Church Requel Blog - Writings of Mark Pierce

Stumble and Wonder

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

I love my Friday mornings. I always imagine that I'm sitting here with all of you. I imagine your faces and your families and our friendships. I think about the upcoming weekend when once again we can gather together as loved ones of our Heavenly Father. Some of you let me know you look forward to these Friday morning love notes too. Thank you for that!

Sunday morning we consider Jesus' words in John 10. What a wonderful chapter! The debate continues between Jesus and the religious leaders of his day. Jesus tells us that he is the gate as well as the gatekeeper. Jesus is the shepherd and we are his sheep. We hear and listen to his voice. We learn that the reason Jesus came to Earth is that we "may have life and have it to the full!"

Wow! This is such good news! Some people stumble when told that Jesus is the only way to salvation and to God. Some people wonder. I have some thoughts to share with you from my own wonderings this week and can't wait for Sunday to get here. I hope you feel the same. If you want an advanced peek, check out my sermon notes here: http://bible.com/events/49029091.

Here are the songs we plan to sing Sunday morning: "This Is Amazing Grace" by Phil Wickham; "A Thousand Hallelujahs" by Brooke Ligertwood; (NEW) "Fear Is Not My Future" by Maverick City Music; "Agnus Dei / How Great Is Our God" - a brand new mashup by Brandi!; "Revelation Song" by Kari Jobe; and "King Of Kings" by Hillsong. It looks to me that once again Brandi has planned an amazing worship experience for us!

For those who cannot attend in person, you can watch online. What a wonderful opportunity. I just learned that 99-year-old Georgiana has been sick for a couple days (she should be going home today). But even she figured out how to watch online. (I bet she's back in person before you know it!) Maybe you know someone who can't get out and would be encouraged to watch. Tell them about our Facebook Page or share this YouTube link with them! 

https://www.youtube.com/live/2zEnjDrUYho?feature=share

Saturday Morning Bible Study - A brand new study begins tomorrow morning at 11am. We meet in the Chome at Church Requel. Brian Betts will lead this study using the book, Mere Christianity, by C.S. Lewis. Brian is going way above and beyond by also making biscuits and gravy for everyone who comes! Yay! There is a 22-minute discussion video available if you'd like to check it out before you come. https://drive.google.com/file/d/135f0JvscuBOb-GtqYk6HTJc5jxVF9AWI/view

Saturday Night Neighborhood Meal - Thanks for many of you signing up once again to serve our neighbors a warm, free meal. We are also pleased to see that Eric and Cindy will be leading the way for this service opportunity! Plan to show up by 4pm. We serve the meal at 5pm. We are usually finished by 6pm.

March of Prayer - Sunday March 5th. It is hard to believe that this year's March of Prayer event has already come around again. This is something truly unique about the churches in Mansfield, Ohio. I know of no other place on Planet Earth where this happens. Each day in March (and this year all the way through Easter Sunday in April) a different church will host from 6pm to 8pm. Our evening to host will be Sunday, March 5th. So get this date on your calendar now. Already our band is making plans.

This year the March of Prayer will have an emphasis on addiction recovery, the casualties of addiction, the cost of addiction and the source of healing from addiction. We are most thankful for Pastor Paul Lintern for his leadership of the March of Prayer. 

I hope that you will plan to attend many of these services. Soon, I will have a full schedule available for all of you. Maybe you could talk with some of your friends and make plans to go to some of these services together. Each one is special and reflects the unique worship styles of the different congregations involved.

Love you much! Hope to see you Saturday and Sunday both! Pastor Mark

Jesus Sees Me

Good Friday Morning Church Requel!

There is a heart-rending scene in the second season of The Chosen, when Nathaniel is sitting under a lone fig tree in the middle of a field. Nathaniel is alone, crying out to God. He wanted to be an architect and build synagogues for God. But his first plans, carefully crafted and held in his hands, had been an utter failure. The building had collapsed and he was ruined. He lit the blueprints on fire and threw the ashes into the air as the wind carried away his hopes and his dreams. He cried out to God: “Do you see me? Do you see me?”

Later, when he met Jesus for the first time, Jesus said to him: “I saw you under the fig tree!”

My message to you Sunday morning is a simple one. Jesus sees you! I don't know everything you are going through today, but Jesus does. He sees you. He loves you. He wants to heal you in body and in spirit. Know you are not alone. Ever.

We follow the Scripture lesson this Sunday not from the story of Nathaniel, but rather from the perspective of the man born blind in John 9. The gospel writer devotes an entire chapter to this event. In John's mind, this healing of the man born blind receives the same space as the woman at the well and the conversation with Nicodemus. I'm looking forward to sharing it with you. For those of you that like to read ahead, I encourage you to read John 9 for yourself. And if you'd like to read my own thoughts ahead of time, check out my sermon notes online here: http://bible.com/events/49025322.

We have great plans for the worship music Sunday morning. Here are the songs we will sing together: "Open The Eyes Of My Heart Lord" by Michael W. Smith; "Good Good Father" by Chris Tomlin; "Another Hallelujah" by Lincoln Brewster; "The Lion & The Lamb" by Big Daddy Weave; "Broken Vessels" by Hillsong; "No Sweeter Name" by Kari Jobe; and "There's Nothing That Our God Can't Do" by Passion.

Let's be generous and not keep this good worship service to ourselves! Tell other people about it. Invite them to come to church with you. Or tell them about the online stream. You can find it on our Church Requel Facebook page or on YouTube at this link: https://www.youtube.com/live/uqyKTSVviyk?feature=share

Neighborhood Meal on Saturday February 11th. One week from tomorrow we will be serving our neighbors a free meal. We appreciate Eric and Cindy leading the way for us. We can all help out by showing up at 4pm and helping to set up. So put this time on your calendar now. Also, there is a sign up sheet in the lobby at church. If you haven't already signed up, do so. It will let Eric know who he can count on.

Looking forward to seeing all of you Sunday morning at 11. Love you much! Pastor Mark

Lots of Stone Throwing Going On

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

Has anyone else noticed this besides me? There's lots of "stone throwing" going on these days. Not literally. But with words - accusations, complaints, put downs, rumors and gossip. I can't turn on my television in the morning without hearing one side talking down the other side. I change channels and find the other side talking down the first side.

So it's incredibly timely that we come to Sunday's passage of Scripture. We'll be looking at an actual stone-throwing situation from John 8. Along the way you'll discover what God thinks of equal justice, how Jesus was a man way ahead of his time, just how many rules the people of his day were supposed to follow and the fascinating little fact on how they came up with that particular number of do's and don'ts. 

We'll have Don Causley from England read our Scripture Sunday morning. Then we'll ask ourselves 4 key questions. Along the way we might even discover some answers together. I encourage you to begin right now reading John 8:1-11 and allow it to begin simmering in your mind. What are the questions you'd be asking yourself? If you want a preview, you can read Sunday's sermon here: http://bible.com/events/49017692.

Here are the songs we are planning to sing this Sunday: "By The Spirit" by Pat Barrett; "Mighty To Save" by Hillsong; "Hurry" by Jesus Culture; "Break Every Chain" by Jesus Culture; "Tell Your Heart To Beat Again" by Danny Gokey; and "Unstoppable God" by Elevation Worship. I sure hope you can come to church in person Sunday morning. But if you cannot, you can also watch online on our Church Requel Facebook page or on our YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/wnNOgQg6bSA.

Love you all much! Pastor Mark

Making Sense Of It All

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

Do you ever look at the world around you and wonder? And not in a good way? I do. Maybe it's a sign of my age. But it sure does seem to me that our culture is asking questions that I thought were pretty well settled a long time ago. Last year a Supreme Court nominee could not answer the question, "What is a woman?" Personally, I settled this question in my mind many decades ago.

Why is this happening? That is the topic of our sermon this coming Sunday morning. Our Scripture mostly comes from John 7 and 8. I encourage you to give some time to reading these chapters so you'll be prepared for our study together on Sunday. For those who would like to read the sermon ahead of time, just click on this link: http://bible.com/events/49013716.

Brandi and her worship team have a wonderful experience planned for us. Here are the songs we are planning to sing together: "Great Things" by Phil Wickham; "Ever Be" by Bethel; "Fierce" by Jesus Culture; "Love The Lord" by Lincoln Brewster; "Stay Amazed" by Gateway Worship; "The Way (New Horizon) by Pat Barrett; and "Praise Your Name" by Corey Voss.

For those of you who cannot attend in person Sunday morning, you can watch the worship service live online by going to our Church Requel Facebook page or by tuning into our YouTube channel. Here's the link for Sunday - https://youtu.be/ahF9qKPu5io.

I'd also like to give a shout out to Eddie and the terrific job he is doing with our young people. If you know of someone in school not already going to church somewhere else, you should definitely invite them to join the Sequels on Sunday mornings. They have a good thing going downstairs. Eddie is very creative in putting together his lesson plans each week.

Hope to see you all Sunday morning. Love you much! Pastor Mark

Are You Offended By God?

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

The title to today's newsletter to you is also the subject of our sermon Sunday morning. It's based on the back half of John 6. At one point Jesus asks his closest students, "Are you offended by me? Will you leave me too?"

I know our first response to this might be: "No way!" But hold on for just a second with me. Have there been times in your life when you prayed for something and it just didn't happen? Have you ever wondered how a close loved one could leave you - either through a breakup in the relationship or through death? Have you ever wanted to be free from an addiction but you just couldn't seem to lick it. You asked God for help. But still it just didn't happen?

Disappointment. Disillusionment. Unmet expectations. Sometimes our relationship with God can be more challenging than we think. And we then add on guilt because it can't be God's fault. We must be doing something wrong.

If that's the case then you will want to come to our worship service this Sunday morning at 11am. I have been deep in the weeds with this sermon topic this week and I hope you will find it to be as helpful to you as it has been for me.

I encourage you to read John 6 several times between now and Sunday. Try to put yourself in the scene. How do you think you would have responded? What would you have said?

If you want to read my sermon notes, you will find them here: http://bible.com/events/49009983

If you cannot come in person, you can watch online by tuning into our Facebook page or you can watch our YouTube channel by clicking here. https://youtu.be/VIjyt2ZI4CM

Hope to see you Sunday morning! Love you much! Pastor Mark

Bring In The New Year Right - Worship Sunday at 11am

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

It feels like it has been so long since I have seen you all! That's what happens when we have negative 10 degrees on Christmas Eve!

Good news! That's not the case this week! As is typical for Ohio weather, we will see a swing of 60 degrees F with high temps around 50 degrees all weekend! Woohoo! Break out the Hawaiian shirts! Ha!

Seriously, some have wondered if we are changing anything for this Sunday since it is New Year's Day. The answer is everything will go forward as normal with our worship at 11am EST Sunday morning. We have endeavored to arrange a meaningful worship service for you all - we can't think of a better way to kick off the new year right than with worship.

If you cannot be with us in person Sunday morning, you can watch on our Facebook page and on our YouTube channel. Here is the link for the YouTube video. https://youtu.be/pne3VBh2H_o

Hope to start the New Year 2023 with each of you on Sunday! Love you much! Pastor Mark

Christmas Eve Service Online Only

Merry Christmas Eve my friends,

We have waited as long as we could to make the call for tonight's Christmas Eve service. Sadly - as of 7:30pm EST - we are still at a Level 2 Emergency here in Richland County. The roads are still slick and there is lots of blowing snow. Sooo... we won't have a public Christmas Eve candle lighting service at the church tonight.

HOWEVER!!!! We will still stream a Christmas Eve service at 11pm tonight!!!

One thing we learned extremely well during the 2020 Covid year was how to make adjustments when we couldn't meet publicly. Brandi and I will host tonight's Christmas Eve service online. We will each be broadcasting from our own homes, so don't go to the church building tonight. We won't be there. But we will be on Facebook. And we will be on YouTube!

Here is the YouTube link: https://youtu.be/Wxt8cmhS05I

Plan to tune in and please please please... participate! You can write lots of comments and wish one another Merry Christmas. You can find a candle to light. You can get your communion bread and juice/wine ready. And you can tell everyone you know - friends and family alike - about our Christmas Eve service online. They can watch no matter how far away they live! So tune in to our Facebook page or the above YouTube link at 11pm tonight EST.

Hope to "see" you at 11pm tonight! Love you much! Pastor Mark

Christmas Eve at Church Requel

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

Christmas 2022 is almost here! Despite the cold wintry weather outside, I'm sure excited on my inside about our plans for this Christmas.

Christmas Eve Candlelight Communion will begin at 11pm. We haven't started it this late in the evening before. But we thought it would be a great idea to end our Christmas Eve worship by beginning Christmas morning - 12am - worshiping Jesus together. So we sure do hope you will join us.

The band will be leading us in some great Christmas music. Brandi has arranged some of our Christmas songs and mashed them into some praise songs we often sing. It's pretty special and I can't wait until you hear. We also have several people who have stepped up and volunteered to sing special music.

I have written a new Christmas Eve sermon about the angels singing. Or did they? You'll have to come to find out. Or you can read the sermon in your Bible app or click here: http://bible.com/events/49005267

We also will be sharing a very special communion service together, literally breaking bread together before our final candle lighting. I'm looking forward to celebrating this communion with you all!

Finally - as we do each year - we will end our Christmas Eve service lighting all our candles, and then finally the new communion candles. These candles on the communion tables are replaced each Christmas Eve and always remind us of the Christ candle from which it was lit.

If you cannot be with us in person, you will be able to watch the live stream on Facebook and on YouTube. Here is the YouTube link. https://youtu.be/Wxt8cmhS05I

Lastly, I know the weather outside is frightful right now. As I write I am reminded that we are currently under a Level 2 Snow Emergency. It is my deepest hope that this travel ban will be lifted by tomorrow evening. If we are forced to close tomorrow night, we will post on our website and on our Facebook page. Also this reminder - we will not be having a worship service this Sunday morning.

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope to see most of you tomorrow night! Love you much, Pastor Mark

Remember To Set Your Clocks Back

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

First things first. Remember to set your clocks back one hour Saturday night. Though, as far as I'm concerned, anyone wanting to join us an hour early will be most welcome. Yours truly and all the praise team and tech team will certainly be at church more than an hour ahead of time. The more the merrier!

The Midnight Theologian. How have you been enjoying our sermon series from the Gospel of John? I know I have. Each time I pick up John's Gospel, I imagine the sermons that he must have preached about those special Jesus moments he remembered. This week is no exception as we consider the nighttime visit from Nicodemus. Herein we find the most memorable verse in the Bible: John 3:16. Make sure you come Sunday morning to find out some incredible things about how God has been spreading the Word about John 3:16!

For those of you who would like a head start on the sermon, you'll find all my notes here: http://bible.com/events/48980210.

The Songs We Sing. I know I brag about Brandi all the time - but really we are quite fortunate to have her as a team member. This week she has outdone herself once again. We will be singing 7 songs in total. Wow! One will be a brand new song for our Church. On two of them, she has asked me to play the keyboard so she is freer to lead our worship time. I'm excited to see how that goes! Also we welcome Dave back to the band after a well-deserved vacation.

Here are the songs we plan to sing: "Church (Take Me Back)' by Cochran & Co.; (NEW) "Sing Hallelujah" by Kingdom Kids / Shane & Shane; "Jesus" by Chris Tomlin; "I See Grace" by Micah Tyler; "Holy Spirit" by Francesca Battistelli; "Spirit of The Living God" by Vertical Worship; and "God So Loved" by We The Kingdom.

For those who will be watching our worship service online, you can log into our Facebook page or our YouTube channel shortly before 11am. Here is the link to YouTube: https://youtu.be/FCPi5dS5Quo.

Largest Sequels Group Yet! Congratulations go out to our Students Ministry Director, Eddie Walker, and his team. This past Sunday was the largest Sequels group yet! Yay! Eddie began the Sequels ministry just a little over a year ago and we are beginning to see the fruits of his labor. If you know of a student that isn't already going to church somewhere - invite them to Church Requel! I believe we are on the cusp of some great things in our student ministry. Congrats Eddie!

A Week Of Thanksgiving Services. Above you can see the schedule of Thanksgiving services in our fair city of Mansfield, beginning Wednesday November 16 and ending Wednesday November 23rd. 

Church Requel's Thanksgiving Service will be Saturday, Nov. 19th, at 6pm. 

We encourage you to attend as many of these as you are able. This is a great way to worship in different ways with different churches all praying a thanksgiving prayer to our Lord. We especially invite you to come Saturday night to our church as the praise band will be leading us in a very special Thanksgiving service with the music and enthusiasm you've grown to know and love. For those who cannot be here in person, we will also be streaming this special night. So put this on your calendar! Don't miss!

(I have added a download link at the bottom of this letter for the PDF flyer if you'd like to share this with someone else or put this reminder on your refrigerator.)

Thank you for your prayers and condolences. Finally, Mary Kay and I would both like to thank you all for your many thoughts and prayers for us as we attended Patrick's funeral this past Monday. Patrick died way too early - in our view - leaving behind a young wife and daughter. Many members of Mary Kay's family were there to support Amy and to celebrate Patrick's life. The photo above was taken at the dinner which followed the funeral. These are 8 of the 21 nieces and nephews on Mary Kay's side of the family. You can see two of our daughters, Jillian and Jennifer on the left. Amy is in the middle, four from the right.

Hope to see most of you - one way or the other - Sunday morning at 11am EST. Love you much! Pastor Mark

Download THANKSLIVING '22

Chris & Brian Lead Community Meal

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

The picture to the right shows that we all have hidden talents. Here Brandi is demonstrating her pizza making abilities. Tomorrow evening is our church's opportunity to serve a warm hearty meal to our neighborhood. Chris and Brian will be demonstrating their own hidden talents as they take the lead. Let's not leave them alone in this endeavor. Volunteers should show up by 4pm. We are usually finished by 6:30pm.

Usually Mary Kay and I love to help out with this meal too, but we will both be gone ... for good reason. I'm joining all my high school classmates up in Norton, Ohio to celebrate all our 65th birthdays this year. We'll be playing all our 1970s era music while catching up with one another. We are very deliberately NOT naming this a reunion, because no one likes reunions. But everybody LOVES a birthday party - especially at 65 years of age! About 75 of my classmates are coming. How fun!

Our Plans For Sunday Morning. I've really been enjoying our study from the Gospel of John. This Sunday we will wrap up chapter one with a focus on verses 12 and 13. I'm calling Sunday's sermon, "The Divine Paternity Case." Think of all the celebrity paternity cases you have heard. How many of them are about the Dad proving his paternity of his children? Isn't it usually the other way round? Yet in the Gospel of John we learn that our Father God has been chasing after us - the children of God! 

I'm particularly excited to talk about our Bill of Divine Rights as children of God. I've come up with seven of them, but these are not an exhaustive list. John 1:12 tells us the that Jesus (the Word) "gave the right to become children of God." What rights can you think of that you possess as a child of God?

Want a preview of this truly good news sermon? You can find it in your Bible app or you can use your browser with this link - http://bible.com/events/48965705.

Here are the songs we plan to sing Sunday: "Might Get Loud" by Elevation Worship; "Open Up The Heavens" by Meredith Andrews; "I Speak Jesus" by Charity Gayle; "No Longer Slaves" by Bethel; "Who You Say I Am" by Hillsong; and "God Really Loves Us" by Crowder. Thanks Brandi for arranging such a marvelous group of songs for us to sing! 

If you can't make it to church in Mansfield Sunday morning, you still have the alternative of streaming it on Facebook or on YouTube. Here is the link for YouTube this Sunday - https://youtu.be/HtnFrOmuoPk.

Thank you for your prayers for Mary Kay. A week ago last Tuesday Mary Kay fell and broke her wrist trying to catch her fall. Unfortunately it was a pretty bad break and required surgery. She now has some pretty impressive hardware holding everything together. She wanted me to tell you all that she is feeling much better now.

With that good news out of the way, it was a pretty tough week for us. We both greatly appreciate all your thoughts and prayers on our behalf. Your calls, cards, and meals were most appreciated. It's times like these that we know we are part of the family of God!

Blessings! Love you much! Hope to see you Sunday morning! Pastor Mark

Who Is The Maker And Who Is The Made?

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

We continue our new study in the Gospel of John by asking a most important question: "Who is the Maker and who is the made?" This may seem like an easy question and answer - but the asking and the answering of this question makes a profound difference in the way we live our lives and the way we see the world around us. This is why the Gospel writer John writes about this so early.

In preparing this sermon for this week, I found myself thinking that 'I know this stuff.' And 'you all already know this stuff.' So why spend time on it? As I continued my preparations I began to understand why we need to invest this week's sermon time into these verses. We know this truth. And we never really forget this truth. But it sure is easy to drift away from this truth in the day to day pressures of living.

If you'd like a head start, you can read this Sunday's sermon about the Maker and the Made in your Bible app. You can also click here: http://bible.com/events/48959149.

The songs we will sing... I'm happy to announce that Dave Johnson will be back with the band this coming Sunday. Dave is one of the original Jam Band members when we got started back in 2018. Welcome back Dave!

Here are the songs we plan to sing this Sunday: "The Heart of Worship" by Matt Redman; "Way Maker" by Leeland; "Revelation Song" by Kari Jobe; (New for us) "I See Grace" by Micah Tyler; "Here I Am To Worship" by Chris Tomlin; and "What A Beautiful Name / Tremble" by Hillsong and Mosaic MCS (arrangement by Brandi!)

If you would like to watch the worship service from your home, you can do so on our Facebook page and on our YouTube channel. Here is the YouTube link for this Sunday: https://youtu.be/ggcitwNAGJw.

Great Response From The Sequels! Last Saturday was the first student ministry outing at Kelly's Dairy Bar and Putt Putt. I'm thrilled to report to you that it was a huge success. Also good news, several of the new students also came back Sunday morning for the Sequels teaching ministry. Way to go Pastor Eddie! Look for more social times for our students coming up. Keep inviting students in your family and friends and also keep praying that this student ministry will grow. Keep praying also for Pastor Eddie!

Neighborhood Meal - October 8th. It's hard to believe, but our October Neighborhood Meal is right around the corner. This time the meal will be led by Brian Betts and Chris Thoman! Let's hear three cheers for Brian and Chris stepping up to serve! Of course they cannot do this by themselves, so let's make sure to show up with our servant hearts (and desserts) at 4pm on Saturday, Oct. 8th.

More Security Measures. Beginning October 2nd we plan to lock the front doors (at the rear of our sanctuary) by 11:30 each Sunday morning. So to review the new security plans, we will lock the side door shortly after the worship begins at 11am and we will then lock the front doors (back of the sanctuary) at 11:30 each Sunday morning. We will put signs up this week and announce the new security plans this Sunday and then implement the new changes the following Sunday, October 2nd. Thanks for understanding.

Love you all! Have a great weekend! Hope to see you Sunday! Pastor Mark

Sequels Go Putt-Putting Saturday!

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

Does anyone else love this picture of Tre putting through the outhouse back in 2018? I pulled this photo from our Facebook page. What's even better than the pic itself is his momma's comment: "How did Tre get to be so big?" Ha! Has anyone seen Tre lately? 

Why this stroll down memory lane? Our students - also now known as the Sequels - are going on another Putt Putt adventure tomorrow (Saturday.) Here are the important details:

• Meet at 2pm at Kelly's, 1280 S. Main Street
• Fun Fellowship Activities
• A round of putt putt golf
• chatting while enjoying an ice cream treat together
• FREE to students
• Bring friends!
• Plan to come to church on Sunday too!

I'm wondering if we'll get another photo of Tre? Ha! Seriously, if you know a student who might be interested in joining the Sequels at Church Requel this year, this putt-putt outing would be the perfect event to join up! If you want more info, contact our Student Ministry Pastor, Eddie Walker.

Our Plans For Sunday. As far as I know, we will have a full praise band Sunday morning.  We have plans to worship with lots of songs: "Sing Wherever I Go" by We The Kingdom; "King of Kings" by Hillsong; "See A Victory" by Elevation Worship; "The Whole Earth" by Gateway Worship; "Word of God Speak" by MercyMe; "Loving Word" by Jeremy Camp; and "Whom Shall I Fear" by Chris Tomlin. Wow! Brandi has outdone herself again with these worship plans!

If you will be watching the worship service stream, check out our Church Requel Facebook page OR you can tune into our YouTube channel with this link - https://youtu.be/CsKDzZLMHZo

We will be continuing our new Gospel of John sermon series this Sunday. Our second sermon will cover just the first two verses - John 1:1-2. There is a lot there and I can't wait to share it with you. Want a head start? You can read Sunday's sermon here: http://bible.com/events/48955432

Side Door Locked After Worship Service Begins. Remember that this is the first week that we will be locking the side door soon after the worship begins. We are doing this for security purposes. I was talking with another local pastor this week and he told me something that I didn't know. He said that besides us he knows of only one other church in Downtown Mansfield (including his own) that doesn't lock all their doors once the worship begins. Sadly, this is the world we live in now. So do your best to arrive at church on time... or maybe even a little bit early so you can visit with all your friends.

Love you all much! Pastor Mark

New Sermon Series - The Gospel Of John

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

I'm pleased to announce to you all that Sunday morning we will begin a sermon series from the Gospel of John. The first five sermons are all laid out and will get us all the way to John 1:14. Actually that's the verse we begin with this Sunday.

So why John's Gospel? Lots of reasons. I'll start with this one - it's my favorite. When you get to be 65, I figure you get to the point where each sermon is precious and one had better be preaching from the verses in the Bible that mean the most.

The Gospel of John is so unique! It's different than the other 3. Most scholars tell us that John's Gospel was written after the other 3 gospels. In fact, it may have been written later than most of the other books in the New Testament. We learn things about our faith and about our Savior that we discover no where else besides the Gospel of John.

For me, each week will be pure joy to write and to preach. This week is no exception. I've been digging deep into John 1:14 for several decades now and still don't feel like I've hit bottom. I am very excited to share with you all this Sunday morning.

For those who wish to read the sermon you can do so in your Bible app or by going to this link: http://bible.com/events/48951306

The songs we will sing Sunday include "Great Are You Lord" by All Sons & Daughters; "Who You Say I Am" by Hillsong; "No Longer Slaves" by Bethel; "Even If" by Mercy Me; "The Voice of Truth" by Casting Crowns; and "Living Hope" by Phil Wickham.

If you are watching from afar, you can tune in via Facebook or YouTube.  Here is our YouTube link for Sunday - https://youtu.be/8hF7Im1mXXo

New Security Procedures Beginning Next Sunday. Starting next Sunday, Sept. 18th, we will lock the side entrance door about five minutes or so after the worship service begins. Most of you arrive quite early and so this change will not affect most of you. But if you should come later, you will need to go through the main doors at the back of the sanctuary.

We are making this change to keep people from wandering in off the street and then wandering through the church. We can better keep an eye on the main entry doorway in the back of the sanctuary. Our students meet downstairs during the worship service and we don't want to risk unknown people going to where our students are meeting.

While I am talking about security, I would remind you all to keep your cars locked in the parking lot when you come to church. Last Sunday our Youth Pastor Eddie discovered that someone had gone through his vehicle and stolen some gift cards. I had the same experience several years ago.

We are so very blessed to be an island of grace in the midst of Downtown Mansfield. But perhaps this would be a good time to remember our Lord's admonition to be as wise as serpents (Matthew 10:16).

Still Celebrating John's Sermon and Service. 

I considered it a great honor and privilege to welcome John Vetter to the Church Requel pulpit this past Sunday morning. It was just a year ago that he was baptized in our church (also in a 3-piece suit!)

Since then John has told me that he feels called into the ministry in some fashion - either as a chaplain or as a pastor. When I heard that I knew that I wanted to invite him to preach for us. He did a wonderful job! Many young men his age would have faltered in their speech or delivery. Not John! He wrote down exactly what he wanted to say and then said it. With power and conviction.

Very soon, John Vetter will enter the Marine Corps. I definitely want our congregation to keep in touch with him as best as we are able, especially as he goes through boot camp. When I know an address I can share with you, I will do so. In the meantime, this coming Sunday morning may be your last chance to say goodbye for now.

Love you all much! See you Sunday! Pastor Mark

What A Weekend At Church Requel!

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

Each Friday morning I write you a letter telling you how great this weekend is going to be. And this Friday is no different. Just skip down a few paragraphs if you want to read about that first.

However, THIS week I want to give a big shout out to just how over-the-top amazing last weekend was for us! Last weekend was the final Saturday and Sunday of unofficial summer. As such, it was also the weekend of our summer concert. What a special time! The music was great! The food was delicious! The fellowship was fantastic!

But what I will always remember the most - the teamwork was really terrific! What could easily have taken multiple days for one or two people to do was accomplished in just a few short hours. Don and his volunteers had already built the outdoor stage. The rest of the team showed up at noon to begin setting everything up outside. I still can't believe it all went as smoothly as it did.

And it wasn't just the praise band. Bryon and his team set up the grill and cooked up loads of hot dogs and cheeseburgers. I saw folks walk back to the grill during the concert for seconds... and seconds on their seconds! Ha!

Then after the concert - I was a little in dread of the tear down. But many hands made the work go quickly. In about 75 minutes everything was set back up inside for the Sunday morning service. Wow!

Thank you one and all for making last weekend such a special time together. Not only for us - but for invited family and friends as well as for our neighborhood. Many came and just sat down and listened. We'll probably never know on this side of the divide what eternal differences we made last weekend.

Thank you also for your donations! As of last weekend we had raised between $600 and $700 for St. Luke's. We will leave the special fund open through Labor Day weekend and then we will cut the check to Paul Lintern. Once more your generosity speaks volumes for who you are inside! For those who still wish to make a donation, you can go to give.ChurchRequel.com and click on the designation, "Point of Grace."

John Vetter speaks this Sunday! I hope you all will join us Sunday morning for something really special. I've invited John Vetter to preach for us. It will be our first time to hear John bring the Word of God, but it will not be his first time. He was invited already by another church earlier this summer.

As many of you know, John graduated from high school this year. Within the next two weeks, John will be joining the Marine Corps! He has many long term goals, but one of them involves becoming a pastor or a chaplain.

It was one year ago that we had the privilege of baptizing John. Who could forget John showing up for his baptism in a three-piece suit!?

Let's continue to support him and give him a grand send-off by going this weekend and hearing him preach for the first time at Church Requel. Let's also continue to support him by writing to him in the future when he will be in the Marine Corps and looking forward to hearing from home! As soon as we know his future address, we will share it with you.

A Little Grandpa News... As I wrap up this week's newsletter, allow me to share a little personal story. This was the week for many of our children to return to school. I don't know how this could be possible already, but my oldest grandson - Grayden - headed off to college (DePaul) in Chicago this week. While at the same time, two other grandsons headed off to Kindergarten and 2nd Grade (Matthias and Titus). These are wonderful times and it is worthwhile to stop and celebrate.

Love you much, Pastor Mark

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

I'll Fly Away

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

I'm really looking forward to our gathering Sunday morning. Each Sunday this summer we are focusing our sermon time on a different hymn. This week is "I'll Fly Away." I can't wait to share this one with you.

As you will learn Sunday morning, this one is pretty special and personal to me. When I was nine years old my dad bought a used banjo. One of the first songs he learned on it was this one: I'll Fly Away. But Dad needed someone to sing the song while he played. Often he grabbed me or all us kids and we would sing it again and again.

This one is not just special to me. According to the I'll Fly Away Foundation (yes indeed there is such a foundation) this song has been recorded over 5,000 times! It's also one of the hit songs from one of my very favorite movie, O Brother Where Art Thou?

Sunday I'll tell you the story of how this song came to be. And as always in our Hymns 4 Him summer series, we'll walk away with 4 life lessons from the song. Don't miss it!

Want a sneak preview? The sermon is already written and the text is uploaded. You can check it out here: http://bible.com/events/48929856.

The Songs We'll Sing. Of course, "I'll Fly Away" isn't the only song we'll sing. This week will be pretty special too because our students will help lead our worship time together as they do whenever we have a 5th Sunday in the month. Here are the songs we hope to sing: "Mercy House" by Wendy Diedre; "Your Name Is Power" by Rend Collective; "Raise A Hallelujah" by Bethel; "You Are Good" by Israel Houghton; "More To Come" by Passion and "Glorious Day" by Passion. Is SOUNDS like it will be an awesome morning of worship!

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/39w1D6ggcv4.

Neighborhood Meal Planned For August 13th. On the second Saturday in August 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

Tis So Sweet To Trust In Jesus

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

How are you liking our summer sermon series, Hymns 4 Him? I have been pleasantly surprised by how many of you have written to me and told me that you are really enjoying these talks.

This Sunday we talk about the hymn, "Tis So Sweet To Trust In Jesus" by Louisa Stead. This will be our 7th sermon in the series. We are halfway through summer and this sermon marks our halfway point in the series.

I really love this hymn. I learned it back in the early days of the Covid pandemic in March 2020. It has also come to mind many times since. One of the reasons I love it so much is because I also learned the story by the hymn and the hymn writer, Louisa Stead. This is a story that harkens back to 1879 and has its roots in Ohio. I can't wait to share it with you.

For those of you who don't want to wait until Sunday, you can read the sermon text in your Bible app or here: http://bible.com/events/48926524.

Our Plans For Sunday morning. As far as I know, we will have the full praise team leading our worship Sunday morning. Yay! Thank you all so much for your sacrifice of preparation.

Here are the songs we are planning to sing: "The Throne Room Song" by People & Songs; "Oceans" by Hillsong; "Do It Again" by Elevation Worship; "Jesus Friend of Sinners" by Casting Crowns; and "I Am A Friend Of God" by Israel Houghton.

For those of you who cannot be with us physically in church this Sunday, you can stream the worship service live by going to our Facebook Page OR our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/1GuxWB88YTM.

Our condolences to the Walker Family. Eddie lost his mom, Carol, this past week. Our deepest sympathies go out to Eddie, Brandi, Kailey, Paityn, Leia and Tre. Of all the tributes and photos that have been posted this week, the one that touches my heart the most is when Eddie had the privilege to baptize his mom. As Eddie shared this week about his mom: "Can’t wait to see you up there in the front row worshipping our Jesus!!!" Now THAT'S a testimony of faith!

Neighborhood Meal Planned For August 13th. On the second Saturday in August 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 don't know all the details yet, so stay tuned. Maybe there will be food offered as well! The important thing now is to get this date on your calendar and to start telling everyone you know! It should be a grand time together.

Blessings! Love you much! Pastor  Mark

I Need Thee Every Hour

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

This Sunday morning I plan to ask you a question that I, personally, have found to be most profound.

When is the time OR what is the occasion that I have no need of our Lord God?

If you are like me (and I think in this regard most of you are), then your reflexive answer will be, "Never!" There will never be a time... there will never be an occasion when I don't need our Lord.

And yet, if you are like me (and I also think that in this regard most of you are), the action of our lives are different than the reflexive answer we give. We say we need the Lord God every hour, but we live our lives as if we don't need the Lord most of the time.

We will consider our sixth hymn in this summer series and in doing so we will consider those many needs and those many times when we should be leaning upon our Lord more heavily than we do. I hope you will come or tune in Sunday if you are far away. 

Here are the links you may want for this Sunday. To read Sunday sermon click here: http://bible.com/events/48923173.

To watch the worship service live, you can go to our Facebook Page OR you can select our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/RA6sl55rPe4.

Here are the songs we plan to sing this Sunday: "Might Get Loud," by Elevation Worship; "Draw Me Close" by Michael W. Smith; "Need You Now" by Plumb; "Lord I need You" by Matt Maher; "He Is" by Crowder; "How Great Is Our God" by Chris Tomlin; "Believe For It" by CeCe Winans.

You may notice that the number of songs we sing each Sunday is growing longer. This is not accidental. We love that our Praise Team has learned so many different songs and we would like to sing more of them each week. Our leadership team met this past Sunday and we officially extended the planned length of our service to 12:30 pm. In case you're wondering, that's fifteen minutes longer. 

The truth is that we aren't really locked in to a particular time anyway. We plan our worship services three weeks in advance, each week honing and focusing more on whatever the theme will be for a particular Sunday. But then when Sunday actually comes, we turn the entire worship experience over to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Most of you have told us you love it when we gather and you're in no hurry to leave. We also hope that as our students finish up their lessons, they will have time to join us up in the sanctuary for some concluding worship together with the adults.

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 don't know all the details yet, so stay tuned. Maybe there will be food offered as well! The important thing now is to get this date on your calendar and to start telling everyone you know! It should be a grand time together.

That's all I have for you today. Thanks so much for your ongoing prayers for my dad. Mary Kay and I are planning on visiting again this afternoon. He has lost a great deal of mobility, but we are thankful that he is not in great pain. We credit your prayers for that grace.

Blessings! Love you much! Pastor  Mark