Economy is getting better ... yeah right

Hello everyone,

I have been reading & watching the news over the past six months and have carefully listened to the broadcasters report on how the economy is "turning around" - "on the up swing" - "rapidly improving"… I have to make a comment not as the President or Pastor of the Lighthouse Mission but as a guy who stands behind a table with a bunch of volunteers each week to help hand out food to people in need that I have never seen so many people in need. Sadly, the need is going up each week at an alarming rate.

Pastor Enrique (the Lighthouse Mission’s Outreach Director) just completed the Lighthouse Missions end of year calculations of how many people God is feeding through the Lighthouse Mission. After reviewing the report I was shocked to learn how many people need help. A little over 7% of the total population of Suffolk County receives help through the Lighthouse Mission! Think about that for a moment. It is certainly sad to think that (as seen in the photo I took above at one of our outreaches) young mothers tightly clutching their new born babies praying they won’t slip or elderly people leaning on their walkers struggling to stand would walk down dangerous snow covered roadways fighting to get to a Lighthouse Mission outreach location. Then, when they do finally arrive they have to stand in deep snow while they wait in line for food. Well, here is the good news (the good news is ALWAYS Jesus- got ch’), somehow God has been expanding the food we do get and fills every need. They other good news is that every person who comes to an outreach to receive food gets hear & SEE the love of Jesus. It’s amazing to think that God can use a small ministry like the Lighthouse Mission to make such large impact in Suffolk county.

I can’t wait to see what God is going to do next.

Bless you,

Pastor Jim

God keeps on Blessing & blessing & blessing....

Working here at the Lighthouse Mission is amazing for so many reasons.

I have been in ministry leadership for many years as a pastor of several churches and now the largest food distributor to the needy on Long Island, NY. However, I have never seen God at work like I have seen here at the mission. I am blessed to witness miracles on a daily basis. I see so many miracles you would think that I would get used to them- I have to tell you that I am blown away by Gods miracles every time I am blessed to witness one. For example, just today I was reviewing everything that we are going to need for the "Kids Club" my wife Andrea leads for the mission each Saturday. As you well know the mission does not have any money. In fact, what little money people do donate to us goes directly to put fuel in our trucks, buy food, etc. so we don't have much left over to buy supplies for the children's ministry. Today I discovered that we needed drinks for the children- we have a lunch for each of them but no drinks. Where will I find a drink for 100+ children within a day? God heard my prayer and in an hour a van pulled up from a local school and explained that since there was no school next week they had no use for the 100+ containers of milk... do we need it? If you ever get a chance to read a book about George Muller who was an amazing pastor / evangelist you will see that this is the kind of things God does on a regular basis for those who seek Him for all things

( http://www.biblebelievers.com/george_muller/index.html)

Soon after, I noticed that we are ready to start painting the new building so where was I going to find the $900+ dollars for the paint & materials needed to paint the room. Soon after a local paint supply company dropped of enough paint & supplies to paint the entire facility, another miracle.

Soon after, another school dropped off hundreds of Valentine stuffed decorated shoeboxes to give to the children of the “Kids Club”. These are packed with candies & goodies! The children are going to freak out when they get them.

Why does God provide in a way that is so specific for the Lighthouse Mission? The answer, I believe is pretty simple: Because much like the poor people in the world that have no means of getting food for their family they completely lean on the Lord for all that they need (much like the sparrow Jesus speaks about) and God simply provides for them- some how, some way God provides. The Lighthouse Mission trusts and completely relies on the Lord (lets face it- Its His ministry, why wouldn't He provide for it?).

He has NEVER let me down. Thank you JESUS!!

Pastor Jim arrested for giving out food & sharing Jesus?

I just received an e-mail from a person who was upset when the police showed up a few months ago to arrest me for handing out food & sharing Jesus with 130+ needy people on the street of a local Long Island village. She was upset that I was not arrested (I have a lot of fans).

You see, after losing our facility in Patchogue after 17 years hundreds of people had no way of receiving food from the Lighthouse Mission as they desperately counted on. So I asked my heavenly Father for direction. Then I started a new street outreach to assist the people left behind. After months of successfully operating the outreach & feeding hundreds of people someone contacted the local Mayors office to complain that we did not have "Official Permission" to hand out food within the village limits. Soon after I received an "Official Telephone Call" suggesting that if I showed up at the outreach location the following week to hand out food that the police would arrest me on site. "Why would you arrest me for helping the poor I asked" they simply repeated "if you come back you WILL be arrested.” How cool is that I thought? so of course I showed up next week with my box truck filled with food to a parking lot filled with 100+ people waiting for us to arrive as usual. We set up the food, people got in line & I shared the Gospel of Jesus with them. As I was preaching 2 police Constables arrived and waited in their cars and motioned in my direction. I waved and motioned back to them that I would be done in a moment. They waited near their cars. When I finished sharing Gods word I explained to the people that I was now going to be arrested. For some reason this seemed to anger the 100+ people calmly waiting for their food J (sometimes I can be a wise guy if you haven’t noticed). I had to (firmly but lovingly) remind them that Jesus would NOT flip over the police cars that came to arrest the Pastor who was feeding them (thank you Jesus they listened). However, they did escort me over to the police cars. By the way, you really know who your friends are when they show up to get arrested with you in the name of Jesus. The officers nervously asked me if I was Pastor Jim? I smiled and shook my head and held out my hands to receive the cuffs (I thought this would make a great photo for my resume J) and they said that they were not going to arrest me (bummer). They came to make sure the crowd was orderly and we were not making a mess of the parking lot. Soon after they left. A week later we received “Official Permission” in the mail to use the parking lot for 1 hour per week to feed to local residents in need. The parking lot has never been so clean. Thank you Jesus

I can’t wait to see what God is going to do next!!

- God be with you, Pastor Jim

New evening outreach location in Yaphank!

I am very excited to tell you that the Lighthouse Mission now has a new EVENING outreach!

You might be asking yourself the question "whats the big deal?" hasn't the Lighthouse Mission has been feeding & sharing Jesus with more then 3200 Long Islanders at multiple locations each week for over 18 years?, so what makes this outreach so special?"

Well, many people who come to our street outreaches are homeless, unemployed, elderly, single parents or underemployed. The under employed or also known as the "working poor" are simply people who have a job (sometimes more then one) but are earning at or below the minimum wage. Anyone who lives on Long Island will tell you that unless you have a rich uncle who pays all of your bills- minimum wage can't even come close to paying even the most modest of monthly bills. Therefore, many need help finding food for their families and the Lighthouse is honored & blessed to be able to meet that need each week. Some working people are blessed to be able to take their hour lunch break & work close enough to an outreach location can meet the Lighthouse Outreach team to get food. However, those people who do not work within a reasonable distance from one of our 10 locations can not get any food. This has been a problem that has troubled me for many years. I have been praying for God to open a door to begin a new outreach at a location that could be easily reached and simple to find. Soon after, I received a call from one of my closest friends (Pastor Tony Balsamo founder of Integrity Christian Fellowship, 1 old dock road in Yaphank) who quickly & generously offered the use of his church parking lot for an evening food outreach (4:30-5:30 every Tuesday). Because of the heart of Pastor Tony & his staff to "serve the least of these...matt 25:40) The lighthouse Mission will be able to safely & efficiently be able to provide food to those families whom struggle each week fighting to get from paycheck to paycheck.

I can't wait to see what God is going to do next!

- God Bless you my friends, - Pastor Jim Ryan