Lakeside Presbyterian Church – Ajijic Chapala, Mexico

We’ve shown you lots of building pictures lately, but not a lot of people. And, of course, the church is really the people, not the building! So we’ve put some people pictures from this past Sunday in this post, too.

We haven’t shown our beautiful model of the building on this page yet. Right now most of the construction is what you see on the right side of this model.

This is the part of the building that is going up right now.

This week the outside facade has gone up. The roof itself will be angled, but the outside is built to make it look level. On the right-hand (northeast) corner, we’ll have a tower.

The facade from the inside. Once the roof is in place, we won’t see this anymore.

This gives some perspective of how tall the structure is.

The facade from the inside, on the second level.

The tower will be built over the section directly across.

Rosie and Arnie.

Grace!

Ralph and Pat.

The younger crowd.

The MUCH younger crowd.

Gentlemen.

Ladies.

From Pastor Ross Arnold:

I reported to the church some weeks ago that gifts for the new building were sufficient to complete the most costly and challenging part of our church building project – installation of the roof over the sanctuary.

Unfortunately, this has proven not to be the case.  Costs to get the walls ready to receive the new roof have been far higher than expected.  This means we are now running at least $15,000 USD short of the funds needed to complete the roof.

The elders of our Session – the senior leaders in our church – have approved taking money from our contingency reserve as needed to pay construction costs – up to a point.  But with regular expenses to take care of, you can understand our reluctance to do so right now.

There is some very good news in the midst of this need!

One very generous couple in our church has offered to give up to $25,000 USD to finish the roof of the new church and to meet other expenses, if necessary.  Understandably, however, they want to encourage others in our congregation and community to also give.  For that reason, instead of an outright gift, they are offering to MATCH all gifts that come in for our new church building over the next two months, up to $25,000.

This means every $50 gift given now for the new church will be matched and will become $100; every $100 gift will become $200. 

This is a wonderful opportunity for us to push forward on our new church, and to ensure all our other needs are met – because it will mean no funds will need to be redirected from our church contingency fund to pay commitments we have made related to the new church roof.

We hope you will take advantage of this special opportunity and give generously now. Just click this Donate button to get started:

When you click, you’ll be taken to a secure site hosted by PayPal.com. You can use your credit card, debit card or checking account to donate in US dollars, Canadian dollars, Mexican pesos or any other currency.

When PayPal asks you to “Please review your donation,” under the name Presbyterian Lakeside Ministry, click “Add special instructions to the seller” and tell us this gift is for the Building Matching Fund.

Remember, every gift you give before the end of July will be doubled! 

If you give by check or in an offering envelope at church, please make sure you note that your gift is for the new church building so it will be clear which gifts are eligible for the match.

God has done and continues to do great things – miraculous things – in and through our church, and I believe our greatest days are still ahead.  But challenges will arise, and God expects us to step up and meet those challenges.  This is our opportunity to do just that.  Please give generously.

The roof beams are already in place! That was fast. Here are a couple pictures from last week and yesterday.

The big roof beams arrived last week.

Area for the pump-out tank.

Steel beams in place. Wish we’d been there while the crane was there — but it went very fast!

It’s a roof! (Or at least the beginning of a roof.)

Second floor roof is started.

Sanctuary.

Covered the holding tank this week.

Our faithful watchman.

Today we celebrated the four years since Ross Arnold was installed as the pastor of Lakeside Presbyterian Church! (The cake tasted even better than it looked — and it looked spectacular.)