The Thursday Update

DECEMBER 18, 2025

Lakeshore Friends,

One of the great anxiety-producing aspects of Christmas is finding the right gifts for the people we love.

Unless we really plan ahead and start early, we have about a month to purchase all the gifts we hope will make so many others happy. We want their gift to be something they really like. We hope it will be something that reflects how much we care about them. And we want it to reflect thoughtfulness on our part so that when they open their gift, they will experience all of this and more.

We have all received gifts that have met and not met this criteria.

One year, when my wife and I were dating I gave her a gift that was wrapped inside a ring box. She thought it was going to be an engagement ring. Instead, it was a small cookie! Needless to say, that did not meet the criteria I just outlined! (No worries, however. I eventually gave her an engagement ring inside a gigantic 16” round cookie with the words, “Will You Marry Me?” written on the cookie. She said yes and finally forgave me for the aforementioned gift!).

A few years ago, at our staff gift-exchange Christmas party, a staff member gave me pretty cool gift, something called a “Battery Daddy”. It holds lots of batteries and organizes them by size. And it has a battery tester so you can measure your batteries life. I love that thing!

But regardless of the physical gifts we give, there is one gift that we can give people that will last forever: an invitation to come to faith in Jesus. It’s the gift they will really like. They will know how much we (and God) cares about them. And they will see our thoughtfulness in giving it to them. If you are a Christian, you know that all of this is absolutely true!

With Christmas just a few days away, why not give people the gift of Jesus? You can do so in so many ways, but one great way is to invite them to church on Sunday and again to one of our three Christmas Eve services the following Tuesday and Wednesday. People are as open as ever to attending church at Christmas and your invitation may be the thing that gets them to attend! It really could be!

Last week, when I invited a former town police chief in the area, he texted me this response: “You are the first pastor of all those pastors from our meetings… that reached out like this! I’m honored!” He then told me he will be there with his wife and his kids if they don’t have to work.

An invitation could be the greatest gift you ever give someone!

I hope to see you, and a family member or friend with you on Sunday!

Warmly,

Vince
Senior Pastor