Good Friday morning Church Requel!
This is the last Friday of 2016! When Sunday morning arrives, it will bring 2017 along with it! We are delighted that we will have the opportunity to worship together with two other churches this Sunday morning - Oakland Lutheran and Southside Christian. These two churches are pastored by our good friend, Paul Lintern. Paul and I are looking forward to leading worship together at Church Requel this coming Sunday morning at 11am.
The picture above right is from an opening video that Paul and I have prepared to welcome everyone from the 3 churches. I recommend you arrive a little early this Sunday for two reasons. First, you won't want to miss a second of our opening Welcome video. It's humorous and you'll learn some things you didn't know. Second, it could be crowded as 3 churches are worshiping in the place of one. So come early to get the best seats in the house!
I have the privilege of leading worship singing with the help of Chris Thoman, Tamara Engstrom and Bessica Brilla. Paul Lintern has a special song for you that will be the basis for his sermon. He tells me it will be a start and stop kind of song. He starts singing, stops singing, tells you what he just sang about and then repeats. Only Paul could pull off something like that, so you won't want to miss. Paul will bring our New Years Day message Sunday morning.
We dusted off the original, antique communion trays that were used by St. Luke's for many decades. Paul and I will be serving communion together. Afterward we will all pray together to bring in the New Year right. You all will have the opportunity to pray out sentence prayers for 2017. This should be a really special worship service, so I hope you come!
By the way, when you come in the door Sunday morning, you'll find 3 different programs wrapped inside 3 different offering envelopes. Look for the one from Church Requel. (Duh!) The good news is we won't be collecting 3 different offerings! Ha! So make sure you put your offering inside the right envelope.
Speaking of offerings, our leadership team met Wednesday evening. As of then, our annual expenses exceeded our year's offerings by about $3600 (despite reducing our expenses by almost $5000). If you've been waiting until the end of the year to make a donation, now's the time. You can still make your donation and have it count for this year by going to give.ChurchRequel.org.
This would also be an excellent time to set up an automatic recurring contribution for next year. Mary Kay and I (along with several others) make weekly contributions to Church Requel without fail by using an automatic withdrawal. If you'd like some help getting this set up for yourself, let me know. This is a great way to back up your good intentions with action in 2017. Electronic giving is automatic, secure, convenient and flexible. Want to know more about why automated giving is such a good idea for church and parishioner alike? Check out this PDF white paper on electronic giving.
Sad news - Tamira and Jeff are moving to Florida. They have sold their house here in Mansfield (and found a new one in Florida!) and now have two weeks to move. Tamira's last Sunday with us will be January 8th. I know we are all brokenhearted to see them go.
However, we want to celebrate God's calling in their life as well as God's new plans for Church Requel. So let's celebrate!!! (Remember 1 Corinthians 1:3-4.) One week from this Sunday, January 8th, we will enjoy a special potluck meal together after our worship service. This will be your chance to shower Tamira with cards, letters and notes thanking her for her dedication to our children's ministry at Church Requel.
Parents, I suggest that you also encourage your children to participate in this love fest of cards and notes. This will be good for your children and a great encouragement to Tamira as well.
Just so everyone knows, our leadership team is fully committed to maintaining this position of Children's Director. We will begin our new search for this part-time position next week. (If you know of someone you would recommend, please let us know!) Be assured that KidsMin will remain an important priority in the life of Church Requel!
Four years ago this week we began our Church Requel journey at St. Luke's Point of Grace. What an adventure! God has seen us through so many challenges. Think of all the new families and children, who are attending church each week in this grand old church building! Let's keep the faith and relish the new relationships so many of us have forged over these past 48 months. I hope you'll pray along with me that 2017 will be our best year yet!
Happy New Year with love, Pastor Mark
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