Good Friday morning Church Requel!
I know for most of us if feels as if winter just keeps hanging on. But the weather forecasters tell me we are looking at 80 degree temperatures next week! Yay!!! Summer is right around the corner! Brandi and I are starting to plan our summer event schedule - many events need to be reserved early.
This year we are trying something a little different. We have put together a summer event survey and are asking you to tell us what you'd like to do together as a church family. We included the survey in last week's program and will include it this week to to make sure everyone has a chance to respond.
Both Brandi and I were surprised to discover that your #1 choice so far was the bonfire! I suppose you remember the kind of fire that Don likes to set. We also discovered that many of you would like to have an adult-only event this summer. I believe Nancy began a campaign amongst you all Sunday morning. So we will definitely plan on this too. You have one more Sunday to vote for your favorite events. We will announce the results within the next couple of weeks.
Jam Band Sunday Morning! We've been practicing a couple months now and are ready to give this a try! There are six of us altogether: Brandi, Brett, Dan, Dave, Don and Mark. (Sorry Dave that I chose a picture without you in it.) We sure have been having a good time at rehearsals. For several of us, including yours truly, the instruments are new since Christmas. All of us have a desire to use whatever talent we possess to praise our Lord. We pray that you will praise loudly Sunday morning so as not to hear us too closely! Ha!
Here is our worship set for Sunday morning. Two of the songs are brand new to us as a congregation... well actually just brand new - released this year: "Blessed Be Your Name" by Matt Redman, "Greater Things" by Mack Brock, "Hallelujah For The Cross" by Chris McClarney, and "Friend of God" by Israel Houghton.
If it goes well we hope to do this again real soon. We're already looking at a few new songs. One of the great benefits of live music is that we don't have to wait for a digital song track to come out in order to sing the song. We're also hoping that the live music gives us a little more flexibility in our worship time.
"One Whale Of An Attitude" is the title of our sermon this Sunday morning. I know many of you have been wondering what direction I might take with our sermons now that we have finished the Gospel of Luke series. I know you are wondering because so many of you have provided me suggestions. Thank you for that - it tells me you really feel invested and I love that!
So here's what we're going to do for at least a little while... drum roll please... we will be turning our attention to some of the characters from the Old Testament to find out what life lessons we might learn for ourselves.
And there are so many!!! Both characters and life lessons! These stories come to us from 3 to 4 millennia ago, but they are so relevant to our lives today. We share much of the same human condition! Each story was written down and recorded so that we might benefit. I'm so excited about this and I hope you are too. Brandi told me Tuesday she'll be excited just to see a new graphic design for our sermons! Ha!
For those who would like to get a head start, just open your Bible app, click on "Events" and then "Church Requel." Or you could see the sermon notes in your browser window by clicking here.
Special Offering for Community Night Of Worship. Next Sunday we will collect a special offering for the Community Night Of Worship on June 19th at the Renaissance Theater. Church Requel will join 6 other churches along with their worship leaders and pastors to provide for an interdenominational night of praise to our Lord.
The cost for the rental of the Ren is $5,000. Crossroads very generously has agreed to pay half the cost, but is asking the other five churches to provide the other half. This has been an awesome event the past two years. It’s been so wonderful to see Brandi join the other worship musicians. Let’s join together to support this worship event both with our finances as well as with our attendance.
When you give at church, just mark your envelope for the amount you want to go to this special offering by writing "Community" on the outside of the envelope. If you only want part of the offering to go to this special project, specify the amount on the outside too. For those of you who give so generously online you'll find a special line item for Community on a drop-down box. Let's invest now so that we might see the harvest in a couple of months!
Dinner and Music - Saturday, May 5th. Paul Lintern will be offering another wonderful evening here at St. Luke’s Point of Grace. He has put together a historical evening, which he is calling “The Great War - 1918 A Century Later.”
There will be three special and individual hours. At 6pm we will enjoy a concert and program in our sanctuary. At 7pm we will go downstairs for dinner and a dance - 1918-style (the dance part is optional!) Then at 8pm we will go back upstairs to his Great Room for more music supplied by local musicians.
All this is offered on a donation basis, with all donations accepted to benefit the Saturday evening Neighborhood Meal program. You can make reservations by calling 419-756-1372. Sounds like fun and a worthy cause too!
Thank you all for your prayers. Wasn't last Sunday's special prayer time just so... special? We took all the prayer requests that were marked for the congregation and shared them on our Facebook Prayer Chain Group. Many of you have responded so beautifully. Since Sunday several other prayer requests have posted there too. So make sure you check in regularly. We want to be a praying continually kind of church!
Blessings on each of you! Hope to see you Sunday morning at 11am. Love you all! - Pastor Mark
