Good Friday morning Church Requel!
I hope this morning finds you doing well. Let's enjoy these crisp Fall mornings while we can. Winter is coming!
Our main photo of the week comes from our worship director, Brandi Walker. She posted this on her Facebook page this week. I love what it says:
Always have eyes that see the best,
A heart that forgives the worst,
A mind that forgets the bad,
And a soul that never loses hope.
Way to go, Brandi! She posted that she prays to God to help her with this every single day. I love her humility and her positive outlook to see the best in everyone. In fact I love that about so many of you! Church Requel is a church filled with grace rather than judgment, hope rather than criticism, and love rather than cynicism.
As most of you know, a couple months ago we introduced a new segment to our weekly worship services, what we call "God Stories." Each week we give several of you the opportunity to stand and tell your own experiences with God during the week. We ask you to share how God has provided for you during your week.
Each week your stories become more personal and authentic. This past Sunday was simply incredible. I don't know that I've ever been in a church where such honest and open testimonies have been shared in such a public place. That tells me that you consider Church Requel to be a safe place. You also must consider it a place where prayers are answered!
This past Monday I spoke to one young woman, who told me she was just wowed by what she heard. But she was also concerned because, as she said, "I don't know what to do other than to pray." Of course, prayer is the very thing to do first and foremost. Prayer is the only truly powerful weapon we have. Prayer is the greatest help to those we love and care for.
We often think that if we really want to help someone, then there must be something that we can do to help. In that assumption we mistake prayer as only good intentions, good wishes, good thoughts. We say things like "my thoughts and prayers are with you." However, prayer IS doing when prayer is DONE RIGHT. In prayer we submit to God's will the entire situation, including whatever God may call us to do. It is in prayer when we hear God's inspiration, God's idea, God's plan, God's peace, God's suggestion, God's assurance.
So keep demonstrating grace, hope and love to one another. Keep being open in your need for God's power in your lives. And keep praying!!!
This Sunday is the 4th Sunday of the month and that means the Jam Band will be back leading worship for us this weekend. Brandi will be playing the keyboard, Dan and Dave will be playing guitar, Don will play his bass guitar, Brian will be on drums, and yours truly will be playing the ukulele! Here is the worship set that we are planning to sing:
- "Christ Lives In Me" by Rend Collective
- "10,000 Reasons" by Matt Redman
- "Good, Good Father" by Chris Tomlin
- "Old Church Choir" by Zak Williams
Thanks to everyone who serves each Sunday! In addition to serving on the worship team, Brian will be bringing snacks and being a greeter. Judie will also be a greeter. Tamara continues to lead our Emoji Christmas rehearsals for our kiddos - more on that in a moment. Chris is serving in the tech booth. Mary Kay is serving in the Nursery. Shelli is heading up the counting team. Thanks to one and all!
Emoji Christmas Play Rehearsals. The Christmas play from our students is moving forward this week. Tamara tells me everything is going well. This past week we ordered 25 student T-shirts. Why? Because these will are their costumes. The picture above left shows you what we printed on the back of each of the yellow t-shirts.
Why print on the back, you ask? Because the front of the t-shirt will show an emoji. Each person in the play will be a different emoji. How cool is that? This morning I approved the final t-shirt proof and if all goes as planned the shirts should ship one week from today, Nov. 2nd.
Your help needed! We have 6 Sunday morning rehearsals left between now and December 9th, the date of the Sunday morning play at church. I'm looking for adults who would be willing to go downstairs with Tamara each week to run "crowd control." This will allow Tamara to focus on directing the play and not keeping control. Just one additional adult each week should suffice. Would you be willing to help? We'll send a signup sheet around Sunday morning. 6 adults - 6 weeks. Could you give one Sunday morning to be with our students?
Grocery Giveaway Sunday Morning. We know there are many people in our congregation who could use some grocery help this holiday season. So Sunday morning you'll find bags of groceries sitting in the pews. If you could use some groceries, grab a bag or two. If you know someone else who could use some help, grab a bag or two for them. Thanks to Sheri and Dave who came up with this brilliant idea. Sort of like - if you can't come to our food closet, our food closet will come to you!
Finally, Sunday we will continue our Acts sermon series, which we are calling Sequel and Requel. Sunday morning we'll focus on Acts 8:9-25. This week's talk is titled, "Good Intentions, Good Doctrine." We'll hear the story of Simon the Sorcerer and his encounter with Philip in Samaria. Peter and John get involved too. This sermon is so packed full of good and helpful material, I don't know if we can get through it all in one Sunday morning or not... but we'll make a good try! Want a head start? Check out your Bible app or click here for the sermon notes.
I can't wait to worship with all of you Sunday morning! Love you! Pastor Mark
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