Great Lakes Church

Pride might be the trickiest word ever. It’s a good thing to find satisfaction in our achievements. It’s good to be conscious of our own dignity and have some self-respect. But when we become proud it’s a problem. And according to the Scriptures, pride always goes badly. So…how do we take pride without being prideful? We choose hope over haughty.

Jesus signaled an end to one way of relating to God and the beginning of something entirely new. When you reduce church to its irreducible minimum, it is a group of people doing their best to follow Jesus—who came to clear the way to God.

Maybellene’s jingle taught us to wonder: Maybe she’s born with it. In a makeup company’s ad, it’s beauty that’s in question. But we wonder the same way when it comes to people we see as humble; as if their character is something that just happened. As followers of Jesus though, we know it’s not luck – it’s a decision that’s made. Humility doesn’t just happen.

Humility is so powerful. During a conflict, it catches us off guard and puts us off balance. We expect others to be defensive and push back. But humility absorbs. We can be tempted by a lot of things we shouldn’t give in to. But when we give into the temptation of humility, the world changes for the better.

Kids are a lot of things, but independent isn’t one of them. They need adults just to stay alive every day. It’s interesting though, how the older we get the more arrogant we become; thinking we don’t need anyone else. But we label it as being a self-sufficient, independent grown-up. Jesus never told anyone to grow up though. In fact, He did just the opposite.

Scientists have identified that the universe is an ever-expanding landscape of stars, planets, solar systems, and entire galaxies that we can't begin to quantify. In the midst of it? Us. Floating on one of the pale blue dots floating through space... So what's it all for? And do we matter as much as we think we do?

Join us for an Espresso Shot talk (a jolt of energy/encouragement outside of our standard talk series) from Doug LaBelle. Doug has been on staff at Great Lakes, served on our leadership teams, mentored countless marriages, and racked up over 40 years of pastoral experience. This week, Doug is digging deep on MARRIAGE. And regardless of whether you've been married, his talk teaches us so much about...

Join us for a message from the "favorite uncle" of Great Lakes Church– Lawrence Kirby! As one of the lead pastors of OneVoice Church, Kirby brings an energetic spirit & convicting message as we continue our series on the book of James!

Join us as we wrap up "Do It Different" and we put a bow on how to choose genuine over grand when it comes to displaying our faith!

We’re always trying to find margin in our lives, aren’t we? We’re way too busy and stressed. But there are some areas in life, specifically in our faith, where margin might be a negative. And when it comes to people, we come to where Jesus would say it is.

Have you ever thought about this? Do you actually know what you look like? You’ve only ever seen you through a mirror, a recorded video or still photograph. In the end, that’s actually okay though – you’re not supposed to look like you anyway.

Christmas can be filled with wildly high expectations but it doesn’t have to be. And it doesn’t have to be a season of disappointment when those expectations aren’t met. In fact, those very things can make it awesome. A Not So Hallmark Christmas, Week 1: Hallelujah Over Hallmark // Josh Petersen

There's a question you can ask yourself that will bring inescapable clarity to just about every relational decision you'll bump up against. But a word of warning: it's not for the faint of heart.

One good thing now... or two good things 10 minutes from now? When framed simply, the answer seems obvious. But when it comes to the crossroads, making the right choice can be much harder. win us as we explore the foundational FOURTH question in this series, which ultimately has fueled all the other questions we've explored so far.

It's not Jiminy Cricket or the voice of Morgan Freeman, but it is an internal compass that keeps us calibrated. When you're sitting in the middle of those stomach-churning, head-scratching, answer-seeking seasons- we have to be brave enough to lean INTO the uncomfortable, with the hope of a brighter outcome.

We tend to tell ourselves the stories we want to hear, like to hear, or may be most easy to hear. In any given situation, we will naturally seek the past of least resistance. But sometimes in order to move forward or truly face the music, we have to be deeply & unapologetically honest with ourselves. And as we move forward in our series of 5 great questions to help us at life's major crossroads, w...

Do you have any regrets in your life? And have you ever wondered how you arrived at those regrets? Usually, it's because of a decision we made somewhere along the way. Usually we focus on the "what" of the decision we made. What if we instead spent some time thinking about the "how" we made the decision? That could change the direction of our life.

What if the most important question we could ask in our marriage was also one of the simplest? This week, our friend Sam Gazunis shares some simple truths that serve as guidelines for us to take the next step in loving those closest to us.

We all have a few of them in our lives: frenemies. They’re the people we kinda have to be nice to but don’t really like. And if we follow Jesus then it’s even more complicated because we’re supposed to love them. But it’s their fault, right? They’re dishonest. They’re selfish. They’re gossipy. If only they’d change, we might take the enemy out of frenemy and just be friends. That would be fair thi...

If you've ever been a parent or had a parent, you know it's not easy. In fact, it's downright difficult. And despite the countless blogs, TikTok follows and books promising to make it better, no one has solved the mystery of how NOT to mess up your kids. Except for Jesus. Even though he wasn't a father of earthly children, he gave us an overarching principal that changes the game...but it's not ea...

Too often people fall into the trap of thinking that following Jesus means the rest of life will be problem free. But Jesus never promised that. In fact, he said just the opposite. What he did promise though, was there would be meaning in the rest of your life – including the hard parts. He promised that the hard parts would be growth moments; trust-building moments. That doesn’t make the challeng...

Your parents have said it for years: "show me your friends, I'll show you the future." But what if that truth wasn't just for teenagers to hear? One of the most overlooked stories in the Bible shows us the power of a close friendship, a personal invite, and the overcoming of skepticism...and the ripple effects it had for millennia to follow.

So many people sign up for a religion or a church community because of what they believe it will do for them. To be sure, there’s plenty that it will bring to an individual’s life, but when it comes to following Jesus it becomes more about what we can do for others. Even when we don’t think we have a whole lot to offer, the little we do can be used for something amazing...something that will chang...

Most fitness blogs will tell you that abs aren’t made in the gym; they’re made in the kitchen. In other words, what you do when no one is watching makes all the difference. The same idea applies to growing our faith – there are things we need to practice without the pressure of an audience. Because God wants your most you.