Church Requel Blog - Writings of Mark Pierce

Summer Concert To Benefit Point Of Grace

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

Concert weekend is here! Yay! I'm excited. How about you? Have you ever heard the expression that the stage is set? In our case it is literally true. Don and his crew have built the platform for the praise band out in front of the church.

Last night I had the privilege of practicing with the band until well after 10pm. It was absolutely a labor of love. Every single band member came ready to go. I was so impressed. Chris even brought us his famous shredded chicken sandwiches.

I also am so impressed with Brandi's leadership. She has really stepped up and matured in her role as worship and praise team leader. We swapped two of the songs we were planning to play for the concert. Remember - the concert set has been SET for weeks now. She announced (with boldness I might add) that her bandmates had spoken and we would make the changes. And you know what? They were good changes. Good for you CR praise band! I love watching you all take responsibility of our worship of our Lord.

The stage is set!

The weather is looking amazing for tomorrow too! So everything is a go for the concert. The concert begins Saturday at 6pm EDT and is expected to last two hours. We also will provide FREE hamburgs and hot dogs. Bring your lawn chairs, your appetites, and your enthusiasm.

The concert is completely free of charge so tell all your family and friends. We will have a tip jar for those who wish to donate. All donations will go to benefit "St. Luke's Point of Grace." This is the non-profit organization, led by Pastor Paul Lintern, that houses our ministry as well as others. There definitely are some maintenance needs and so we want to bless Paul and his non-profit organization as a thank-you for allowing us to worship here for the last ten years.

Some of you may wish to make larger donations. You can do so by going to Give.ChurchRequel.com and selecting the designation "Point of Grace." As of this writing we have $200 donated so far. Let's pray for generosity of heart where God has blessed.

Two Final Concert Details. 1st - some of you have asked if you could help set up. Our team will be meeting at the church at noon tomorrow to transform our front yard into a concert lawn. Many hands make the work go faster. If you'd like to come and help, you would be most welcome. We also would LOVE your help in putting everything back into the sanctuary AFTER the concert, if you have time to stick around.

2nd - Many of you in our congregation don't actually live in Mansfield, but you'd like to watch. Or you have family and friends who want to watch but they cannot come. We plan to stream the concert LIVE on our Facebook page and on YouTube. Here is the YouTube link you can use and share: https://youtu.be/jpdz4GxEAdM. (Many thanks to Leanna for making the live stream possible!)

Our Worship Plans For Sunday Morning. In all our enthusiasm for Saturday evening, we have not lost sight of our our worship plans for Sunday morning. The praise band will be back in full Sunday mode and we will be singing together again! Don and Vanessa will be joining us from Devon, England with a Scripture reading and a special song. You won't want to miss it!

We will stream this worship service LIVE at 11am EDT on our Facebook Page and on YouTube. The YouTube link for Sunday morning is https://youtu.be/FTwv7T3ifnI.

We also will hear our last Hymns 4 Him sermon this weekend. Alas, it is a summer sermon series and this will be our last Sunday in August. (We have some great plans coming up - so stay tuned for future newsletters with all the deets!) Our final sermon in the Hymns 4 Him series will be "Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing." For those of you who like to read the sermon, you can find all my sermon notes in your Bible app or in your browser here: http://bible.com/events/48944307.

Finally, last weekend you all gave Mary Kay and me the weekend off to celebrate our 43rd wedding anniversary. Thank you for that gift. The break was much needed! We both greatly enjoyed our anniversary celebration. Many thanks to Brian Betts, who filled the pulpit with such excellent exposition and exhortation. We are lucky to have a man like Brian in our congregation!

Love you all much! See you Saturday and Sunday! Pastor Mark

Great Is Thy Faithfulness

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

We have another wonderful sermon - our tenth in the summer Hymns 4 Him series: "Great Is Thy Faithfulness" by Thomas Chisholm. I never cease to be amazed at how our Lord God has arranged His affirmations of love and faithfulness to us. This Sunday is no exception.

The hymn is based on Lamentations 3:22-23:

“The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.”

The truly fascinating thing about these verses is that Jeremiah wrote them down in the midst of The Great Depression of the Old Testament. Things couldn't have looked worse for the people of God. Their grand city was destroyed. God's beautiful temple had been turned to ruble. All the best of the the citizenry had been relocated.

Yet Jeremiah writes: "Great Is Your Faithfulness!"

Sunday morning we'll learn the story behind the hymn and the hymn writer and discover - once more - how God has done marvelous miracles, if we will but look to see them.

For those of you who can't wait until Sunday morning, you can read my written sermon text online by going here: http://bible.com/events/48937171.

The Songs We Sing Sunday will be as follows: "Next To Me" by Jordan Feliz; "The Blessing" by Kari Jobe; "In Jesus Name" by Katie Nicole; "Another In The Fire" by Hillsong; "My Heart Is Yours" by Passion; "Evidence" by Josh Baldwin; and "Yes I Will" by Vertical Worship.

Brian Betts will lead our communion service. I have the privilege of leading our prayer time together.

For those of you who will be watching the online stream, you can join us on our Facebook Page or you can worship with us on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/J8I6hgn8d2k.

Speaking of praying - here's a reminder that all the prayer requests and praises from Sunday morning are posted on our private Church Requel Prayer Chain on Facebook each Monday morning. Thank you Cheryl Buckley for this service of love each week. Cheryl does more than just write down the prayer requests. She also shares a devotional message each Monday too. And they are really good! Here is a little of what she wrote this past Monday:

Cheryl and Jack

People would worry a lot less if they/we could differentiate between what is a real problem and what is a challenge. Problems are challenges, of course. However, not every challenge is a problem. When faced with an issue which seems insurmountable, take the time to stop, breathe, and think about the difference I just mentioned.

I’m remembering the Israelites wandering in the desert. They thought they had a problem when it came to obtaining food. God didn’t seem to think it was a problem. In God’s eyes, it was only a challenge, one that he could easily provide for. He gave them manna every morning and quail in the evenings. Moses directed them not to save any leftovers. What did the Israelites do? They decided to gather up more than they needed and store it. Do you remember what happened? It all rotted and had maggots! If they had trusted God and relied on his daily provision, nothing would have gone to waste.

What was a challenge became a problem only because they didn’t trust and they decided they could handle “the problem.” Our prayer concerns every week prove that there are people who have real problems. We handle it by going to the One who can handle everything, whether it’s a real problem or a challenge. I’ve seen a meme which says, “Good morning! This is God. I’ll be handling your problems today. I do not need your help, just your trust. So, relax and enjoy the day!” Will you let him do that for you?

Good words Cheryl! I'm reminded what my dad always told me about my challenges in life: "They're not problems. Those are opportunities!" Thank-you, Cheryl, for all you do for our church!

Neighborhood Meal Planned For Tomorrow Evening. This Saturday we will serve a healthy meal to those in our neighborhood who are hungry. We so appreciate your support of this meal ministry.  Don and Stephenie will lead the charge but they would love your help. Volunteers should show up by 4pm. We are usually finished with the cleanup by 6pm.

Outdoor Concert Planned for August 27th. We have planned for a two-hour outdoor concert in front of the church on Saturday, August 27th, from 6pm to 8pm. Our own worship band will be singing and playing! The concert will be totally free, so invite all your family and friends to come.

Like last year, we will offer a tip jar. All proceeds will go to St. Luke's Point Of Grace. This is Paul Lintern's non-profit organization that provides the place where we worship. While we do pay a monthly rent to St. Luke's, we know it doesn't cover all the costs of maintaining the property. So we thought it would be a great way to say "thank-you" to Paul and St. Luke's by playing a benefit concert.

I can now confirm that there will be food offered as well! So get this date on your calendar and start telling everyone you know! It should be a grand time together.

Second Annual Sequels Putt-Putt Outing. It is amazing that it has been a whole year since we took the big step (for our small church) to add Eddie Walker to our staff as our student ministry director. To celebrate this one-year anniversary our students and student ministry team will gather where it all started - Kelly's Putt Putt - on Saturday, September 17th, from 2pm to 4pm. The church will provide a free game of putt putt and ice cream for each person who comes! They'll also be talking that day about their future directions as the Sequels. If you know of anyone in grades 3 through 12, this would be a great opportunity to join in the group!

One last administrative note - I won't be sending you a newsletter next Friday. Mary Kay and I will be away celebrating 43 years of marriage. That's right! We were married August 18, 1979. Yay! I'm always reminded never to brag too much. At every wedding dance, Steve and Cindy win the contest. They were married in 1978. So congrats Steve and Cindy!

Blessings! Love you much! Pastor Mark

The Love Of God

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

I'm really looking forward to telling you the story behind Frederick M. Lehman's "The Love Of God" hymn. It is such an unlikely string of coincidences over a stretch of more than a millennium - that frankly it stretches the very concept of "coincidence."

This is one of those stories that is better described as a "God-incidence!"

Even in my research for this sermon, I was unable to find a single one source for everything I'm going to tell you on Sunday. (I'm not saying there isn't a single source. I just couldn't find it.) However, I think God wanted me to go on a journey (along with you) to fully grasp just how great God's love is for us - and just how much He wants us to know it and be certain of it. I'm praying that comes across to you on Sunday.

For those of you who can't wait until Sunday morning, you can read my written sermon text online by going here: http://bible.com/events/48933455.

The songs we plan to sing. Of course, when it comes to songs about the love of God, there is no shortage. So in addition to the hymn, we plan to sing: "Can't Buy God's Love" (A Beatles Parody); "King of Love" by Jesus Culture; "How Great Is Your Love" by Phil Wickham; "Stand In Your Love" by Josh Baldwin; "God You're So Good" by Passion; and "Your Love Never Fails" by Jesus Culture.

Brandi and her daughters will sing another special song about the love of God: "How He Loves" by David Crowder.

Brandi will lead our communion time. Brian will lead our prayer time. And Eddie will talk about upcoming events.

For those of you who will be watching the online stream, you can join us on our Facebook Page or you can worship with us on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/5SiDqGS_N5k.

Neighborhood Meal Planned For August 13th. A week from Saturday we will serve a healthy meal to those in our neighborhood who are hungry. We so appreciate your support of this meal ministry. Get this date on your calendar now before we flip the page to August. Don and Stephenie will lead the charge but they would love your help. Volunteers should show up by 4pm. We are usually finished with the cleanup by 6pm.

Outdoor Concert Planned for August 27th. We have planned for a two-hour outdoor concert in front of the church on Saturday, August 27th, from 6pm to 8pm. Our own worship band will be singing and playing! The concert will be totally free, so invite all your family and friends to come.

Like last year, we will offer a tip jar. All proceeds will go to St. Luke's Point Of Grace. This is Paul Lintern's non-profit organization that provides the place where we worship. While we do pay a monthly rent to St. Luke's, we know it doesn't cover all the costs of maintaining the property. So we thought it would be a great way to say "thank-you" to Paul and St. Luke's by playing a benefit concert.

I can now confirm that there will be food offered as well! So get this date on your calendar and start telling everyone you know! It should be a grand time together.

Blessings! Love you much! Pastor  Mark