The Thursday Update

OCTOBER 31, 2024

Lakeshore Friends—

Each year, the month of October is designated as Pastor Appreciation Month.  While it’s not a popular or well known month, it is a chance for people in the church to express their love for their pastors.  With October coming to a close, on behalf of all five of us Pastors, I want to say thank you for your cards, gifts and kind words for us this past month.  It’s been a blessing to receive such encouragement from you.  The truth is that you do this year round so consistently and practically.  Every Sunday, I leave church encouraged by the things you do for God and for others.  I’m also encouraged by the way you long to grow in your faith by attending and growing with a hungry heart for God and the Bible.  To my way of thinking, that’s your greatest gift of appreciation to me.

For all of this, I say thank you, Lakeshore!

My hope is that you feel encouraged by being at church each week.  That’s one of the goals of the church (Hebrews 10:23-25, 1 Thessalonians 5:11) and one of our many objectives each Sunday, even when the topics are also challenging on any given Sunday.

Isn’t encouragement so good to experience in our own lives and to extend to others as well?  This is why I’m excited about what we’ll learn together in our current series, “Defeating Discouragement.”  By looking at the Psalms, we’ll find the encouragement we need for this hard and sometimes discouraging life.  And you seem to be excited as well based on our attendance last Sunday and the things being said.

Let’s keep encouraging each other!  And let’s invite more people to join us so they can find the encouragement that God offers through His church.

Warmly,
Vince