IMPORTANT UPDATE

The 2022 Global Leadership Summit at Lakeshore Community Church has been canceled.

Please see the update below from Pastor Vince DiPaola for more information.

• If you have purchased tickets as a Lakeshore attender, you will be receiving a full refund and we'll be in touch with you shortly.
• If you did not register as a Lakeshore attender, the Global Leadership Network will be in contact with you about your options.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us. You can reach us by phone at 585-392-5253, or email us.

Lakeshore Friends—

For the past 18 years, we have hosted an event each August called the Global Leadership Summit (GLS). For two days (originally two and a half days) we would host this event live via satellite at our church for hundreds of leaders in Rochester, Western NY and Ontario, Canada. In fact, the first one we hosted was held in 2004, less than two months after we moved into the first phase of our building. For years, it has helped us develop a leadership culture in our church and with our Staff, Elders, Trustees, Members and Attenders. It required work from nearly 100 volunteers each year. Many of you have helped at one or more of them (my sincerest thanks to anyone who has volunteered!) and many more LCCers have attended and benefited from it as well.

This year, one of the speakers scheduled to be a part of the GLS made some public comments that made national news earlier this spring that were overtly antagonistic to our biblical beliefs on God’s creative order for the family and individuals. They troubled me and so, after consulting with our leaders, I did the biblical thing (Mathew 18:15-18) and shared my concern with our field representative and the president of the GLS. Last week we found out that they have decided to have this person remain a part of the faculty. As a result, we have informed them of what I said when I shared my concerns with them initially— namely that we cannot in good conscience continue to host this event. So this year’s GLS event at Lakeshore will be canceled as will future GLS events.

This was a decision made initially by me for this reason: everything that happens on our campus and in our auditorium is ultimately my responsibility as your pastor. While imperfectly, I will always diligently do my best to ensure that what is said and done here is God-honoring and biblical. I could not say that for this year’s event.

This decision comes with some sense of grieving and loss, as you can imagine with relationships that have spanned nearly two decades. But I know with complete certainty that this is what God wants me and our church to do. I wanted you to hear this from me directly so you can know why this is happening.

Thanks for your understanding. If you have questions, feel free to ask me or any of our Pastors or Elders and we will gladly answer them the best we can.

Warmly,
Vince