How Did We Get Here?
Today, Lauren’s Lighthouse Temple is a thriving church, Bible College and church network. In the span of 9 years, we have grown from one small congregation in Winneba, Ghana, to a network of bible schools and churches scattered throughout the Central Region, the Volta Region and the country of Togo, which borders Ghana. How has this happened?
The short answer is Jesus. There is no doubt He has been behind everything which created the ministry of Lauren’s Lighthouse Temple. I want to briefly share several ways He has made this Kingdom work what it is today.
First, the Lord brought a young pastor in 2013 to lead this new church plant begun in memory of our daughter, Lauren Michelle Crawley. From the beginning, Pastor Godly seemed to be a kindred spirit with Lauren, having the same heart and calling that she had. They would be the same age today, and he considers her his sister. Throughout the next eight years, Pastor Godly worked tirelessly to shepherd and grow the congregation. He led missions to surrounding villages to share the Gospel with unreached people groups. When we brought him the Live School model for discipling and equipping men and women for church-planting, he not only facilitated classes at LLT, but also recruited others to begin classes. Today, he oversees bible schools all over the Central Region, as well as one in the Volta Region and one in Togo.
Second, the Live School model itself came to us in 2015 through God’s direct intervention. We saw the need to train pastors in Ghana, but had no idea how to make this happen. But when friends kindly shared their home with us during a move, we met a young woman who was also staying with them. A few months later, I met her mother and shared with her about LLT and our desire to begin a pastor training school. She told me her husband was the coordinator of Live Schools (a pastor training curriculum) in all of West and Central Africa. I couldn’t believe it! We got in touch with him and, within the year, were able to get everything necessary to start our first Live Schools. The model is so affordable, easy to start, and portable that it didn’t take long to get it to Ghana. Pastor Godly took it from there, and before we knew it, men and women were graduating and going into the field to plant new churches.
Third, when I visited Ghana in July of 2021, Pastor Godly took me and a US pastor to eight LLT churches planted by our Bible College graduates. Each had become part of our church network. When we arrived at one of them, the pastor there told us they had planted 5 more churches that wanted to join the network! Even Pastor Godly was surprised by this news. Recently, he told me that beyond our 14 network churches, there are more church plants by Bible College graduates than he can count.
Looking back at how far we have come, my heart swells with love and gratitude for our Lord Jesus Christ. He is a miracle working, heart-healing, life-transforming God. I cannot praise Him enough for the way He has carried out the dream He put in our little girl’s heart.
Thank you for reading. Till next time…
Alicia