Church Requel Blog - Writings of Mark Pierce

Home Is Where The Heart Is... And The Rest Of Us Too!

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

You've heard the expression that home is where the heart is. So true. These days home is where we all are - every one of us - and all of us - heart, soul, mind, and body! For a people who often longs for home, we now find ourselves longing to get out of home! At least out of the house.

I admit that the last two days of warmer weather offered Mary Kay and me the chance to get out for a walk. This morning the ache in my calves never felt so good!

Have you come to peace with remaining at home? Once again our attitude makes such a huge difference. I'm finding that these ongoing prayers have been helpful to me:

• Thank You Lord for my health.
• Thank You Lord for my wife.
• Thank You Lord for all my family and their health.
• Thank You Lord for a home to shelter within.
• Thank You Lord for the opportunity to encourage someone else.
• Thank You Lord that my real home is always with You.

These are not prayers that I take lightly these days. Contentment begins with gratitude. For those of us in good health at home - we have SO MUCH for which to be grateful.

Here's another huge thank You. Thank You Lord for our church! I appreciate each one of you. I appreciate your ongoing prayers for me. I am strengthened daily by your generous words of encouragement to me and your kind words of supplication on my behalf to our Lord Jesus.

Do you have the same appreciation for your church? Perhaps this attitude of gratitude for your church varies by your personal investment into the relationships with your fellow church friends. Two Sundays ago we passed out three sheets of paper with names and phone numbers on it. I find that the more I talk with other people from our church, the larger my heart expands for each of you. Be encouraged! Make a phone call to someone who needs to hear from a loving friend. As you provide encouragement and strength to others, you yourselves will also be encouraged and strengthened!

Making Adjustments For The Good Of All. As a church family, we continue to adjust each week to our governmental leaders' advice and orders. I remind you that Romans 13 instructs us:

"Let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad."

Last week we were working under the guidance of no more than 10 in a room. So our worship team gathered at church and we broadcast a worship service to you via Facebook LIVE. Later that afternoon, Governor DeWine implemented Dr. Amy Acton's Stay At Home order.

We will continue to comply with our governor's wishes for the safety of our congregation, for the good will of our neighbors, and in obedience to God's Word regarding authority.

Sunday's Worship Experience. So how will we worship this week? We will still gather together using Facebook LIVE. You will still be able to join in at 11am to sing, to read Scripture, to take communion, to pray corporately, and to hear the preaching of the Word.

Your worship leaders will gather separately from their homes and collectively via the Zoom video conference software. We have been diligently working this week to figure out how to broadcast out from Zoom to Facebook so that you can all watch and participate. So tune into Facebook at 11am and join in with us! You will be encouraged in your Christian faith. Be strong! Do not give up meeting together just because it's different than normal. These bad news days are when it is the most important time to worship together.

For those who would prefer to participate in our worship experience directly with the Zoom software rather than watch online with Facebook, you are most welcome. Our Zoom meeting ID on Sunday morning will be 609-489-055. You can also use this link.

https://zoom.us/j/609489055

Make your worship experience this Sunday a positive one. Here are some guidelines. Turn off every thing else during the worship time. No TV. No video games. No phone calls. Be just as focused in your chair at home as you would be if you were sitting in a pew. Worship cannot be absorbed from others, just because you're watching others worship online.

Worship is always a highly personal choice. There is a reason Jesus taught us that God's worshipers must "worship in Spirit and in truth." Check your heart. Check your focus. Begin preparations even the night before. Tell yourself that Sunday is my day to worship. Sunday is my day to set aside for the Lord.

Set aside your communion elements of bread and grape juice or wine. At the appropriate time (11am Sunday), gather your family together and enforce the set aside worship time. The outcome of your worship experience will depend greatly on the preparation of your heart and the attention of your mind.

One more thing. Thank you for your faithfulness in financially supporting our church. For those of you who have already given your tithes and offerings online, we appreciate you!!! For those who wish to give with a credit or debit card, click on this easy to remember link - give.ChurchRequel.org

Other Weekly Opportunities During This Crisis. We are most thankful for both the technology that allows us to gather virtually as well as for the leadership of those within our church to provide purposeful gatherings.

Saturday Morning Bible Study at 11am. Brian Betts continues to offer an Old Testament study by Dr. Spoul. So excellent! There are about a dozen of us who attend regularly, but all are welcome. You can join in at anytime. This Saturday we will be talking about Aaron and the Priesthood. The meeting ID is 726-173-256. You can also use this link.

https://zoom.us/j/7252804006

Wednesday Night Midweek Service at 7pm. We enjoyed our second Midweek Prayer service via Zoom teleconference this past Wednesday evening. It was so rich! We counted twenty-one of us involved. It's hard to describe just how meaningful and intimate these prayer sessions are when we gather together with Zoom. We can see one another and we take turns praying for our needs and praising God for how He has provided. The meeting ID for this is 172-942-523. By the way, this meeting ID and the link for it is the same every week! Save it and you'll have it! Here is the link.

https://zoom.us/j/172942523

Be encouraged! Our Lord remains on the throne! He still hears and answers prayer. This is our chance to prove our faith is sure. Know how much I love each one of you. Praying for you, Pastor Mark

Midweek Service - Let's Pray For One Another!

Good Wednesday morning Church Requel!

I know you are not accustomed to receiving a Wednesday morning message from your pastor, so I'll make this one brief. During this Coronavirus Crisis it's more important than ever for us to remain connected to one another, to pray, and to be encouraged. We can do all that tonight!

Join in tonight at 7pm for our Midweek Service via Zoom. Our meeting ID is 172-942-523. Here is our link.

https://zoom.us/j/172942523

We began this last Wednesday and we had 16 of us join in. We enjoyed a short, encouraging Bible study and then we prayed together for one another. I'd love to see even more join in tonight. You can use a computer, a tablet or a smart phone. If you haven't already done so, download ZOOM Cloud Meetings from your App Store. You do not have to be a member of Church Requel to join in. All are welcome.

Hope to see you tonight at 7pm. - Pastor Mark

Here's all the Zoom details for anyone who needs them.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Mark Pierce is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Church Requel Midweek
Time: Mar 25, 2020 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Every week on Wed, until Apr 29, 2020, 6 occurrence(s)
Mar 25, 2020 07:00 PM
Apr 1, 2020 07:00 PM
Apr 8, 2020 07:00 PM
Apr 15, 2020 07:00 PM
Apr 22, 2020 07:00 PM
Apr 29, 2020 07:00 PM

Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/172942523

Meeting ID: 172 942 523

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Meeting ID: 172 942 523
Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/a5Y5WBpia

New Ways To Connect To One Another

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

I'm so glad we have our church family! Aren't you? We are more connected, more loving, more giving than ever before. We've always been connected, loving and giving, but now even more so! We are finding more ways to be "together" when we are forced to be apart.

We are using new technologies to connect. If we are not asked by the state or federal government to stay at home before then, our praise team (less than 10) will meet at Church Requel Sunday morning. We will broadcast the worship service on Facebook LIVE. So have your Facebook accounts up and running at 11am Sunday morning and look for the LIVE Church Requel stream.

However, it's possible that this strategy won't work and we will need to be prepared for the next worship "together" plan. Why might it not work, you ask? Two reasons come to mind. First, while Facebook has always worked well for us in the past, I can envision just about every church in America trying to stream their worship service this Sunday morning at 11am EST. While Facebook is a robust service, I can easily imagine their video streaming capabilities could be stretched beyond the limit.

The second reason is even more likely, in my opinion. We could be asked by the State of Ohio or the Federal government to stay at home for the safety of everyone. California instituted this policy last night. Can Ohio be far behind? So it's possible that the brave praise team may not be able to come in and we won't be able to Facebook stream our worship services. What then?

Zoom. Zoom. Zoom. Our backup plan is to use Zoom meeting software for us to video conference our worship time together. What is Zoom? In Zoom's words:

"Zoom is the leader in modern enterprise video communications, with an easy, reliable cloud platform for video and audio conferencing, collaboration, chat, and webinars across mobile devices, desktops, telephones, and room systems."

What does that mean? Church Requel has purchased a "Pro" hosting account. We can allow up to 100 of you to connect with one another at the same time using your computers, tablets, or smart phones. You can even dial in with an old fashioned telephone. We tried this out this past Wednesday night for our new mid-week prayer meeting. Sixteen of us gathered together. We could see each other and hear each other. We prayed together for one another's needs. It was an uplifting experience!

So what's it going to be Sunday? Facebook or Zoom? At this point we will continue with our Facebook streaming plans. But if we are asked to stay at home OR if our Facebook stream doesn't work, look for us to announce a Zoom meeting ID that you can use to connect with one another. If we go the Zoom route, we will announce that ID on Facebook, on our website, and through personal messages to one another.

Whether it's this weekend or another, I encourage each of you to download the Zoom app to your devices. This will most likely be our connection home for many weeks to come. There is no cost to you to either download the app (go to your App Store for your device) or to use the app to join our meeting. We have taken care of all the expense needed for us to meet for an unlimited period of time. If you have any questions about this, text Pastor Mark directly or go to our Facebook page. I'm sure there will be an active discussion going on there.

Please don't physically come to church this Sunday. Whether we Facebook stream or Zoom, don't show up at 2 Marion Avenue this Sunday. (I can't believe I'm actually writing this sentence!) For the safety of the ten or fewer praise team members as well as for your own safety, stay at home this Sunday morning. Our church doors will actually be locked on Sunday at 11am. The way to gather with us at Church Requel will only be through Facebook or through Zoom.

Saturday morning Bible Study. Brian Betts has also adapted to the new Coronavirus realities by offering a Zoom Bible Study Saturday at 11am. We are continuing to hear the excellent teachings of Dr. Sproul. Saturday we will be learning about the Tabernacle. 

For those of you who haven't used Zoom before, this would be an excellent chance to try it out before Sunday. Brian's meeting ID is 754 559 521. You can also click this link to get you started: https://zoom.us/j/754559521

Our Sermon Sunday morning. I'm still working on it. Like everything else, it is continually changing. However, I can assure you there will be much personal application for how we as Christ-followers live well through these challenging times. I am praying that God's Spirit would enlighten me with His words so that I might encourage each of you!

Communion Sunday morning. We will be celebrating communion "together" on Sunday. So please plan to have bread and some form of grape juice or wine for your household to receive communion with your church family.

Midweek Bible Study and Prayer Meeting. We have begun a new weekly prayer meeting on Wednesday nights at 7pm. Again, we are using the Zoom service. The recurring Wednesday evening meeting ID is 172-942-523. You can also click on this link to get you started: https://zoom.us/j/172942523

This past Wednesday we had 16 of us gathering together. We heard an encouraging and timely message from the 23rd Psalm and then we went around the room and heard how each person was doing. Then we stopped and prayed for each one. Wow! What a powerful time together! This is one good thing that has come out of this Coronavirus experience. Make this a priority for you and your family next Wednesday!

In The Meantime... Let's take all the advice our leaders are offering. Wash your hands. Practice social distancing. Stay at home the most you can.

But let's also make the most of our time at home. What an opportunity to connect with God and with one another! I dare say that most of us have talked and checked in with one another more this week than we have in any other week. That's a good thing! Let's practice our faith rather than succumb to fear. Let's practice peace rather than panic. Let's work for wholeness rather than withdrawing.

Know how much I love you and am praying for each of you! - Pastor Mark

Church Requel and the Corona Virus

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

You may rightly ask, "What's so good about this Friday the 13th?" In the midst of bad news all around, let's be reminded that we are Christians. We serve a Father God, Who loves us so much that He gave His Son as a sacrifice for us and gives His Spirit to be with us. Our God encourages us and consoles us. He frees us and forgives us. More than any other group of people we have a hope and a bright, eternal future to anticipate. 

The news about the Coronavirus Pandemic is a serous one. The steps we take now to provide a social distance from one another could significantly reduce the number of people who catch the disease, who spread the disease, and who may die from the disease. The elderly among us, especially those who have suffered from chronic illness in the past, are the most vulnerable. Even though our church is small, we have a much higher percentage of such at-risk parishioners among us. We must demonstrate sacrificial love to each other, even at the cost of temporarily not gathering together.

So let's talk about our response to the Coronavirus.

Will we celebrate our faith together this Sunday at 11am? Yes, we will. One advantage of being a church of fewer than 100 people is that we can gather together this Sunday without violating the new "groups larger than 100" rule. So we plan to meet at Church Requel THIS SUNDAY.

Here are the changes for this Sunday. We will not celebrate communion together. There just is no way to share communion without coming together in common. It's in the word. Further, we will not pass the offering baskets. We will count on you to drop your offering in the basket on your own or make your offering via give.ChurchRequel.org. We will not participate in a greeting time together. Further we ask each of you to greet one other at the beginning of worship without physical contact.

I have shelved the sermon that I was planning to give and instead will talk to you about how our faith is so vital to our response to the Coronavirus. We will take steps this Sunday that will allow each of us to check up on others within our church family AND will allow others to check up on us throughout the weeks to come. We will make plans for how we lovingly care for our church family going forward, so if you are well and able, this Sunday is a most important day to attend. I say that because...

We will not meet physically at Church Requel for the following two weeks. We will not gather together at Church Requel on March 22 and March 29. We are cancelling the special breakfast and Singspiration on March 29. 

We will meet virtually each Sunday at 11am. We are uniquely well-positioned to accomplish this as we have offered a Live Facebook Stream each Sunday for the past two years. I ask each of you to prioritize Sundays at 11am to gather with your church family virtually. Go to your phone or tablet or computer with others in your household so that we may worship together, even when we are physically apart.

We will sing, praise, and worship. I don't know if it will just be me leading or if Brandi and others from our praise team may help. (This will be determined by their own health and their own choice.) During the LIVE Facebook Stream we will pray together for one another. You can share your updates and prayer requests via the comments that go along with the LIVE video. I will teach and preach each week from Scripture as the Holy Spirit leads me.

The technology available to us is wonderful and allows us to keep meeting virtually even when we can't meet together physically. For those who do not have the technology available to do this, I ask that you seek help over the next week so that you can participate. Those of us who are younger and more technology able, let's help out those in our congregation who don't know how to do this.

What about after April? What about Easter? We will take it one week at a time. Most of the experts are telling us right now that they expect this social distancing to last a minimum of four to five weeks. But let's just admit that we really don't know the future. Only God does. Our job is to remain faithful each week as best we can.

What can I do right now? Stay and Pray! Stay healthy. Stay separated. Stay away from large groups of people. Stay devoted to our Lord. And pray! Pray for our nation. Pray for our leaders. Pray for our doctors and health care professionals. Pray for those who are infected. Pray for those who have a compromised immune system. Pray for our church family. And please please pray for Brandi and me and our families as we lead our church that we may remain faithful to the leadership of the Holy Spirit in the midst of this health care crisis.

What about the future? Our future is bright. We are filled with hope. This Coronavirus is not the end. We know the end. We know that we who know Jesus as our Savior and Lord will live forever with Him and with one another.

This is the time to translate our fear into faith. There is such a slim difference between one and the other. Remember that your faith is a choice. So the next time you find yourself fearful, remember that this is the normal reaction of the natural man. But you are no longer only "natural." You have the Supernatural within you. Allow your fear to also be your trigger to choose faith. Trust the Spirit within you to encourage you. Trust your church family to love and care for you. 

"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the Lord forever." Psalm 23:6

I love you all much! Hope to see you at Church Requel Sunday at 11am. - Pastor Mark

March Of Prayer Tonight At Church Requel!

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

Wow! What a terrific week. My heart is so full. The first five days of the March of Prayer have been so powerful. So positive. So purposeful. Perfect in every way.

For those of you who have attended, you know what I'm talking about. For those of you who haven't attended yet, you don't know what you're missing.

God has been Present in every case. And I'm pleased to report that many more people have been too. There is a movement of God's Spirit among His children motivating them to come out. In every church we've been to so far, the attendance has far exceeded last year.

Tonight is OUR night to host! We are quite literally rolling out the red carpet to Mansfield Christ-followers to come to our church tonight at 6pm. That's right - the new carpet has been installed. And it's red. And it's magnificent. What an improvement!

Many thanks to all those who have come out this morning to clean up the sanctuary from all the dirt and dust we've created over this past month of renovation. Juanita has been the general in charge. She's made it clear that we are not to do the job halfway. She talks a tough game, but we know she loves us. She brought chili for lunch. (Thanks Juanita.) When you come tonight, you'll see a clean, beautiful, pristine sanctuary! It's like Church Requel got a face lift!

Speaking of coming tonight... don't just come. Come early. Come expecting. Come with a desire to be good hosts. Let people know that it's ok to bring cookies and coffee into the sanctuary. Let people know where the bathrooms are located. Let people know how friendly and loving we are. Come loving God and loving people!

So what can you expect? Our praise team will lead you in all the songs you love to sing - all the songs we have sang together over this past year. Brian, Roger, Mary Kay and Mark will lead our prayer sessions. Leia, Dave, Brandi, Brian and Mark will sing special songs to encourage our hearts. Jessica will read our Scripture. Juanita baked all day Thursday for tonight's treats! We have been dreaming of this worship experience... and planning... and praying... and practicing for the better part of this year. I promise it will be special.

Even now you should pick up the phone and invite family and friends to come experience tonight with you. You will be glad you did. They will thank you too. (They'll especially thank you for the advice to come early!)

One more way to demonstrate the golden rule tonight - park far away and, if you're up to it, leave our parking lot for our guests. You and I know that there are more parking spaces within a block than there are pew seats. But that won't be obvious to our guests coming at the last minute. To them it will just look like cars, cars, cars. What a tragedy it would be if someone came tonight, circled around, and then left because they couldn't find a place to park.

Extra halos. If anyone wants to assist people with parking, we do have bright neon parking vests in the top drawer of the cabinet outside the church office. Put one on and go outside for the first 10 minutes and help out the late comers. This is Mansfield, after all. I've noticed the last five nights that the attendance literally doubles from 5:55pm to 6:10pm! Also, Steve has brought up extra chairs to the foyer and will be assisting people with seating. You could also help him out. 

Pray. Pray. Pray. As important as everything above is to us, I must say as your pastor that the MOST important thing you can do tonight is to pray. Yes, this evening is a big deal opportunity for Church Requel to roll out the red carpet to our Christian brothers and sisters. And I know - even before we get there - that you will do all the above with aplomb. It's just who you are.

The one thing that I've "discovered" this week has been the extraordinary opportunity to connect with the throne of God. Each night has offered that prayer opportunity in a different way. But for those who seek Him, the Lord Jesus can easily been found. Don't miss out on that prayer chance tonight. You'll leave Church Requel afterward as a changed man or woman!

Sunday Morning - Readers Theater Acts 21-28

Yes! There is a worship service Sunday morning! Yes! We have planned for it! Yes! We are just as excited about Sunday as we are about Friday.

Indeed, we have something special planned for Sunday. We have been studying the book of Acts for the last two years. Sunday we will consider the last 8 chapters, which is all one story, all at one time. How will we do that?

We have put together a Readers Theater team of Eddie, Brian, Cindy and Grayden. They will dramatically read all eight chapters for us. This will give us a good overall view of the entire story of Paul's arrest in Jerusalem, then shipwreck, then imprisonment in Rome. This quartet of readers will surprise you with how enthusiastically the Scriptures can be read!

Our praise team will also lead us in singing (1) Blessed Be Your Name by Matt Redman, (2) Good Good Father by Chris Tomlin, (3) Praise Him Forever, also by Chris Tomlin and (4) Lord I Need You by Matt Maher. The final song, although a song that's been around since 2013, will be the first time the praise team has sung and played this song together. We are looking forward to singing and playing it!

Somewhere From Nowhere. This weekend is an exciting one for us. I pray you don't miss out. Let's not take this place for granted. Consider what the Lord has done for us. Just a few short years ago we weren't even sure we would have a place to worship. The Lord God gave us this Point of Grace. Now we want to return His gift right back to Him in honor and praise and worship. How could we do anything else?

I hope to see you all tonight. I love you all dearly! - Pastor Mark