Eighty years…

Eight hundred thousand dollars…

Wow!!!

• Eighty years ago, the few people gathered at the groceries and hardware store converted into a sanctuary had no idea that thousands of people would come to know Jesus as Lord and Savior, get baptized, get married, and enter into life eternal at the Little Church on the Prairie. They had no idea of the thousands of children and youth who would grow up calling the Little Church their home. They had no idea of the impact God would have in the city of Lakewood through the people who would call the Little Church on the Prairie their home.

We knew we had problems with the boiler. Our heating system was ancient. The boiler was so old it was functioning at fifty percent of its capacity on its best day. We knew we would have to come up with a plan because the only way we could get parts to fix the old boiler was to get it made as parts no longer existed. What started out as a capital campaign to fix an ancient boiler, turned into so much more.

• Lakewoodgrace was birthed and now more than 100 people call Lakewoodgrace their church home
• Close to $80,000 was given to local ministries
• The sanctuary received an audio/visual upgrade
• Prairie Hall restrooms were renovated
• A new security system for the entire campus has been installed
• A new children’s ministry space was created

Wow!

The Little Church on the Prairie of today is the direct result of the dreams and hopes of those gathered at a grocery and hardware store converted to become the Little Church on the Prairie. The baton of leadership and stewardship, the dreams and hopes for those who have called the Little Church on the Prairie their home for the last eighty years has now been handed to us. We are called to steward the dreams and hopes of all who have gone before us in order that thousands more may be touched and changed in the coming decades because they came to discover a place to call home at the Little Church on the Prairie.

Happy Birthday Little Church! Here’s to our next eighty years!!!

Pastor James <><

“I don’t want to force my kids go to church. I want them to chose for themselves.”

Oh, really.

Do you make them go to school? Or do you give your children the option to chose for themselves whether they will go to school or not?

“Of course the kids don’t have a choice about school. They have to go to school.”

How come?

“Because going to school is important for their future.”

I see.

I see.

Really tells you a lot…

Which is crazier?

A widow who goes to an unjust judge? Or Christians who have been promised a God who infinitely cares and a God who loves to answer prayers, and they don’t?

One of the oddest parables of Jesus is the Parable of the Persistent Widow found in Luke 18:1-8.

Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. And there was a widow who kept coming to him with the plea,’Grant me justice against my adversary.’

“For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!'”

And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

This is an absurd parable…a widow who goes to someone who doesn’t care, someone who is unjust, someone who doesn’t give a rip to pester him day and night. It makes no sense. It’s crazy. It’s utter nonsense.

So why did Jesus tell his disciples this parable? Great question!

Which is crazier?

A widow who goes to an unjust judge? Or Christians who have been promised a God who infinitely cares and a God who loves to answer prayers, and they don’t?