Church Requel Blog - Writings of Mark Pierce

The A Team Sunday Morning!

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

I hope you're enjoy these beautiful summer mornings! Wow! My favorite time of year, I do believe!

Last night I enjoyed so much making music with Don, Dave, Brandi, Brian and Chris!

Singing and playing with the Jam Band has become a passionate love for me. I love how we each come together with our different talents and together we become something so much more than what any one of us could be on our own. I also love how each team member makes suggestions for how we arrange our music so that the end results is different than I could have imagined on my own.

Last night we planned to set up at 5:30 and start rehearsal at 6:30. Yes, it takes about an hour to get everything plugged in and tested before we ever play a note of music. I arrived promptly at 5:30 only to discover that Don had arrived even earlier and had most of it already set up! The majority of us arrived way before rehearsal time. Gotta love that enthusiasm.

We practiced for 2 hours - until 8:30. Then most of us stayed out in the parking lot just talking with one another as the sun set and dusk settled in. We made beautiful music (in my humble opinion) but the real beauty came in our fellowship together. Looking forward to Sunday morning and hoping for all your sake (and ours) that the music Sunday is just a beautiful as it was to us last night.

Sermon Sunday Morning. If you thought by the title that I was referring to our Jam Band as the A-Team (and thus inferring all the other praise teams as something less), then you would be mistaken. I'm talking in the sermon Sunday about how to build the best possible team, an A-team!

I was talking to Brandi on Tuesday morning about building the A-Team. I asked her if she remembered the A-Team. She just looked at me with that blank, sympathetic look that I recalled from when my dad would talk about The Lone Ranger on the radio. I then remembered that The A-Team came on TV when Brandi was only 4 years old. Then I felt really old. Ha!

The whole idea of the A-Team was how a very diverse set of individuals with widely divergent and specialized skills came together to form a fabulous team. It's wonderful when that happens. It's even more special in church! 

Sunday we consider Acts 16:1-5 and discover how Paul added Timothy to his team. What did Paul see in Timothy? What should we look for when either we become a team member or we want to add someone else to our own ministry team? That's what Sunday morning will be about. Can't wait!

Back To School Collection Box. Sunday morning look for the collection box in the lobby and each Sunday over the next month bring some back to school supplies with you. Our students - and especially our parents - will  greatly appreciate your generosity.

Pool Party in August! Despite the previous paragraph, summer is not over yet by a country mile! The picture to the right is from last year's fun event. This year we will also meet up at Shelly Acres, 1002 Twins Lane. We have reserved the entire pool from 6pm to 8pm. This should be a funtastic event for the whole family!

And while it's still a little on the early side, make sure you keep September 15th on your calendar too. That's the day we will enjoy our annual picnic. After church we will meet together at North Lake Park. Lots of games too. Plus this is the time we take our annual group photo!

Love you all much! Hope to see all of you soon! Pastor Mark

Indians Game Tonight / Disagreement Talk Sunday!

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

I look forward to my Friday morning Pen Pal opportunity with you all every week! As I write this morning I can't help but think of how this day will end - at Progressive Field together with many of you eating one dollar hot dogs.  

And - of course - we're going to watch the Indians open up this weekend against the Kansas City Royals. We are lucky. We've caught the Indians on a hot streak, going 8-2 their last 10 games. The Royals are enjoying a hot streak of their own going 7-3 their last 10 games.

It should be fun to watch. No matter who wins the game, the fireworks should be amazing afterwards. 

Sunday's Sermon. The fireworks continue Sunday morning as well! Have you ever disagreed with anyone? That's like asking if you've ever breathed! Ha! Of course you have. Have fireworks ever ensued? Sunday we're going to talk about how to agree to disagree. 

Is is ok to disagree with fellow Christ followers? We will study Acts 15:36-41, where we discover that Paul and Barnabas had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Along the way we will learn the right way to agree to disagree when we think someone else just isn't right!

Want a head start on this Sunday's talk? I've written it out for you and posted it in your Bible app. You can also read it in your browser here: http://bible.com/events/655668.

Great Music This Sunday Too! I had the privilege to run the sound for the Praise Team last night. Brandi, Bessica and Brian were wonderful together as a praise team trio!

Here's what we're planning to sing together: (1) "Open Up The Heavens" by Meredith Andrews; (2) "Say Amen" by Finding Favour; (3) "Whom Shall I Fear" by Chris Tomlin; and (4) "Made New" by Lincoln Brewster.

After the praise team finished their rehearsal, I sat down in a pew and just closed my eyes as Brandi played on the piano and sang, "What Do I Know Of Holy" by Addison Road. Such a beautiful song and performed brilliantly too! I'm so proud of Brandi. Playing the piano and singing at the same time has been a real stretch for her, but over the last 18 months she has come so far! Way to go Brandi!

Back To School Collection Box. My fingers got sweaty just typing those words! But there are some wise people among us who have reminded me this week that if we want to be able to help out our students when they return to school, we should start collecting supplies now. So Sunday morning look for the collection box in the lobby and each Sunday over the next month bring some back to school supplies with you. Our students - and especially our parents - will  greatly appreciate your generosity.

Pool Party in August! Despite the previous paragraph, summer is not over yet by a country mile! Baseball tonight and pool party next month. August 23rd to be exact!

The picture to the left is from last year's fun event. This year we will also meet up at Shelly Acres, 1002 Twins Lane. We have reserved the entire pool from 6pm to 8pm. This should be a funtastic event for the whole family!

And while it's still a little on the early side, make sure you keep September 15th on your calendar too. That's the day we will enjoy our annual picnic. After church we will meet together at North Lake Park. Lots of games too. Plus this is the time we take our annual group photo!

Love you all much! Hope to see all of you soon! Pastor Mark

Waymaker Sunday!

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

How are you doing this fine Friday morning? We are in the middle of summer and enjoying the sunshine AND the Son-shine!

This Sunday our ladies trio of Brandi, Missie and Trish will lead us in a couple new songs, including one I've been listening to for a few months now - "Way Maker" by Sinach. I love those lyrics inspired by Isaiah 43 - "Way maker, Miracle worker, Promise keeper, Light in the darkness, that is Who You are!"

I don't know about you, but sometimes I need to gather with the saints and sing songs like this to remind myself of the truth and power of Christ in our lives. Thanks ladies for leading us this Sunday!

Speaking of gathering with the saints and the encouragement we derive together, I'm still awash in enthusiasm from our students leading us in so many ways last Sunday! Our hats off to Cindy Thoman as she led our students in their sketch, "Hats Remind Us." What a fun way to be reminded of God's goodness to us!

And I loved all the singing and flute playing and tech booth and ushering and greeting accomplished by our students. They are truly a vital part of our Church Requel today!

Finally, weren't we blessed all the way through with Brian's teaching last week? I couldn't believe that this was the very first time he had ever preached. I am marveling that God has provided our small church with multiple teachers between myself, Bethany and Brian. Yep - blessed all the way through!

This coming Sunday morning I will be back in the pulpit continuing our Sequel and Requel series. We will focus on Acts 15:20-35. This will be our 37th sermon from Acts. Yay! 

Is it possible that we rely too much on the outside marks of pretend Christianity rather than the inside marks of the Holy Spirit's life within us? After the circumcision crisis of the early church, the apostles gave only 3 instructions for outward living. We will take a behind the scenes look at why they chose these three and what it might mean for us in this day and age. Want a head start? Here are the sermon notes.

Keep Praying! Last weekend we received 15 prayer requests from old and young alike. I love the fact that we are a praying church. When you hear those prayer requests in church, write them down so you can pray too. If you'd like to be included on the official prayer team, let me know. Right now we have 3 people who have committed to praying each week for these requests - Loni, Don and Roger. 

Thanks For Your Faithfulness. Today I received a six-month year to date financial statement from our treasurer, Nancy Roop. We are in very good financial shape right now thanks to so many of you being faithful with your tithes and offerings. Thanks and blessings upon you!

Love you all much, Pastor Mark

We Welcome Brian To The Pulpit!

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

We have planned a special treat for this Sunday morning. Brian Betts will preach! Yay! Brian has demonstrated his excellent teaching skills in the Bible study this past Spring. During one of the sessions I challenged him to consider teaching the whole church on a Sunday - to which he responded: "I don't think that's ever going to happen." I asked him to pray about it and he did. About a month ago he let me know that he felt the Holy Spirit urging him in this direction.

One of the things that I am most excited about as your pastor at Church Requel is encouraging people to seek out and develop their gifts and talents and to use them for the Lord and His church. I feel like this is happening at CR with both Bethany and Brian. Bethany is currently enrolled in a ministry degree program at Ozark Christian College. Brian will be starting at Liberty University this fall. Why wouldn't we, as a church, want to encourage them as much as possible?

I assigned Brian the task of continuing the Resolutions sermon series we have been working through on the first Sunday of every month. The planned topic for July? "Diligence Not Laziness." Brian's starting point was to find what God's Word had to say on this particular topic. He found more than he ever could use. It turns out that the Bible has a lot to say on the topic.

From there, Brian wrote out what would turn out to be the first of three sermon outlines and sermon drafts. Each time he would submit them to me and each time it was excellent. But each time I would make a suggestion of how he could improve it. I have loved Brian's teachability throughout this entire process. Each time he would completely re-write and re-submit his sermon and would incorporate my latest recommendation. The last one was just right.

This afternoon I will be meeting with Brian over at the church and we will work on his presentation skills. I know you all will love the final result this Sunday morning. A person's first sermon is a big deal in my book. I hope you all will join me on Sunday and be there to support Brian in his newest effort. Let's let him know how much we love him and encourage him all that we can!

Wasn't last Sunday Amazing? Speaking of encouraging one another to explore our gifts and talents and use them in the church... didn't you just love seeing all those who came forward to share their music with us? I'm still glowing from it all. Here are just a few pictures I thought you might enjoy. If I did it right, you should be able to click on any one of them to see a larger image.

Everyone I have spoken with has told me they loved the whole thing. So I'll chalk the "Singspiration" idea up as a good one. Don't be surprised if we try it again during a 5-Sunday month.  

I also loved the potluck meal we all enjoyed together right afterward. Thanks to all who shared an encouraging word, gift or card with Paul Scott for his graduation. I know he appreciated it so much!

Students Lead This Sunday! This will be the first Sunday of the month, when we try to involve as many of our children in the worship service as possible. I think this Sunday may be a new record for how many students will be involved. Joining Brandi, Cindy, Stephenie, Chris and Tamara will be Leia, Tre, Saudaie, Bubby, Sivon, Sisilly and Gus. (Yep - our largest praise team to date.)

Our Missionary Class and KidsMin class have been working on a special skit for Sunday morning called, "Hats Remind Us"! The last I heard these students will be involved: Anna, Grayden, Lila, Cohen, Lincoln, Leia, Tre, Sophie, AJ, Claira, Sisilly, Gus and Saudaie.  Speaking of Saudaie, she has also prepared a special song for us. And Grayden and Cohen will be manning our tech booth Sunday morning. We like to say that our students are not the church of tomorrow, but the church of today. We are living that out this weekend!

I love watching all of you roll up your sleeves and take on the work of the church. It is Christ's church. We are here to serve and praise Him. When each person finds their fit and plugs in, the easier and richer the experience for all of us in the body of Christ.

Love you all much! Pastor Mark