When is a golf tournament more than just pars and birdies? The 9th Annual Light of Life International Tournament is scheduled for an 8:00am shotgun start on Monday, May 5th at Diamond Oaks Country Club. We recently returned from a week of passion and compassion to the people of Panama. For a more in depth sample of the week go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L872sHPdeqo. Our golf tournament is not just for golfers. Our tournament is for both golfers and non-golfers and anyone who has a passion for seeing Central America touched by the gospel of Jesus Christ. We connected with the people by meeting some of their basic needs through the distribution of over 15 tons of food. Once we bridged the relational gap we were able to minister to a variety of needs. The Lord has continually blessed the work of Light of Life International by opening doors. He said to…

While most readers of this blog and most LOLI team members are familiar with the activities and stories that go along with a crusade, many are not familiar with all the preparation that goes into a crusade. This series of posts is designed to give you an insight into some of that preparation. If you read part 1 and part 2 of this series, you know what goes into the bags and where the food comes from, it’s time to share with you how we put all those bags together. It is quite a challenge to put together over 5,000 bags of food in just a few days. The process begins with converting the 50 pound bags of corn and the 100 pound bags of beans into 1 pound bags. This is the hardest and most tedious part of the process. It usually takes two to four people at a…

It is always amazing to me, when we load up 300 bags of food, where the Lord will take us. Oh we know we will be in Colon, Panama but where exactly? So many needy places…….where should we stop? And why here? We depend on the Holy Spirit for sure, but also as His instrument we have local pastors who have several locations they would like to touch and begin inroads into future ministry. Today was such an adventure. We had communicated to the pastor previously that since the need was so great that organizing a group ahead of time might be beneficial to all. And sure enough that happened. We came upon a neighborhood and decided to meet in a building we assumed might be a church but in a short amount of time the crowd was growing too large for it and we decided to move it outside….

While most readers of this blog and most LOLI team members are familiar with the activities and stories that go along with a crusade, many are not familiar with all the preparation that goes into a crusade. This series of posts is designed to give you an insight into some of that preparation.   If you read Part 1, then you are familiar with the contents of the food bags we distribute during the crusade. During Panama Ora, we will distribute over 5,000 bags of food. That’s a lot of bags, and it’s even more when you think of the amount of each individual item that we need. In total, this is what we need to distribute 5,000 bags of food. – 5,000 pounds of corn – 5,000 pounds of beans – 5,000 bags of rice – 5,000 bags of sugar – 5,000 bags of salt – 5,000 bottles of…

Today we begin Panama Ora week. Teams from all around the country and Canada will converge on Panama City to call a nation to pray. It is going to be an awesome week of experiencing God at work. If you have read any of the previous blogs, then you know you can expect to read daily updates on Panama Ora and all the activities and stories that go with it. But what you haven’t read about and what most LOLI team members have never experienced are the stories and activities of the advance team that arrives the week before the crusade. One of the reasons you have not read about the advance team is because I do most of the blogging on the LOLI site, and I have never had the opportunity to go with the advanced team. That is, until this year. It is the week before Panama Ora,…

We are now just a little over a month away from Panama Prays! During our time there, we will be serving people in both Colon and Panama City. These two cities are on opposite ends of the Panama Canal. We will be distributing 20 tons of food, thousands of stuffed animals, and thousands of ice cream treats. You may ask, why ice cream? Often times, when we go into some of the remote areas, the people are a little suspicious or standoffish. We make a connection with the people through the giving of food, stuffed animals, and ice cream. Once they receive our gifts, a visible transformation takes place right in front of your eyes. Even if they are going through difficult circumstances, for a brief moment, those circumstances disappear as they enjoy the ice cream and spend time with their new friends from North America. We are currently raising…

In just under two months, we will be heading to Panama. During the week of March 17 – 23, we will bless tens of thousands of people with food, stuffed animals, and the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This will be our third national prayer crusade. In 2012, we called the nation of Honduras to pray. In 2013, we called the Nation of Nicaragua to pray. This year, we will call Panama to pray. However, Panama will be different. In the previous crusades, the crusade events were held on Friday and Saturday nights at the same location. In Panama, we will still be holding the crusade events on Friday and Saturday nights, but each night will be in two different cities. The Friday night event will be in Colon, Panama, and the Saturday night event will be in Panama City, Panama. This is a huge undertaking for LOLI….

On December 11th Stephen and a few leaders went to Panama City, Panama for the annual Bears on a Mission initiative. Each year in December, LOLI sends a team into the country that we will host the next crusade, in order to bless the children of that country. Specifically, we bless children in hospitals and orphanages. This year we were blessed to be able to go to Panama City, Panama. The team handed out over 350 stuffed animals to all of the children! The look on the faces of the children who receive the stuffed animals makes me understand how much of a blessing the teddy bears are to them. This truly is one of our favorite activities at LOLI! This year, we have a unique opportunity to do a secondBears on a Mission in January. The leaders in Colón, Panama, the city which at the other end of the Panama…

There we were, in a field in the middle of Managua, Nicaragua, staring at thousands of people. People The Lord had called from the North, South, East, and West. He drew them here, by the power of His Holy Spirit in order for them to experience the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There was no other reason for them to be there. Just Jesus! Which is the best and only reason. That is why we were there also. For the last week, we have seen the moving of the Spirit of God in the towns and villages of Nicaragua. We have seen God do mighty things in the church services at night. This was every different. This was massive. This was not just a crusade, it is the beginning of a movement. The Spirit of God is shaking Nicaragua, and we were able to personally witness the beginning…

Our first stop on distribution today was at the Hogar Agape orphanage. This orphanage is operated by a local church. The director said they have children dropped off there on a regular basis. There have been times when they have had 400 children. When we arrived today there were 15 children ranging in age from 2 years old to 12 years old. There were more children earlier in the week, but they were adopted before we got there. For these children, being in an orphanage is almost a double curse.  Just living in a the poorest country in Central America is hard enough, but to be an orphan is almost a guarantee of a life of despair and hopelessness. So when we arrived today we were instantly surrounded by the children who hugged each one of us. It was a precious sight. We spent about 30 mins blessing them and…