Church Requel Blog - Writings of Mark Pierce

Summer Fun Schedule Is Out!

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

The new Summer Activity Fun Schedule is now out and available! Yay! You can pick up your copy Sunday morning at Church Requel. So what's on the schedule you asked? Glad you asked that question! 

Church Picnic - Sunday June 24th at North Lake Park. After church we will enjoy lunch games & fellowship with one another! Bring your favorite side dish or dessert to share.

Pool Party - Saturday July 14th at Shelly Acres, 6pm-8pm. Come cool off after a hot summer day! Feel free to bring your own soda & a snack to share, if you'd like! Fun for the whole family! All you need is a towel... well a bathing suit would be a good idea too.

Canoe Trip - Saturday August 4th at Mohican Adventures, 10am. Let's have some fun outdoors!! This canoe trip is 7 miles long and takes about 2 hours. Let's plan on getting lunch together afterwards. The cost for canoeing is $20 per person (under 10 yrs. old - free!)

Miniature Golf / Antique Car Show - Kelly's Putt Putt - Mid September. This evening is always such a blast. You can purchase old fashioned burgers, milkshakes, and a round of miniature golf. As a bonus, there will be an antique car show too!

Bonfire - Saturday October 6th at Sheri's, 6pm. Bring your own lawn chair, something to drink, a side dish to share and your bug spray! We will cook hot dogs and s'mores so bring your cooking sticks and forks.

Doesn't this sound like an amazing summer schedule for us? Make sure you grab your own activity sheet and put it in a place where you can see it often. If you're a scheduler put these dates on your calendar now so you'll be sure to not miss a single event. We still plan on coming up with an adults only event too so stay tuned for further developments.

Community Night Of Worship - June 19th. This past Tuesday I had the privilege of being in a video shoot with six other Mansfield pastors. This video will air the night of June 19th at the Community Night Of Worship at the Renaissance Theater. It is so wonderful and sadly all too rare to see multiple churches come together in a common worship experience. Tuesday morning was a lot of fun for me. I got to know several other of my fellow co-workers in Christ. It was also fun to see each of them shine in front of the camera.

Of course the ones who will be leading us in worship are the many worship leaders from the different churches, including our own Brandi Walker! If you really want to get pumped for this exciting night of worship, click on this link to watch all the different worship leaders singing together. It's pretty amazing! I hope you are all planning to come that evening. It promises to be truly special!

Saturday Night - Neighborhood Meal! Speaking of "community," we will have a community night of our own tomorrow evening here at Church Requel, when we open our doors to our neighbors and invite them all in for a free, hot meal. Our teenagers from the Missionary Class and their teacher, Cindy Thoman, will be leading the charge.

Of special interest to you all will be our cooks for the evening. Christopher Scott, will start attending culinary classes this fall. He loves cooking! So he's going to get his opportunity in the kitchen Saturday night with Sheri "assisting." LOVE IT!

These young people would still love to have all your help too. Volunteers show up at 4pm. We begin serving the meals at 5pm. If you have the time, bring desserts to give away. 

Jam Band Sunday Morning! Don (bass), Dan (guitar), Dave (guitar), Brett (guitar), Chris (sound) Mark (ukulele), Brandi (keyboard) - AND NEWEST BAND MEMBER BRIAN (drums) - will be leading the worship set this Sunday morning. We've been practicing just about every week and we're really excited to lead again on Sunday. We're especially excited to have Brian on the team. He has been learning drums - just so he could be on the team! Isn't that terrific? 

Here's the worship set list for Sunday: (1) Greater Things by Mack Brock, (2) 10,000 Reasons by Matt Redman, (3) The Reason by Travis Cottrell, (4) Everyday by Hillsong.  The last 3 songs will be the first time the band has ever played them in public. "The Reason" is a brand new song that just came out a couple months ago. We think you're going to love singing it. "The Reason" gives the reason why we sing and lift our hands high. We also have prepared a  special song for you - "The Answer" by Jeremy Camp. Dave will take the lead on this one. And yes.. it really is special!

Finally since it is Memorial Day weekend, we thought a little "fun" music would be in order - so you'll be hearing "School's Out For Summer" as you walk in Sunday! 

Jack Nichols Memorial Drum Set. I'm really excited to share this next piece of good news with you. Now that we have a drummer for the band, we could really use a top quality electronic drum set. Why? Because an acoustic set (as wonderful as they are) is really hard to volume control in a small venue like we have in our church. An electronic set would plug right into our sound system allowing our sound techs to blend the drums right in at the same sound level as everyone else. Brilliant!

But good quality drums sets do not come cheap. We asked Dan to research a top quality drum set that would last us for awhile and he recommended one by Roland. Cost will be $1300. That's the bad news.

Here's the good news. Sheri has asked to make a donation to purchase the drum set in honor of Jack Nichols. He always loved music so much and was always wishing / hoping for live music at Church Requel. We are sure hoping he is smiling down at us and excited about this newest addition planned for later in June.

I don't know about you, but I don't want Sheri to have all the joy. Mary Kay and I would also like to contribute to this to honor Jack's memory. And maybe some of you would like to do this also. This weekend we will open up a special offering to allow you to do this. No pressure! But if you have the desire and the ability, plan to bring an extra offering Sunday. Whatever balance we need, Sheri will pick up the entire rest of the tab! Thanks Sheri! 

New Sermon Series Starts Sunday. Any other week and this would have been the lead for the newsletter. Just so many good things are happening right now at Church Requel.

I'm excited to begin a new sermon series, which I'm naming "Sequel & Requel." This will be a verse-by-verse study through the Book of Acts. This book could also have been named "Luke - Part 2" because it really is a sequel to Luke's Gospel. 

Acts begins right where Luke ends. It's written by the same author (Luke) and it's written to the same person (Theophilus.) It tells the story of those first, early, 1st-century churches and how the Good News spread from Jerusalem into the rest of the world.

We call ourselves Church Requel because we want to "Requel" those first churches. Well, to do that, we need to study them. What were they like? How did they get started? What did they do right? What did they do wrong? What can we learn from them? I'm pretty excited about the study and I hope you will be too.

We get started Sunday morning with the first 11 verses. Want a head start? Open up your Bible app and click on "Events." Or you can click here to see the notes in your browser window. 

If you made it this far... CONGRATULATIONS! Most of our weekly newsletters are not this long, but hey - we've got a lot of news these days. And I didn't even mention the wedding for Mark and Loni. If you didn't make it last Sunday, they stood in front of all of us and invited each of us to join them on their special day - June 16th. The music for the wedding begins at 6pm and the wedding ceremony begins 30 minutes later. Aren't these special times for our church family? I'm loving it... and all of you too! - Pastor Mark

Prayers For Steve

Good Friday morning Church Requel,

Our prayers continue to go out to Steve Thoman and his family. Most of you know, but for those who don't - Steve caught himself on fire down at the campground Wednesday afternoon. He was rushed to MedCentral and then down to OSU Burn Unit in Columbus. The good news we received the next day was that the burns were not as serious as first thought and that Steve will not need skin grafts. He will remain hospitalized for the next several days.

For those of you who so quickly prayed for him, I believe we can say without a doubt that our prayers were answered. To Steve - good response to stop, drop and roll so quickly. Undoubtedly that kept your burns from being worse than they otherwise would have been. For those of you who want to know Steve's "never say die" spirit, after he put himself out - he finished mowing his lot while waiting for the ambulance to take him away. He explained to me later, "Well Mark, that IS why I went down there."

Our hearts and prayers also go out to Nancy Roop and her entire family as she lost her dad last Sunday morning. She was at church when she found out. I loved watching all of you surround Nancy with your love and support. I know she really appreciates all of you too.

Congratulations go out to Dave and Jessica Johnson, who are celebrating their 5th year anniversary today! Way to go!

Speaking of anniversaries, Mary Kay and I will celebrate 40 years of being together in another week. Our first date was Memorial Day 1978! We took a canoe trip down the Mohican River and we've been paddling together ever since!

This Sunday... We will go to our study of Ruth that we had planned for last Sunday on Mother's Day. We called an audible last week and invited my daughter, Jillian, to teach. Didn't she do an awesome job? Here is an amazing little factoid for you. The video of her speaking has already been viewed over 700 times on Facebook!!!

So it's back to Ruth for us this Sunday. I love this little 4-chapter book. There is so much good teaching material here. Did you know that originally the book of Ruth was placed right after Proverbs. It was as if God was saying to us - ok here is all the teaching truths in the Proverbs. Now let me show you what this looks like with the example of Ruth and Boaz. 

Brandi and the praise team will lead us in some great worship songs: "Come Now Is The Time To Worship," "Unstoppable God," "Call Upon The Lord," and "Made New." Brandi is planning to sing a special song by Cory Ashbury named, "Reckless Love." Nancy will read Scripture for us and share the announcements. Speaking of announcements, I understand Loni and Mark have a special announcement they wish to share with you this Sunday too. 

Jam Band Is Back! We will be rehearsing together after the worship service this Sunday. We are planning to lead the worship a week from Sunday. We have a couple new songs we want to try out for you. Many thanks to Brandi, Dan, Don, Dave and Brett for all their work and practice time. Though I can tell you this is a labor of love for sure!

Neighborhood Meal. We will be serving the Neighborhood meal one week from Saturday night on May 26th. Thanks to the Missionary Class led by Cindy Thoman, who has agreed to lead the charge. But you don't have to be a teenager to help out. Servers should show up by 4pm. We are usually finished by 6:30 pm. Bring desserts to share if you can.

Community Night Of Worship - June 19th. Make sure to keep Tuesday evening, June 19th, marked on your calendar. Church Requel will be joining other local churches to have one very special night of worship on June 19th at the Renaissance Theater. Thanks to all who contributed to this cause. Church Requel has raised over $300 so far. We are certainly thankful for all the other larger church partners who are also contributing to the $5,000 rental fee. This makes it free for all who want to attend.

More Summer Events Coming. Brandi and I are working on a summer schedule which will include a picnic, a pool party, a canoe ride and a bonfire. We plan to have all the dates and places for you one week from Sunday. I can tell you this much: we have already reserved the North Lake Park air-conditioned pavilion for Sunday, June 24th for our picnic and annual photo! You won't want to miss the fun on that day - so reserve the day now!

Ok everyone. I think that's enough verbiage for this morning. Love you all much. Steve and Nancy - we are surely praying for you both! Love you all much! Pastor Mark

Ruth Love Story on Mother's Day

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

I'm really looking forward to Mother's Day this Sunday. How about you? We will be continuing our survey of Old Testament Characters with the study of Ruth this week. I've really enjoyed this study. Like the picture right says, the book of Ruth is so much more than a love story. I discovered 8 life lessons from the story of Ruth and Boaz and I can't wait to share them with you. Want a head start? Here are the online sermon notes.

Did you know that originally the Book of Ruth was positioned after Proverbs in the Hebrew Bible? That makes so much sense to me now that I've spent this week studying. Think of it this way. Proverbs is filled with advice and catchy poems of how to best live your life. Then the Book of Ruth comes along with - "let me show you Proverbs in action!" Surely there is no coincidence that Ruth directly follows Proverbs 31!

I'm looking for sermon series suggestions. Well it looks like I may be preaching on these different characters from the Old Testament for awhile. I certainly am enjoying the study and I hope you are too. There is just so much rich material to draw upon. As you probably have figured out by now, the idea of these talks is all about what life lessons can we apply to our own lives? We discovered 6 life lessons each from Jonah and Daniel. We'll learn 8 from Ruth.

Here is where I would love your help. Any suggestion of a catchy sermon series title we can put to these? Something like Old Testament Character, with the double play on the Character moniker. My brother Todd was always so good at these titles. Wouldn't you love to help me show him that we can be clever too? Drop your name suggestions into the offering basket on Sunday.

Sunday's Worship Experience. Brandi Missie and Trish will be back singing together Sunday morning. They have put together three special songs to share with you including "Hallelujah (Your Love Is Amazing)," "God Of All My Days," and "When We Pray." They all are truly special! We'll also be singing three congregational songs I know you love: "Glorious Day," "Jesus," and "Oh My Soul." Be sure to thank the girls for all their preparation to make our worship experience so wonderful! 

We also have some special Mom's Day videos and possibly one other Mother's Day surprise we're working on, but just can't tell you about yet. Dan and DeeDee are prepping the communion table. Aaron is bringing snacks. Trish and Missie are pulling double duty as greeters. Cindy is teaching the Missionary class. Karen is teaching KidsMin. Sara is serving in the Nursery. Shelli is leading the counting team. Paul, Chris and Brett are working in the tech booth. Thanks everyone for your volunteer support of our church!

Upcoming Dates to Remember.  We will be serving meals to our neighborhood on May 26th. The Missionary Class and Cindy are taking the lead on this serve, but they could still use some other adult help and desserts. 

June 19th will be the Community Night of Worship at the Renaissance Theater. We've raised about $300 so far to support this effort. We'll leave the special offering open for one more Sunday if you'd still like to provide your financial support. 

And this just in... June 24th will be the annual Church Requel picnic after church at air conditioned Pavillon at North Lake Park!

Brandi and I are working on the other summer dates even as you read this newsletter. We hope to have a summer schedule of events out to you all soon!

Love you all much! Look forward to seeing you Sunday morning! Pastor Mark

When Lions Roar [Sermon]

Never in our lifetime has our political arguments been more divisive and quarrelsome. What are God’s expectations for leadership and administration of government? What are His expectations for those who are governed? How should we respond to unfair rules or laws? We learn the answers to these questions by studying the life and times of Daniel.

Here is the sermon outline PDF Handout download.

When Lions Roar - Daniel 1-10 NIV

Today Daniel. Daniel was a political advisor. He would be one of the president’s men. Exceptional at what he did - advised 4 different…

6 Lessons Learned From Daniel

#1: Earthly kings _COME AND GO_ so focus on the true King of kings.

“In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.” “King Belshazzar gave a great banquet.” “That very night Belshazzar was slain and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom.” “In the 3rd year of Cyrus king of Persia…” Daniel 1:1, 5:1,30, 10:1 

Give a little background. Israelites taken over by Babylonians, the were taken over by the Persians - all relied upon Daniel. But Daniel was never full of himself. Maintained humble excellence and worshipped God - Important for us to remember in our own political struggles…

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:12 ESV

Today’s political environment in our country is so divisive that we forget the real battle is not what is televised on the news each night. So how…

#2: When objecting to laws or rules demonstrate _REASON & RESPECT_ .

“But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way.” Daniel 1:8 

Daniel showed reason & respect even as a young man. Didn’t stage a protest. Didn’t get himself on the news. Didn’t write an op-ed. Didn’t shout “No! No! We won’t go!” He (1) resolved and (2) asked. And then followed that up with a test. Underlying all of this was his ability to see the situation from the other guy’s perspective. The one ruling over him had rules he had to follow and could be subject to his own penalties. We could take a lesson from young Daniel. NT instructions for Christians:

“Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.” Titus 3:1-2 ESV

Compare this instruction from Paul to Titus with our own political discourse today. Rather than apply this to the talking heads on TV or our own political leaders, check yourself against each of these instructions.

BACK TO DANIEL - Nebuchadnezzar has a dream, no one can know…

“When Arioch, the commander of the king’s guard, had gone out to put to death the wise men of Babylon, Daniel spoke to him with wisdom and tact.” Daniel 2:14 

Again notice the “wisdom and tact.” Hard when one’s life is on the line. What would be your first argument? Same as mine. Unfair! Impossible! This is where trust/faith in God comes in. Daniel knew that and so…

#3: When fighting wrong laws or rules  ___TURN TO GOD___ .

“Then Daniel returned to his house and explained the matter to his friends… He urged them to plead for mercy from the God of heaven … so that he and his friends might not be executed.” Daniel 2:17-18 NIV

Trusted prayer network is so vitally important. Daniel remembered and relied upon God first before himself. Remarkable in a panicked moment. But also remembered one other thing - prayer warriors. Ask his friends to pray too! I have noticed this one important difference between experienced, mature Christ-followers and those who claim Christianity as their faith but don’t often show a lot of faith in their Christianity. Mature Christians invest into prayer - for themselves and others. They know who they can count on to pray. They let themselves be known as one who is dependable to pray for others. Do you have your list of prayer warriors ready to go at a moments’ notice?

BACK TO DANIEL - He tells Nebuchadnezzar’s dream and interprets. Becomes one of N’s most trusted advisors. Then advises his son, Belshazzar, even giving him bad news in a straight forward “just the facts” manner that wins praise from B. Then Babylonians taken over by Persians and Darius the Mede becomes his boss. Daniel so distinguish

#4: Godly administration and leadership is ___EXCEPTIONAL___ .

“Now Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and the satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom.” Daniel 6:3 NIV

Stop and think about this for just a moment because this is so amazing. Daniel is a conquered Israelite who serves a Babylonian king, who himself is conquered and then serves the new king so well that he puts Daniel in charge of all the others! (Sounds a lot like Joseph!) Important lesson for us - our religious faith should never be an excuse for why we cannot serve our government well. In fact should be just the opposite. Men and women who faithfully rely upon God to help them rule well should be the best leaders / administrators / politicians that we could have. Not because they wear their religion as a sash to attract like minded followers, but because they don’t do that. Instead they live out their faith so well that people want to follow them because they are exceptional in their leadership. Their faith in God makes that possible!

#5: Exceptional and godly leadership in this world will be  _CHALLENGED_ 

“[They] tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him… and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lions’ den.” Daniel 6:4,16 NIV

One might think that such exceptional and godly leadership would be cherished by all - but sadly that is not the world in which we live. When someone rises so far in responsibility in government or business, there will always be others who will be resentful. Rather than learn from the exceptional leader what it is that makes him/her so exceptional, they look for excuses for themselves. “Right place, right time.” “He had an inside track.” “Who knows if that was really the dream or not - just stroked N’s ego.” “It’s his Hebrew faith - you know THEY all stick together!” Shocking really, the kind of things we’ll say about others so as not to take responsibility for our own failures. Daniel’s enemies devise a plan to trap Darius into throwing Daniel into the Lion’s Den. Daniel remains faithful.

#6: Depend upon God for  ___PROTECTION & JUSTICE___ .

“My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouth of the lions. They have not hurt me… At the king’s command, the men who had falsely accused Daniel were brought in and thrown into the lions’ den.’” Daniel 6:22,24 NIV
That had to be a long night, wouldn’t you think? But when reading this Biblical account, we get the sense that Darius was a whole lot more worried about Daniel than Daniel was. Daniel was actually in the lion’s den. (Can you imagine the kind of society that keeps a lion’s den just for punishment?) But Daniel wasn’t alone with the lions. God sent his angel. I can’t help but wonder if the angel did more than shut the lions’ mouths. Perhaps he (as messenger) opened his own mouth to Daniel. Gave him comfort / peace. Kept his mind off the danger.

The next morning came retribution to those who had accused Daniel. Important lesson for us all. Be careful of the people-games you play. You never know how it might come back to bite you and those you love! Both Psalm 37:27-29 and Romans 12:19 tell us that God will bring justice. And for those who are unfairly treated that vengeance belongs to God - not us.  

Children Lead Worship Sunday!

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

You are in for a real treat this Sunday. We have one of the best children's praise teams I have seen in a very long time. I had the privilege of running sound last night and couldn't believe what I was hearing - it was that good!

You'll want to make sure you come early so you don't miss a moment! The team opens with a wonderful new song, which will feature Saudaie. She really impressed me last night. I could tell she has worked really hard in preparation for Sunday morning.

During another song, Jacoby will sing a solo. Goodness gracious! He has the most beautiful soprano voice I think I've ever heard in a child. He's really gifted. I could tell he had worked on all the songs too. I hope Jacoby becomes a regular singer at Church Requel!!!

Cohen will bring you the announcements. Grayden will read Scripture. Lincoln will help collect the offering. Anna will play her flute for the offertory. Bubby, Sivon and Leia will also be joining Saudaie and Jacoby on the praise team. We always say that our children are not the church of tomorrow, but are the church of today. On Sunday you'll see just how true that is!

Missionary Class Leads Neighborhood Meal! Did you know we have a Neighborhood Meal coming up on May 26th? We do! And did you know that our Missionary Class - our students 5th grade and up - are planning to lead the way that night? They are!

Including the cooking! Chris Scott is looking forward to a career as a chef, so he will be working with Sheri to create a delicious and healthy meal for our guests. They are already planning the menu! The rest of the class will be helping to serve and clean up and play hosts to our guests. They invite all the adults to assist them, if you are willing! How cool is that?!

Community Night Of Worship Special Offering. This 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.

Summer Activities Announced This Sunday! The results are in!!! For the past two weeks you have all voted on the activities you would like to enjoy together this summer. Are you ready to hear the result? Drum roll please... (to be continued by Cohen Sunday morning!) YES! You must come to church Sunday to find out! Ha!

Political Lessons From Daniel. Did you know that we have a primary election coming up on Tuesday? Did you know that we are currently studying lessons we can learn from Old Testament characters? Did you know that Daniel is the best example of a political power wonk we have in the Bible?

Hmmm... Let's put all three of those questions together, shake them up and out comes "When Lions Roar" for our sermon this Sunday! Want a head start? Open your Bible app and click on "Events" and "Church Requel" or just click this link to see the notes in your browser window.

Saturday Night Dinner and Music At The Point Of Grace. 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. Paul tells me that there will be poetry, wonderful music and an historical presentation. You might even meet a former American president! At 7pm we will go downstairs for an informal 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 called Spring Fling. You may come to any or all of these 3 hourly events. How fun!

All this is offered on a donation basis, with all donations accepted to benefit the Saturday evening Neighborhood Meal program. Sounds like fun and a worthy cause too! Many thanks to Sheri, who is prepping the meal, and Dave - who is helping Sheri - and probably many others I just don't know about.

Ok everyone! That will wrap up this week's newsletter. I love how things are going at Church Requel these days, don't you? Last night I received an email from Portable Baptistry (the company we purchase our baptistry from) asking if it would be ok to tweet out to all their followers the link to the YouTube video of Brett's baptism a couple weeks back. That really was a special moment in the life of our church. You all were such a delighted church family that morning!

Remember if you see a new face at church, introduce yourself and welcome everyone you see. Believe it or not, one of the biggest challenges we have is the barrier that newcomers feel like outsiders because everyone already knows everyone. Let's not let this be "our" church. Let's be "their" church too!

Love you all much! Pastor Mark