ORGANIZATIONAL HISTORY

Lighthouse Educational Ministries, Inc. (LEM) was born out of a vision more than a decade ago with a desire to provide after-care services to people who are paroled and on probation. It is also designed to support those incarcerated and to prepare them for the outside community and become productive citizens after their release. The organization received their nonprofit religious 501(c)(3) status on February 20, 2001. The board of directors is comprised of community leaders and business professionals. There are currently more than twenty volunteers that work as a team of ministers and counselors providing services in the prisons. This organization was established to empower men and women through the knowledge of God, life-skills, educational tools, work projects and job placement to enable them to live a productive life with stability, accountability and commitment to family and community. Our goal is to utilize personal and group counseling inside and outside the prison in order to reach prisoners and parolees. This process has helped them to understand the importance of continued education and rehabilitation inside and outside the prison walls. We work with both male and female inmates and parolees. These individuals represent various diverse ethnical groups. We occasionally have discussion about the cultural differences that are evident in the prison setting and on the outside. Through Lighthouse Educational Ministries, inmates begin the rehabilitation process in the prison to ease the anxiety of their release back into society by understanding the importance of life-skills, utilizing a 12-Step Christ centered program in conjunction with other recovery programs and counseling. We are dedicated to the broken-hearted individuals and their families by showing sincere compassion to meet as many needs of each inmate, parolee and family member as possible. The result of our intervention is to touch their lives and give them tools to stand on their own, and to grow into productive and law-abiding citizens.


See Us in Action - Please Click Here

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Executive Director & Founder Ron Zaucha handles the daily supervision and operations of Lighthouse Educational Ministries Inc. For a more in depth biography, Please Click Here.

President Robert Taylor is a servant of the Lord and has been active in church ministries since being born again in 1992. He comes from a background of a broken home and was raised around drugs, violence, and incarceration of family members. He has been married to his wife Holly since 1988 and has two daughters. He is a small business owner since 1999 and has been in the community of Mission Viejo since 1998. He has served as head of several ministries and has been teaching the Word of God both in his own community and in the mission field. He has lead prayer teams, JR high, High School and College ministries, and has served as an elder in the church. He currently serves on the board of directors for Child Hope International and has been leading mission trips to Haiti since 2007. His greatest joy is seeing salvation, encouragement, and hope brought to the lost, lonely, frightened and forgotten people of this world.

Vice President Larry Webb is a small business owner. Mr. Webb has been involved in ministry as a layperson since 1980. Larry is a recovered alcoholic and drug addict that has over 21 years of service to those in recovery from addiction. He was instrumental in starting a Celebrate Recovery Program at the Orange County Rescue Mission and co-led the group for over 3 years. He is a past President of the Orange County Chapter of the National Council of Alcohol and Drug Dependency and has served on the Board of Directors for over 10 years. He has been involved in ministry to those in prison for over 24 years. Larry was the first person to head up the Prison Ministry for Celebrate Recovery at Saddleback Church. Finally, Larry was involved with a ministry that provided Bibles to inmates all over the country.

Secretary & Treasurer Sue Tischler is a servant of the Lord and has been active in various church ministries since being born again August of 1991. Sue comes from a background of a broken home and was lost looking for Love in all the wrong places until she met Jesus! Sue's first home church was Calvary Chapel Anaheim and attended there for 5 years. Sue led worship for an in home prison ministry bible study group back in 1992-1994, and worked with the members to help those re-entering society. She also ran a food ministry with her husband out of their garage and would take the family out delivering bags of food on Sundays after church to those on the streets & parks. She also assisted those within her church body with food when she heard of a need. Sue was a member of a Women's worship team which played at the Women's retreats and bible studies. She taught 3rd & 4th grade combination Sunday school class at Calvary Chapel Pacific Coast for about 4 years. When Sue fell and became disabled in 2000, she continued with everything that her body would allow her to do, in fact she continued to teach from her wheelchair. The kids in her class were so awesome; they would randomly come up to her and pray for her. Sue became divorced and began participating in the singles ministry at Calvary Chapel Pacific Coast and became a member of their worship team. Sue began a Christmas outreach ministry where she would take the information of the families who called the church and ask for money to buy gifts for their kids at Christmas. Over the past 5 years Sue was put in a job where she was able to minister to those caught up in drugs & alcohol and in and out of prison. She gave them jobs, worked with O.C Probation department trying to keep them employed and give them a second chance to make a better life for themselves. Her greatest joy was attending the drug class graduations of those she had mentored throughout their 6-18 month classes. Sue now works for a company that allows her to reach out to the youth of today and introduce them to Christian Video Games and that this is an alternative to the violence and terrible video games out there.

Advisor Mel Novak reaches out to the homeless on skid row and those in the prisons. For over last twenty years he has faithfully gone to the streets of Los Angeles and the chapel services of the Union Rescue Mission, L.A. Mission, Fred Jordan Mission and the Long Beach Rescue Mission. He has ministered in penitentiaries from California to New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Florida, Alabama, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Nevada.

Advisor Dr. Darwin Bowles a devoted family man and father of 4 adopted young handicapped children, is a graduate from Los Angeles College in Chiropractic medicine and licensed Chiropractor for 12 years, as well as served on the Board for Reach-Out West-End Program (drug prevention for youth program) for over 12 years, and served as a member of Upland Rotary Club for 5 years.

Advisor Troy Lyndon is a successful video games industry entrepeneur and former Inc. Entrepeneur of the Year award recipient. From 1998-2002, Mr. Lyndon worked full-time for the JESUS Film Project, a ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ. With the blessings and encouragement of the ministry, Mr. Lyndon has since provided services to other ministries and organizations, including the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, Global Media Outreach and numerous others. Currently, Mr. Lyndon is Chairman & CEO of Left Behind Games (dba Inspired Media Entertainment), a world publishing leader of Inspirational video games.