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 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
