Church Requel Blog - Writings of Mark Pierce

How Do You See YOU?

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

Join us for our worship, Sunday morning February 14th at 11am EST. We will be singing some great praise and worship songs including "Your Love Never Fails" by Jesus Culture, "How He Loves" by David Crowder, "Good Good Father" by Chris Tomlin, "King Of Love" by Jesus Culture, "Cornerstone" by Hillsong," and "God So Loved" by We The Kingdom. We will pray together for our congregation needs and we will share communion together. Our Bible study will be from 1 Peter 2:4-10.

Our sermon is titled, "Who Am I In Christ?" This is no small question. Allow me to re-state it. How do you see yourself? Or here is another one: What difference does my Christianity make? Peter is writing to Christians who are discouraged and struggling. In this Covid-filled world, these ideas of how we rise above our struggles, because we are Christ-followers, are so timely!

Last Sunday everything on the stream went swimmingly well... right up until the last 15 minutes. Suddenly everything went dark. If you were watching, you may be wondering what happened. Our Spectrum Internet went out right about noon. I don't know if you have seen their commercials, but Spectrum advertises 99.9% reliability. Apparently we discovered the 00.1% (sigh).

We have made adjustments as a result. We will keep one of our cameras (my iPhone) always connected through Verizon rather than through Spectrum. So in the future, if we lose our Spectrum connection, we can always remain connected with Verizon. If that ever should happen again, give us a moment to change over the camera and the mic. It's never happened before and I'm hoping it doesn't happen again... but now we are prepared if it does.

On the positive note, we were THRILLED to have Leanna Perdue managing our stream and your comments from her remote location. How wonderful to have another Church Requel team member! If you wonder how your comments are showing up in the lower third of your screen, it's because Leanna is making it happen! Yay!

Another positive is that the worship stream is now available on YouTube as well as the normal Facebook feed. Quite a few of you have been watching on YouTube. There are several advantages to YouTube. First, you can watch it on your larger TV screen rather than just on your mobile device - so it is more shareable with the family. Second, it also more shareable with your friends. You can use THIS LINK to connect directly to the video AND to share it with your family and friends so they can watch too.

I also want to thank you all for your continued financial support of our church. In this weird time when most of us are not comfortable gathering together, it has been so wonderful to watch you continue to give to Church Requel. To make a one-time contribution, just go to give.ChurchRequel.org. Again - thank you!

Hope to "see" most of you Sunday morning at 11am EST. Love you much! 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

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

Our Oldest Hymn - "Be Thou My Vision"

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

I am SO EXCITED to bring Sunday's sermon to you! I've been looking forward to July 10th for a long time. The hymn, "Be Thou My Vision," is perhaps the oldest hymn we know and sing today. Some say it goes back to the 5th century. Even more miraculously, what began many centuries ago was not finally completed until the beginning of the 1900s.

I can't wait to tell you the whole story. The hymn's lyrics have inspired the Christian church for more than a millennium. But when you know how the hymn we sing today came together, you will be inspired even more. This is one of those stories that only God could have brought together from beginning to end.

You'll hear the real story of what we now celebrate as St. Patty's Day. You'll hear the story of the priest and musician centuries later encouraged by St. Patrick. When this musician/priest discovered he was losing his eyesight, he wrote down the ancient Irish lyrics. Then a millennium later two unconnected female academics put together the ancient Irish hymn and lyrics into the English we know today. It's truly a remarkable story. Don't miss it this Sunday!

For those of you who can't wait, you can read Sunday's sermon here: http://bible.com/events/48919574.

The songs we will sing Sunday morning include: "Only A God Like You" by Tommy Walker; "A Thousand Hallelujahs" by Brooke Ligertwood; "O Praise The Name by Hillsong; "In The Light" by DC Talk; "Hurry" by Jesus Culture; and "Christ Our Glory" by Sovereign Grace Music.

The whole praise team will be back from their 4th of July holidays, so expect a rocking good worship time together!

For those of you who can't make it to our Mansfield downtown church location on Sunday, you can watch online with either our Facebook page or on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/v5TJrfp9aUU.

Finally, I leave you with this photo taken last night at Clearfork Reservoir. As Mary Kay told me last night, "God was doing His artwork!" It truly was stunning. I love these summer evenings!

I'm heading up to Barberton to visit my dad this afternoon. Thank you all for your continued prayers on his behalf. Our family appreciates it more than you'll ever know.

Blessings! Hope to see you Sunday! Love you all! Pastor Mark

Happy 4th of July Weekend!

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

First off - both the pastor and his wife wish each one of you a most joyous 4th of July weekend. We know that many of you will be traveling and celebrating this weekend. We wish you safe travels and a most happy time spent with friends and relatives.

This is my favorite time of the year, long warm, sunny days. The other night Mary Kay and I drove down to Clearfork Reservoir just to take in the sunset. Fireworks are wonderful, but nothing replaces God's daily sunset show - in my humble estimation.

Glorious Freedom - Sermon! Because it is Independence Day weekend, we will continue our Hymns 4 Him summer sermon series with "Glorious Freedom" by Haldor Lillenas. Many of you may not know this hymn as well as I do. Lillenas became a publisher later in his life and for those with a Church of the Nazarene background - Lillenas was THE publisher of record for the church. His hymn, "Glorious Freedom" was one I sang in church at least once a month for ten years when I was a kiddo growing up.

In writing this Sunday's sermon, I spent a great deal of time in Galatians 5. I thought through the reason for our ongoing sin struggles. Why do we continue to sin when we are told that Jesus has freed us from our sins? Two words came to my mind: selfishness and emptiness. Of the two, I'm not at all sure that the latter - emptiness inside - isn't the stronger of the two. I look forward to sharing my discoveries with you on Sunday.

For those of you who would like a head start, you can check out my sermon in your Bible app OR just use this link - http://bible.com/events/48916272.

Because many of our praise team will be traveling this weekend, our worship leaders will be fewer but every bit as enthusiastic! Here are the songs we are planning to sing this Sunday: "Dwell In The House," by yours truly; "All Things New" by KXC Worship; "Graves Into Gardens" by Elevation Worship; and "Freedom" by Hillsong.

For those of you want to watch online (and I hope all of you traveling will do so!) you can link up with us on our Facebook page or on YouTube: https://youtu.be/o_FH6b9gu30.

Training for our new in-ear monitors went extremely well this past Sunday. We enjoyed eating lunch together first. Fellowship together is always such an important part of any team!

Then we gathered up front - each one of us with our own mixer in front of us. I put a camera over my own mixer so everyone on the team could see what I was doing. We talked about how to mix, how to make sure we could hear our fellow team members, how to pan each of our channels to one side or the other, and how to mute the channels. At one point Brandi muted her entire mixer and it took us a while to figure out how to get it working again. We were so glad that happened during our training session and not during church!

Then we took our classroom training and put it to work - we sang several songs together. This gave us plenty of time in between each song to make adjustments and to ask questions. We finally finished up around 4pm. So it was a very full day for your worship team, who also showed up 2 hours early before church began! To all of you who gave sacrificially on Sunday to learn this new sound system: THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! 

And to all of you who gave your money so sacrificially so we could purchase this new gear: THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

One of the cool new things that has also happened is that we have replaced the two old and very large speakers that face the congregation with two much smaller and much newer speakers. We think it looks and sounds so much better. What do you think? Let us know!

That wraps up this week's pastoral newsletter. I pray that each one of you continues to enjoy both your political freedoms as well as your spiritual freedoms. And I thank each one of you for continuing to pray for my dad. We continue to be amazed at how well he is doing with his very serious illness. God has been good to our family! Blessings! My love to each of you! Pastor Mark

In Ear Monitors Progresses Ahead Of Schedule

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

The worship team tried out their new in-ear monitors for the first time this past Sunday morning. This was two full weeks earlier than we had planned. As you can see from Brandi's picture on the right, we absolutely love this new sound system for church. 

The week before your pastor put on his sound engineer / tech hat and ran all the new lines. Now instead of one mixer in the back that controls the sound for everyone, the mixer in the back will run the house sound (the two speakers on either side of the platform facing the congregation), AND each praise team member will have their own mixer to run the sound to their own earphones.

You can see Brandi's giant smile. I saw this at one time or another on each band member as they each were able to design their own sound for their own needs.

We were NOT planning on using this new system this past Sunday. The plan was for me to try it out during rehearsal so that I would be able to teach all the rest on how to use it. But Sunday morning as each member of the team arrived early for their rehearsal AND each one wanted to try it out, Brandi made an executive decision.

"OK - let's give it a try," Brandi said, "but only for rehearsal. We'll use our monitors and speakers as always for our actual worship."

But then a funny thing happened during rehearsal. Everything worked really smoothly. By the end of the rehearsal, everyone voted to keep in the earphones and turn off all the other on platform speakers. How could we say no in the face of such excitement.

So - was it perfect, first time out? Of course not. We all have to get accustomed to the new in-ear speakers. They each come with six different sized pads to fit inside our ears. It takes some getting used to. When those earbuds are in our ears, we can't hear anything else. So we have to really make sure we have the mix right.

Brandi's earbuds had a defect and began crackling. We've already ordered a replacement for her set. But because she was having problems, she took them out mid way through the worship service and then was shocked to discover there was no sound up on the platform at all! Remember, we had turned everything else off.

With those few hiccups though, things are going really well. We have a training session planned for Sunday after church. The praise team will invest an extra three hours after church Sunday to learn all the details of their personal mixer-monitors. That's dedication! Because they will have already had the experience of two worship services under their belts, I'm betting that the training time goes really well too.

This past Monday Brandi and I spent an extra six man hours cleaning up the platform. Every platform speaker, monitor, and amplifier has been removed. All the lines have been re-run. Everything is zip tied and taped down. You won't believe how much better the front of the church looks now!

We also repurposed two of our larger monitors for our main house speakers. They are about half the size of the ones we had and the sound that comes out of them is also much better. Chris Thoman came and helped us replace those giant speakers. (They were so heavy!) Then we practiced a couple songs just to test that we had replaced everything correctly.

You should have seen the joy on Chris' face as he ran sound in the back. He told us, "I have so much better control now! It sounds so much better."

One more added bonus! The buzzing we've been experiencing when the overhead lights are running is GONE! Woohoo!

So yes - we are excited. We know it won't be perfect, because the Lord knows we are not perfect. But your praise team is so excited that they will be able to give you (and the Lord) their very best each week going forward. To all of you who gave so sacrificially to make this happen we say to you: THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

Sunday's Worship Plans. Here are the songs we are planning to sing together: "Holy Water" by We The Kingdom; "Broken Hallelujah" by The Afters; "God Turn It Around" by Jon Reddick; "What Faith Can Do" by Kutless; "Control" by Tenth Avenue North; and "That's The Power" by Hillsong.

For those of you who will be watching online, you can worship with us on our Facebook page or on our YouTube channel - https://youtu.be/nfYKz6a0wMY.

Brian Betts will be teaching from the pulpit Sunday morning. The title to his message is "The God Who Knows Your Trials." His Scripture text comes from Revelation 2:8-11. If you would like to read his sermon text ahead of time (or while he is delivering it) you will be able to find it in your Bible app. Here is a link - http://bible.com/events/48912663.

These are exciting days for our church. I sure do love hanging out and worshiping with you all each Sunday morning. Hope to see you there! Love you! Pastor Mark

Challenging Week For Local Ohioans

Our neighbor's tree down.

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

And it is a Good Friday - at least for the Pierce household. Late Monday night a large storm that included 3 local tornadoes blew through our area. Trees were down everywhere - along with broken electric lines. Nearly 60,000 of us in North Central Ohio have been without power for most of the time since. Our power came back on yesterday afternoon. Most of you have had your power restored too. Yet there are still 4300 Richland County electric customers who still don't have power as of this writing.

Like most of you - we were in survival mode most of the week. We called it "Camp Pierce". The power outage gave us a good chance to see how prepared... or not prepared... we were to be without electricity flowing automatically through the lines with the flick of a switch. Most of us are not taking this miracle of electric power for granted this morning.

Sound System Install - Luckily I started working on the sound system early on Monday - the only day we had power - and the only day I really needed power to work on the sound system. Most of the rest of the week was a matter of laying down the cable and connecting all the new sound mixers to brackets and to our praise team stands. We haven't had a chance to try it out yet - and it will still probably be several weeks before we make the switch over to the new system. However, we were able to get a lot of work done this week. We made good progress. For all of you who were so generous with your giving to make this possible - THANK YOU!

Our Worship Plans For Sunday. Sunday will be Father's Day here in the U.S. Father's Day is also celebrated in the United Kingdom this coming Sunday as well. Why do I report this little holiday factoid you ask? Because Don and Vanessa Causley from Devon, England will be sharing their worship gifts with us Sunday. Don has some valuable insights on Father's Day from a personal perspective. He will be sharing right at the start of the worship service, so don't be late! Vanessa has a special song to sing - "Everything" by Lauren Daigle. I think this one might be the best Vanessa has ever done! If you're like me, you'll be walking away thinking to yourself, 'Wow!'

If you are like Don and Vanessa - as well as many others - who watch the worship service online - you can tune into our Facebook page or watch on YouTube - https://youtu.be/xG3UlsKzxCg.

We will all be wearing our Hawaiian shirts again and will have the colorful leis for you to wear when you come in. Let's continue our festive summer celebration at Church Requel!

Here are the songs we plan to sing Sunday: "Father's House" by Cory Asbury; (NEW) "The God Who Stays" by Matthew West; "Run To The Father" by Cody Carnes; "So Will I (100 Billion X)" by Hillsong; and "Good Good Father" by Chris Tomlin.

Hymns 4 Him #3. We will continue our summer Hymns 4 Him series with an appropriate Hymn for Father's Day: "This Is My Father's World" by Maltie Babcock. As always we will learn 4 takeaway lessons from this hymn.

I'm guessing that this may be a new one for some of you. Don't worry. I'm looking forward to teaching it to you. As always, I hope you walk away with a new appreciation for our hymns as well as those who wrote them.

I must tell you that sometimes my sermon writing takes an unexpected twist or turn. That definitely happened this week. You may think that the pastor knows exactly where he is going when he sits down to write. However, if one is committed to following the lead of the Holy Spirit, then the sermon writer himself can also be surprised by what comes out!

Here are the online notes for this Sunday sermon - for those of you who just can't wait to see the winding road of the sermon writer: http://bible.com/events/48909151.

That's all I have for you this week. Remain faithful. Keep the faith! Share your faith! Invite someone to come to church with you Sunday morning! Love you much, Pastor Mark

Once Again God Provides All We Needed!

New sound equipment arrived!

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

This has been another week filled with God providing all we have needed! I honestly don't know why we ever even doubt anymore. Over and over again God has proven Himself faithful in providing for our little church. Over and over again you all have proven yourselves sensitive to God's leading Spirit, making you generous and faithful beyond all measure!

Last Friday's newsletter gave you what I thought was our final update - we had raised $2,400 of the $3,543 needed. To be honest, even with that, I was rejoicing. I wrote that I wouldn't be asking you to give further and that we would take the balance out of savings. In my own mind I figured those savings were just God providing for our needs ahead of time. Boy did I figure that wrong!

Within an hour I received a message from someone telling me that she just couldn't stomach the money coming out of savings and immediately sent in $500. Over the course of the next two days we received all the rest, and even ten dollars to the good! Wow!

As of late last night all the equipment - with the exception of 3 brackets - arrived in Mansfield. I'm going to pick it up today and deliver it to Church Requel. I must also tell you that we purchased through a local vendor (who has asked to remain anonymous), who sold us all the gear at his cost and also (legally) did not charge us any sales tax. In our original design proposal, we expected this same sound gear to cost us $4,325. Another God provision! 

So now comes the work of installation. Over the course of the next several weeks I will be trading in my pastor's hat a few days each week for my sound/computer tech hat. Actually I'm really excited about this. (Can you tell?) I feel like I've come a long ways since we first installed our digital sound board. I barely knew how it worked then. It's not one of the subjects they teach us in seminary... but they definitely should! 

Our crew in April

Neighborhood Meal Saturday Evening. We feed the hungry in our neighborhood this Saturday night so plan on coming out and assisting. it's always a really good time together. Thank you Don and Stephenie for your faithful leadership! For those who want to volunteer, show up at 4pm. We begin serving at 5pm and are usually finished around 6pm. Also - if you can - bring a dessert to share.

Our plans for Sunday morning.  We continue our Hymns 4 Him sermon series this Sunday, telling the back story of the famous hymn, Amazing Grace, and its author, John Newton. I've done quite a bit of research into this history and it just might surprise you to hear what I've learned. As always we will take away 4 important lessons for our modern day lives.

Here is a link to my written sermon notes for those of you who wish to read along or read ahead: http://bible.com/events/48905773.

I also plan on leading you in the singing of Amazing Grace in the middle of my sermon using my tiny soprano-sized Hawaiian ukulele. I will also be wearing another flowery Hawaiian shirt AND we will be giving out leis as you enter the sanctuary. So find yourself a Hawaiian shirt to wear and join in the summer fun! (For those of you watching from home - get in the spirit of the thing and wear Hawaiian too!)

Here are the songs we plan to sing together Sunday morning: "Shine Like Stars" by Passion; "Look What You've Done" by Tasha Layton; (NEW) "Broken Vessels" by Hillsong; "This Is Amazing Grace" by Phil Wickham; and (NEW)  "The Throne Room Song" by People & Songs. As you can see we have a couple new songs this week for the band and congregation to learn. I'm excited about both! Thank you Brandi for your leadership and work behind the scenes for our church.

For those of you tuning in from home - many of you many miles away from Mansfield - you can watch at 11am Sunday on our Facebook Page or our YouTube channel https://youtu.be/citRREh8xkI.

Hiring Youth Pastor Eddie Walker... one year later. 

Let's end this week's newsletter where we began - thanking God for His provisions. It was one year ago that the leadership team made the decision to hire Eddie Walker as our youth pastor. At the time we had few young people and little budgetary flexibility. Can we get an "Amen" for F-A-I-T-H?

Looking back on it now I think it is one of the best decisions we've made. We don't always have an abundance of young people, but there are some Sundays when I look back at the congregation and wonder to myself, 'where did they all come from?'

Eddie himself has been incredibly faithful with this ministry and I'm so thankful for him. Over that year our young people have taken on their own identify - naming themselves the "Sequels," which in a church named Requel, is clever. Together Eddie and his students are making their way each week through the Scriptures, providing each of them a foundation they will have for the rest of their lives.

So again, I say to you all who give so generously week after week to make this possible, THANK YOU! God knows who you are and I pray he blesses you tremendously. Also thank you goes out to Eddie for his faithfulness. It doesn't matter whether he has three or thirteen in his class - he gives his very best teaching self each and every week. Maybe give him a pat on the back the next time you see him.

Hope to see you all this weekend! Love you! Pastor Mark

Celebrating Our Graduates

John is heading to the Marines!

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

What a wonderful day of celebration we all enjoyed last Sunday. What a delight to see Elijah, Anna and John all ready to graduate from high school and begin their adult journeys.

I enjoyed talking to our grads and finding out their future plans. Anna Scott plans to attend Ohio Northern University majoring in mechanical engineering! Wow! Smart girl! She even has already thought through her concentration: aerospace! Don't you love it!

It was also a joy to see Paul again. I almost didn't recognize him with his beard. It also reminded me to keep praying for Chris, who is following in Sara's footsteps in the Air Force.

Anna will be attending Ohio Northern.

I was blessed to sit across from John Vetter and hear all about his future plans. He will be joining the Marine Corps this October. After 3 months of boot training, he can begin attending college while still in the Marine Corps! Wow! John told me that the Marines will pay for all his education for the rest of his life. Outstanding!

Here is the best part. So what does John want to do with all that education possibility? He wants to obtain a theological education, becoming an officer and a chaplain in the Marines... and eventually perhaps become a pastor!

And it all started at Church Requel!

In case you didn't know it, John is actually one smart dude. In his Marine entrance exams, he scored in the top 3 percent of all who take the exam. He could choose literally any job in the Marines that he wants to choose! Impressive!

I don't know about you, but I would love to have John deliver a sermon at Church Requel before he heads off to the Marines. I've already asked him and his response? Just give me a date! I love it!

Best of luck Elijah, Anna and John. You will continue to be in our thoughts and prayers!

Sunday's Worship Plans. Here are our worship plans for this coming Sunday morning. We begin our worship time with 4 songs, two of which are new for our band: "Goodness of God" by Bethel; (NEW) "Live Like That" by Sidewalk Prophets; (NEW) "God Turn It Around" by Jon Reddick; and "Everyday" by Hillsong. We also plan to close our worship Sunday with a fifth song, a CR favorite: "God So Loved" by We The Kingdom.

Before the sermon, I plan to sing one last song from Grandma Wise's songbook - "Life's Railway To Heaven," an 1890 song by Charles Davis Tillman - probably the most famous of Grandma's songbook. It's been covered by Johnny Cash, The Oak Ridge Boys, Patsy Cline, Tennessee Ernie Ford, and The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, just to name a few. But Sunday morning you will get to hear your pastor's version of the song!

The song perfectly fits the mini-sermon series we are currently in: "12 Choices to Live My Best Life." This Sunday we will talk about the final six choices. As I wrote this sermon, I imagined my own grandchildren (all 10 of them) sitting around and reading what I wrote. For that reason alone, this is truly meaningful to me. I hope you will find it helpful too. If you'd like a head start on Sunday's sermon, you can read it in your Bible app: http://bible.com/events/48895246

For those of you who live afar from Mansfield or for those who are shut in and cannot travel to the church, you can watch online LIVE as the service progresses either on our Church Requel Facebook page or on our YouTube Channel: https://youtu.be/mUrx1jlD4jE

Sound System Fundraising Update. Many deeply felt thanks go out from me to all of you who donated to our special sound system fundraising efforts. We estimate that the cost of the improvements will be $3,543.49. So far we have raised $2,208. Both numbers are really big for the size of our church. Again - much appreciation from me to all of you. We will keep the special fund account open for two more weeks (through the end of May), so if you've been waiting to see the need you need wait no longer!

The parts for the sound system are starting to come in. The digital distributor and all the actual in-ear headsets have already arrived. We are expecting (hoping) the actual mixing boards to arrive by the middle of June. The delay in receiving the parts is part of the whole economic shipping delay experienced by everyone these days.

Not Old... Just Vintage!

I celebrated a milestone of my own yesterday, turning 65 years old! Yay! I now have joined the Medicare Club! At this age we don't count the candles... we just enjoy the glow, right?

As I reflect on this week, I really love it that I was able to celebrate with so many of you! Mary Kay and I enjoyed dinner with Chris and Leanna Wednesday. Then Thursday night I was invited to celebrate with Kailey, who also celebrates a birthday on May 19th each year. That's right! The SAME birthday! We just don't make a big deal out of the fact that I've been around the sun 65 times so far, and she only 21 times. Actually, for Kailey, 21 solar rotations is a big deal for her! Ha! But what fun! Thanks Kailey for celebrating with me this week!

On my actual birthday, I started the day with all my friends down at Paul Revere's Family Restaurant - still my favorite morning haunt. Then I came home and learned a new song on my ukulele with 4 new jazzy chords I've never played before. Finally I took in a ride on my e-bike! What a fun day!

That's going to wrap up this week's pastor's newsletter. 1,000 words is my limit! Hope you still like this Friday missive. Love you all! Hope to see you Sunday! - Pastor Mark

P.S. - Keep my Dad and Julie in your prayers. These continue to be tough days for them. Thanks!

Graduation Potluck Sunday!

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

This Sunday promises to be a special day. We plan to honor our high school graduates, John Vetter and Anna Scott. They have both been an important part of our congregation for the last 10 years and we want to send them off with our best Church Requel celebration. We all know what that means: POTLUCK SUNDAY! So plan to bring your side dishes and desserts. Don is planning on providing the ham as our main dish. The church will also provide all the paper products and eating utensils. Let's celebrate together Sunday!

Sunday Worship Plans. Here are the songs we plan to sing on Sunday: "Overcomer" by Mandisa; "My Story" by Big Daddy Weave; "Beautiful Day" by Jesus Culture; and "Made New" by Lincoln Brewster.

Don and Vanessa have prepared a special song for us - and for the first time ever at Church Requel, we get to see Don play his accordion while Vanessa plays her uke and sings. You won't want to miss it! Yours truly is also planning to sing another song from Grandma Wise's songbook, "I Have But One Goal," by Molly O'Day.

If you will be watching from home Sunday morning, you can tune in either with our Facebook Page or on our YouTube Channel. Here's the link: https://youtu.be/ROgulS8W5r4

Our sermon Sunday morning is the first part of a two-parter titled, "12 Choices To Live My Best Life." Since it is graduation season, I thought of the message that I would want to give to my own grandchildren as they embark on their lives. And yes, I DO have a grandson ALSO graduation from high school this year - Go Grayden! So over the next two weeks I will be sharing the 12 choices that I think make a big difference in a life well lived.

For those of you who can't wait until Sunday - here are my sermon notes for Sunday: http://bible.com/events/48891677

Hope to "see" all of you Sunday morning! Love you! Pastor Mark

P.S. Thank you all for continuing to pray for my dad and our family. Much appreciated!

Special Mother's Day Speaker!

Happy Friday morning Church Requel!

We have a real treat in store for this Sunday morning. Jillian Vincent will be bringing our Mother's Day sermon. Most of you know Jillian - she has taught us at Church Requel before.

But for those that don't know, she is a mom to 3 young boys. She has also been a foster mom. Jillian is the content and teaching lead director at Dayton Women In The Word. Oh and yeah... she happens to also be my youngest daughter.

Her message Sunday is entitled, "Cheerful Generosity: The Culture Of the Family Of God." I've seen her sermon text and it's really special. (Of course I'm biased, yet still... it's really special!)

One of the things I really like about her message Sunday morning is her sensitivity to the issue of motherhood. She starts off her talk with the admission that Mothers Day can be a tough day for a whole host of reasons. But God sees and God knows. So no matter what, I think we ALL will come away with some valuable teaching this coming Sunday. I encourage you to be there if you can, or to watch online if you cannot be with us in person.

For those watching from afar, you can watch the stream on our Facebook page or you can watch on YouTube. Here is the YouTube link: https://youtu.be/4noSOwsnd9w.

Other Sunday Plans. Here are the songs we plan to sing together this week: "Believe For It" by CeCe Winans, "My Jesus" by Anne Wilson, "How Deep The Father's Love For Us" by Stuart Townend and Yours Truly; and "Amen" by Micah Tyler.

Brandi also has something very special planned for Mother's Day Sunday.  She will be leading our prayer time together with a very special prayer song, "In Jesus Name," by Katie Nicole. Thank you for that Brandi!

I also have something special to offer this Sunday - a song from my Grandma Wise's songbook - a songbook passed down from her mother to my mother and ultimately to my brother. This year Todd and I have been joyously taking songs from this old notebook and figuring out the songs. The song pages are yellowed with many decades of use.

None of the songs have any music on them - just the lyrics. It was up to the musicians to hear the music and then figure it out - just like Todd and I are doing now.

Anyway, I plan to sing you all a song from that songbook that is perfect for Mother's Day - "Hold Fast To The Right."

Next Sunday - Graduation Potluck! We have TWO high school graduates at Church Requel this year - John Vetter and Anna Scott. We'd like to celebrate their accomplishment in fine Church Requel fashion with a Church Requel potluck! So plan on bringing lots of food - and may be a graduation card or two to send off our graduates with fond memories of their home church.

That wraps up this week's pastoral newsletter to you all. Thank you all for your continued prayers for my dad and our family. Love you much! Pastor Mark

Thanks For The Breakfast!

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

For those in our church who live near Mansfield (increasingly our congregation grows outside of the Mansfield area, so I never take that for granted), we enjoyed a fabulous breakfast together last Sunday. Thanks so much Breakfast Crew: Dave, Becky, Judi and Cindy. Here are some pictures from our fellowship together. (I tried to make this a gallery you could swipe through, but alas my HTML skills didn't work for me. Still you can see all the pictures below:)

Breakfast At Church

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This Sunday: We will be opening with an old hymn sung in a new, Church-Requel-way: "Come Thou Fount (Above All Else)" by Robert Robinson and Shane & Shane. I hope you like it as much as I do. We also will sing "Way Maker" by Leeland; "Fierce" by Jesus Culture; "Praise Your Name" by Corey Voss; and "God's Not Dead" by Newsboys.

Here is the link for those of you who will be watching online using either our Facebook Page or on YouTube - https://youtu.be/YFfxVxLnLc0

Brian Betts will be leading our sermon/teaching time with a study from Revelation 2:1-7. The title of the sermon is "The God Who Knows Your Heart." I have read through it and believe it is a very timely study for us. Thank you Brian. Those of you who would like a head start can check it out here - http://bible.com/events/48884484

Sound System Fund Update. We have ordered all the equipment we need for the June installation. We thank local supplier, DRM Productions and Partner Jonathan Pierce, for providing al the equipment at cost - about a $700 savings! YAY! Still our cost was $3,543.49 (yes - a very specific number. I can't help myself. Details!) We opened up a special fund account for April and May. Through April we have raised $1578. Let's continue our giving to this special fund through the end of May and have it paid for by the time the equipment begins to arrive.

Potluck Celebration May 15th For John's Graduation. We have one senior graduating from high school this year - John Vetter. What an exceptional young man! A footballer, a band member, and a wrestler all rolled into one! As well as one amazing Jesus worshiper!!!

And who could forget September 12th, when John was baptized here at Church Requel in a full, three-piece suit! I know it was a highlight of my ministry!

After graduation, John plans to join the Marines in October. John is definitely suited to be one of the few and the proud.

John, we are proud of you and we want to send you off right. So let's plan on a potluck gathering filled with cards and special gifts to send John on his way with all the love and affection of Church Requel!

That wraps up this week's pastor's newsletter. Hope you're all doing well. Keep my dad in your prayers. Love you much! Pastor Mark

Sunday Breakfast / Romans 8 Video Responses

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

This coming Sunday morning has SPECIAL written all over it! So take just a moment now and read this quick pastoral weekly newsletter so you won't miss out on a thing.

SPECIAL Breakfast Sunday morning at 9:30am! This Sunday morning we will be enjoying breakfast and fellowship time BEFORE our worship service begins. We will begin serving at 9:30 am. So be there or be square! Ha! Many thanks go out to Dave, Paula, and Cindy for arranging this special meal for us. The rest of us don't need to bring a thing... except our appetites and appreciation.

SPECIAL Video Responses to Romans 8 Series. This coming Sunday will be our final Romans 8 study. We began this study at the beginning of February and as of this coming Sunday we will have enjoyed 13 lessons together! Wow! Do you have a response? Is there a special memory you have? Is there a special verse? Right now while you're thinking about it, video record yourself for no more than a minute, and tell the church about your special memory. Then send it to Brandi. She is putting together a combined video of all of our responses. Many of you have already responded. Thank you for that. If you haven't responded yet, it's not too late. But get it done right away. Brandi needs some time to stitch them all together. You can message Brandi if you have her phone number. Or you can message her on Facebook. You also can email her at [email protected]. I can't wait to see what you have to say!

The Rest of Sunday Morning. I quite enjoyed all the special worship music last week on Easter Sunday. Didn't you? Thanks Brandi and Praise Team for arranging all that for us. We won't have quite the same number of songs this week, but I'm sure it's going to be glorious and worshipful. Here are the songs we are planning to sing this Sunday: "House of the Lord" by Phil Wickham, "Champion" by Bethel; "In Christ Alone" by Kristian Stafill; "Battle Belongs" by Phil Wickham; and "See A Victory" by Elevation Worship.

Brian will lead our communion together. Brandi will lead our congregational prayer together. If you will be worshiping from your home Sunday morning, you can watch from our Facebook page or on YouTube. Here is the YouTube link: https://youtu.be/MzUpECN2k_w

Our last sermon from Romans 8 is titled, "In The Slaughterhouse." I must tell you that this week's sermon was not the one I thought I would be bringing. These final verses are all about God's extraordinary love for us no matter what. That God is there for us no matter what we are facing. That NOTHING can separate us from God's love. What a celebration! What a victory!

But then right in the middle of all this, Paul refers us to Psalm 44 - not a victory party at all, it would seem. This is a verse about sheep getting slaughtered. And WE are compared to those sheep! What gives? Don't miss Sunday morning. If you can't wait, you can read the sermon here: http://bible.com/events/48880741

Making Progress on Sound System Fund. Several of you were generous again this past week. Thank you for that. As of this writing we have received $1,385. Yay! That's a little more than a third of what we need to accomplish our goal. We plan to keep this special fund available through the end of May and hope to have the work done by the middle of June. Again - we so appreciate your generosity. So much of what we enjoy each and every week at Church Requel wouldn't have been possible without these special fund giving times over the years. If you would like to donate online with your debit or credit card, go to Give.ChurchRequel.com and then click on the down arrow designation, "Sound System".

Keep Praying! We have so much right now to pray about. Eddie's mom. Cheryl's sister. Stephenie's grandma. Kristy's stepdad. My dad. (If you're not sure exactly what the prayer requests are, check out the Church Requel Prayer Chain group on Facebook. If you're not already a member, just click the link to be included and we will include you straight away.) Many of these people are the prayer warriors who usually pray for everyone else. Now they are in the midst of the battle themselves. So please - let's keep them all lifted and strengthened with your prayers.

Love you all much! Pastor Mark

Good Friday Church Requel!

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

I greet you every week this way, but it is especially appropriate on Good Friday! I pray that this weekend you will reflect on both the joy and the cost of our relationship with God through Christ. We have planned a special worship experience for Easter Sunday morning!

Your Easter Worship Team in 2021

This Sunday we will enjoy a lot of praise and worship as we celebrate our risen Lord. Our team has been practicing lots more than normal for this "Super Bowl" of church services. Here are the songs we plan to sing together: "Man of Sorrows" by Hillsong; "Because He Lives" by Matt Maher; "Look What you've Done" by Tasha Layton; "Jesus Friend of Sinners" by Casting Crowns; "A Thousand Hallelujahs" by Brook Ligertwood; "Living Hope" by Phil Wickham; "This I Believe (The Creed)" by Hillsong; "Forever" by Kari Jobe; and "O Praise The Name" by Hillsong.

I wonder if we should stretch before we begin worship? Hmmm...

I'm also excited for our Easter morning sermon. This year we pull our Resurrection sermon from  Romans 8:33-34. Read it! You'll find great hope and inspiration. For those of you who would like to read the entire sermon this weekend, you can find it here. http://bible.com/events/48877122

For those of you who cannot be with us in person, you most certainly can be with us both in Spirit and in Streaming! You can watch either on our Facebook Page or on YouTube. https://youtu.be/ryj4K0lMKfI

Breakfast Together on April 24th. Speaking of celebrations, be sure to come early a week from Sunday to enjoy breakfast together. Many thanks to Dave and Becky and Cindy, who are serving us that morning. We will begin serving at 9:30am.

Our team on January 30th

Serving A Meal Together on April 25th. Speaking of meals - we will be serving a free meal together to our neighborhood again the very next morning, on Monday, April 25th, at the outdoor Pavilion down hill from Church Requel. If you would like to volunteer for that, show up at the church a 9am. We are usually heading down to the Pavilion by 10:30 and are usually serving by 11am. Don Angel and I would appreciate your help if you can be available. Looking at the picture above, I can promise you a MUCH WARMER experience this time!

Sound System Update. We have had our special sound system fund account available for two weeks now and have raised $450 so far. That's about 12% of what we need to make the improvements we want to make. Thanks so very much to those who have kicked us off in such fine fashion. We will keep the special fund open through the end of May. Any extra help you can provide will be much appreciated!

The worldwide parts and supply chain shortages are also affecting this particular field as well. Our current expectations are that we will be receiving the final parts for installation by the middle of June. All in God's good time!

As you read this and prepare for your Resurrection Sunday celebration, please do take some time this afternoon to reflect on just how much love God has bestowed upon us. Our relationship with God comes to us freely, but it cost God everything! Let's never forget!

Love you all much, Pastor Mark

Saturday Meal / Sunday Palm / God Is For Us!

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

You are an absolutely gorgeous, beautiful church! I know I am your pastor and so I can be - perhaps - excused for my favorable bias. But in my corner I do possess evidence that proves my case. Check out this photo of the last time you served a meal to those who are hungry in our neighborhood!

Our meal crew in February

You will have another opportunity this Saturday evening (tomorrow night!) to demonstrate your beauty by serving another meal. Please come by 4pm and if you wish to be especially beautiful, bring a dessert. I know you are excited to serve. Here is a message I received yesterday from Deb: "See you at the meal on Saturday - I will come early to help. Deb S."

Awesome Plans For Palm Sunday! Make sure you are at church in plenty of time Sunday. We'll start right at 11am with a powerful Palm Sunday greeting from Cheryl Buckley. You won't want to miss it!

Brandi will follow that up with her solo rendition of "Hosanna (Praise Is Rising)" by Paul Baloche. This is one of my favorite songs that Brandi sings. Really! I don't think you'll be able to sit through it. You'll be looking for your own palm branches to wave!

Our band will lead three congregational songs: "How Great Thou Art" by Stuart Hines (and also yours truly - we have a special rendition we sing at Church Requel and you only get to sing this special part here! Aren't we lucky!?); "Good Good Father" by Chris Tomlin; and "The Blessing" by Kari Jobe.

Our students will read our Scripture reading for the day - Romans 8:31-33. Then they will sing together another song by Chris Tomlin, "Our God," another Church Requel favorite!

Our students sing, "Our God."

Sunday Sermon - "God Is For Us" - I am very excited to bring you this Sunday's sermon. We will be continuing our Romans 8 study. This will be our 11th sermon from Romans 8. (We are nearing the end. Sermon #13 and the last one will be on April 24th.) 

We bring so much good news Sunday morning. Your Heavenly Father is for you! God is on your side. He doesn’t miss a thing you do. He is cheering you on. He loves you with an everlasting love. God’s love for you endures forever!  God cares for you and me because His love never ends, never tires, never wears out, never falters! (Ok - I have to stop now. Otherwise I'll give it all away.)

If you want to read more, you can! I have published the sermon already over on your Bible app. Check it out under "Events" and "Church Requel." You can also just click here to see the sermon text in your browser. http://bible.com/events/48873148

Following the sermon I am privileged to sing you a special song, "How Deep The Father's Love For Us," originally written by Stuart Townend. In a moment of inspiration (as in after I wrote this week's sermon), I wrote a couple of new verses for this song. You'll hear them Sunday morning for the very first time!

It looks like this is going to be another very special weekend for us here at Church Requel. I hope you can come and be a part of it. If you live far away or are unable to come Sunday, you can still watch online. We will stream the worship service on our Facebook page as well as on YouTube. Here is the YouTube link for Sunday. https://youtu.be/qEqg_YUnt88

Remember our Special Sound System Fund. Last week I told you all that we have approved of a special giving fund to improve our sound system at Church Requel. Many of you have responded so beautifully with your affirmations. We even received our first donation last Sunday. Thank you for that. We will keep this special fund open through the end of May. If you would like to give in person at Church Requel, just mark your envelope with the words, "Sound System." If you are giving online, go to give.ChurchRequel.com and click on the designation, "Sound System."

Hope to "see you" at Church Requel one way or the other this weekend. Love you! Pastor Mark

New Worship Team Monitors Approved

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

After taking a week off from writing my Friday newsletter, I'm back. Yay! Did you miss me last Friday? I'm afraid I got the DCD - Double Candle Disease. Ever have that? When you burn the candle at both ends for so long that eventually something has to give? Between my normal pastoral duties, and then preparing tax returns, and then going to the March of Prayer each night (actually my fav activity of the day!), I think my body just gave out. I am mostly recovered, but some of the nasty symptoms do seem to persist. So your ongoing prayer for me is greatly appreciated. For those wondering, I did take a Covid test, but (thankfully) it came back negative.

New In-Ear Monitors For Our Worship Team. I am thrilled to report to you that our leadership team has decided to move forward with in-ear monitors. This will go a very long ways to reducing the total sound coming from our platform and will go a long ways to helping our tech booth sound crew to better mix our sound. We are hoping you as a congregation will see a big benefit once we get it all worked out.

What exactly is an "in-ear monitor" you ask? Each of our praise team members will wear earphones and will hear the other singers and instrumentalists through their earphones. These earphones will replace all the various speakers and amplifiers that are now present on our platform, thus greatly reducing the amount of sound that you hear.

It has not been lost on any of us that many of you prefer to sit in the back. And it may be that you just like the back seats. But it also could be that the sound up close is just too loud. We in the praise band have experienced this personally on many a Sunday. 

The technology for an in-ear monitor system has been available now for about 10 years. The leadership team believed this was the next best step forward for our weekly worship experience.

We hope you will agree and will consider helping out with the added cost to the church. We have established a special fund for the sound system and will make it available for contributions through the end of May. If this is something you would like to support with giving above and beyond your normal contributions, use this special fund account. If you're giving at church, just write "sound system" on your envelope. If you want to give online go to give.churchrequel.com and click on the "designation" line and choose "sound system."

We don't often do this kind of thing. But when we have in the past, you have been so supportive. Consider the following worship extras that have been made possible by your past generous special giving: (1) the digital mixing board; (2) the electronic drum kit; (3) the laser projector; and (4) the portable round baptistry, just to name a few. Thank you thank you thank you!

We plan to do all the work in-house, which will save us labor charges. Rather than cluttering up the front of our platform with even more tech stuff, the opposite should be true in the end. All of the speakers and amplifiers and most of the cabling and power cords will disappear. The result should be much more pleasing to both your eyes and ears. We anticipate that this work will take us a couple months to complete, since none of us are experts or full-time audio techs. But hopefully by the end of May you should notice a big difference.

Sunday's Worship Plans. Here are the songs we plan to sing this Sunday: "Might Get Loud" by Elevation Worship; "King Of Love" by Jesus Culture"; "Next To Me" by Jordan Feliz; "Give Me Your Peace" by Gateway Worship; and "Ever Be" by Bethel.

Brian Betts has worked for a very long time to bring you the special music Sunday morning. Brian will sing AND PLAY HIS UKULELE the song, "Behold Our God" by Sovereign Grace. You read that right! We have another ukulele player in our midst! It appears that Pastor Paul's dubbing of our church as The First Church of the Ukulele might just have some validity. Ha! Thanks Brian for using your talents for the Lord Jesus!

Our sermon Sunday will be Part 2 of "God Works For The Good" from Romans 8:28-30. Last week we talked about that God works for the good in our lives. But exactly what is it that God does? Here are the 4 things we'll talk about Sunday:

First, we’re going to affirm that it’s God Who does the work. Second, we’re going to talk about the difficulty we have when talking about time. Third, we’re going to talk about the challenge of being conformed to the image of God’s Son. Finally we’re going to talk about the specific five (5) good works that God does in us, His children.

I promise that all the news Sunday will be GOOD NEWS! I don't know about you, but I am ready for some good news!!! So come prepared. If you can't wait until Sunday, you can read Sunday's sermon in your Bible app or you can click here: http://bible.com/events/48869321

For those of you watching from home, here or afar, you can watch the live stream on Facebook by going to the Church Requel page. You can also watch on YouTube. Here is the link. https://youtu.be/HwEXH-jIsgA

That will do it for this Friday morning. I hope you all have great plans for your weekend (in addition to Church Requel.) Personally Mary Kay and I and all my Sibs and their spouses will be throwing a big 91st birthday party for my dad tonight. I can't wait. It's going to be a good time together!

Love you all much! Pastor Mark

Pastors Mark & Paul In The Chome Saturday!

Good Friday morning Church Requel!

I'm delighted to tell you that Paul and I will be leading the March of Prayer from the Chome here at Church Requel Saturday evening at 6pm. We will be singing original songs written by both Paul and myself. And we'll be praying together along with all of you and all the other "Marchers" who come about the prayer topics you all will choose. It should be a really special evening. AND... it will be followed by snacks and fellowship time together. 

I have to admit that I'm really looking forward to this time leading beside Paul. There is a comfortableness that comes along with friendship and familiarity. I hope you all feel that too and will make a special effort to come to church twice this weekend - both Saturday night and again Sunday morning.

If you cannot make it here on Saturday, we will stream the evening's worship service from the Chome on both the Godsfield FB Page and the Church Requel FB Page along with our Church Requel YouTube Channel. Here is the link for the Saturday night YouTube event - https://youtu.be/snpYwWB0GRE.

Sunday Morning at Church Requel. When Saturday night is all over, we still have Sunday morning to look forward to! Yay! (Is this a little of what Heaven will be like? Going from one worship experience to another? To me this entire March of Prayer feels a little like that! But I digress.)

Brian and Don will join me leading the worship singing. We've decided to bring back some of our old favorite songs that we know you love to sing too: "Good Grace" by Hillsong; "Song of Heaven" by Mack Brock; and "The Way (New Horizon)" by Pat Barrett.

However, the boys don't have all the joy Sunday morning. We have two very special "specials" from our gals for our worship of our Lord also. Brandi will sing "Look What You've Done" by Tasha Layton and then Brandi will lead us into our communion time. After our sermon, Kristy Hergatt has agreed to debut her brand new song Sunday morning at Church Requel. Is that awesome or what? The song is titled, "Groaning (Hallelujah)" and is based on Romans 8:26...

... which just happens to be part of our Scripture study for Sunday morning. We will continue our study of Romans 8 with our focus this weekend on verses 23 - 27. Once again the Holy Spirit arranged our worship plans ahead of time by simultaneously motivating me to write a sermon on these verses AND ALSO causing Kristy to write a new song. Kristy will share with all of us how she came about to write this song and the part that Romans 8:26 plays in the song itself. I don't want to give it away. You must come and/or watch online!

Of course we will stream Sunday's worship service on both our Facebook page as well as on our YouTube channel. You can tune in at 11am Sunday on YouTube here - https://youtu.be/e5GEVgD3Skc

How You Can Reserve Your Worship Stream! By the way, I give you these YouTube links each week. Did you know that if you click on them right as you are reading this weekly newsletter, that you'll immediately be taken to that correct place where our video stream will be shown AND you will find a little "reminder" button asking if you want to be reminded? If you click on the button, YouTube will remind you on your phone Sunday morning (or Saturday night) when the video stream goes live and will give you a link to watch. Is that cool or what?

Where We Are Going With Our Sermons This Month! I am really excited about the next several Romans 8 studies. As good as it has already been... it's going to become even better! This Sunday we talk about living in that tension between the already and the not yet - if you are a Christ-follower, you really need to know about this. It will SO HELP YOU on your Christian journey! Here is a link to read this Sunday's sermon - http://bible.com/events/48861275.

Next Sunday we will invest our entire Sunday morning on just one verse - what I think is many of your favorite verse in the Bible - Romans 8:28. That sermon is titled "God Works For the Good - Part 1." (Again, by the way, we have a really special treat for you next week - Vanessa has a special song all ready to go for Romans 8:28!)

The following week we will move forward just two more verses and discover all the wonderful things God has already accomplished in the lives of His children - that includes you if you are a Christian! Then - on Palm Sunday - we will enjoy what may be my favorite sermon so far in this whole series, "God Is For Us," based on Romans 8:31-32. Did I mention how excited I am to be preaching these sermons? I hope you will share my enthusiasm!

Taste of Heaven on Earth! I have to stop writing now. It's too early to get too over-excited about what's going to happen. I AM going to live in the moment! I AM going to enjoy what God is providing right now. Ha! I really do hope you are just as excited about our shared future as I am. God is doing marvelous things in our midst right now - between the March of Prayer and the Romans 8 sermon series. It's easy to miss out on because the news in the world is just so terrible. However, God has provided us just a little taste of Heaven here on Earth. Let's enjoy it together!

Love you much! Pastor Mark