By Pastor Matthew
Greetings,
It is so awesome to see what God has accomplished through LightHouse World Evangelism, Inc. Christa and I started this organization in 1997. Wow! What a thrill it has been to serve God and His people over the last Thirteen years through the LightHouse World Evangelism organization. Christa and I are sad to see the name disappear from the internet, stationary, and from around our offices. However, the door God has opened to us, and the opportunity to serve God in a new and fresh way is more important than hanging on to a name and a vision that God says has accomplished its purpose.
As many of us watched the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics and the lighting of the torch, we were all filled with expectations for what would transpire over the following two weeks. As individuals participated in events, some won, some lost, but all of the Olympians gave it their all, and left Canada with memories that will last them a lifetime. During these games there were also some tragedies. Some due to errors made on the part of the participants, some due to no one particular circumstance. I have found in my career as a Pastor and Counselor, that I have made mistakes. Some of those mistakes were as a result of immaturity and lack of experience, and others were due to my sin nature that each and every one of us contends with on a daily basis. As I sat and watched the closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympics, I heard God say every so tenderly to me that the “Light” that dawned in September of 1997, was coming to a close. I will never forget the fear that began to go through my being. As I wept and cried, asking God, why? His reply was something I did not expect to hear.
He said, “Son, you have run this leg of your race, and finished well. If you try to keep alive something that I am no longer wanting to do in and through you, then you will be doing it in vain. I have another race that I want you to run, and it will begin shortly. Trust in me, and you will finish this new race better than you finished the last one. You have not failed! On the contrary, the “Light” My “Light” that has shined brightly from the ministry that I entrusted to you has pierced the Kingdom of Darkness in a way that you will not truly understand until you meet with me face to face. Son, you have been obedient and you have served me faithfully, it is now time to allow me to do something new in you. Step out in faith, and as Peter walked to me on the water, so I desire you to walk to me and with me in a realm not of your complete understanding.”
During the closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympics, the torch was extinguished, and the flame was symbolically given to the next host country. At the very moment the flame was extinguished in Canada, God said to me, “The “Flame” the “Anointing” the “Presence and Power of My Holy Spirit,” will no longer reside over LightHouse World Evangelism, Inc., rather it is being transferred to a new ministry that I am calling you and your family to.”
It is my honor to have served all of you, and my Savior, Jesus Christ these past thirteen years as the founder and President of LightHouse World Evangelism. I am so excited about the new ministry endeavor that has been opened to me and my family. As we bring LightHouse World Evangelism, Inc. to a close legally, I want to thank all of our partners around this nation and the world for their financial giving, prayers, and faithful service. Your sowing into this ministry has transformed many lives and brought salvation, healing, and deliverance to countless thousands. As we utilize our attorneys in Tulsa Oklahoma to legally close this non-profit 501C-3 organization we can assure all of our partners that your donations will be disbursed appropriately according to all federal and state laws and will continue to be used for the further growth and development of other Christian ministry organizations. As of May 15, 2010, we will no longer be accepting monetary donations from individuals. As for our current partners, you should have received a letter explaining what you need to do if you want to continue to financially support the new ministry work that is being created by the same attorneys.
On a personal note, Christa and I want to thank all of our partners that stood with us during the three years of legal battles that took place when we adopted our two adult sons. The stress that our family went through and the threats from their former family members forced us to have a 12 month restraining order put into place against them. As many of you know, still to this day, through web-sites they have personally made, they try to tarnish my character and legitimacy of LightHouse World Evangelism, Inc., with outrageous and false accounts of what really happened to their sons, and what really occurred in my past life. They even went, last June, so far as to enlisting several homosexual led organizations in their hopes to humiliate me by bringing up my past arrests. It just goes to show how desperate Satan is to accuse and try to bring down a work that God has placed His blessing on. I assure you that they were not successful in their endeavor at all. On the contrary, God has expanded our borders of influence and promoted us to a new level of ministry work in and to His body.
As you already know, you, our partners, were sent letters and were apprised of every detail of those cases, in which I was arrested. At the time I was arrested, you all were given full details of the events and their outcomes. By my openness in all of these matters, and my submitting to a full inquire from a panel of ministers that were none bias to me or our organization, you all were apprised of my being found not guilty of any wrong doing. What has been so amazing and somewhat comical, is that these organizations wanted to make such a big deal of one arrest that occurred 12 years ago and was dismissed. A second arrest that occurred 10 years ago where I was found not guilty within 20 minutes of deliberation by a Jury who listened to all the facts and carefully made their decision. And finally, the posting of trial transcripts and arrest documents of the most recent case that occurred 5 years ago. In their reporting on this case, they did not come first to us for any statements, but rather assumed their “sources” were right, and made it sound like I actually was found guilty of doing some horrible act. The fact is, all of you, partners, were provided a court document by me and our organization, that showed that the previous ruling regarding this arrest was set aside, a plea of not guilty was entered by me, and the case was then dismissed and expunged from my official record. Oops, this was probably something important that should have been mentioned!
It saddens me to this day that not one single organization actually looked up the case, but rather relied on the information given to them by our adopted son’s ex-family (Their sources). I have hoped and prayed that these organizations would have investigated the integrity of their “sources” before publishing opinions about me and our organization. In their investigation, they would have found testimony, under oath; regarding the abuse that our sons sustained from those that they are calling their sources.
Many of you have asked why I or our attorneys had not responded to the accusations and the borderline slander that these organizations and individuals have perpetuated against me and our organization sooner, meaning when it first broke, last June. The answer is simple; first, it is not worth my time or energy to defend myself to individuals that are not reporting the truth and have a political motivation or guilt driven motivation behind everything they say and do. Our organization has never gotten involved in the politics of our society, and will not even when it seems personal in nature. The organizations and individuals that have voiced their opinion regarding my healing or my integrity as a person, have no facts to back up their claims. Regarding my healing, none of them have sat down and looked at my medical documentation. Therefore, their opinions are just that! Opinions! In this country we pride ourselves on that fact that we can express our opinions, and we are all entitled to our opinion.
As for bashing my integrity, in my experience it is the individual that does this type of behavior that usually turns out having a guilty conscience. Guilty people like diverting attention off themselves. This in turn helps them sleep better at night, and makes them feel better about themselves. The second reason I and our organization chose not to comment about their ridiculous reports regarding my arrests and integrity as a minister, is the fact that their reports were not “breaking news flashes” to us or to you are partners. You walked with us through these events 12 years ago, 10 years ago, and 5 years ago. The reports that were made to look like “breaking news” was just propaganda to try to smear my character and make new viewers to our ministry question my ability to lead. Let me put it another way, it would be like me placing a blog on the internet telling everyone that Michael Jackson died last year. The problem with this is everyone knows it already. It is “old News.” Most people are still sad over his death, but have moved on. We as an organization walked through these situations one by one, and each of the cases were either dismissed, or in one case I went to trial, and after all the evidence was heard, I was found not guilty. This is now old news!
As for all of those who have seen my medical documentation over the years, you know the truth. For those of you who truly know me, and have worked with me for any length of time, you know that I am not perfect and I have many character defects, but one thing you all know is that I love Jesus and I am a person of integrity. When I mess up, and I have messed up a lot in my life, I have tried and still try to admit to it as quickly as humanly possible, repent, and ask for forgiveness. This is the way that we leaders in the Body of Christ should respond to our sin nature.
Why am I saying all this now? It is finally the right time! Christa and I are so thankful that all of our board of Trustees and elders are going to transition with us into the new ministry endeavor that God has opened for us. For those of you that will be partnering on with us, please fill out the forms we have sent you and mail them back as soon as possible. For those of you that have just visited our site for the first time, I hate to say goodbye so quickly. May God continue to bless each one of you as you continue to serve Him faithfully!
Pastor Matthew and Christa Manning
By Board of Directors
This Blog statement is Two-Fold in its purpose. First, to inform all of our financial Partners that you will be receiving, in the mail shortly, a letter from Pastor Matthew and Christa Manning regarding an incredible ministry opportunity that has been placed before them that will greatly affect the future of LightHouse World Evangelism Inc. Second, we want to inform those that are not ministry financial partners, but viewers of our Web-Blog, (Approximately 500 of you a day) of the changes that will be occurring to the website and blog.
We, the Board of Directors, have unanimously agreed with the Manning’s on their decision that they have made regarding their future as leaders within the Body of Christ, and the direct impact that it will have on LightHouse World Evangelism Inc. We firmly believe that their obedience to the will of God has already begun to take this ministry to the next level in seeing God’s healing power become manifest in so many people’s lives.
In every organization, change is always accompanied with its own sets of fears and anxiety. Pastor Matthew and Christa have received numerous conformations and statements of support regarding their decision. As they begin to take one of the biggest risks they have had to make in over a decade, please be in prayer for both of them, their four children, LightHouse World Evangelism Inc., and its leaders as we all listen to God’s voice and transition our ministry and organization over the next six months.
For those of you that are not partners but faithful readers of our blog, we can only encourage you to stay tuned for what is coming next. We assure you all that what God is doing in and through this ministry is only getting better and the opportunities are abounding. You will notice that the LHWE Website has been taken offline. For the amount of changes and overhauls that are currently taking place in the transition of LightHouse World Evangelism, Inc, to its new destiny, this needed to occur. The LHWE Blog will remain up a little longer to allow our blog users to know of the change that is coming, and to notify our partners that a letter has been mailed prior to this post hitting the World Wide Web.
Thank you all for your patience as we work through the legalities of this change and the official announcement in the future of the final result of what God has accomplished under the leadership of Pastor Matthew C. Manning and the entire transition team that God has put into place.
For those of you that would think something bad has happened to cause this transition to occur, we as a board of directors want to assure you that nothing has occurred to Pastor Matthew or his wife, and that what it happening is not due to any wrong doing, but rather, it is an awesome end to a twelve year old ministry that has seen success at every turn, and an exciting new dawning of what God has in store for us as a ministry in the future. There is a truth in the fact that “Old wineskins” cannot hold “New Wine!” Pastor Matthew and Christa have faithfully served God over the last twelve years, and God has just given them “New Wineskins,” so they can continue to serve us for another decade or longer. Pastor Matthew and Christa have lived a life of integrity before God, and in the midst of negative propaganda and insults by those that want to put their own slant on things, God still works and opens new paths of opportunities where there seemed to be none. Pastor Matthew and Christa Manning are and will remain our leaders in this new dawning of ministry expression. For all of our partners and those that have just been blessed to hear encouraging words from time to time through our blog postings, this is the end of a decade of ministry that served its purpose, and at the same time is the beginning of something new and fresh. As our Website communications come to an end, it is only just the beginning of a new era of fresh bold ministry.
Thank you for your prayers and your continued support. While we are still online, please E-mail us any questions that you may have at: blog@lhwe.org or call us at (415) 349-LHWE (5493).
The Board of Directors
LightHouse World Evangelism, Inc.
By Board of Directors
The LightHouse World Evangelism 2010 “State of the Ministry Address”
“Failing to plan is planning to fail. If Jesus does not build the house, they who build labor in vain. But if you have a plan to build a house designed by Jesus, no one can stop you!”
Quote from our President and Founder
When the president gives a state of the union address, his purpose is not simply to report on national happenings, but on what he plans to do. It may seem strange for a church to have a state of the union address, however, Pastor Matthew’s purpose here is the same; any organization, be it a church, a business or even a family, should have clear set goals and a purpose. Today’s message addresses the goals and purposes of LightHouse World Evangelism (LHWE) in 2010. Though a state of the union is given once a year, a mission statement should be available at all times. Read LHWE’s Mission Statement here!
Pastor Matthew and Christa founded LightHouse World Evangelism in order to have an impact on the San Francisco Bay Area as well as around the world. LHWE is growing every year, and with that growth comes many responsibilities. Pastor Matthew will be addressing how each of our partners can be a LightHouse in their own community and how you can partner with us to continue to be a beacon of light for lost and hurting souls. The next series of Blogs that will be posted will be a series on the preciousness of our time, talents and treasures and how to use them wisely and in a God-honoring way. Here is an overview of the upcoming blog posts that Pastor Matthew will be writing to help us all focus on God’s purposes for our lives in our own communities.
1. Time – the progression of our existence
We all have 168 hours in each week, nothing more, and nothing less. Donating 2 of those hours in ministry can make us lighthouses to our cities.
2. Talent – Unique expression of Holy Spirit power.
With our partners and the several hundred of you a day that regularly visit our website, you all make up a group with many talents that can change the world for the better, serve your fellow men and women, and honor our Lord, Jesus Christ. It is important that we use our strengths to their fullest rather than trying to do things that are not in our gifting. For example, if you have the gift of teaching, your talent may be to reach many learners in a powerful way. However, if your gift is prayer, then you pray and let the teachers teach! Each person should serve in an area where he or she can have the greatest impact.
3. Treasure – That which has exchangeable value.
If those of you that regularly view our blog (approximately 400 a day) would each commit to giving $5 a week or $20 a month to our organization, the total would come to over $125 thousand dollars a year we would add to our current operating budget. Using that money could do incredible things for not only the San Francisco Bay Area, but the world as a whole.
God has always made it clear to this ministry that we are to reach out to our community and beyond to those who suffer and are considered “the least of these” because nobody else will. Pastor Matthew and Christa Manning, where ever they go, encourage everyone to join a ministry suited to his/her talents so that together we all can touch others and empower our cities, our state, our country and our world (Act 1:8). Going to church and listening to a sermon is nice, but that is not the only thing which God has called us to do. He wants us to help point others to the saving power of the Cross of Jesus Christ, give hope, and give love. With so many ministry outreaches that we have in operation, and you have happening in your own cities that need help, there is certainly one to suit your gifting. There are ministries to help the church function, reach out to elderly people, serve with youth, perform with dramatic arts, witness to gang members or prisoners, or simply give hope to “the least of these in your community”. One outreach that we as a leadership body have found to be of concern here in the Bay Area and is becoming more and more “known” about in America and the world is the issue of human sex trafficking. We have had many individuals come to us for emotional and inner healing due to the cause and effect of being raised in families that were involved in not only incest but also in the business of sex trafficking. Let us be very clear, we as an organization are not called to go out of our way to try to bring down these sects of individuals. This is the job of local, state, and federal agencies. Yes we unfortunately have seen where some in those positions of power are themselves involved; however, we also from experience have found that this percentage is less than more. What God has called us as a ministry to do is to help those who come seeking emotional healing and safety from such experiences a safe place to talk, share, heal and find the loving and compassionate arms of Jesus Christ that will take their damaged and broken lives and put them back together for His purposes and for His glory.
Our city, your city, this country and this world need help and it can start right here with you. We are asking that our partners and regular viewers of this website continue or for the first time become a partner of this ministry as well as become “Lighthouses’” in your own community by volunteering and make a difference in the life of others. LightHouse World Evangelism had its humble start in a room at the King’s College and Seminary in Los Angeles, California over a decade ago as a prayer group called the Gethsemane Prayer Warriors. Now for the last decade we have plucked individuals out of the clutches of satanic ritual abuse, helped persons out of sex trafficking families, helped numerous people find their identity in Jesus Christ, through our four day seminars, that struggled with their identity stemming back to childhood judgments and vows they made, child abuse, molestation, incest, the lack of affirmation due to growing up in broken homes, and or families that were and may still be involved in satanic covens.
Thank you to all of you that have given over the years in support of what God is doing here at LightHouse World Evangelism. We have gone through many changes in the last year that are for the better. One major change occurred in July of 2009 when we moved our offices out of Sonoma County to San Francisco. This move was a tremendous undertaking but went smoothly and efficiently. Thanks to all of our partners we ended 2009 better than we could imagine financially. Thank you all for your prayers for Pastor Matthew and Christa as Pastor Matthew underwent three minor operations at the end of 2009. He is still recovering, and though his travelling has been lessened as we begin this New Year, he and Christa look forward to a busy and prosperous 2010, seeing God’s Kingdom come into the lives of the many that they together will encounter throughout this New Year. We all have a powerful work to do for the Lord, so let’s continue to be focused as a people who what to serve God with all of our hearts and move forward together!
How would God have you serve His people, or how would God have you give of your financial resources in 2010?
The Board of Directors,
LightHouse World Evangelism, Inc.
By Pastor Matthew
New Year’s Eve is a great time for Christian believers to get together and rejoice, either in homes or in churches. Food, fun and fellowship are a healthy alternative to all-night excessive drinking of alcoholic beverages.
Traditionally, many people in the world get inebriated on New Year’s Eve, only to wake up sometime the next day not knowing what they might have said, what happened, or with whom. But God’s people can unite in prayer power for God’s will to be done, and for His Kingdom to come. Although this may perhaps sound too religious or “goody-two-shoes,” it is a safe and sane alternative to the typical New Year’s celebrations that dominate cultures around the world.
Gathering together with music, food, games, good conversation, and perhaps an inspirational message right before midnight, along with prayer, make for a blessed New Year’s Eve celebration. Then go home, go to bed, and enjoy the next day without a smashing headache or an upset stomach.
One of the traditions associated with New Year’s observances is the making of resolutions, promises to stop or start something in the New Year. On the average, about half of American adults make one or more New Year’s resolutions each year, which commonly include weight loss, exercise, quitting smoking and better money management.
Typically, about 75 percent of people who make resolutions maintain their commitment past the first week, and less than half keep their word to themselves after six months. Numbers vary, of course, and some people actually make the desired changes in their lives. But for the most part, it’s another disappointment and another failure, and it comes up again at the next New Year’s time.
Making New Year’s Resolutions was started by early Babylonians. Although this is generally assumed as accurate, no one really knows, but it’s the stuff of great trivial conversation at social gatherings, particularly New Year’s Eve parties. For the Babylonians, the start of the New Year was a good time to return borrowed items, such as farming equipment, and so begin the New Year with a clean slate. Some believe that New Year’s resolutions began as promises made to the gods, negotiating or bargaining in the hope that the gods would grant some favor in return, such as a good harvest. It was also believed that breaking of New Year’s resolution brought bad luck.
The Bible does not speak for or against the concept of New Year’s resolutions. Every day is the day the Lord has made, as Psalm 118:24 states, and “we will rejoice and be glad in it.” One can make a resolution or promise to oneself any day of the year, and keeping it or breaking it is in their hands. One thing the Bible does say in Ecclesiastes 5:2, 4 and 5 is that if one makes promises or vows to God, it shouldn’t be taken lightly.
“Do not be rash with your mouth, and let not your heart utter anything hastily before God. For God is in heaven and you on earth; therefore let your words be few. When you make a vow to God, do not delay to pay it; for He has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you have vowed— better not to vow than to vow and not pay.”
Setting a goal or several goals at the beginning of the New Year can be stimulating, but it is the motivation to keep the resolution that is important. One can determine to pray more, read the Bible more, go to church regularly, or volunteer more, but these resolutions can fail without correct motivation. The incentive must come from within with purpose and a plan. Even though there might be a setback at times, the best thing to do is to immediately start again.
After months and months of tests to develop an electric light-bulb, Thomas Edison was interviewed by a reporter who asked Edison if he felt like a failure and if he thought he should just give up. Edison replied, “Young man, why would I feel like a failure? And why would I ever give up? I now know definitively over 9,000 ways that an electric light bulb will not work. Success is almost in my grasp.” After over 10,000 attempts, Edison successfully invented the light bulb. The point is, don’t quit. If it is a worthy goal, it is worth sticking to, even if it means starting over a few times.
Happy New Year Everyone…
Pastor Matthew and Christa Manning
