Lighting The Way Worldwide

Lighting the Way in Church is an outreach to Christians, to people who go to church, led by a deacon or elder,  as an outreach against heresy, contemplative prayer and occult practices coming into the nominal church under the guise of Christianity. Our latest location is a church in MN, as one of the elders there used to be the leader for our Boulder outreach and really knows the Bible. His wife is talking to the women, as they are sharing materials such as these pictured with the leadership. These Lighting the Way materials based on apologetics expose the true teachings of pseudo Christian books and movements that are not biblically sound. They teach the difference between judging truth from error (which we are commanded to do in the Bible in order to know right from wrong) vs. being judgmental in a sinful way.

The “seeker friendly movement” within churches in America got off the ground in the 21st Century  with a desire for pastors to have megachurches at the expense of hymns and sermons with a pure and simple Gospel message warning about hell to those who are not saved, among other errors such as the promotion of mysticism. This “feel good movement” is designed to make the world so comfortable within the church, that the pastors are now being taught to leave out anything in the Bible that people would not want to hear. This is not what the Bible teaches, and so the people attending such churches are misled on what it means to be a Christian.

Books on channeling, such as ‘Jesus Calling,’ are now deemed biblical by many, all because the mainstream, nominal Christian publishers are peddling such books about an occult “Jesus” as sound. Another example is ‘The Shack,’ which is a book about forgiveness, which is good, but it portrays God as a “black Madonna” who He is not. Mixing light with darkness can be deceiving, as there is just enough truth in it to mask the error when Bible verses are taken out of context, etc. This LTW outreach helps leaders in churches draw the line of demarcation between truth and error within their church congregation, as a ministry of free materials for Christians.

“LTW in Church” equips Christians to stand against unsound books and unsound “Bible studies” and even disrespectful “Bible translations” like the slang found in the sacred Lord’s Prayer in ‘The Message’ so-called translation. We send out materials that can teach leaders within the church the difference— as we light the way these days inside the Protestant churches in America, as well as at our worldwide table outreach locations outside of the church. As always, all materials are free to the Christians who need them in this new LTW in Church outreach in MN.

New table outreach of evangelism based on apologetics begins at Siesta Key Beach, one of the most popular beaches in America. Every Sunday night New Agers gather for occult drumming at sunset with dancing, drugs, and plenty of police around. We have specific outreaches on Sunday nights targeted to them where we hand out free materials written for people in occult spirituality, such as copies of The Light That Was Dark, a book that is the testimony of Warren Smith who came to know Jesus as his Savior after being a follower of Rajneesh. We set up the outreach table at the main entrance with a banner reading, “A Free Gift for You,” where people can stop to find answers to life’s questions based on the Bible teaches and learn about heaven and hell and how to know for sure they are going to heaven when they die. All materials are free; everyone is greeted with respect, and all answers are based on logic and reason and God’s word. We also have a file bin of alphabetized articles on apologetics to reach Moslems, Jews, atheists, Buddhists, Catholics, Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Scientologists, and more. We set up at special events and on holidays, such as the ecumenical Easter sunrise service at Siesta Key where thousands attend who take materials at our outreach table on their way to back to the parking lot afterwards such as Bibles and tracts and booklets on who Jesus is, why He died on the cross, what Resurrection Sunday is really all about and how anyone can have everlasting life through Jesus who gave His life so we can live. The outreach table can be found there in the mornings during the week and at sunset on the weekends.

New LTW table outreach begins in Oregon! Materials have been shipped to get this off the ground soon in Portland with a banner reading, “ A Free Gift for You” and tracts, books, booklets and Bibles free on the table to anyone who stops seeking answers to life’s questions based on what the Bible teaches. America keeps changing, and sometimes it feels like the days are getting darker, but the light shines brightest in the darkness! God bless Matthew and the team, as we work to see this new ministry begin, spring, summer and fall in Oregon.

It has been a happy music-filled day, as we began a new outreach to people in assisted living. I sang the hymns and shared my testimony, and my mother played the piano. I sang my heart out and loved every minute of it! Pictured is about a third of the room. It lasted for an hour, and I was so thrilled when I saw many of them singing along!

I did not want to offend any Jewish person or atheist but knew I was meant to share my testimony and sing the hymns. I thought that some people might leave because of that, but everyone stayed and more people kept coming to make for about fifty people in all. I thank God for meeting us there with the presence of the Holy Spirit where we could feel God’s love. This will be an ongoing, monthly outreach of Lighting the Way Worldwide.

Here is the list of songs I sang (and will be adding more): Somewhere Over the Rainbow; God is so Good; I’ve Got the Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy; This is the Day; His Eye is on the Sparrow; He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands; No One Ever Cared for Me Like Jesus; Do Lord; In the Sweet By and By, and Learning to Lean on Jesus

Whenever I sing the old hymns, it seems like yesterday when I was singing them as a child as a soloist in revival meetings throughout the South affiliated with the Baptist church, revival meetings during the week which don’t exist anymore. Sweet memories, and the precious hymns mean more to me the older I get.

I loved every minute of this and look forward to being with them again at Brookdale. Afterwards, my mother and I went out to eat to celebrate God giving us yet another creative way of reaching others and preparing people for eternity through faith in Jesus.

With pandemic 2020 behind us, Lighting the Way began an outreach of evangelism to underprivileged children living in Sarasota, FL, in January of 2021, after my mother, Claudette Litz, had moved to Sarasota. She began it, and I worked with her whenever I was in town. Now that she has moved, and I am still living in Sarasota, I lead it, and I have grown to love them like my own and delight in this ministry of evangelism to these underprivileged kids each week in the Orange Avenue trailer park.

God led us to begin this to Hispanic children living in a rundown trailer park in the poor area of Newtown, which is known for its crime and drugs. Recently, God brought a Christian family from Haiti into the trailer park, and I have taken them and their mother (with their father still in Haiti waiting to get to come to America legally) to my church at Sarasota Baptist. The mother does not speak fluent English, so they attend a Haitian church regularly, but I still pick them up and take them to special events at Sarasota Baptist.

To get this outreach started, we distributed fliers within the trailer park to the families who live there, and the Kids’ Bible Clubbegan in 2021! Starting out, we met with the kids on a tarp spread on an outdoor basketball court within the trailer park, bringingpillows for the children as they sat on the ground on the tarp. We taught them each week what the Bible teaches about how to be saved. As they got taller, I transitioned to bringing chairs each week, and the outreach has become more of a mentorship, with many of the kids teenagers now. The purpose is not just to teach them the Gospel but what it means. They love our apologetics game called “Stump the Teacher,” as they get to ask any hard question about God or the Bible they can think of, as they have now all prayed for Jesus to be their Lord and Savior and are eager to grow.

We were told when we began that many of these kids raised in Newtown end up in crime, so it was no wonder that they knew nothing about the Bible when we began working with them. They are proud of their Scripture memorization each week. We bought NKJ Bibles for all of them, too. There are prizes for doing Bible study throughout the week in his or her own Bible and for memorizing their Bible verses. We also brings snacks and water. We reward them with special outings, like spending fifty dollars per child on a birthday gift and supporting them in person at school events. When they have an extra need, we try our best to meet that, too. They get thrilled from a meal at Wendy’s nearby, so we sometimes reward them with that.

When we began working with these kids they had never looked up a single verse in the Bible and did not know answers to basic questions like “How did Jesus die?” and “Why did Jesus die on the cross?” Most of them were raised in the Catholic church, but they now know so much about the Gospel and Jesus that they are witnessing to their family members and friends who are Catholics about how we are saved through faith in Jesus and no merit of our own. There could be nothing more rewarding to my life than this mentorship, and I look forward to every Saturday, meeting with these kids. Thank you, to everyone who partners with me to see these children reach their potential in life through Jesus.

Our outreach location of Seal Beach, CA, led by Susan Young, is alive and growing! She and the team explain to people from all walks of life what it means to know Jesus as Savior, not based on religious tradition but what the Bible teaches. They answer questions with logic and reason and never talk down to anyone, lovingly sharing Bible verses about the Gospel and who Jesus is and what makes Him a Savior like no other. With materials specifically for atheists, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, New Agers, and people from any belief system, this is a ministry of evangelism based on apologetics with depth where Susan and the team don’t just know what they believe but why they believe it.

You may find them at an outreach table on the pier or filling the air with praise and worship songs there on the boardwalk as people pass. They even organized a blanket drive for the homeless in a time of Covid19. In the year of Pandemic2020 where people were often depressed and had all but lost hope, Susan and the team zealously kept at it to help others, as they continue to make a difference and shine a light for Jesus in Seal Beach, CA, offering free tracts and booklets to people seeking answers to life’s questions, meeting them right where they are.

More Photos Here

Weekly Updates on the LTW Blog

There is an unreached people group in Nashville that only gets bad press in the local news: the families living in the projects of East Nashville. Even churches are afraid of doing evangelism there, as no one had been going until members of our team set out to love especially the children and tell them about how to be saved, something most of them had never even heard of before.

How absolutely thrilling and humbling that God would let us go into this high crime district of domestic violence and drugs to light the way weekly with Bible verses, Bible stories, books, Bibles and tracts for the kids to offer them new hope. We play games with them, teach them songs from Child Evangelism, play live music for them with other songwriters and musicians in Nashville, and tell them how to be saved according to the Bible and have a relationship with God as their Father through Jesus.

These sweet kids run up and greet us with hugs when they see us coming every Wednesday. They love the songs we are teaching them like “Did You Ever Talk to God Above?”, “This Little Light of Mine” and “Nothing But the Blood of Jesus.” They all clap and sing along and have learned the right answers about whether or not Jesus is God and how to have a relationship with Jesus as their Savior and Friend through being born again into God’s family. The Gospel is truly a light in the midst of darkness there in these rough projects.

At the close of one of our times together, an intoxicated parent was passing by one of the little boys there with us and began cursing at him. It was truly like night and day after all we had shared from the Bible about God’s pure love. When I asked one little girl to give an example of a “sin,” after just teaching her the meaning of the word, she said, “Shootin’ somebody?” I answered, “Yes, shooting somebody would be a sin.” They are raised in a whole other world from what most of us have known.

Lighting the Way Worldwide has an outreach of evangelism to these children in the projects of East Nashville. In this area known for its shootings, telling these little kids who are being raised there about Jesus is no doubt close to God’s heart. When we first began telling the kids how to be saved and who Jesus is and why He came to die, it was like we were off somewhere in the outer regions of Africa, as the kids could not answer even the most basic questions about Jesus. As we returned week after week, the children really began to understand and respond. Publix donates food, and I plan to speak with Walmart about a donation pertaining to basic needs of the kids like school supplies. Thank you for your prayers and donations to make this outreach possible and to keep it going.

We work with accomplished musicians in Nashville who bring their instruments for the kids to even get to strum a mandolin, guitar or banjo for the first time. Slowly we have begun to get to know the parents as an evangelistic outreach to them also. Especially the single mothers have been receptive as we continue to give the children materials to take home for their parents to read to them, which also lets the parents know more about Jesus, too.

We began doing one “Bible Club” program in the area of their main playground, which grew in number week after week as the kids would gather and word began to spread. When we then saw children playing outside afterwards in a whole other section of the projects, we felt led to repeat the program there for another club. We do two programs in different areas, back to back on Wednesdays beginning at 4:30, so as to reach as many kids with the Gospel who live in these projects as possible.

“Let the little children come to Me… for the kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these.” Matthew 19:14

“Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the children of God.” 1 John 3:1

Video of Outreach in Action to Kids in the Projects

How the Character Counts Club Began

More Photos

We finally began an outreach in downtown Nashville in the summer of 2019 after praying for God to let us have one there for many years. The mission field is mainly to the tourists who are coming to Music City from all over the world. Copies of my book for women ‘Happiness No Man Required’ about the meaning of truly falling in love vs. humiliating addiction and God’s faithfulness in the area of dating are also available in this location that boasts of having more bachelorette parties than even Las Vegas.

The downtown culture of Nashville has become a cross between Canal Street in New Orleans and some sort of wanna-be Vegas in that many of the tourists come here to get wild. Though the money keeps flowing into this gentrified area with a few posh highrises, downtown has been described as “trashy” and “raunchy.” More MGM casinos are soon to come for gambling. Since Amazon has moved its headquarters to downtown, the traffic will only get worse as they are working on the road expansions. How sweet of God to give us a spot to set up in the heart of it all for His glory with nearby parking (at 27.00 per every two hours).

In this location, our materials are mainly addressing addiction and the true meaning of a relationship with God through Jesus vs. mere religion. We also have booklets for people practicing occult spirituality as America’s New Age foray continues to be sweeping through parts of the Bible belt.

Many of the free tracts and booklets on the table can easily fit into a woman’s purse or a man’s back pocket, as we have chosen these things on purpose as this Christian outreach is about the last thing most pedestrians would expect to find on their beeline into the bars. Loud country music blares from 5th down to the river in all of the honky-tonks downtown. Crime is also continuing to escalate with pick pockets and even some shady homeless characters who line the sidewalks sometimes becoming rambunctious from too much alcohol. It actually feels unsafe to be walking there late at night. Due to how so many people are drunk at night, we have made this a day outreach of evangelism based on apologetics for any of the tourists or locals passing looking for love, offering God’s love through Jesus to any lonely heart who wants Him.

Amidst the neon lights flashing, if any place needs a light for Jesus in the midst of darkness, it is downtown Nashville. We are thankful to shine such a light with the Gospel that sets men free where we can share the good news of how, though Satan sets us free to sin, Jesus sets us free from it.

“…My peace I give to you not as the world gives. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.” John 14:27

“Truly, truly I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin…If therefore the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.” John 8:34-35

This park is different from the other areas we have done outreach in Manhattan in that it is known for being the most liberal. It is the most popular area of activism where New Yorkers frequent to protest against conservative agendas in politics, which they associate with Christianity. It is about the last place in NYC you would think of finding a Christian table, which makes it the perfect place for our Lighting the Way Worldwide outreach of evangelism based on apologetics.

With people embracing occult spirituality in the form of selling talismans and tarot card readings, we offer a safe space right there beside such vendors to people from all backgrounds, belief systems and walks of life, where anyone is greeted with dignity and respect, if they would like to know about Jesus.

We have books specifically for this area like Be Still and Know that You are Not God and The Light that Was Dark. For NYU students passing, we also have booklets about the veracity of the Bible like Why Believe the Bible?, Where Was God on Sept. 11th? and Is Anybody Out There?

It is like the Venice Beach of NYC. No wonder a taxi driver said to me, “Be careful. It is very dangerous in Union Square,” when I told him about beginning a Christian outreach of evangelism there.

In this artist hub, our table actually fits right in. The evil spirits flee as the team likes to begin with praise songs at the table with a guitar. And, like any other location, God draws people over to find out more about Jesus.

“Our lives are invincible until He calls us home.” –Charles Spurgeon