Good Friday morning Church Requel!
We have the privilege of serving our neighbors a delicious, warm meal Saturday evening! I don't know about you, but I'm kind of excited to be doing this again. Two months ago you all came together so beautifully to serve and I just know you're going to do it again tomorrow. (How could two months have passed already?)
In case you don't know the drill, Don Angel is our fearless leader. Yay Don! We all join him at 4pm. The meal is served at 5pm. We are usually cleaned up and out the door by 6:30 pm. The church will provide the ingredients for the meal. You all bring desserts to share with our neighbors. Music will be provided by Yours Truly.
Our Plans For Sunday. Brandi and her family will be back from vacation, so we will have most of the full praise band back. Last week the guys did our best, but we all love it when the ladies sing too!
The songs we will be singing include "Your Love Never Fails" by Jesus Culture, "Into The Sea (It's Gonna Be Ok)" by Tasha Layton, NEW: "Restart" by Newsboys, and "You Are Good" by Israel Houghton. I'm excited! Brandi picked a great worship set for Sunday!
Our singing the new song (to us), "Restart," has an interesting story behind it. All the band members make suggestions for new songs that we sing. This one came from Don Angel. I came into the church one Sunday morning back in May to hear Don totally and happily immersed playing his bass to this song. I'd never heard it before (even though it's really an oldie but goodie.) I asked him where he heard it and he told me his daughter had been singing it from when she heard it at school (Mansfield Christian.) It is really a fun song to sing and we can't wait to share it with you. I believe it's going to become a Church Requel fav!
I'm also thrilled to tell you that our online member, Wendy has invited her friend, John, to sing with her. They will be singing Amazing Grace. Brandi tells me its "AWESOME!" So prepare yourselves for AWESOME Amazing Grace this Sunday!
The Benevolent Church. Our sermon this Sunday is a timely one for us, I believe. I've been soaking in all the great things that God has been doing through us and for us. I'm still marveling at the results of the concert weekend a few weeks back.
Does anyone else feel that God gave us a powerful message that Saturday night that went beyond our human plans? I'm remembering all the sirens and chaos of the city around us as we sang praises out to our Lord and Savior.
I feel like God is telling us that He has placed us on this Point of Grace where Marion meets P.A.W. for a reason. We are His Island of Heaven in a dangerous world. How amazing is the grace of God (back to Wendy's song) that we are so blessed to be used by God?
A couple weeks back we prayed over Don Angel to be the leader of our benevolence giving. I am so looking forward to see how God will use him.
Our sermon will talk about what the Bible teaches us about giving to others. You might be surprised at some of the lessons we will learn together. We'll consider 4 reasons WHY we give and then 4 ways of HOW we give. I can't wait to share this with you. (Here is the sermon text if you want a head start: http://bible.com/events/48746920.)
As you listen tomorrow, there may be some of you who want to join Don and form a Benevolence Team. Consider this if you have a natural compassion for others, but also know how to be "street smart" with your compassion. Don cannot do by himself all that God will call us to accomplish. He will need a team of willing and noble "angels" by his side.
For those planning on worshiping with us online, you can watch on Facebook Live or you can watch on YouTube with this link: https://youtu.be/ci0p3181BmI.
I'm really looking forward to serving with and worshiping with all of you this weekend! Love, Pastor Mark
