The Thursday Update

JANUARY 8, 2026

Lakeshore Friends,

The quality of our life can be measured by many things, but I’m not sure it can be measured by anything more important than relationships. Tell me about the quality and depth of your relationships and I will be able to predict how much you are enjoying life… or not enjoying it.

Think about your life. If you charted the happiest times in your life, I’m really confident that you would have relationships with people close to you that are strong and vibrant as well as encouraging and comforting. And if you did the same thing with the saddest times in your life, I feel just as confident that you would be distant from the relationships that matter most in your life. These relationships would likely be in a very discouraging and discomforting state.

Would you agree?

Interestingly, the most important relationship that shapes your joy and determines how satisfying your life is the one you have with God. In fact it all starts with Him and your fellowship with Him. Your relationship with God will carry over into your relationship with others which will carry over into your enjoyment of life.

So choose to relate well to God. Find times to be with Him in Bible Study and prayer. Think about Him non-stop. Thank Him for His love, mercy and grace toward you.

And choose to relate well to others. Find friends who will encourage you so that you can, in turn, find others who you can encourage.

On Sunday, I’ll talk about how to find faithful friends and how no friendship is better than the one we can have with God.

I hope you’ll be here to learn the third big step in “Making The Change And Keeping The Changes” you make in life.

Warmly,

Vince
Senior Pastor

P.S. If you want a list of great and key Bible verses to memorize, here is the “ABC List” I mentioned last Sunday, find it here.

DECEMBER 30, 2025

Lakeshore Friends,

The calendar year is coming to an end soon. What was 2025 like for you? I’m pretty certain of a few things:

First, you had some successes in your life, hopefully involving getting closer to Jesus.

Second, you had some areas of your life that didn’t reach the levels that you know they should have, hopefully not involving your closeness to Jesus.

Third, you want to make some changes in the new year ahead so that when 2026 ends, you have more of the first things to celebrate and less of the second things to commiserate over.

So how do you make changes in your life that will really last beyond the first few days or weeks of the new year? That’s what we’ll cover on Sunday with our first service of the new year. Building off of what Pastor Brian Pawlowski taught last Sunday, I’ll talk about the kinds of resolutions that last.

I hope you’ll start the new year off on the right foot by being at Lakeshore. Let’s kick off the new year together!

Warmly,

Vince
Senior Pastor

DECEMBER 23, 2025

Lakeshore Friends,

Celebrating Christmas Eve at church is one of the most powerful things we can do.  While Easter has the highest attendance, when it comes to powerful services, Christmas Eve may hold the lead.  It is the day that God started His direct involvement in the world because it is when God became a man.  Jesus Christ, eternal God, took on human flesh and also became man.

C.S. Lewis put it this way, “The central miracle asserted by Christians is the Incarnation.  They say that God became Man.  Every other miracle prepares the way for this event, or results from this event.”

Maybe that is why we experience so much joy and worship at Christmas Eve services.

I hope you will be here for one of our three services on Tuesday and Wednesday.  We’ve added a service on Christmas “Eve Eve” to make it as accessible as possible for as many people as possible to be part of these amazing services.  If you can attend services on Wednesday (instead of Tuesday), there will likely be less crowding.  But just do all you can to attend.

And make some invitations.  It’s never too late.  I snapped a picture of the Lakeshore invite card and texted it to many family and friends.  And I still plan to try and invite more people.

Hope to see you here so you can worship God and experience the power of Christmas Eve and Christmas!

Warmly,

Vince
Senior Pastor