today’s news headlines, do we see doomsday right around the corner? How do we hold on to hope in the midst of calamity? Todd Pierce contrasts the differences between the doomsday perspective and the Lord’s Day perspective.

A Christian Vision For The World 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 Church Requel: Christian Vision

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

Sunday morning will be part 2 of the new Seeing Clearly mini-sermon series by my brother, Todd Pierce. This week is all about having a Christian vision for the world - which can be a challenge with some of the difficult news we are reading every day.

When you look at today’s news headlines, do you see doomsday right around the corner? How do we hold on to hope in the midst of such calamity? Sunday Todd will contrast the differences between the doomsday perspective and the Lord’s Day perspective. Along the way he will also share with us two biblical metaphors for hope. Want a head start? Here are the online sermon notes. Or just open your Bible app and click on "Events."

I hope you're enjoying this opportunity to hear Todd preach. He has had such a tremendous impact on my own life of ministry. Todd is the primary reason I became a pastor. I watched him do it so well for so many decades. We actually went to several different pastoral conferences together - long before I ever became a pastor. During the breaks and evenings of these conferences I would dream with him of the church I would love to pastor - if ever given the chance. Church Requel, you are the fruit of those dreams!

So when you see Todd this Sunday, thank him for instilling in me such a love for leading Christ's church. Yes, it is a calling from God. But it sure helps if you can see a vision of what it can be first. Elisha had Elijah, right? Todd would be my Elijah - though I don't expect God to miraculously call him up to Heaven any time soon.

By the way, as you can see by the photo above left, Todd is an avid camper. We have camped together in Canada and upper Minnesota. It's always a joy to camp with him, because he loves to make the campsite so enjoyable. That takes a lot of work. Personally, I'm not so much into the camping work, but I sure do enjoy the results of Todd's labor!

Awesome Worship Experience This Sunday! Brandi, Chris, Missie, Brian, Tamara, and Trish have an amazing worship set prepared for you this weekend. It's not often I get to say this, because we've arranged our worship in so many ways over the last couple of years - but Brandi has come up with something totally new for this Sunday. Actually I don't want to give you many details because I don't want to spoil the experience for you. Just know you are in for a great time with the Lord this week!

KidsMin Christmas Prep - I think this may be 3rd week I've mentioned this, but Tamira reminds me we only 7 weeks to go before the big Christmas performance on Dec. 11th. So please, parents, try to get your children to every single Sunday morning KidsMin between now and then.  Our children are learning music , skits and making a video for the Christmas program. No outside rehearsals except for a dress rehearsal at the end. Thanks Tamira for the reminder!

5th Sunday Open Praise Team - October 30th. We are still planning for our last Sunday worship experience this month. This will be the chance for anyone and everyone to be part of the worship leadership up front! Do you love to sing, but just haven’t had the time to be a regular team member? Do you have a desire to share whatever gift you have - singing, speaking, reading, acting - as a worship participant? Please talk to Brandi Walker. She would love to include you in our praise plans for Sunday, October 30th.

Chili Cookoff and Movie Night, Friday, Nov. 4th at 6pm. We are offering a new event on Friday, November 4th - a chili cookoff at the church. Put together your finest chili recipe and bring it. Everybody who comes can also judge their favorite chili. We'll also offer a few fun games for the entire family. Then we'll enjoy a double movie night with 2 different movies - one for the kiddos downstairs and another for the adults upstairs. Should be a lot of fun!

Neighborhood Meal - Saturday, November 12th. Our turn to provide a free, heal meal to our neighbors is coming up on November 12th. Thank you Sheri for leading our ministry team so well. Volunteers should show up by 4pm. We begin serving meals at 5pm. We usually have everything cleaned up and are going home by 6:30. Bring desserts to share if you can.

Finally, before I sign off, our broken hearts go out to Don Angel over the loss of his son, Jordan, last evening. We do not know yet what the funeral and visitation arrangements will be. I'm sure we will know by Sunday and will get that info out to you. In the meantime, thank you all for being such a loving church family to Don and Stephanie. I know that already several of you have wrapped your loving arms around them, prayed with them and have taken over food. You are demonstrating love in action.

We do miss all of you. Love you all!

Pastor Mark

A Christian View Of The World [Podcast]

When we look at the world around us, do we put on our Christian spectacles first? We welcome Todd Pierce as our guest preacher. He teaches us 3 ways Jesus helps us with our Biblical worldview. Along the way Todd also shares 3 strategies to view our world in the right way. So let's polish those Biblical corrective lens by focusing our attention on Titus 2:11-15.

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.

A Christian View Of The World [Video Sermon]

When we look at the world around us, do we put on our Christian spectacles first? We welcome Todd Pierce as our guest preacher. He teaches us 3 ways Jesus helps us with our Biblical worldview. Along the way Todd also shares 3 strategies to view our world in the right way. So let's polish those Biblical corrective lens by focusing our attention on Titus 2:11-15.

A Christian View Of The World 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 Church Requel: Christian View

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

You are in for such a treat this coming Sunday morning. My brother, Todd Pierce, will be teaching us! Todd is a gifted teacher, writer and thinker. Though retired now, Todd invested 28 years in the pastoral ministry, most recently as the founding pastor of Mason Vineyard Church.

Todd and his wife, Amy, received great news recently when they became grandparents of Conor - pictured above right. Many of you who have been around for several years will remember Conor's mother - Christy Anne - who has sang many times in Church Requel's early history.

Todd's talk Sunday is entitled, "Seeing Clearly." Actually this will be a two-part sermon mini-series. Part one - this Sunday - will focus on our Christian view of the world. 

When you look at the world around you, do you put on your Christian spectacles first? Todd will teach us 3 ways Jesus helps us with our Biblical worldview. Along the way Todd will also share 3 strategies to view our world in the right way. So polish those Biblical corrective lens by focusing your attention on Titus 2:11-15.

Todd will wrap up the series the following week with our Christian vision for the world that flows out of our Christian view. I've always profited by listening to my brother preach. I know that will be true for all of you too, especially now in the culture in which we live.

I have some great links for those of you who would really like to prepare your hearts well for Sunday morning. An excellent prelude to Sunday's talk would be for you to watch or listen to Todd's talks when he was with us last year, entitled "Seeing The Unseen." You can watch them both on YouTube. Also for those of you who want an early start to Sunday's sermon, you can find Todd's outline here. Or just open your Bible app and click on "Events."

We also are will enjoy a live band Sunday morning led by Jeff and Brandi singing, Tamira on keys, Dan on drums and Ian on bass.  You know all these songs so sing them out: "Hear Our Praises," "Everlasting God," "Mighty To Save," and "Hosanna." Should be an awesome worship experience.

5th Sunday Open Praise Team - October 30th. We are still planning for our last Sunday worship experience this month. This will be the chance for anyone and everyone to be part of the worship leadership up front! Do you love to sing, but just haven’t had the time to be a regular team member? Do you have a desire to share whatever gift you have - singing, speaking, reading, acting - as a worship participant? Please talk to Brandi Walker. She would love to include you in our praise plans for Sunday, October 30th.

Chili Cookoff and Movie Night, Friday, Nov. 4th at 6pm. We are offering a new event on Friday, November 4th - a chili cookoff at the church. Put together your finest chili recipe and bring it. Everybody who comes can also judge their favorite chili. We'll also offer a few fun games for the entire family. Then we'll enjoy a double movie night with 2 different movies - one for the kiddos downstairs and another for the adults upstairs. Should be a lot of fun!

KidsMin Christmas Prep - I think I mentioned this last week, but Tamira reminds me we only 8 weeks to go before the big Christmas performance on Dec. 11th. So please, parents, try to get your children to every single Sunday morning KidsMin between now and then.  Our children are learning music, skits and making a video for the Christmas program. No outside rehearsals except for a dress rehearsal at the end. Thanks Tamira for the reminder!

Hunkering Down. I know many of you are worried for us about Hurricane Matthew. We have been watching it closely. The latest forecast is for the storm to be substantially lessened in power and moving out to sea by the time it reaches us. We are expecting 12-18 inches of rain, winds as high as 60 mph, and substantial flooding. We are planning to stay put in our 16th floor condo with my Dad and Julie and Dave and Jessica. Certainly we would all appreciate your prayers when you wake up on Saturday.

Love you all! Pastor Mark

Proof Positive [Podcast]

Are you a spiritual seeker or a shopper? If you’re a  shopper, you’ll ask for a sign from God that fits into your reality, preferences and lifestyle. If you’re a seeker, you’ll ask to fit into God's reality, to know His preferences, and to change your lifestyle. We consider Luke 11:29-32 and discover Jesus’ pique when asked for a sign. We’ll also recall 3 truths about proving the reality of Christ in our own lives.

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.

Proof Positive [Video Sermon]

Are you a spiritual seeker or a shopper? If you’re a  shopper, you’ll ask for a sign from God that fits into your reality, preferences and lifestyle. If you’re a seeker, you’ll ask to fit into God's reality, to know His preferences, and to change your lifestyle. We consider Luke 11:29-32 and discover Jesus’ pique when asked for a sign. We’ll also recall 3 truths about proving the reality of Christ in our own lives.

Proof Positive from Mark Pierce on Vimeo.

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