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We consider the haunting parable of the Rich Man and the Beggar. We learn about the great turnaround in fortunes for both men and what it might mean for us - both in this life and in the one to come. Open your Bible to Luke 16:19-31 and prepare yourself for the only journey we all equally will take some day.
The Great Reversal from Mark Pierce on Vimeo.
Follow along with the online sermon notes or download the PDF fill-in-the-blanks sermon outline.
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We consider the haunting parable of the Rich Man and the Beggar. We learn about the great turnaround in fortunes for both men and what it might mean for us - both in this life and in the one to come. Open your Bible to Luke 16:19-31 and prepare yourself for the only journey we all equally will take some day.
Follow along with the online sermon notes or download the PDF fill-in-the-blanks sermon outline.
Podcast: Subscribe in iTunes | Play or Download in new window.
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Good Friday morning Church Requel!
This coming Sunday is Featured Artist Sunday! Once a month we sing all of our worship songs from one particular featured artist. This weekend our featured artist will be Hillsong, an Australian Christian music praise and worship group from Sydney, Australia, where they started making music in 1983, at Hillsong Church. Brandi has put together several video clips so that you might know a little more background from the songs we sing so often. Thanks Brandi!
Brandi and Missie will lead us in many songs: “Oceans,” “God Is Able,” “What A Beautiful Name,” “Christ Is Enough For Me,” “At The Cross,” “Forever Reign,” and “Hear Our Praises.”
The Great Reversal. In our sermon study, we consider the haunting parable of the Rich Man and the Beggar. We learn about the great turnaround in fortunes for both men and what it might mean for us - both in this life and in the one to come. Save your spot in Luke 16:19-31 and prepare yourself for the only journey we all equally will take some day.
Kelly’s Putt Putt. Our first summer FUN event is coming up on Friday, June 9th! We’ll all meet at Kelly’s Dairy Bar and Miniature Golf located at 1280 S. Main Street. This will involve fun for kids of all ages so make sure y’all come! Old fashioned burgers, fries, milkshakes, ice cream, miniature golf, and lots of family fellowship together! We’ll start at 5:30 pm. Be sure to mark your calendars.
Neighborhood Meal. Our next opportunity to serve our free neighborhood meal is Saturday, June 10th. We will need volunteers to arrive by 4 pm and plan to serve util 6:30 pm. We would also appreciate your donations of desserts to share. Please help us be God’s hands and feet as we share His love with those around us.
Makayla's Graduation Party. One week from Sunday we will celebrate Makayla's high school graduation immediately after church downstairs in the fellowship hall. Stick around to let Makayla know how much you love her!
Watoto Children’s Choir. I found out this week from Paul that once more we will be hosting the Watoto Children’s Choir on Tuesday, June 13 at 7 pm. Many of you watched with wonder as they sang for us two years ago. This children’s choir has travelled extensively since 1994, sharing a message of hope for Africa’s orphans and widows. Please join us for a vibrant worship experience. Paul Lintern is needing a few host families. If you are interested in helping please contact Paul at 419.571.9920.
Thanks so much! From my heart to yours - thank you so very much for the surprise birthday celebration last Sunday! I am so very blessed to know all of you and to be your pastor. You showed me such great honor and blessed me so much. Your words to me were a great reminder of the privilege I have to be your pastor. I love you all so much!
Hope to see you all this Sunday morning at 11am. - Pastor Mark
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Pastor Mark turned 60 years old and prepared a special talk, “The View From 60.” He shares 6 lessons he has learned from 6 decades of living. Valuable insights combined with Bible truths and personal stories should make this sermon special!
Follow along with the online sermon notes or download the PDF fill-in-the-blanks sermon outline.
Podcast: Subscribe in iTunes | Play or Download in new window.
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I turned 60 years old and prepared a special talk, “The View From 60.” Here are 6 lessons learned from 6 decades of living. Valuable insights combined with Bible truths and personal stories should make this sermon special!
The View From 60 from Mark Pierce on Vimeo.
Follow along with the online sermon notes or download the PDF fill-in-the-blanks sermon outline.
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Happy Friday morning Church Requel!
Today is a happier one than normal for yours truly. Today is my 60th birthday. (For those of you doing the math, yes... 1957 was a very good year! Ha!) So... happy birthday to me!
The View From 60. I decided to take a break from our Luke study this coming Sunday. I have prepared a special sermon for you based on 6 lessons I've learned from 6 decades on Planet Earth. If I could sit down with my grandchildren and pass on any wisdom and testimony from my walk with Christ, what would I tell them? That's what this Sunday's sermon will be all about. I hope you will enjoy it and be blessed by it. Lots of stories this week!
Congrats to Makayla! She is graduating from High School this week. Yay Makayla! She has become such an important part of our church, hasn't she? I love it when she volunteers to sing in our church. This coming Sunday we will have a special recognition and gift for Makayla to let her know how special she is to us.
ALSO... I have been informed by Stephanie Angel and Sheri Nichols that our church will be hosting a graduation party for Makayla immediately after church on June 11th. This will be an opportunity for you to shower her with gifts (if you would like) and for her to be able to invite her friends to a graduation party. If you would like to help, please talk to Stephanie or Sheri. I love it when the body of Christ sees a need and fills it!
Putt Putt Outing on June 9th. While we're talking about June dates, keep Friday evening the 9th open too. Our first summer FUN event is coming up! We’ll all meet at Kelly’s Dairy Bar and Miniature Golf located at 1280 S. Main Street. This will involve fun for kids of all ages so make sure y’all come! Old fashioned burgers, fries, milkshakes, ice cream, miniature golf, and lots of family fellowship together! We’ll start at 5:30 pm. Be sure to mark your calendars.
Summer Event Schedule This Sunday. We will release our annual summer schedule for you to post up on your refrigerator this Sunday. Here are the summer dates you'll want to remember:
Doesn't that sound like a lot of fun! I can't wait for each one! I love how our community enjoys good times together.
Feed The Hungry! We don't just gather to have fellowship. We also gather to serve. Our next opportunity to serve our free neighborhood meal is Saturday, June 10th. (That's going to be a busy weekend!) We will need volunteers to arrive by 4 pm and plan to serve util 6:30 pm. We would also appreciate your donations of desserts to share. Please help us be God’s hands and feet as we share His love with those around us.
Welcome Rob Nalley. Speaking of our community, we have a new attender at Church Requel and I want you all to make him feel real welcome. His name is Robert Nalley. Rob (as he prefers to be called) helped to prepare the meal for the recent radio show dinner theater. He worked closely with Sheri and they talked about Church Requel. Rob came the next morning and loved it!
I've spoken with Rob a couple times since. You'll be interested to know that after the first week Rob bought himself a Bible. ("Love those pew Bibles, but the print was kinda small.") In my conversation this morning, Rob told me he's found his church home! Woo hoo! Isn't that great news?
Let's keep praying. Aimee is out of the hospital but still needs our prayers. We need to keep praying for Jen Repp (still in the hospital), Loni (cancer treatment and recovery), and Jack Nichols (figuring out heart and balance issues).
Thanks all! I appreciate all your good wishes on my birthday! Most of my family is coming in to celebrate with me tomorrow. It's going to be fun! Love you all much! Hope to see you Sunday! - Pastor Mark
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We consider the parable of the shrewd manager - one of Jesus’ stories with a real plot twist at the end! We’ll use this parable to follow our own money and how we handle it. Open your Bible and your heart to Luke 16:1-15.
Follow The Money from Mark Pierce on Vimeo.
Follow along with the online sermon notes or download this PDF fill-in-the-blank sermon outline.
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We consider the parable of the shrewd manager - one of Jesus’ stories with a real plot twist at the end! We’ll use this parable to follow our own money and how we handle it. Open your Bible and your heart to Luke 16:1-15.
Follow along with the online sermon notes or download this PDF fill-in-the-blank sermon outline.
Podcast: Subscribe in iTunes | Play or Download in new window.
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Good Friday morning Church Requel!
Are you excited that this Sunday is Mother's Day? I know I am. Though for me it is a mixed blessing. I miss my mom - gone for 13 Mother's Day celebrations now. On the other hand, this is always one of the best days for Church Requel - and this year will be no exception! Brandi and Karen have planned a fabulous day for Moms and kids alike. We have several surprises for you this Sunday! - So make sure you all come!
Fellas - here's some free advice earned over almost 60 years now. Don't forget your own mom this Sunday if you are so blessed to still have her with you. And guys... if you're married and with children - don't think for a minute that Mothers Day is up to the kiddos. Trust me. It doesn't matter how old your children are - Mother's Day is on you, dads! Make it count! (Note to self - go to the store now and buy a really nice Mother's Day card!)
Luke 16 this Sunday. Follow The Money! We finally move to Luke 16 after spending the past 6 weeks on the LOST chapter. We will examine the Parable of the Shrewd Manager. This is a strange one. We will look at the story of a manager who has not done his job well and is about to be fired. Then he takes advantage of his position and writes down the debts of his boss's customers in exchange for a few favors. One would think this would be a bad thing, but Jesus commends the shrewd manager. Why? Guess you'll have to show up Sunday to find out! (Or you could also watch the video next week. Or you could do both!)
Some sad news. I really do hate to share this next piece of news with you, but it does come with a happy ending - so make sure you read the whole thing. After a great deal of thinking and praying, Karen Jacob told me this week that she will not be able to continue in the part-time job of Children's Director at Church Requel. I know - bummer! Honestly though, I don't think anyone is more bummed about this than Karen herself.
Here's why. At the same time that Karen started working for us on a part-time basis, she also accepted a new full-time job. She thought she would be working a lot from home with flexible hours. But it turns out that her new job is a lot busier than she originally thought - and it involves a lot of travel. She told me she put 3,000 miles on her car last month just driving around Ohio for her new employer.
Bottom line - she loves her new job and she also loves her Church Requel part-time job - but there just isn't room for her to do both. That's understandable. She had to make a hard choice. Wednesday morning she let me know her decision.
But there's good news too. Karen LOVES teaching the KidsMin class. That was the whole reason she took the part-time job here in the first place. She asked me if she could do the same thing that Cindy is doing - to teach on Sunday mornings as a volunteer and not as an employee. Karen figures she could handle that. I can tell you from first hand experience with my own grandkids, that our primary-age children love her in the classroom. So Karen will continue to teach on Sundays, but will not have any of the administration responsibilities that come with the part-time job.
So where does that leave us? For now I will handle the administration of the children's department as best I can. Brandi has also volunteered to come alongside me and help me with some of the ProPresenter work that I do for Sundays (all the stuff you see up on the screen each Sunday.) Eventually God will lead us to someone else as our Children's Director - I'm sure of that. But for now we will make do.
There will be some times when Karen and Cindy will have to leave for a Sunday. If you'd be willing to teach one Sunday every blue moon or so, would you let me know? (Or Karen or Cindy?) That would help us out a lot. And keep praying that God would send us the person He already knows will be our next Children's Director.
One more thing... I want to publicly thank Karen for giving this a try. It would be really easy for all of us - in hindsight - to think that two new jobs at once might be too much. But I admire Karen for making the effort. You never know for sure unless you try, right? The last 60 days with Karen have been a great experience for me too. I've loved working with someone with such a positive, "can-do" spirit. We are most fortunate to have Karen be such a vital part of our congregation. I hope you all will encourage her with positive affirmations when you see her Sunday.
Kelly’s Putt Putt. Our first summer FUN event is coming up on Friday, June 9th! We’ll all meet at Kelly’s Dairy Bar and Miniature Golf located at 1280 S. Main Street. This will involve fun for kids of all ages so make sure y’all come! Old fashioned burgers, fries, milkshakes, ice cream, miniature golf, and lots of family fellowship together! We’ll start at 5:30 pm. Be sure to mark your calendars.
Keep praying. Jenny Repp continues making progress, slowly - two steps forward one step back (sometimes two steps back). I talked to Dave for a long time this week on the phone. He really misses being with all of us - so does Jenny. The good news is that she is going longer and longer without the vent. Keep her in your prayers. Let's also keep Amie and Loni in our prayers as they each are going through cancer recovery treatments. Finally let's not forget about Jack. Good news here too. Jack has a new doctor and they are starting over again with potentially a brand new diagnosis for his symptoms. (Jack is most fortunate to have Sheri as his advocate!)
Love you all much! - Pastor Mark
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We finish our six-week study of Luke 15 by considering the prodigal son’s older brother. We reach the sobering conclusion that it is possible to be both faithful and obedient, while at the same time, have wrong expectations of God and misplaced affections for those God loves.
Follow along with the online sermon notes or download the PDF fill-in-the-blanks sermon outline
Podcast: Subscribe in iTunes | Play or Download in new window.
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We finish our six-week study of Luke 15 by considering the prodigal son’s older brother. We reach the sobering conclusion that it is possible to be both faithful and obedient, while at the same time, have wrong expectations of God and misplaced affections for those God loves.
Outsiders & Insiders from Mark Pierce on Vimeo.
Follow along with the online sermon notes or download the PDF fill-in-the-blanks sermon outline
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Good Friday morning Church Requel!
You are probably unaware of this! Did you know that you live in a nation that has a law requiring our President to proclaim a National Day of Prayer each year on the first Thursday in May.
The President shall issue each year a proclamation designating the first Thursday in May as a National Day of Prayer on which the people of the United States may turn to God in prayer and meditation at churches, in groups, and as individuals. (Public Law 105-225)
As citizens of this country and as Christ-followers, we not only have a spiritual responsibility according to 1 Timothy 2:1-2 to pray, but a civic duty as well to heed our President’s call to stand in the gap for our nation. Who better to enter into the very throne room of Heaven with prayers and petitions?
I had the privilege to be one of many pastors, yesterday, lifting up our own local public officials - including our first responders - in public prayer. It was both humbling and awesome at the same time. I walked away with the conviction that we should pray even more fervently than we do for those in responsible authority over us. I plan to talk more about this in our children's sermon Sunday morning.
(Click here to see a photo gallery from yesterday's local prayer event!)
By the way - I had the privilege to sit with Pastor Aaron Rose from Fusion Church. He asked lots of questions about you all. For those who have been around awhile, you might remember that 4 years ago Aaron and his church donated time and money to help us get set up at the Point of Grace. I know I've never forgotten that kindness. He also told me that he never misses reading his weekly copy of our email newsletter!
1928 Dinner Theater Saturday. Also present at yesterday's prayer event was Pastor Paul Lintern. He shared some great news with me about our dinner theater Saturday night! We were hoping to have 100 people and as of this writing, we have 113 folks who have made reservations! Woo hoo! Some of the proceeds will go to pay for new carpeting in our sanctuary.
The theater portion will feature a historical radio show from the year 1928 - a huge year for Mansfield. Many of our downtown tall buildings were built that year. And did you know that the super strong radio station, WJW, was then headquartered in Mansfield? We'll hear from Mr. Arlen himself (played by Rusty Cates), who will radio announce many of the exciting events taking place in 1928. Another cool detail - we've located the actual microphone used in 1928 at WJW!!!
The sound system has been provided by our own Jonathan Pierce and DRM. Dinner itself will be prepared by our own Sheri Nichols - and you know how delicious her cooking will be! For all of you who have made reservations - thank you! You will really enjoy yourself.
Dixie City Limits Spring Fling - And here's a bonus! After the show the Dixie City Limits will be playing up in our sanctuary! -- 8 p.m. to midnight. If you are already at the church for the Dinner Theater, you can just walk up the stairs for another fun event. But you don't have to come to the dinner theater!
If you missed out on the early show, you can still come to hear some good music. Bring your own beverage plus a snack to share. These are always fun events. Paul tells me that collectively the musicians that evening will have a total of about four centuries of guitar and singing experience. Sounds to me like a lot of fun going on at Church Requel Saturday evening!
Sunday Morning - Children Lead Our Worship. By the time we all come back Sunday morning for worship, our hearts will be so full already! Then we remember that this is the first Sunday in May and so our children will help us lead our worship experience. Yay for the first Sunday of each month!
Leia, Anna and Saudaie will sing with Brandi. Makayla will sing a special song. Violet will bring our announcements. Grayden and Cohen will work in our tech booth. And you'll love this... little Sami and Tre will be our special ushers to collect our tithes and offerings! AWESOME! So many of our children will be involved!
Our Sermon Sunday - We will wrap up our study of Luke 15 Sunday morning too. Our focus? The prodigal son's older brother. We reach the sobering conclusion that it is possible to be both faithful and obedient, while at the same time, have wrong expectations of God and misplaced affections for those whom God loves. I pray that our study time together will be a rich and rewarding one.
Summer Activities Right Around The Corner. Your staff began work two weeks ago on putting together our summer schedule of activities. We hope to have it ready to go for you next Sunday. Here's what we're working on - Putt Putt Golf and Community Night of Worship is June; Splash Park in July - possibly a new location in Marion this year; Picnic and maybe a pool party in August; Indians Dollar Dog Night and Fireworks in September. Oh yeah, baby, bring on the warm sunshine!
Isn't Life Good? But Let's Keep Praying! I wrote to someone last night that I love what our church is becoming. Don't you? We have so much to celebrate. Let's do it with all our might. At the same time, let's keep our prayers uplifted for Jenny, Aimee, and Loni and their families as we know they are all struggling with huge difficulties right now. We love them so much and miss them when they can't be with us.
Love you all! Hope to see each of you soon! - Pastor Mark
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The love God the Father has for us is radical! Today we discover just how much He really loves us by considering the parable of the prodigal son. Along the way we discover 7 action verbs that describe just how R.A.D.I.C.A.L. God’s love really is!
Follow along with the online sermon notes or download the PDF fill-in-the-blanks sermon outline.
Podcast: Subscribe in iTunes | Play or Download in new window.
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