Good Friday morning Church Requel!
The good news just keeps rolling our way at Church Requel. For the third week in a row we will be baptizing someone. This week’s baptism will be of John Vetter. Wow! I really love this guy! I love his enthusiasm for our Lord!
Last Sunday as I was preparing to preach the sermon, I casually mentioned that if anyone else wanted to be baptized to let me know and we could keep the baptism pool open for another week. Those words were hardly out of my mouth before John leaped to his feet and started waving his arms and said, “Me! Pastor Mark! Me! I want to be baptized next week!”
Ok John! You got it! This Sunday John Vetter will be baptized! I met with John after church Sunday and he immediately let me know that he really wanted to record a testimony video as well. So we went over his schedule. He goes to school all day. Then after school every day he has both football AND band rehearsals. That’s right! He plays on the football team and then at halftime he marches with the band (wearing his football uniform). How can you not just totally love this guy?
Anyway - he has no time available in his schedule to record a testimony video. So I grabbed a video camera and just recorded his testimony right there after church last Sunday. I promise you that you’re going to love it!
Wow! Baptisms three Sundays in a row. This is a first for me too! We often sing a song with the lyrics that God is on the move! Certainly appropriate for us right now at Church Requel!
The Songs We’ll Sing. With so much to celebrate in the life of our church right now, I believe it’s appropriate to sing even more than we usually do. Brandi and the praise band have prepared more than normal for us: “Father’s House” by Cory Asbury; “River of Life” by Mac Powell (our baptism song); “Ever Be” by Bethel; “House of the Lord” by Phil Wickham; NEW - “Walk On Water” by Elevation Rhythm (our new student ministry song); “Broken Hallelujah” by The Afters; and “Nobody” by Casting Crowns. Come prepared to celebrate and worship this Sunday!!!
Here is a link for those of you who want to watch the service online. You can watch on Facebook Live or YouTube. Here is the YouTube link. https://youtu.be/PUQLPgygG84
In addition to all this music, Vanessa has prepared a special song for us and Don will be reading our Scripture and sharing some thoughts on his own baptism traditions from the Church of England. I just love the diversity of the Kingdom of God as well as the growing diversity within our own Church Requel. I was very much touched by Don and Vanessa and their spiritual fervor this week and I know you will be too.
Student Ministry Begins This Sunday! We are so excited about our new student ministry, The Sequels, led by Eddie Walker, starting off this week. Last Sunday 16 of our young people joined Eddie for putt putt and for lunch. We are hoping for a good turnout this Sunday morning for their first lesson time with Eddie! If you know of a student in your family or circle of friends, please tell them about this new opportunity at Church Requel!
New Sermon Series - Ephesians One. I’m also excited to kick off a new sermon series this Sunday studying the tremendous truths we learn about our relationship with God from Ephesians Chapter 1. Sunday we begin with the mind boggling idea of God’s blessings coming down to us being more than we can imagine or even process! But we’re going to make a good attempt at it this Sunday! Can I just say this about the sermon… You will be blessed! Ha!
For those of you who want a head start and would like to read the sermon notes, you can find them under “Events” in your Bible app. Or you can click on this link: http://bible.com/events/48761165
I am humbled by God’s working within our congregation. And I’m humbled by all of you who are saying “yes” to God and His purposes for Church Requel. I told some members of my own family last week that I feel like I’ve got ahold of a tiger by the tail and I’m just trying to hold on! None of this is my doing at all. None of my plans. None of my efforts. It’s all God’s Holy Spirit moving amongst us! Let’s hang in there together and see where God is leading us!
Love you all much! Pastor Mark
