Lakewood Vineyard (OH)

A woman moves to Philadelphia because her brother calls and says "God is here." College students sell their stuff to help a stranger. Three thousand strangers become one family overnight. This is the early church in Acts 2 — and it wasn't built by strategy or social engineering. It was built one heart at a time. This week we explore what it looks like when a community is actually devoted.

This Mother's Day, Matt and Erin Shetler teach on a side of God's character the church has often been less comfortable with — the mother heart of God.

Scripture doesn't just compare God to a father. Over and over, God reveals himself through maternal imagery: a nursing mother who cannot forget her child, a hen gathering her chicks under her wings, a love that screams "stop" and holds us close in the same breath.

Walking through Genesis 1, Isaiah 49, and Matthew 23, Matt and Erin ask what changes when we let ourselves be held by the God who said, "I will not forget you."

We live in a world obsessed with winning arguments and protecting our peace. But Jesus calls us to something harder and better: making peace. In this week's message, we dig into what shalom actually means, why peacekeeping and peacemaking aren't the same thing, and what it looks like to go first — even when it costs you.

Your phone. Your inbox. Your to-do list. Your worries. Everything is competing for your attention — and most of the time, it's winning.

In this message, Matt explores what Jesus meant when he said "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God." An undivided heart isn't just a spiritual ideal — it's the thing that changes how you see everything. But in a world built to distract you, how do you actually get there?

Most of us know what it feels like to be empty inside — and to reach for something that doesn't actually help. In this message from the Blessed series, we dig into Matthew 5:6, where Jesus promises that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled. But what does that kind of hunger even look like, and what does it mean to be filled? Through honest personal story and two remarkable Old Testament prophecies, we explore the difference between looking good on the outside and being transformed from the inside out — and why the emptiness you feel might be exactly where God wants to meet you.

We spend most of our lives managing how people see us — projecting confidence, competence, the good life. Then Jesus opens his most famous sermon and says the people who've stopped doing all of that are the blessed ones. What if the entrance to everything God offers isn't achievement — it's admitting you have nothing to bring? Week 1 of the Blessed series from Lakewood Vineyard Church.

The disciples had given up everything to follow Jesus. They watched him die. When the women came back saying he'd risen, they couldn't go there. Not again. The risk of hoping one more time—and being wrong again—felt too high.

If you've been there, this Easter message is for you. Pastor Matt explores what it looks like to open the door to hope when everything in you says it's too dangerous. We'll dig into the real reasons the disciples doubted, why Peter chose to wonder, and what it means that Jesus meets us in our fear, our shame, and our hesitation.