Shoreline 2022 Recap: Together Again!

And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. …And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.

– Acts 2:44, 47 NLT

For the thousands who came to service at Shoreline Amphitheatre last week, and the thousands who watched online, it was a day to remember! It was so great for Margo and me to see old friends from all over the Bay Area and to meet new ones, and have so many incredible conversations. Whether it was over TreatBot ice cream,  in line for the other food trucks, watching the 3-on-3 tournament, or inside by the jump castles and train, the joy of togetherness was palpable and powerful. What a great day to be in one place together again!

To encourage your faith, we wanted to share a few highlights and photos from the day.

God Cares for You

May He extend hope and help to you from His holy sanctuary and support you from His sacred city of Zion.

– Psalm 20:2 Voice

From the great music to the singing and the lesson, the message was clear: God cares for you! Though we have all experienced many storms these last two-and-a-half years, the Scriptures helped understand that God has cared for us through it all and wants us to show those around us how much he cares. 

The world and our nation are experiencing so many troubling storms, made more poignant these last two weeks by the two mass shootings in Buffalo, NY and Uvalde, TX. Our prayers go out to those families and their loved ones associated with these tragedies, but also a call went out for all of us at the service to befriend the lonely, love the lost, and care for the troubled.  

God is equipping us as a church to reach more people with his message and love. We saw this clearly through 17 new scholars and interns hired for the summer. These young people will be helping our teens at our Y Camps and our campus ministry through the summer. But this kind of opportunity and adventure is not just for the young, as Stone and Marilee Eleazer are also answering the call to move to lead the Contra Costa South part of our church. 

Our 3-on-3 basketball tournament also saw people from middle school, high school, and adulthood competing and enjoying a great day of hoops! As Leroy, one of the players on the winning team, said, “I had so much fun. It’s been too long. It was great seeing everyone again. And let’s run it back again in the league and get a championship.” 

While it is great to play hoops, it is even better to have a place to come out of the isolation and stress of the pandemic and have conversations that build friendships and change lives. 

God Has a Plan for You

May He grant the dreams of your heart and see your plans through to the end.

– Psalm 20:4 Voice

We also learned and saw that God has great plans for each of us. This was most vividly apparent while watching David Cornelio get baptized! David is a college student who is on the soccer team at Foothill College. As David studied the Bible, he saw God’s plan for him, which inspired him to be completely honest about his deepest pain, guilt, and insecurities. David shared that he now feels free and is determined to use all of the opportunities and talents he has to help other people see that God has a plan for them also. 

Together Again

We can’t wait until the next time we are able to experience being together again, but we know we will all take the faith, love, and hope we received from this year’s Shoreline service back to our part of the Bay Area and share it with our neighbors and friends who are experiencing their own storms in life. Together we will change the world, one life at a time. 

Until next time,

Scott and Margo Colvin