Church Requel Blog - Writings of Mark Pierce

You Braved The Blizzard!

Dear Church Requel,

Happy Friday morning! You did it! You braved the beginning of the blizzard and showed up for our Saturday morning worship service last weekend! I am SO PROUD of you!

One of the huge advantages of being a younger and smaller church is that we have flexibility. When we learned a blizzard was on the horizon, we changed the day of our worship. We called everyone we knew and asked them to call everyone they knew.

We used Facebook and actually paid for promotion. As a result we reached over 5,000 people in Mansfield and had many sign up to become our friend on Facebook. How about that for turning lemons into lemonade?

And then you all came, despite the beginning of the snowfall. Not a single one who came would have missed out. We all knew that we had several days of being snow bound in our immediate future. Meeting together first made it so much more bearable. When I saw the long list of every church in Mansfield closed on Sunday morning, I felt so good about our decision to meet early. I've said it before, but it's worth reminding everyone: I LOVE BEING YOUR PASTOR!

Jam Band Leads Worship! This Sunday morning we celebrate the formation of the Jam Band. We began meeting together last January. For 3 months we just played together for the fun of it, but along the way we thought it would be great to lead worship singing together.

This Sunday we will lead you all in 4 different worship songs, two we've done before and two are brand new to the band. We'll sing "10,000 Reasons" by Matt Redman and "The Way (New Horizons)" by Pat Barrett. Those are the ones we've done before.

Our new ones we'll be singing together are "Who You Say I Am" by Hillsong and "You've Always Been" by Unspoken. Both of these are just awesome songs. We've sung the Hillsong one before, just not with the band. "You've Always Been" is totally new to us as a church. Come ready to praise our Lord on Sunday!

Sermon: "Following God's Plans - Part 1" We will continue our study of Acts as we move into chapter 10. As I thought about this passage, there really wasn't a clean way to divide up the story of Cornelius and Peter. The entire passage includes all of chapter 10 and chapter 11 through verse 18. Don't worry - we won't try to cover that entire passage in one swallow. It will take us several weeks to work our way through this amazing section of Scripture.

We will learn how God reveals his plans to us. This fascinating passage tells us so much about what it really means to be a Christ-FOLLOWER. Sunday will be part one of several in-depth lessons about discovering God's intentions for us and those around us. Want a head start? Your sermon notes are available in your Bible app. You can also see them online here: http://bible.com/events/553413.

Final Women's Bible Study.  The FINAL Women’s Bible Study meeting will be THIS Wednesday at the church at 6:30pm. They will be bringing in food to share as they celebrate finishing up the study! Sounds like a typical Church Requel gathering - FOOD!!

We really want to thank Dinah once again for organizing and running this group! The ladies created a group message during this study and have been lifting each other up with encouragement and prayer throughout the weeks!! How wonderful! So, thank you again Dinah!!

Holiness Of God Bible Study.  We have another group study starting up on Tuesday, February 5th at 6pm at Brian Betts' apartment in Galion! This will be a 12 week study going through “The Holiness of God” by R.C. Sproul. The cost of the workbook is $9.73 and you can speak with Brian or Pastor Mark if you’re interested and want any more details!

Thank you Brian for following God’s leading! Two bible studies back to back in our small little church...how about that!? God at work for sure!

Neighborhood Meal - February 9th.  Church Requel will once again be participating in the Neighborhood Meals in 2019! We will serve the Saturday evening meal the 2nd weekend of every even month.

So February 9th it is our turn to serve our community! Please plan to arrive at 4pm to help set up tables and chairs and cut up desserts!

Also we will provide entertainment for our prep volunteers at 4pm and then for everyone at 5pm. If you have a song to sing or an instrument to play and would like to use your gift for others, please talk to Pastor Mark or Brandi.

The meal will be served at 5pm! We are usually cleaned up and heading out around 6pm or shortly after! Thanks to Sheri Nichols for organizing these meals!

Valentine’s Cookies For Our Students!!!  On Sunday, February 17th Juanita will be making Valentine’s Day Cookies with our students!! Doesn’t that sound delicious!?

I know that she and the students really really enjoyed this when she made Christmas Cookies with them, so she’s going to bring in all her supplies again and make Valentine’s Day Cookies with them!

Students, make sure your parents get you here on Sunday, February 17th so you don’t miss out!! And, of course, we thank Juanita so much for blessing our church with all the goodies she makes and for including our students in her love of baking!!

Isn't it exciting to be a part of the Church Requel family? So many good things happening. And I haven't even told you all the plans I know about. So many more good things to come too! But enough for now. Hopefully I will see you all Sunday morning at 11am. All my love, Pastor Mark

Blizzard Church SATURDAY at 11AM!

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

Twenty-four hours from the time I'm writing you this newsletter two things will be happening: (1) a major winter storm will begin descending upon Mansfield and (2) we will worship our Lord and Savior together! In case you have not heard...

This weekend we have moved our worship service from Sunday morning to Saturday morning at 11am!

We've been warned earlier in the week that the snow fall is 100% predicted for Saturday with estimates of accumulation from 6 to 11 inches of snow. We felt the chances were very high that our Sunday morning worship service would be forced to be closed. Rather than wait for what seems like the inevitable, we decided to move our worship ahead by 24 hours. Yes, the snow will start falling before 11am, but hopefully will still be passable for us.

One huge advantage of a smaller church is flexibility. We have called everyone we know within the church and asked them to call everyone they know too. Hopefully everyone has been contacted, and - weather permitting - we could actually have a high attendance for us Saturday morning. No matter what it will be so much better than the alternative of closing!

And what could be a better way to enter into a blizzard than worshiping with all your church family? Instead of being cut off from everyone for two weeks, we get to bring joy into our midst (and not just a little bit of excitement!)

Brandi, Bessica, Amy and Brian rehearsed all last night - I can tell you they are super pumped about the songs we're going to sing. Pastor Paul and his wife, Pam, are also going to attend and Paul has agreed to lead our communion time together. I've been preparing a sermon from the Book of Acts about how we should respond to miracles (like the miracle of a Pre-Blizzard Worship Event!) Finally, Brandi has prepared a special song about our freedom from sin. Believe me when I tell you that you will walk away from tomorrow's worship inspired!

So don't let the snow keep you indoors. Get out of your house and get into God's house to warm the insides of your soul. 

More Good News! Our announcement on Facebook about our Pre-Blizzard worship service has really caught on! As of this morning it has been viewed by 3,578 people with 115 responses and been shared 51 times. Many of those shares have been by you - so thank you for that. But as of this morning our announcement has been shared more by people NOT associated with Church Requel in the past. What does that mean? Well, maybe only that some people think the idea of a time-traveling church is a pretty cool one. But there's also the possibility that we will have more folks attending our church Saturday morning than normal! Wouldn't that be just like God to create something good out of something not so good?

What can YOU do? First off, make every effort to come to Church Requel Saturday morning. Try not to let anything keep you away from the worship party. Second, call your family and friends. Tell them about the Pre-Blizzard worship church. Tell them about the time travel idea from Sunday to Saturday! Be excited! The chances are really good that others will be excited if you are too. Let's face it - when was the last time you were excited about anything (not vacation related) in January in Mansfield? Here's our opportunity!

Love you all much! Hope to see you Saturday morning at 11am! - Pastor Mark

 

Recovering and Thankful

Good Friday morning Church Requel

This week has been an inauspicious first week of the new year for the Pierce household. Mary Kay and I have both been sick with the flu, but now are hopefully recovering. We've used a normal year's worth of Kleenex boxes and NyQuil in the last 7 days. Mary Kay seems to be a little further along in her recovery than me. Just how bad has it been? I have yet to pick up my ukulele. No joy here at all!

We appreciate your prayers for recovery as we're both hoping that we can join you Sunday morning for worship.  Brandi sent me a text yesterday to say rehearsal last night with Missie, Cindy and Dinah was AWESOME!

Also Brandi talked with Juanita who is THRILLED that she will be reading our Scripture this Sunday morning.

Brandi will also be singing a new special song: "Who You Say I Am" by Hillsong. 

I can't begin to tell you all what your soups and notes of encouragement have meant to Mary Kay and me this week. Thanks so much for being such a wonderful church family.

Hope to see you Sunday morning. Love, Pastor Mark

 

Mini-Resolution #1 - Love Not Lust

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

Welcome to 2019! As a church we enjoyed some tremendous achievements - our best attendance, our best giving year, marriages, baptisms,... and sadly a couple funerals of friends too quickly taken from our midst.

As wonderful as 2018 was, I believe this year - 2019 - will be even better yet! We have a few new people who've begun attending this past month. And the feedback that I'm receiving from everyone is most positive. I believe God is working in our midst! Are you up for 2019?

2019 - The Year Of The Mini-Resolutions. For those of you who came to our last 2018 worship, you know that we declared 2019 the year of the mini-resolution. What do we mean be that?

We established one overall resolution for ourselves this year: "I resolve to live out God's will in my life in 2019." We decided to narrow that down each month to one godly characteristic that we would work to be like.

For January, our mini-resolution is this: "With God's help I will love more and lust less." We WILL talk about the biblical definitions of both love and lust. However, our talk will not just be about should's and shouldn't's. As is true of almost any resolution we make, it's not usually about lack of knowledge that leads to a lack of follow-through. For example, we all know that we should exercise and eat more healthily. The knowledge of it doesn't provide the execution of it.

So I'm planning a good deal of each mini-resolution talk to be practical "how-to" advice of living out our resolve. So this Sunday I'll talk about the humanity principles of MORE and LESS. We'll talk about the importance of measuring our progress. And finally I'll give you three really helpful prayers you can use each day to improve your results.

A Note To Parents. I have been deliberate in choosing the first Sunday of each month for our 12 mini-resolution talks. I want our children to be present. I believe nothing could be better for your kiddos this year than to hear 12 "how-to" sermons of living out a more godly character in their lives. With that said - and especially for this first month - I will be very conscious of the fact that our children are present and will choose my words accordingly.

Our Children Super Involved Sunday!  Joining Brandi, Cindy, Tamara and Chris on the praise team will be Saudaie, Bubby, Sivon, Leia, Tre and Paityn. If I added that up right, that's 10 singers this week. Brandi is starting it off right! 

And for all of you who helped invest into our soundboard a few years back - remember your investment and be blessed on Sunday!

Paityn and Bubby will be singing a special song for us. Also, Paul and Chris will help out in the tech booth. 

I think this year is going to be really special for our young people too. I love the picture above showing the keen interest everyone had in Juanita teaching her cookie-making talents to our children. It was truly a "sweet" lesson! More of that to come on Valentine's week this year!

New Adult Bible Study Starting Up!  Here's another piece of good news for 2019! Starting February 5th, Brian Betts will be leading a study open to all interested adults going through The Holiness of God by R.C. Sproul.

This will be a 12-week study, where we’ll be studying God’s holiness, as well as how people responded to experiencing it. The book we’ll be using is $9.73 through the Kindle store.

The study will be held at Brian’s apartment in Galion on Tuesday evenings at 6. Child care will not be provided. If you’d be interested in joining our study, let Pastor Mark or Brian know.

I know that Brian has been thinking about doing this for a long time. He is hoping to attract some of his Galion friends too. Bravo Brian! Way to kick off the New Year!

Women’s Bible Study Starting Back Up. The women of Church Requel will meet this Wednesday, January 9th at the church from 6:30pm-8pm. They will continue their study of the devotional called “Stuck” by Jennie Allen.

All are welcome to come for fellowship and learning. Even if you haven't attended this study before, it's not at all too late to join in.

These ladies have a great time together, not only studying God's Word, but also praying and supporting one another. Thank you again Dina for getting this started.

Community Meal 2019 Schedule. Here is yet MORE GOOD NEWS for 2019! We are back on the schedule for community meals! Yay! Church Requel will serve on the second Saturday of every even month.

For those of you that like to calendar your dates ahead, plan for Feb. 9th, April 13th, June 8th, Aug. 10th, 
Oct. 12th and Dec. 14th.

Some new changes to the community meal program involve providing live music and entertainment from 4pm - 6pm. The first hour for those prepping (and early meal arrivals) and the second hour for those eating the meals. No more waiting upstairs until 5pm. Starting in 2019 everyone will just come downstairs and be seated and wait for 5pm. Plan now for your community serve!

Like I said at the beginning of this weekly newsletter, I believe 2019 is going to be a great year for Church Requel. The things I wrote about are just the things we know about now. Imagine what God could do with us if we pray daily for Him to use us mightily for His kingdom in 2019!

Love you all much! Hope to see you Sunday morning at 11am. Pastor Mark