Good Friday morning Church Requel!
To think that in just last week's letter to you, I was posting pictures of spring flowers. The weather in Ohio! Snow showers in April! Hopefully no SNOW flowers in May! Ha! Remember that around here if you don't like the weather, just wait a day or two. That's especially true for us as I understand we will enjoy sunny, 7o-degree weather on Sunday!
Neighborhood Meal Saturday Night. Come out to the church tomorrow night at 4pm to help serve a free, warm meal to our hungry neighbors. Bring a dessert if you are able. We usually have the cleanup done by 6:30 pm. Thank you Sheri Nichols and all of you who so faithfully serve in this ministry. You are quite literally Jesus' hands and feet to the world around us.
Palm Sunday This Sunday! Whether the weather is warm outside or not, our hearts will be warmed by our worship this week. Brandi and her team have planned for a wonderful experience you won't want to miss. Missie and Trish will join Brandi on the Church Requel platform to lead us in singing "Hosanna," "Forever Reign," "What A Savior," and "Lord Reign In Me." This ladies trio will also sing a special song, "Prodigal," by Sidewalk Prophets.
Prodigal Son - 5 Daily Questions. We continue our study of the Lost and Found chapter of Luke 15. Sunday we will begin our study of the Prodigal Son parable. This is such rich material! We will actually invest 4 weeks in this study. This week our examination of the prodigal son (and of ourselves) will prompt 5 questions we should ask ourselves every single day.
I have published the sermon notes for you in your Bible app. Open the Bible app on your smart phone and click on Events. Then find Church Requel. (Or you could see the same thing by clicking on this link.) I challenge you to read through the sermon early and see if you can fill in the blanks. Can you figure out the 5 questions we should be asking ourselves?
Easter Is Next Week - Who Will You Invite? Don't let the snow outside fool you. Spring is here. Easter is next week! Who will you invite? I did a little research this week into the question of inviting people to church and found some interesting statistics.
Ninety-six percent of the unchurched are at least somewhat likely to attend church if they are invited. Perhaps we need to pause on this response. Perhaps we need to restate it. More than nine out of 10 of the unchurched said they would come to church if they were invited.
The estimated number of unchurched people in the U.S. is 160 million. In Richland County 71,740 people don't go to church anywhere. If Thom Rainer's research is correct, the implications are staggering. Over 153 million people in the U.S. may start attending church if they were invited! Over 60,000 people here in Richland County could start attending church. Quite literally there would not be enough seats in the pews in our churches to hold everyone!
Those numbers are too big for us. So how about if you and me just stop and think about our own family and friends. Who do we know who we could invite? Start making a list. If you put your mind to it you'd be surprised at how many people are within your circle of acquaintances.
This is the best time of year to invite too! Easter time is a time when people expect to go to church and would be most accepting of your invitation. We have a good thing going at Church Requel, don't we? Let's not keep it a secret. Let's tell others about the good things God is doing among us.
Easter Eggs / Bring Candy / Some Assembly Required! Karen Jacob, our new Children's Director, reminds us that this is an important weekend for another reason. This is our final week to bring candy for next weekend's Easter Egg Hunt. Here are the current details. We have plenty of Easter Egg plastic shells. However, we are still very low on candy. More shells than candy? Come on folks. Let's not let our little ones down. Bring candy this weekend!
If you want bonus points, stick around after the worship service on Sunday and help Karen and her team put the candy inside the shells. Many hands will make the job go quickly.
Final Weekend For Resurrection Breakfast Signup and Pay-up. As of this morning we have 7 people who have signed up for the Resurrection Breakfast one week from tomorrow: Mark Pierce, Dave Johnson, Aaron Parsons, Steve and Cindy Thoman, Eddie and Brandi Walker. You can still sign up this Sunday! If you have signed up, we will need your $15 for your breakfast this Sunday.
The 30th annual Resurrection Breakfast will feature Clark C. Kellogg, CBS sports analyst for Men's College Basketball, as a speaker. Kellogg was an unanimous selection to the 1983 NBA All-Rookie Team and a 1982 first-round draft pick by the Indiana Pacers. He was OSU Big Ten's MVP in 1982. The event will also feature Mike Greene who currently writes for "Heart of Ohio Magazine" and has a career that spans 30 years in radio and television. Special music will be provided by Jonathon White. The breakfast will take place from 8:30 to 11 a.m. April 15 at the Mid-Ohio Conference Center, 890 W. Fourth Street.
Dinner Theater Fundraiser. You'll notice some new posters up in the church this weekend. We have an exciting opportunity for anyone wanting to help us fund the sanctuary upgrades we are planning later this year. On Saturday evening, May 6th, Paul Lintern will host a dinner theater downstairs entitled, “1928.”
Those attending will enjoy a “live radio” broadcast from Mansfield’s own WJW radio, with Harold Arlin as emcee. Part of the funds raised will help pay for new carpeting in the sanctuary. Reservations for the $25 a plate dinner can be made by calling Pat at 419-756-1372.
Let's keep praying. It was so wonderful to see Aimee back among us last Sunday. Even though she is going through chemo treatments, she was feeling well enough to join us. Let's keep praying for Aimee! One of these days we'll also see Jen Repp back with us too. This week has been a good week for her as she is starting to sit up and even take a few steps. She's had several days when she has been able to breathe for 12 hours with the breathing mask and not the trachea tube. I understand she has even uttered a word or two. Let's keep praying for Jen! Also, on a personal note, my step mother - Julie - was admitted to Barberton Citizens Hospital last night with a severe infection. Our family would greatly appreciate you praying for Julie as well as my dad, Walt.
Love you all much! Hope to see you Sunday! - Pastor Mark
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