Thoughts on the Lakeshore Project

I think it can be hard to understand the scope and mission of the Lakeshore Project without actually being here, at least that has been my experience. Let's just say I didn't really "get" it but was intrigued enough to come and find out what it is all about.

In the big picture, the Lakeshore Project is part of fulfilling the Great Commission. There are a couple things I want to mention about this:

1) The Great Commission is not one of many commissions from Christ, it is the commission Jesus gave to His church, it is not something we do in addition to other tasks. This is why we are here.

2) The Lakeshore Project is not like a school project that you work on, submit, and then complete. This will not be done until Christ returns. It is not a short-term vision. I think especially in America we tend to have a very limited sense of time. We want instant gratification. We think of fulfilling our dreams in a lifetime. But this is not how God works. He has a view of eternity. We tend to question the value of something that we can't immediately see results from. But so many missionaries and evangelists labored for years and years before they saw any tangible results. We can't judge the usefulness of our work in human terms. We have been given a commandment and we need to persevere regardless of the apparent circumstances.

For those of us who weren't here at the time of Hurricane Katrina, the natural response to hearing about the Lakeshore Project is, "what? really? That was years ago. What in the world are you still doing?" This was my initial reaction, and though I knew there was some reason for the continuation of the Lakeshore Project, like I said earlier I didn't understand exactly what the purpose was. So I've been thinking about it a lot since arriving here.

Whenever there are disasters, everyone is focused on it...for a short time. After 9-11, after Hurricane Katrina, after Hurricane Sandy, etc...the media covers nothing but those events. And then the excitement and coverage dies away in a few weeks. Yet the people affected by the disaster are not yet healed. They are still struggling with the aftereffects, the attempt to rebuild lives and start again. It is a powerful testament to the Gospel and Christianity if the church doesn't forget those still suffering. The perseverance of Lakeshore Baptist Church in providing for the community, serving those around them, and reaching out to those in need, is an amazing thing.

This week one of the primary projects is to lay the foundation for the new church building. The current structure was built immediately after Hurricane Katrina. At that point the most important thing was offering relief to the community. But LBC wanted to construct a more permanent building that would serve as a more God-glorifying place of worship. Obviously the location of worship essentially does not make a difference; the Sunday after Hurricane Katrina this church met outdoors on the foundation of the former building. If we have a vision for the future and realize that God may have plans for spreading His gospel in this area for decades to come, it is glorifying to Him to desire a more permanent and well-constructed place of worship.