Church Requel Blog - Writings of Mark Pierce

Thanks For The Breakfast!

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

For those in our church who live near Mansfield (increasingly our congregation grows outside of the Mansfield area, so I never take that for granted), we enjoyed a fabulous breakfast together last Sunday. Thanks so much Breakfast Crew: Dave, Becky, Judi and Cindy. Here are some pictures from our fellowship together. (I tried to make this a gallery you could swipe through, but alas my HTML skills didn't work for me. Still you can see all the pictures below:)

Breakfast At Church

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This Sunday: We will be opening with an old hymn sung in a new, Church-Requel-way: "Come Thou Fount (Above All Else)" by Robert Robinson and Shane & Shane. I hope you like it as much as I do. We also will sing "Way Maker" by Leeland; "Fierce" by Jesus Culture; "Praise Your Name" by Corey Voss; and "God's Not Dead" by Newsboys.

Here is the link for those of you who will be watching online using either our Facebook Page or on YouTube - https://youtu.be/YFfxVxLnLc0

Brian Betts will be leading our sermon/teaching time with a study from Revelation 2:1-7. The title of the sermon is "The God Who Knows Your Heart." I have read through it and believe it is a very timely study for us. Thank you Brian. Those of you who would like a head start can check it out here - http://bible.com/events/48884484

Sound System Fund Update. We have ordered all the equipment we need for the June installation. We thank local supplier, DRM Productions and Partner Jonathan Pierce, for providing al the equipment at cost - about a $700 savings! YAY! Still our cost was $3,543.49 (yes - a very specific number. I can't help myself. Details!) We opened up a special fund account for April and May. Through April we have raised $1578. Let's continue our giving to this special fund through the end of May and have it paid for by the time the equipment begins to arrive.

Potluck Celebration May 15th For John's Graduation. We have one senior graduating from high school this year - John Vetter. What an exceptional young man! A footballer, a band member, and a wrestler all rolled into one! As well as one amazing Jesus worshiper!!!

And who could forget September 12th, when John was baptized here at Church Requel in a full, three-piece suit! I know it was a highlight of my ministry!

After graduation, John plans to join the Marines in October. John is definitely suited to be one of the few and the proud.

John, we are proud of you and we want to send you off right. So let's plan on a potluck gathering filled with cards and special gifts to send John on his way with all the love and affection of Church Requel!

That wraps up this week's pastor's newsletter. Hope you're all doing well. Keep my dad in your prayers. Love you much! Pastor Mark

Sunday Breakfast / Romans 8 Video Responses

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

This coming Sunday morning has SPECIAL written all over it! So take just a moment now and read this quick pastoral weekly newsletter so you won't miss out on a thing.

SPECIAL Breakfast Sunday morning at 9:30am! This Sunday morning we will be enjoying breakfast and fellowship time BEFORE our worship service begins. We will begin serving at 9:30 am. So be there or be square! Ha! Many thanks go out to Dave, Paula, and Cindy for arranging this special meal for us. The rest of us don't need to bring a thing... except our appetites and appreciation.

SPECIAL Video Responses to Romans 8 Series. This coming Sunday will be our final Romans 8 study. We began this study at the beginning of February and as of this coming Sunday we will have enjoyed 13 lessons together! Wow! Do you have a response? Is there a special memory you have? Is there a special verse? Right now while you're thinking about it, video record yourself for no more than a minute, and tell the church about your special memory. Then send it to Brandi. She is putting together a combined video of all of our responses. Many of you have already responded. Thank you for that. If you haven't responded yet, it's not too late. But get it done right away. Brandi needs some time to stitch them all together. You can message Brandi if you have her phone number. Or you can message her on Facebook. You also can email her at [email protected]. I can't wait to see what you have to say!

The Rest of Sunday Morning. I quite enjoyed all the special worship music last week on Easter Sunday. Didn't you? Thanks Brandi and Praise Team for arranging all that for us. We won't have quite the same number of songs this week, but I'm sure it's going to be glorious and worshipful. Here are the songs we are planning to sing this Sunday: "House of the Lord" by Phil Wickham, "Champion" by Bethel; "In Christ Alone" by Kristian Stafill; "Battle Belongs" by Phil Wickham; and "See A Victory" by Elevation Worship.

Brian will lead our communion together. Brandi will lead our congregational prayer together. If you will be worshiping from your home Sunday morning, you can watch from our Facebook page or on YouTube. Here is the YouTube link: https://youtu.be/MzUpECN2k_w

Our last sermon from Romans 8 is titled, "In The Slaughterhouse." I must tell you that this week's sermon was not the one I thought I would be bringing. These final verses are all about God's extraordinary love for us no matter what. That God is there for us no matter what we are facing. That NOTHING can separate us from God's love. What a celebration! What a victory!

But then right in the middle of all this, Paul refers us to Psalm 44 - not a victory party at all, it would seem. This is a verse about sheep getting slaughtered. And WE are compared to those sheep! What gives? Don't miss Sunday morning. If you can't wait, you can read the sermon here: http://bible.com/events/48880741

Making Progress on Sound System Fund. Several of you were generous again this past week. Thank you for that. As of this writing we have received $1,385. Yay! That's a little more than a third of what we need to accomplish our goal. We plan to keep this special fund available through the end of May and hope to have the work done by the middle of June. Again - we so appreciate your generosity. So much of what we enjoy each and every week at Church Requel wouldn't have been possible without these special fund giving times over the years. If you would like to donate online with your debit or credit card, go to Give.ChurchRequel.com and then click on the down arrow designation, "Sound System".

Keep Praying! We have so much right now to pray about. Eddie's mom. Cheryl's sister. Stephenie's grandma. Kristy's stepdad. My dad. (If you're not sure exactly what the prayer requests are, check out the Church Requel Prayer Chain group on Facebook. If you're not already a member, just click the link to be included and we will include you straight away.) Many of these people are the prayer warriors who usually pray for everyone else. Now they are in the midst of the battle themselves. So please - let's keep them all lifted and strengthened with your prayers.

Love you all much! Pastor Mark

Good Friday Church Requel!

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

I greet you every week this way, but it is especially appropriate on Good Friday! I pray that this weekend you will reflect on both the joy and the cost of our relationship with God through Christ. We have planned a special worship experience for Easter Sunday morning!

Your Easter Worship Team in 2021

This Sunday we will enjoy a lot of praise and worship as we celebrate our risen Lord. Our team has been practicing lots more than normal for this "Super Bowl" of church services. Here are the songs we plan to sing together: "Man of Sorrows" by Hillsong; "Because He Lives" by Matt Maher; "Look What you've Done" by Tasha Layton; "Jesus Friend of Sinners" by Casting Crowns; "A Thousand Hallelujahs" by Brook Ligertwood; "Living Hope" by Phil Wickham; "This I Believe (The Creed)" by Hillsong; "Forever" by Kari Jobe; and "O Praise The Name" by Hillsong.

I wonder if we should stretch before we begin worship? Hmmm...

I'm also excited for our Easter morning sermon. This year we pull our Resurrection sermon from  Romans 8:33-34. Read it! You'll find great hope and inspiration. For those of you who would like to read the entire sermon this weekend, you can find it here. http://bible.com/events/48877122

For those of you who cannot be with us in person, you most certainly can be with us both in Spirit and in Streaming! You can watch either on our Facebook Page or on YouTube. https://youtu.be/ryj4K0lMKfI

Breakfast Together on April 24th. Speaking of celebrations, be sure to come early a week from Sunday to enjoy breakfast together. Many thanks to Dave and Becky and Cindy, who are serving us that morning. We will begin serving at 9:30am.

Our team on January 30th

Serving A Meal Together on April 25th. Speaking of meals - we will be serving a free meal together to our neighborhood again the very next morning, on Monday, April 25th, at the outdoor Pavilion down hill from Church Requel. If you would like to volunteer for that, show up at the church a 9am. We are usually heading down to the Pavilion by 10:30 and are usually serving by 11am. Don Angel and I would appreciate your help if you can be available. Looking at the picture above, I can promise you a MUCH WARMER experience this time!

Sound System Update. We have had our special sound system fund account available for two weeks now and have raised $450 so far. That's about 12% of what we need to make the improvements we want to make. Thanks so very much to those who have kicked us off in such fine fashion. We will keep the special fund open through the end of May. Any extra help you can provide will be much appreciated!

The worldwide parts and supply chain shortages are also affecting this particular field as well. Our current expectations are that we will be receiving the final parts for installation by the middle of June. All in God's good time!

As you read this and prepare for your Resurrection Sunday celebration, please do take some time this afternoon to reflect on just how much love God has bestowed upon us. Our relationship with God comes to us freely, but it cost God everything! Let's never forget!

Love you all much, Pastor Mark

Saturday Meal / Sunday Palm / God Is For Us!

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

You are an absolutely gorgeous, beautiful church! I know I am your pastor and so I can be - perhaps - excused for my favorable bias. But in my corner I do possess evidence that proves my case. Check out this photo of the last time you served a meal to those who are hungry in our neighborhood!

Our meal crew in February

You will have another opportunity this Saturday evening (tomorrow night!) to demonstrate your beauty by serving another meal. Please come by 4pm and if you wish to be especially beautiful, bring a dessert. I know you are excited to serve. Here is a message I received yesterday from Deb: "See you at the meal on Saturday - I will come early to help. Deb S."

Awesome Plans For Palm Sunday! Make sure you are at church in plenty of time Sunday. We'll start right at 11am with a powerful Palm Sunday greeting from Cheryl Buckley. You won't want to miss it!

Brandi will follow that up with her solo rendition of "Hosanna (Praise Is Rising)" by Paul Baloche. This is one of my favorite songs that Brandi sings. Really! I don't think you'll be able to sit through it. You'll be looking for your own palm branches to wave!

Our band will lead three congregational songs: "How Great Thou Art" by Stuart Hines (and also yours truly - we have a special rendition we sing at Church Requel and you only get to sing this special part here! Aren't we lucky!?); "Good Good Father" by Chris Tomlin; and "The Blessing" by Kari Jobe.

Our students will read our Scripture reading for the day - Romans 8:31-33. Then they will sing together another song by Chris Tomlin, "Our God," another Church Requel favorite!

Our students sing, "Our God."

Sunday Sermon - "God Is For Us" - I am very excited to bring you this Sunday's sermon. We will be continuing our Romans 8 study. This will be our 11th sermon from Romans 8. (We are nearing the end. Sermon #13 and the last one will be on April 24th.) 

We bring so much good news Sunday morning. Your Heavenly Father is for you! God is on your side. He doesn’t miss a thing you do. He is cheering you on. He loves you with an everlasting love. God’s love for you endures forever!  God cares for you and me because His love never ends, never tires, never wears out, never falters! (Ok - I have to stop now. Otherwise I'll give it all away.)

If you want to read more, you can! I have published the sermon already over on your Bible app. Check it out under "Events" and "Church Requel." You can also just click here to see the sermon text in your browser. http://bible.com/events/48873148

Following the sermon I am privileged to sing you a special song, "How Deep The Father's Love For Us," originally written by Stuart Townend. In a moment of inspiration (as in after I wrote this week's sermon), I wrote a couple of new verses for this song. You'll hear them Sunday morning for the very first time!

It looks like this is going to be another very special weekend for us here at Church Requel. I hope you can come and be a part of it. If you live far away or are unable to come Sunday, you can still watch online. We will stream the worship service on our Facebook page as well as on YouTube. Here is the YouTube link for Sunday. https://youtu.be/qEqg_YUnt88

Remember our Special Sound System Fund. Last week I told you all that we have approved of a special giving fund to improve our sound system at Church Requel. Many of you have responded so beautifully with your affirmations. We even received our first donation last Sunday. Thank you for that. We will keep this special fund open through the end of May. If you would like to give in person at Church Requel, just mark your envelope with the words, "Sound System." If you are giving online, go to give.ChurchRequel.com and click on the designation, "Sound System."

Hope to "see you" at Church Requel one way or the other this weekend. Love you! Pastor Mark

New Worship Team Monitors Approved

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

After taking a week off from writing my Friday newsletter, I'm back. Yay! Did you miss me last Friday? I'm afraid I got the DCD - Double Candle Disease. Ever have that? When you burn the candle at both ends for so long that eventually something has to give? Between my normal pastoral duties, and then preparing tax returns, and then going to the March of Prayer each night (actually my fav activity of the day!), I think my body just gave out. I am mostly recovered, but some of the nasty symptoms do seem to persist. So your ongoing prayer for me is greatly appreciated. For those wondering, I did take a Covid test, but (thankfully) it came back negative.

New In-Ear Monitors For Our Worship Team. I am thrilled to report to you that our leadership team has decided to move forward with in-ear monitors. This will go a very long ways to reducing the total sound coming from our platform and will go a long ways to helping our tech booth sound crew to better mix our sound. We are hoping you as a congregation will see a big benefit once we get it all worked out.

What exactly is an "in-ear monitor" you ask? Each of our praise team members will wear earphones and will hear the other singers and instrumentalists through their earphones. These earphones will replace all the various speakers and amplifiers that are now present on our platform, thus greatly reducing the amount of sound that you hear.

It has not been lost on any of us that many of you prefer to sit in the back. And it may be that you just like the back seats. But it also could be that the sound up close is just too loud. We in the praise band have experienced this personally on many a Sunday. 

The technology for an in-ear monitor system has been available now for about 10 years. The leadership team believed this was the next best step forward for our weekly worship experience.

We hope you will agree and will consider helping out with the added cost to the church. We have established a special fund for the sound system and will make it available for contributions through the end of May. If this is something you would like to support with giving above and beyond your normal contributions, use this special fund account. If you're giving at church, just write "sound system" on your envelope. If you want to give online go to give.churchrequel.com and click on the "designation" line and choose "sound system."

We don't often do this kind of thing. But when we have in the past, you have been so supportive. Consider the following worship extras that have been made possible by your past generous special giving: (1) the digital mixing board; (2) the electronic drum kit; (3) the laser projector; and (4) the portable round baptistry, just to name a few. Thank you thank you thank you!

We plan to do all the work in-house, which will save us labor charges. Rather than cluttering up the front of our platform with even more tech stuff, the opposite should be true in the end. All of the speakers and amplifiers and most of the cabling and power cords will disappear. The result should be much more pleasing to both your eyes and ears. We anticipate that this work will take us a couple months to complete, since none of us are experts or full-time audio techs. But hopefully by the end of May you should notice a big difference.

Sunday's Worship Plans. Here are the songs we plan to sing this Sunday: "Might Get Loud" by Elevation Worship; "King Of Love" by Jesus Culture"; "Next To Me" by Jordan Feliz; "Give Me Your Peace" by Gateway Worship; and "Ever Be" by Bethel.

Brian Betts has worked for a very long time to bring you the special music Sunday morning. Brian will sing AND PLAY HIS UKULELE the song, "Behold Our God" by Sovereign Grace. You read that right! We have another ukulele player in our midst! It appears that Pastor Paul's dubbing of our church as The First Church of the Ukulele might just have some validity. Ha! Thanks Brian for using your talents for the Lord Jesus!

Our sermon Sunday will be Part 2 of "God Works For The Good" from Romans 8:28-30. Last week we talked about that God works for the good in our lives. But exactly what is it that God does? Here are the 4 things we'll talk about Sunday:

First, we’re going to affirm that it’s God Who does the work. Second, we’re going to talk about the difficulty we have when talking about time. Third, we’re going to talk about the challenge of being conformed to the image of God’s Son. Finally we’re going to talk about the specific five (5) good works that God does in us, His children.

I promise that all the news Sunday will be GOOD NEWS! I don't know about you, but I am ready for some good news!!! So come prepared. If you can't wait until Sunday, you can read Sunday's sermon in your Bible app or you can click here: http://bible.com/events/48869321

For those of you watching from home, here or afar, you can watch the live stream on Facebook by going to the Church Requel page. You can also watch on YouTube. Here is the link. https://youtu.be/HwEXH-jIsgA

That will do it for this Friday morning. I hope you all have great plans for your weekend (in addition to Church Requel.) Personally Mary Kay and I and all my Sibs and their spouses will be throwing a big 91st birthday party for my dad tonight. I can't wait. It's going to be a good time together!

Love you all much! Pastor Mark