Good Friday morning Church Requel!
This has been another week filled with God providing all we have needed! I honestly don't know why we ever even doubt anymore. Over and over again God has proven Himself faithful in providing for our little church. Over and over again you all have proven yourselves sensitive to God's leading Spirit, making you generous and faithful beyond all measure!
Last Friday's newsletter gave you what I thought was our final update - we had raised $2,400 of the $3,543 needed. To be honest, even with that, I was rejoicing. I wrote that I wouldn't be asking you to give further and that we would take the balance out of savings. In my own mind I figured those savings were just God providing for our needs ahead of time. Boy did I figure that wrong!
Within an hour I received a message from someone telling me that she just couldn't stomach the money coming out of savings and immediately sent in $500. Over the course of the next two days we received all the rest, and even ten dollars to the good! Wow!
As of late last night all the equipment - with the exception of 3 brackets - arrived in Mansfield. I'm going to pick it up today and deliver it to Church Requel. I must also tell you that we purchased through a local vendor (who has asked to remain anonymous), who sold us all the gear at his cost and also (legally) did not charge us any sales tax. In our original design proposal, we expected this same sound gear to cost us $4,325. Another God provision!
So now comes the work of installation. Over the course of the next several weeks I will be trading in my pastor's hat a few days each week for my sound/computer tech hat. Actually I'm really excited about this. (Can you tell?) I feel like I've come a long ways since we first installed our digital sound board. I barely knew how it worked then. It's not one of the subjects they teach us in seminary... but they definitely should!
Neighborhood Meal Saturday Evening. We feed the hungry in our neighborhood this Saturday night so plan on coming out and assisting. it's always a really good time together. Thank you Don and Stephenie for your faithful leadership! For those who want to volunteer, show up at 4pm. We begin serving at 5pm and are usually finished around 6pm. Also - if you can - bring a dessert to share.
Our plans for Sunday morning. We continue our Hymns 4 Him sermon series this Sunday, telling the back story of the famous hymn, Amazing Grace, and its author, John Newton. I've done quite a bit of research into this history and it just might surprise you to hear what I've learned. As always we will take away 4 important lessons for our modern day lives.
Here is a link to my written sermon notes for those of you who wish to read along or read ahead: http://bible.com/events/48905773.
I also plan on leading you in the singing of Amazing Grace in the middle of my sermon using my tiny soprano-sized Hawaiian ukulele. I will also be wearing another flowery Hawaiian shirt AND we will be giving out leis as you enter the sanctuary. So find yourself a Hawaiian shirt to wear and join in the summer fun! (For those of you watching from home - get in the spirit of the thing and wear Hawaiian too!)
Here are the songs we plan to sing together Sunday morning: "Shine Like Stars" by Passion; "Look What You've Done" by Tasha Layton; (NEW) "Broken Vessels" by Hillsong; "This Is Amazing Grace" by Phil Wickham; and (NEW) "The Throne Room Song" by People & Songs. As you can see we have a couple new songs this week for the band and congregation to learn. I'm excited about both! Thank you Brandi for your leadership and work behind the scenes for our church.
For those of you tuning in from home - many of you many miles away from Mansfield - you can watch at 11am Sunday on our Facebook Page or our YouTube channel https://youtu.be/citRREh8xkI.
Hiring Youth Pastor Eddie Walker... one year later.
Let's end this week's newsletter where we began - thanking God for His provisions. It was one year ago that the leadership team made the decision to hire Eddie Walker as our youth pastor. At the time we had few young people and little budgetary flexibility. Can we get an "Amen" for F-A-I-T-H?
Looking back on it now I think it is one of the best decisions we've made. We don't always have an abundance of young people, but there are some Sundays when I look back at the congregation and wonder to myself, 'where did they all come from?'
Eddie himself has been incredibly faithful with this ministry and I'm so thankful for him. Over that year our young people have taken on their own identify - naming themselves the "Sequels," which in a church named Requel, is clever. Together Eddie and his students are making their way each week through the Scriptures, providing each of them a foundation they will have for the rest of their lives.
So again, I say to you all who give so generously week after week to make this possible, THANK YOU! God knows who you are and I pray he blesses you tremendously. Also thank you goes out to Eddie for his faithfulness. It doesn't matter whether he has three or thirteen in his class - he gives his very best teaching self each and every week. Maybe give him a pat on the back the next time you see him.
Hope to see you all this weekend! Love you! Pastor Mark
