The Thursday Update

AUGUST 15, 2024

Lakeshore Friends—

We've spent the past five weeks working on the final phase of major church-wide technology and production upgrades.  After completing the LED wall and stage lights in 2022, this summer we have worked on the final phases of our upgrades.  They include a new sound system for the Auditorium, new energy-efficient LED house lights, a new video camera system that will help us better capture services for online experiences and future viewing excellence, and soon, new viewing technology to customize what is presented on each of our over 30 TV monitors throughout the building.  All of this will help us catch up to today’s tech standards.

This will help us in a number of ways:

1. Our Auditorium sound will be improved.  The sound will be more uniform throughout the room and be more soothing to listen to.  We have really needed this.  It will take time for us to perfect our use of it all, but you’ll notice improvements immediately.

2. Our Auditorium experience will be more creative.  We can now create moods and experiences with our house lighting for various moments and elements in the services held there.  Good Friday? Christmas Eve?  Easter?  We can create moods that help us appreciate Christ’s sacrifice, His birth, His resurrection, and so much more.

3. Our Auditorium seating is much more accessible.  You’ll see that we have reconfigured the seating locations so that there is easier access to all seats with the use of shortened rows of seats and more aisles, thanks to the increased floor space we now have. By the way, we also have seats in the back of the Auditorium that are reserved exclusively for families with young kids, giving them a dedicated area near the exit in case they need to make a quick retreat. Of course, we always encourage families to engage their kids in Lakeshore Kids classes, where the team, led by Jill Freese, do an amazing job helping them learn about God, the Bible and His love for them.

4. Our Atrium and classroom experience will improve.  This will happen over the next few weeks as we upgrade the Atrium sound and service broadcast quality.  Stay tuned!

The big question, though, is why? Let me share why we are and are not doing this.

We are not doing it to be the most trendy, tech-forward church in Rochester.  Who cares about that?!  With that said, the technology in our twenty-year-old Auditorium was increasingly growing more outdated and breaking down.  This was the natural next step for us to take for the long run.

We are doing it because technology and production quality is an important means to some eternally important ends.  Technology is the means of effectively sharing the gospel and the Bible, but the end is helping people more effectively discover and develop a growing relationship with Jesus Christ.  That’s eternal.  That’s our goal.  That’s what counts.  Old tech is a distraction from the message of the gospel.  New tech enhances the delivery of the gospel. 

So I hope you’ll recognize why this expensive and time-consuming (but necessary) project has been so important. 

Thank you for all your patience during this process.  Thank you for your generosity to help us stay near our General Budget goal so that this project was made possible.  And thank you for seeing this work as a means to help people and not an end in and of itself. 

By sometime in September, we should have all the work completed.

Warmly,
Vince

AUGUST 8, 2024

Lakeshore Friends—

As we learn more about faith in our series in Hebrews 11, we’re learning how to express it in practical ways.  One the most important is to express our faith through our love.  In Galatians 5:6b the apostle Paul wrote, “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself in love.”  A strong faith will find ways to demonstrate bold love.

That’s what LOVE WEEK is all about.  In just a little over a week, we’ll begin showing our community the love of Jesus through our faith put into action.  After all, faith without works is dead.

I think it’s really important to understand what we are and are not doing this for.  We are not just doing this to do nice things for nice people so that they will think that we are…. well, nice.  We are doing all of this so that people will think that Jesus Christ is amazing.  So that they see how he would inspire total strangers to do things for others with no expectations for something in return.  So that they see what God’s love looks like.  And ultimately, so that they might consider the gospel and find their own faith in Jesus (or if they are already Christians, be strengthened in their faith in Him).

Every day that passes in my life creates an increased sense of urgency that the gospel must be the ultimate focus of all I do.  I ask myself more often these days how I can try to share my life with others so that a door for the gospel might be opened, like Paul explained in Colossians 4:2-6.

It’s not too late to join a LOVE WEEK project.  Most importantly, it’s never too late to show your faith in the way you love people, and to do so with a heart for people to hear the gospel from us and become Christians.

Our world desperately needs it.

Warmly,
Vince

AUGUST 1, 2024

Lakeshore Friends—

I’m sure you’ve heard about the opening ceremony of the Olympics and what was a blatant mockery of Christianity in general and Jesus’ last supper in particular.  I really appreciated what Pastor Frank had to say about it during his message last Sunday.  It’s sad that this always happens to Christianity and Christians, but never to other religious leaders or their belief systems.  Ever notice that?  Can you imagine if they had done this to Islam, Hinduism, or some other world religion? 

Neither can I. 

The reason for the open mockery of Christianity and not other religions by the world should be obvious— Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6) and many people simply reject it (and reject Him) for it.  So they do all they can to attack our faith to fight against it.  It’s a sad reaction to a Savior who bled and died for their sins out of love.

So what’s the answer?  We have to live “by faith!”  We have to live for God knowing that there really is a great reward ahead for all those who trust Him and live for Him “by faith.”

That’s why I believe that this summer series is so important for all of us to go through and learn from.  We need to live “by faith” and Hebrews 11 is God’s hall of fame list of heroes who have done just that.  I believe that God led us to teach this at a time like this for a reason.  We need models to help us live for Him “by faith,” even when we are opposed by people who don’t like our God and, as a result, don’t like us.  Who knows, it may be that it could lead to some of these people embracing Jesus “by faith?"

I hope you’ll be here Sunday as I return to continue this series.  I heard about someone who told me that he struggles with his faith and wanted to be here each week to learn more about faith and becoming a Christian.  He’s been here every week.  I hope you will share that same hunger to grow “by faith” as well.

Warmly,
Vince