This new song by Mack Brock, "Greater Things," is so perfect for our congregation. So many people have come through so much over this past year. When I heard this song for the first time last week, I knew that this was a song we had to sing. I changed the key from B to C and sing it an octave lower than Mack. (Not all of us are blessed with such a beautiful tenor voice!)
If you would like the chord sheet I created, download the PDF file here.
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We are thrilled to announce that grammy-nominated artist, Jeff Anderson, will perform a Christmas concert on the Church Requel platform on Friday, December 6th. The concert will begin at 7pm. There is no charge for admission. We will collect a love offering for Jeff at the concert.
The evening will consist of a mixture of woship & Christmas songs. We want to have a special night where people can take a break from all the busyness that comes with the Holidays. Wouldn't it be wonderful to just focus on the reason behind Christmas right from the start?
Jeff is a Grammy nominated artist from Columbus, Ohio. He was previously the worship pastor at Vineyard Columbus before following the calling to tour full time. Formerly on Gotee Records, Jeff Anderson previously charted with the contemporary Christian hit, Open My Eyes from his album Seamless. You can learn more about Jeff and listen to his music at http://www.jeffandersononline.com.
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This weekend we at Church Requel have been greatly blessed by the singing voice of my niece Christy Anne Pierce. Several have wanted a copy of her song. So I'm putting it up on the blog for you to listen and download.
"The Power of the Cross," was made popular by Natalie Grant. (You can grab a copy of Natalie Grant's version on Amazon.)
Here for your personal worship and pleasure is "The Power of the Cross" sung by Christy on Good Friday and again on Easter at Church Requel.
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Sunday evening was a very special night at Church Requel! We don't often have a guest artist on our platform, but Sunday evening local songwriter and vocalist Brianna Barnes, and her mother, Tamira, joined us for worship. It was such a joy to share the evening with both of them. They also come from a church-planting family: Brianna's dad, Jeff, recently planted New Song Fellowship in Bellville, Ohio. I had the joy of being with them on their first Sunday earlier this summer and heard Brianna sing. (It's not surprising, therefore, that their name is "New Song!") I asked her if she would ever like to come to Church Requel and she immediately and enthusiastically agreed.
For those of you who would like to watch and hear Brianna again (or for those who didn't make it Sunday night), here is a video. We're not really set up to mix sound in post production, so the keyboard is a little loud. However Brianna's voice is so beautiful, it shines through. Also shining through at the beginning of this video is Brianna's story about why she wrote the song. Enjoy!
Inhale Exhale from Mark Pierce on Vimeo.
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We are really looking forward to this coming Sunday evening. Singer and songwriter Brianna Barnes will be performing her own song, "Inhale, Exhale," at Church Requel. Earlier this summer I invited Brianna to come "any Sunday she would like to come." I also sent her a schedule of our topics for the rest of the summer. She immediately wrote me back and told me that she really wanted to come on the night that we would be dealing with the topic of Anxiety. You will definitely want to also come Sunday night to hear her tell a little of the story of how "Inhale, Exhale" came to be.
Brianna will not be coming alone. Her mother, Tamira, is also a good friend of ours and has been a great encouragement to me personally throughout the entire process of planting Church Requel. I can usually count on an encouraging word from Tamira and her husband, Jeff, about every other week or so. Jeff recently also recently planted a new church in Bellville! Tamira is a very gifted pianist and will be playing the keyboard for us Sunday night. That's a dedicated servant - working in her own church plant Sunday morning and then helping out someone else Sunday evening!
In addition to Brianna and Tamira, our own Nate Williams, Ryan Shoemaker and Stephen McKinney will be also leading our praise music. Mark Shaw will be leading our prayer time. Jessica Pierce will be reading our Scripture reading, Matthew 6:30-34 and Philippians 4:6-7 - the focus of our teaching, "From Anxiety to Peace."
Have you ever thought about what is your bridge over troubled waters? We'll learn what Paul has to tell us about God's peace. You might be surprised by what you learn. And we'll also learn something I bet you didn't know about Simon and Garfunkel's famous hit song.
I'm counting on the whole evening being a terrific night. Who do you know that you could bring along with you? I promise this will be a night of worship, communion and teaching you won't want to miss. See you Sunday! Pastor Mark
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Are you ready for another very special Sunday night at Church Requel? This weekend we're calling Hymn Night - Requel style. I'd love to tell you that I was smart enough to come up with that, but I must give credit where credit is due. Nate Williams, our talented worship leader, is the brain child behind "Requel-style hymns." He has put together an awesome Praise Team for this weekend, including Luke, Ryan, Stephen, Jana and Trisha. Honestly - we're still not sure how we'll fit everyone on our small platform... but we'll figure it out!
Our teaching Sunday night will be from one of my very favorite passages (maybe it's yours too?) - Philippians 2:5-11. This is one of the most poetic and theologically significant passages in all of the New Testament. In fact scholars today believe that this passage might reflect one of Christianity's very first hymns!
I was explaining this a few weeks ago to Nate, when he came up with the great idea of doing hymns, Requel-style. I don't want to steal any of his Sunday-night thunder, but I promise you that you won't want to miss what he and the Praise Team have arranged. It will be a wonderful experience of praise and worship.
We'll also hear Jillian read from Scripture. We'll share communion together. And we'll learn 4 ways we can be Christ-minded in our day-to-day lives. Our children's workers also have some fun plans for our kids up through 6th grade.
Remember - our new location is at Ontario Christian Fellowship, 636 S. Lexington-Springmill Road, just one mile south of Richland Mall. See you Sunday at 6PM! - Pastor Mark
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Nate, Ryan and Seth did a terrific job of singing Switchfoot's, "Adding to the Noise." I thought you might enjoy seeing it again! Here it is. Nice job Nate! (Also available directly from YouTube.)
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This weekend we have some great things in store for those who attend Church Requel. The acoustic-style music, led by Nate Williams, will be awesome. These are the songs we plan to sing:
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This past weekend's Church Requel service had a very special ending. Christy Pierce, my niece, sang "This is Love" by The Autumn Film. The lyrics to this song fit the weekend's Prodigal Son message perfectly. We also were able to purchase a film clip from Sermon Spice entitled, Prodigal Daughter, which drove the message home for everyone present. Guitarists backing up Christy are Dave Johnson and Nate Williams. Enjoy this 3-minute video from this past weekend's service.
You can also view this video directly on YouTube and also over on Vimeo.
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This weekend we have some great plans for the Church Requel worship service. Nate Williams and company have worked hard to put together our worship plans. He tells me that we will have the largest Church Requel praise team ever.
I know some of my readers like to know the songs we're singing, so here is this week's list:
This last song will be song by Christy Pierce at the end of the service after the sermon. We have a video that will go along with it entitled "The Prodigal Daughter." It should be a powerful experience.
The sermon is entitled "Volte-Face" and is about the repentance lessons we learn from the Prodigal Son in Luke 15. We'll also see what we can learn from New Coke and Brett Favre. I hope to see you at the Mid-Ohio Conference Center, 890 4th Street, across the street from Arlin Field at 6PM Sunday evening.
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I invested my day in planning for this weekend's service. I know you expect to hear me say this, but I am really excited about some of the special things we have planned for you Sunday evening. We still have the LOST paradise island theme going, but this week we have added a few elements. We'll open the service with three great worship and praise songs. I know some of you like to know what they'll going to be, so here's the list:
During our prayer and communion service, we will hear "Mighty is the Power of the Cross" also by Chris Tomlin.
After we read Luke 15:11-16 together, we'll watch a short skit about the Prodigal Son by The Skit Guys. (I think you'll really enjoy this!) We'll then study the first part of the Prodigal Son parable in a talk I wrote this week entitled, "Wasted." During the talk we'll consider 5 versions of one question we should ask ourselves daily.
Finally, Nate Williams will wrap everything up with a special song, "And Now My Lifesong Sings," performed originally by Casting Crowns. It will be a great way to wrap up what I think will be a very special evening. I hope to see you there... Come dressed in your island best! Pastor Mark
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I love the enthusiastic support of those who attend our new church. This past weekend I received one of those really great suggestions that makes me scratch my head later on wondering why I didn't think of it myself. Kristy Lawson suggested on the back of her Info Card that we start letting people know about the songs that we are singing and listening to at Church Requel each weekend. She explained to me that she would like to obtain those songs herself so she could sing them throughout the week. It also would help her and others know the songs better so they could participate more in the worship. Great idea Kristy!
Here are the songs we will be singing this weekend, along with links to the YouTube songs and artist websites:
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There are so many things that happen in the life of a new, small church that are so cool, so surprising, so uplifting that it makes me wonder why more new churches aren't started up all the time! One of those really cool, surprising, and uplifting things happened to me this week. Several members of the Church Requel praise team got together this week and staked out their own place on YouTube. They call their small piece of cyberspace RequelPractice.
Their reason for putting it up? To give them a chance to practice together when they can't be together. And to provide an encouragement to those of us who might need a little bit of "pick-me-up" throughout the week. Cool and uplifting!
But what about "surprising?" It's surprising to me because I had nothing to do with this. I didn't think of it. I didn't execute it. And that tells me something great about our church. It's growing! Other people are taking responsibility for how God is working in their lives and using their gifts to encourage the body. The more our church grows, the more things like this will happen. To which I say, "GREAT!"
Want to sing along with the songs for tonight? The team will open our services with "Cannons." Then we will sing "Come Thou Fount," "Everlasting God," and "No Sweeter Name." After the teaching time, we'll take communion together and sing "This is Our God."
My personal favorite is "No Sweeter Name." Trish will be joining the team this weekend and it sounds like she's going to do a GREAT job! I'm looking forward to seeing you all tonight at church! Pastor Mark
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At the end of our Christmas service this past Sunday night, Nate and his band wanted to perform the Relient K version of 12 Days of Christmas. They made a valiant effort, but the wheels started to fall off around Day 10. Rather than be frustrated by it, Nate began to have some real fun with it. Check out the video below. The "fun" begins around the 2:30 mark. (Nate - thanks for being such a good sport!)
12 Days of Christmas from Mark Pierce on Vimeo.
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I've watched this twice now. It's hard to take my eyes away. Great song. Puppets, children. pyrotechnics. What's not to like? Got 4 minutes? Enjoy! (You can also watch on YouTube.)
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This is incredible. If you love the fiddle or have any Scottish blood in you at all, you'll love this. Natalie MacMaster and her musical partner Donnell Leahy play several tunes from the Cape Breton tradition -- a sprightly, soulful style of folk fiddling. It's an inspired collaboration that will have you clapping (and maybe dancing) along. I enjoyed the whole thing, but if you don't have 18 minutes skip forward to 9:40. It's fantastic!
If you have any difficulty watching here you can also view over on TED Talks.
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Stop your day for 3 and a half minutes and watch this great new music video from Mercy Me. Your attitude and appreciation will be changed today because of it!
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One of the best things about working at Crossroads is being surrounded by highly creative people. Two of those highly creative people from our staff are Milo Sgambellone and Steve Browning. Milo is one of our worship leaders and also write many of the songs we sing at Crossroads. Steve is our media director and leads all the media technology teams at our church. The two of them teamed up with volunteer vocalist, Cody Roland, to write and produce "Step Into The Water" as a music video. This past weekend we baptized seven people during our Saturday night service and we used their video as part of the service. Now for the very first time, we are putting our Crossroads created media out onto the internet for the world to see and to use. Check it out!
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