Lakeside Presbyterian Church – Ajijic Chapala, Mexico

Lakeside Presbyterian Church (LPC) is focused on community outreach through service and education. Senior Pastor Dr. Wayne Cook says, “Our church is intent on growing in serving the community in every way possible and we have been wonderfully blessed with the resources and people to meet our mission. Our leadership has recently expanded in both its depth and breadth.”

On Saturday, August 31, Pastor Guillermo Banuet and Victoria Banuet (pictured below) each received their Doctorates of Theology from San Diego Christian University. Dr. Banuet is the pastor of LPC’s Spanish-speaking congregation. His wife Dr. Victoria Banuet was also recently ordained as the Associate Pastor of Families & Children.

Just a week later, on September 8, the Lakeside Institute of Theology (LIT) achieved a major milestone with the certification of the first two graduates of its master’s degree program: Carolyn Hansen and Marvin Golden (pictured below).

Born in 2012 out of LPC’s mission statement which makes a special call to train Christian leaders, LIT was created by then Pastor Ross Arnold, a gifted theologian and professor.

Pastor Arnold built and taught in this educational program that now offers 24 theological seminary-level courses. The Institute is licensed and registered by the Mexican government and is also certified to license ministers. All classroom and online courses are tuition free as a service to the community and can lead to a specific certification or a Master of Theology Degree.

In addition to this maturation of its LIT program, LPC was pleased to ordain Carolyn Hansen as Associate Pastor of Discipleship at the same service. The newly minted Pastor Hansen says she has been happily studying for many years and was actually a bit surprised to realize that she had finally finished the program.

She also beamed at her new title, saying, “This is a wonderful day for me and I look forward to being part of the talented and grace-filled Pastoral Leadership Team at Lakeside Presbyterian for many years to come.”

Two weeks ago, Lakeside Presbyterian Church brought 100 bags of clothing for children and adults to the Hospital Civil, a public hospital in Guadalajara.

In times of illness and crisis, people need to know they are not alone. That’s why Bible verses were inserted into each bag, to share the hope of Jesus Christ to those going through such difficult times. God also gave us the opportunity to pray for the children and their parents inside the hospital.

This is Isaí Gonzalez, an 11-year-old boy diagnosed with a heart condition as well as an infection in his right lung. Isaí joined us in praying. He told us his greatest wish in life is to play football again with his friends.

Baby Elena was born three months ago with renal failure. She has been hospitalized from the day she was born. Her mother cares for her every day. Everyone who has ever been to a hospital knows that it is not easy, but in Christ we have the confidence and hope we need to move forward.

Clothing for Elena and for her mom was delivered to them and we had a chance to pray for them.

Gloria Estefania is a 14-year-old girl, waiting for an operation after being run over by a car. At this time, doctors are still not sure if she will be able to walk again, so please keep Gloria in your prayers.

Gloria was happy to receive us in her room and told us she wants to celebrate her 15th birthday (quinceañera) with a new dress.

We are grateful to the members and friends of Lakeside Presbyterian who reach out in love to those in need—all to the glory of God!

by Amy Friend

As a child, did you ever skip a flat stone across a pond, and be fascinated by the ripples?   Out they go, spreading far and wide, bouncing off whatever they encounter to make new ripples.

Kindnesses are like that, a helping hand encourages someone in need to keep on trying, eventually succeeding!  The kindnesses ripple on to whoever may be part of the family circle, encouragement and hope are wonderfully contagious.  Lakeside Presbyterian Church has a similar approach, spreading ripples of help and hope wherever they can thrive. 

In its brief 10-year history, LPC has sponsored a broad range of outreach projects:  clothing and food packages for those who cannot provide for themselves; medical  care; and weekly classes for those who wish to improve their situation, Computer, Sewing and English.

An LPC Migrant Program in Guadalajara has distributed shoes, warm clothing and blankets to young people from Central America who are homeless and living on the city streets.  

Twice monthly, more than 150 people attend addiction centers in Chapala and Mezcala.  LPC supports this initiative, sharing the gospel, and assisting in rehabilitation.  Each attendee is given a nourishing meal.

La Zapotera now has a Community Center, which was created from an abandoned jail.  More than 100 students receive a healthy breakfast there every school day, resulting in greatly improved school performance. 

In Mezcala Village, LPC works with Pastor Leonel from the Iglesia Evangelica de Mezcala, providing funds for the food bank, which are used by the mothers to supply breakfast to the Children in Mezcala on their way to school in his church.

A few months ago, LPC outreach discovered Lakeside families with children who had never attended school. These kids don’t know how to read or write—and would never have the opportunity to learn without outside help.

LPC hired a teacher to help, and purchased the necessary materials. Teresa Medina has a Master’s Degree in education, and more than 25 years of teaching experience. Teresa’s literacy program is now benefiting ten children between the ages of 7 and 13. These youngsters don’t attend any other school because of their families’ lack of financial resources. In addition to their classes, the children are given a healthy breakfast.

It is LPC’s hope that by giving these kids a chance to learn, they’ll have the opportunity one day to have better employment and change their families’ circumstances.

In Mexico, the dropout rate in public schools is high, as many children must work in order for their families to survive. While public schools are free of charge, uniforms and other expenses are required. These costs can prevent the poorest children from attending. More than 90% of children in Mexico attend primary school, but only 62% attend secondary school (secundaria), and just 45% finish high school (preparatoria).

A group of LPC members started a pilot program at the beginning of the school year to provide school uniforms to 25 children in San Antonio whose families lacked resources to buy them. This group is working on establishing a uniform exchange program to provide for growing children and more students needing this assistance.

LPC’s weekly “Tuesday Drop-In” was established to allow Lakesiders to meet new friends, and enjoy games and snacks together.  Beginning June 4, the weekly Tuesday event will be expanded. The church invited Freedom Chorale to lead “60’s Singalongs,” lyrics provided, with live guitar music by director Cindy Paul. The Singalong begins at 1:00pm, goes until 2:15, games and snacks follow. 60’s music is sure to resonate with Lakesiders, who are warmly invited to show up, raise their voices and their spirits!

Always, more will remain to be done, but there is no limit to what can be accomplished as long as the Lakeside community cares about its neighbors.

A few months ago, members of Lakeside Presbyterian Church’s outreach ministry discovered some families in our neighborhood with children who had never attended school. These kids don’t know how to read or write—and would never have the opportunity to learn without outside help.

In Mexico, the dropout rate in public schools is high, as many children need to work in order for their families to survive. While public schools are free of charge, uniforms are required. Even that cost can prevent the poorest children from attending. More than 90% of children in Mexico attend primary school, but only 62% attend secondary school (“secundaria”). And just 45% finish high school (“preparatoria”).

Seeing this need in our own community, we hired a teacher to help. Teresa Medina has a master’s degree in education and more than 25 years of experience in teaching. We bought materials, including books, notebooks, pencils, and other materials to help the children succeed.

Teresa’s literacy program is now benefiting ten children between ages of 7 and 13. These children don’t attend any other school because of their families’ lack of financial resources.

In addition to their classes, the children are given a healthy breakfast during the break.

It’s our hope that by giving these kids a chance to learn, they’ll have the opportunity to one day get better employment and change their families’ circumstances!

If you’re interested in supporting programs like this, you can designate a gift through a PayPal donation here.

We think you’ll like this video about the first ten years of Lakeside Presbyterian church.