I'm sorry about the lower quality photos, we'll have better ones up eventually, but these are the pictures easily accessible for publishing immediately. : )
Friday, January 10, 2014
Friday Night Prep
While the dinner is about to commence, here are photos from the afternoon of preparation.
Stories from Lakeshore
There are many interesting stories from Lakeshore of how God has used this time to bless those who attend. Here are a couple snapshot stories...
Mary Leone, currently a student at Grove City College, has been coming for seven years. She saw some info about the project at her church and decided to attend to see what it was like. Since that first year Lakeshore became an intrinsic part of her life; she doesn't necessarily think about the week at Lakeshore throughout the year, but just knows it is going to happen. As many have commented, the week at Lakeshore is a blessed foretaste of Heaven. The Lakeshore Project has also been very influential in how Mary understands the church and missions. Her experience here molded her definition of mercy ministry work and how that is done primarily through the church.
Elizabeth Meena, studying at Northern Illinois University, is here for her fourth year. She had wanted to attend for a couple years, but wasn't able to make it happen until some friends decided to drive down from the Midwest and Elizabeth got a ride down with them. The experience at Lakeshore has given her encouragement in being more open about her faith. She has been blessed by the examples of other young people and Christians of all ages freely conversing about their spiritual lives. She has appreciated the realistic aspect of the Lakeshore Project. Rather than simply attending a conference along with other Christians, here at Lakeshore we are working together, which is much more like real life than a conference.
Mary Leone, currently a student at Grove City College, has been coming for seven years. She saw some info about the project at her church and decided to attend to see what it was like. Since that first year Lakeshore became an intrinsic part of her life; she doesn't necessarily think about the week at Lakeshore throughout the year, but just knows it is going to happen. As many have commented, the week at Lakeshore is a blessed foretaste of Heaven. The Lakeshore Project has also been very influential in how Mary understands the church and missions. Her experience here molded her definition of mercy ministry work and how that is done primarily through the church.
Elizabeth Meena, studying at Northern Illinois University, is here for her fourth year. She had wanted to attend for a couple years, but wasn't able to make it happen until some friends decided to drive down from the Midwest and Elizabeth got a ride down with them. The experience at Lakeshore has given her encouragement in being more open about her faith. She has been blessed by the examples of other young people and Christians of all ages freely conversing about their spiritual lives. She has appreciated the realistic aspect of the Lakeshore Project. Rather than simply attending a conference along with other Christians, here at Lakeshore we are working together, which is much more like real life than a conference.
Lakeshore, Day Four
The lovely weather yesterday certainly brightened everyone's spirits considerably! I was out on the ministry team in the morning, and canvassing a neighborhood was far more enjoyable on a sunny 50° day than on a cloudy 20° day!
Good progress was made on all the projects yesterday! There's a story of God's amazing providence from the Pike St. project. Apparently they were trying to put up the aluminum facia, only to discover that it is not available pre-bent down south here. I'm not sure what exactly this means, hopefully it makes sense to some of you, haha. But anyways, they were in a quandary about how to finish the project this week with this setback. And at that very moment, a neighbor came over to the house and in the course of the conversation he mentioned he had a metal bender device (no idea what its official term is) and would be glad to bend the aluminum for them. This was definitely not "coincidence" but rather the amazing providence of God! Additionally, this interchange with the neighbor at Pike St. allowed members of our team to invite him and his family to the dinner and service tonight. Lazslo made a great point about that last night. We are thankful for God's provision in material things such as aluminum facia, but that was only an opportunity for even greater work on a spiritual level.
Last night we all went out to dinner in nearby Waveland. It was a wonderful time of fellowship and downtime, especially for the kitchen crew! After dinner some brave and energetic young people went down to the beach. Others, who had no desire to stand outside in the cold wind, came back to camp.
This morning is overcast, foggy, and a little chilly, although much nicer than it has been! Everyone is hard at work preparing for the dinner and service tonight, which is the culmination of all our efforts through the week. The work crews are focused on trying to accomplish their objectives, since this is our final day. The ministry teams will continue inviting the community to the service tonight. The kitchen team is obviously at work preparing the food. Pastor Miller is organizing some music for our guests to enjoy before and during their dinner. Others are organizing the parking arrangements, making signs, gathering umbrellas in preparation for the possible rainstorm this evening, putting together gift baskets to send home with our guests, and working on a myriad of other tasks.
Today is especially challenging because on the one hand, we are near the end and must think about wrapping things up, but on the other hand, we aren't actually done yet, so we can't mentally leave until the work is complete. It is also a long and exhausting day for many. The kitchen crew has been up since 4.45am preparing breakfast and they won't be done until late tonight after the guests have left and the kitchen is clean.
So please be in prayer for all the workers here today, that God would give everyone strength and endurance to finish well. The theme of this week has been perseverance, and on a micro-level, that's exactly what we need for this day.
Please pray that God would bless the work tonight and bring many to hear the Word. Pray that there would be many fruitful and blessed conversations between Lakeshore Baptist members and the guests who attend. Since we're just here for the week, our focus tonight is on facilitating conversations between the church members and visitors from the community. Pray that God would use Pastor Don's message to work powerfully in the hearts of many.
I realize that due to my schedule here, the daily updates are coming out a day late. I anticipate the same tonight, as we probably won't get done until quite late. But I'll try to at least post something brief in the morning, and then will hopefully have at least a couple most posts to publish after I get home. We had 32 posts last year, and so far we're at only 14 for this year. I feel some kind of pressure to beat that, but I'm not sure it will actually happen, haha.
Good progress was made on all the projects yesterday! There's a story of God's amazing providence from the Pike St. project. Apparently they were trying to put up the aluminum facia, only to discover that it is not available pre-bent down south here. I'm not sure what exactly this means, hopefully it makes sense to some of you, haha. But anyways, they were in a quandary about how to finish the project this week with this setback. And at that very moment, a neighbor came over to the house and in the course of the conversation he mentioned he had a metal bender device (no idea what its official term is) and would be glad to bend the aluminum for them. This was definitely not "coincidence" but rather the amazing providence of God! Additionally, this interchange with the neighbor at Pike St. allowed members of our team to invite him and his family to the dinner and service tonight. Lazslo made a great point about that last night. We are thankful for God's provision in material things such as aluminum facia, but that was only an opportunity for even greater work on a spiritual level.
Last night we all went out to dinner in nearby Waveland. It was a wonderful time of fellowship and downtime, especially for the kitchen crew! After dinner some brave and energetic young people went down to the beach. Others, who had no desire to stand outside in the cold wind, came back to camp.
This morning is overcast, foggy, and a little chilly, although much nicer than it has been! Everyone is hard at work preparing for the dinner and service tonight, which is the culmination of all our efforts through the week. The work crews are focused on trying to accomplish their objectives, since this is our final day. The ministry teams will continue inviting the community to the service tonight. The kitchen team is obviously at work preparing the food. Pastor Miller is organizing some music for our guests to enjoy before and during their dinner. Others are organizing the parking arrangements, making signs, gathering umbrellas in preparation for the possible rainstorm this evening, putting together gift baskets to send home with our guests, and working on a myriad of other tasks.
Today is especially challenging because on the one hand, we are near the end and must think about wrapping things up, but on the other hand, we aren't actually done yet, so we can't mentally leave until the work is complete. It is also a long and exhausting day for many. The kitchen crew has been up since 4.45am preparing breakfast and they won't be done until late tonight after the guests have left and the kitchen is clean.
So please be in prayer for all the workers here today, that God would give everyone strength and endurance to finish well. The theme of this week has been perseverance, and on a micro-level, that's exactly what we need for this day.
Please pray that God would bless the work tonight and bring many to hear the Word. Pray that there would be many fruitful and blessed conversations between Lakeshore Baptist members and the guests who attend. Since we're just here for the week, our focus tonight is on facilitating conversations between the church members and visitors from the community. Pray that God would use Pastor Don's message to work powerfully in the hearts of many.
I realize that due to my schedule here, the daily updates are coming out a day late. I anticipate the same tonight, as we probably won't get done until quite late. But I'll try to at least post something brief in the morning, and then will hopefully have at least a couple most posts to publish after I get home. We had 32 posts last year, and so far we're at only 14 for this year. I feel some kind of pressure to beat that, but I'm not sure it will actually happen, haha.
Thursday, January 9, 2014
Thursday at Lakeshore
 |
| Hungry yet? : ) |
 |
| Enjoying the greenness and sunshine today : ) |
 |
| View from the bunkhouse this morning. The context is that this is the first time this week I was outside without wearing a coat and gloves! |
 |
 |
| A little guy hard at work! |
 |
| Siding progress as of this afternoon |
 |
| Distribution center team working at the Mercy House warehouse |
 |
| After the clothes in the warehouse are sorted, they eventually end up in this Mercy House store |
 |
| The kitchen crew is hard at work this afternoon preparing for the Friday night dinner |
Lakeshore: Day Three
After our meeting last night Pastor Eddie Exposito from Sovereign Grace Fellowship spoke to the young people. That didn't wrap up until nearly 10pm, so I didn't have a chance to get any updates from yesterday posted.
Here are the notes I took on the reports each team gave us last night.
Canvassing yesterday went well. We had a ministry team stationed at the Mercy House for the day and they had a fair amount of visitors come. There will be another team assigned there today as well. Please continue to pray for the Friday night service, that God would draw many from the community to attend.
At Pike St, the insulating and drywall is done. Most of the house should be ready for painting this week, and they hope to install the kitchen cabinets and facia by Friday. There is something that they are needing inspection on from the city, so please pray that they get the inspection done quickly.
As you may have seen from the pictures posted last night, the columns for the sanctuary were set yesterday. The crew had to overcome some challenges in figuring out how to get the pillars up, but after finding a good method of setting them, it went well. They are also making good progress on the other projects, such as siding, electrical work, HVAC, and the elevator pit. Please pray for safety over the next few days as the crew works in the rafters and on the scaffolding. There is an inevitable element of danger in this type of work, and while everyone can work carefully and safely, it is still dangerous. So just pray that God's hand of protection is over everyone and that there are no injuries this week.
I haven't been outside much yet, but judging by all the coats people have left in our bunkhouse, I think it is much warmer today than it has been all week. My weather app says it is 38° and forecasts a high of 57° for this afternoon. We've been looking forward to warmer temperatures all week! : )
There are a few here who are not feeling well, probably due to the cold weather, so please be praying for general health for everyone. And please be praying for Sister Sheri, who is unable to be with us this week due to illness. Pray that God would give Pastor Mitch and Sister Sheri comfort and that Sister Sheri would have a speedy recovery.
I'm working on more picture posts and a couple other projects for the blog, so there will be more content as time allows today. : )
Here are the notes I took on the reports each team gave us last night.
Canvassing yesterday went well. We had a ministry team stationed at the Mercy House for the day and they had a fair amount of visitors come. There will be another team assigned there today as well. Please continue to pray for the Friday night service, that God would draw many from the community to attend.
At Pike St, the insulating and drywall is done. Most of the house should be ready for painting this week, and they hope to install the kitchen cabinets and facia by Friday. There is something that they are needing inspection on from the city, so please pray that they get the inspection done quickly.
As you may have seen from the pictures posted last night, the columns for the sanctuary were set yesterday. The crew had to overcome some challenges in figuring out how to get the pillars up, but after finding a good method of setting them, it went well. They are also making good progress on the other projects, such as siding, electrical work, HVAC, and the elevator pit. Please pray for safety over the next few days as the crew works in the rafters and on the scaffolding. There is an inevitable element of danger in this type of work, and while everyone can work carefully and safely, it is still dangerous. So just pray that God's hand of protection is over everyone and that there are no injuries this week.
I haven't been outside much yet, but judging by all the coats people have left in our bunkhouse, I think it is much warmer today than it has been all week. My weather app says it is 38° and forecasts a high of 57° for this afternoon. We've been looking forward to warmer temperatures all week! : )
There are a few here who are not feeling well, probably due to the cold weather, so please be praying for general health for everyone. And please be praying for Sister Sheri, who is unable to be with us this week due to illness. Pray that God would give Pastor Mitch and Sister Sheri comfort and that Sister Sheri would have a speedy recovery.
I'm working on more picture posts and a couple other projects for the blog, so there will be more content as time allows today. : )
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
Don Elbourne Interview
Pastor Elbourne took a few moments of his time to tell us about himself, the history of the rebuilding work here, and the outlook for Lakeshore Baptist Church's future.
Life at Lakeshore
Over the past few days we've collected some pictures that I think give a good glimpse into different aspects of the project here.
 |
| Some members of the ministry team before their morning meeting |
 |
| Our photographer Colin Miller being photographed |
 |
| Pike St. house |
 |
| Sorting clothes at the Mercy House |
Young Adults Meeting Report
During the youth meetings the past couple nights, John Miller has split the attendees into four groups of six or seven young people and then assigned questions for the groups to consider for 20 minutes or so before presenting their answers to the entire group. This is similar to what we did a few times last year and greatly enjoyed.
On Monday night Pastor Miller asked questions such as, "if you wanted to respond to a disaster, such as what happened in the Philippines last year, how would you plan a relief trip? What would be the first thing you do? How would you select a team to go? What components would your trip include and how would you implement those components once at the disaster site?"
One thing all the groups emphasized in their answers was the importance of connecting with and working through a local church in the devastated area. Rather than individuals or groups of individuals going out on their own, everyone seemed to recognize that mission work should be done through the church and if at all possible, should be seen as an extension of the local church in the area. This was exemplified in the response to Hurricane Katrina, when churches from all over the country came to work with Lakeshore Baptist and reach out to the community through the church already established here.
Then last night our questions were, "if you wanted to persuade your church to assist in disaster relief, what Biblical justification/rationale would you offer? What would mercy ministry look at like back at your home church and community? How would you define poverty and how would your definition impact the way you engaged in mercy ministries?"
All the teams found a plethora of Biblical justification for engaging in activities like disaster relief. The consensus was that Christ and his ministry is our example in how to reach out to others. Not only did He minister to the spiritual needs of those around Him, He was also concerned with their physical well-being. As Pastor Miller explained, the church has historically flipped from one extreme to the other. Some churches and movements emphasize only helping with the physical needs of society, but then others will argue that the physical condition is irrelevant, and that the church should be concerned only with spiritual needs.
The other interesting conversation during our meeting last night was how we as Christians should define poverty. I tend to over think things, so when Pastor Miller posed this question I was like, "oh wow, that's going to take a lot of consideration. There are so many different angles and approaches to this question." And then I got sidetracked with writing up notes for last night's blog post, so I didn't actually give it much thought, haha. But everything that the other groups shared was quite thought-provoking. As Christians, we trust God to give us as much as we need, even if it seems like less than we ought to have by the world's standards. And the ultimate definition of poverty is being without Christ. We tend to think of poverty materially, but if God has granted us salvation, then we are truly rich. "For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?" (Mark 8.36) Connecting the importance of the soul over our temporary existence with how we approach questions such as poverty was very helpful for me and certainly simplified the topic in my mind. : )
On Monday night Pastor Miller asked questions such as, "if you wanted to respond to a disaster, such as what happened in the Philippines last year, how would you plan a relief trip? What would be the first thing you do? How would you select a team to go? What components would your trip include and how would you implement those components once at the disaster site?"
One thing all the groups emphasized in their answers was the importance of connecting with and working through a local church in the devastated area. Rather than individuals or groups of individuals going out on their own, everyone seemed to recognize that mission work should be done through the church and if at all possible, should be seen as an extension of the local church in the area. This was exemplified in the response to Hurricane Katrina, when churches from all over the country came to work with Lakeshore Baptist and reach out to the community through the church already established here.
Then last night our questions were, "if you wanted to persuade your church to assist in disaster relief, what Biblical justification/rationale would you offer? What would mercy ministry look at like back at your home church and community? How would you define poverty and how would your definition impact the way you engaged in mercy ministries?"
All the teams found a plethora of Biblical justification for engaging in activities like disaster relief. The consensus was that Christ and his ministry is our example in how to reach out to others. Not only did He minister to the spiritual needs of those around Him, He was also concerned with their physical well-being. As Pastor Miller explained, the church has historically flipped from one extreme to the other. Some churches and movements emphasize only helping with the physical needs of society, but then others will argue that the physical condition is irrelevant, and that the church should be concerned only with spiritual needs.
The other interesting conversation during our meeting last night was how we as Christians should define poverty. I tend to over think things, so when Pastor Miller posed this question I was like, "oh wow, that's going to take a lot of consideration. There are so many different angles and approaches to this question." And then I got sidetracked with writing up notes for last night's blog post, so I didn't actually give it much thought, haha. But everything that the other groups shared was quite thought-provoking. As Christians, we trust God to give us as much as we need, even if it seems like less than we ought to have by the world's standards. And the ultimate definition of poverty is being without Christ. We tend to think of poverty materially, but if God has granted us salvation, then we are truly rich. "For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?" (Mark 8.36) Connecting the importance of the soul over our temporary existence with how we approach questions such as poverty was very helpful for me and certainly simplified the topic in my mind. : )
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
Lakeshore: Day Two
I'll be writing more tomorrow, but wanted to quickly share some updates from our meeting this evening. I have 3 minutes until lights out, hence the brevity (which may be welcomed by some who don't appreciate my loquacity, haha).
Prayer Requests
- Pray for discernment and wisdom for pastors and leaders in determining the Lord's will for the future of the Rebuild Lakeshore project. There is much thought as to how the church here will continue growing and how we all may be able to continue supporting them. So as the pastors discuss the future during this week, pray that God would make His path clear in moving forward.
- Pray for grace and strength from the Lord to continue doing good work and finishing this week well. We need to do the most we can for the church while we are here, finish the work that we've begun, and not grow weary in doing good.
- The Mercy House will open tomorrow (Wednesday) for the first time since the holidays. There will probably be quite a crowd, and the ministry team plans to be there for the day to visit with those coming. Pray that God would bless this opportunity and that we would be able to have good conversations about the Gospel with many.
- There are several people who have been providentially hindered from being here this week. Please pray for Brother Mitch, his wife Sheri, and Larry Springer, who are unable to be with us, that God would encourage them in their circumstances and bless them through being united with us spiritually.
Construction Updates
Pike St. house
Sheet rocking, plastering, getting cabinets up, finishing as much as possible
Wanting to be sellable by the end of the week
Construction at church
Columns will be going up tomorrow
Equipment needs to be repaired and maintained
Elevator pit is in progress
Excellent progress on ductwork and electrical work
Siding progress tomorrow
Prayer Requests
- Pray for discernment and wisdom for pastors and leaders in determining the Lord's will for the future of the Rebuild Lakeshore project. There is much thought as to how the church here will continue growing and how we all may be able to continue supporting them. So as the pastors discuss the future during this week, pray that God would make His path clear in moving forward.
- Pray for grace and strength from the Lord to continue doing good work and finishing this week well. We need to do the most we can for the church while we are here, finish the work that we've begun, and not grow weary in doing good.
- The Mercy House will open tomorrow (Wednesday) for the first time since the holidays. There will probably be quite a crowd, and the ministry team plans to be there for the day to visit with those coming. Pray that God would bless this opportunity and that we would be able to have good conversations about the Gospel with many.
- There are several people who have been providentially hindered from being here this week. Please pray for Brother Mitch, his wife Sheri, and Larry Springer, who are unable to be with us, that God would encourage them in their circumstances and bless them through being united with us spiritually.
Construction Updates
Pike St. house
Sheet rocking, plastering, getting cabinets up, finishing as much as possible
Wanting to be sellable by the end of the week
Construction at church
Columns will be going up tomorrow
Equipment needs to be repaired and maintained
Elevator pit is in progress
Excellent progress on ductwork and electrical work
Siding progress tomorrow
Construction at Lakeshore
The main construction project here this week is work on the church building. To give perspective on our progress, the first couple photos here are pictures of the church site over the last few years.
 |
| This building was standing on the site of the new building. It was pulled down in 2012. |
 |
| Last year we worked on digging the foundation for the church. |
 |
| Current church building progress. |
 |
| Church as seen from the road. |
 |
| The ground level of the church has been turned into a tool storage area. |
 |
| The columns for the church are here! |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)