The LAC story I have heard most often throughout my three years of service here is the time in the late sixties, when Pastor Ray Ortlund called himself and the entire church family to a deeper commitment to Christ. His call involved a more profound consecration to the Lord in three areas:
- God – Pastor Ortlund knew that nothing else would be right in any individual life or in the church as a whole unless God was revered and obeyed as being God.
- Fellow Believers – He also had been moved by the texts we have studied in Ephesians 4:11-16, Colossians 1:28-29 and Hebrews 10:19-25 related to God doing his work in the world and in personal lives through the local church. He challenged each one in the church to a more significant commitment to ministry, a ministry to one another.
- World – Pastor Ortlund recognized that God's people need to love the world in the same way that God loves the world. Therefore, his clarion call to this church family was to a more courageous evangelism and a more compassionate outreach to others in the world.
Introduction Week 1
On an unforgettable weekend at 393 N. Lake Avenue, the Sr. Pastor called the people to become a part of what he called "the company of the committed." For many people, that day was life-changing. For the church family, it was a day God used to meld hearts together and give focus to His future work in this community and throughout the world.
God's work is not yet done. Over 40 years later, I am ready to call us again to the kind of commitment made by those who have gone before us. I am praying that we will be guided by the Apostle Paul's own testimony found in Philippians 3:10-14.
I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings... Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
To His Glory,
Dr. Greg Waybright
Senior Pastor