By Quinn Lavespere, Message Staff Writer
TALISHEEK – When Julieto “Lito” Magbanua saw the stunning disappearance of God’s work in Talisheek, his broken heart knew God had led him there for a reason.
Led by Magbanua, Light by the Lake Church not only reaches out to the community of Talisheek, but it also preaches the Gospel to the Filipino and Asian communities in Louisiana while stretching across three states and a number of metropolitan areas.
“It had broken my heart to see the ministry just stop in Talisheek, and I knew we had to do something for God there,” the pastor said. “Likewise, the Filipinos and Asians in this state must not be neglected either, and we must also be active in other places as well.”
Magbanua and the people of his church typically preach the Gospel to others through house meetings held on “any given Sunday or Saturday.” They gather in the living room of someone’s house and sing and share prayer items.
“Usually, me or somebody else will open the Bible and share the Word of God, and then we pray,” the pastor said. “Somebody will then bring in some refreshments or bring us to the kitchen, where we’ll have a meal. Typically, we have three to five families in a meeting, and someone looks after the kids while we’re eating and everything.
“We do that every week, and once a month, we gather all of these house meetings in one place, such as Talisheek, and have our big group meetings in the chapel. In Mobile, Ala., we have turned that responsibility over to others, while in Mississippi, we still have those meetings going on. We also have meetings going on in Slidell and Hammond and are starting one in Baton Rouge.
“From Biloxi, Miss., up to Baton Rouge, there could be anywhere from 35-50 people in our meetings.
“The Great Commission tells us to go out and make disciples of others,” Magbanua added. “In my experience, gathering in a house setting is more informal, and it allows for better discipleship of these people, as they’re more open to what’s going on in their lives as the Gospel is read to them.”
When Light by the Lake was first established in Talisheek a year ago, three churches in the community had closed down and people “just stopped meeting for ministry,” according to the pastor. Magbanua said he told those who had been meeting in houses to start meeting at the church the first Sunday of each month.
“We’ve been doing that for two or three months now, so ministry-wise, there is something going on in the community,” the pastor said. “We’ve gotten help from other churches, including Woodhaven Baptist Church, who joins us the first Sunday of every month for ministry. We also received help from Woodhaven and others, including a group from South Carolina, in getting our property set up. We’re happy that God is starting things up in Talisheek again, and we’re very happy that He’s blessed us with such good connections and the chance to see people’s lives changed.”
Magbanua is also a catalytic church planter among Asians. He talked about that work too.
“Most of my ministry had been done to the Filipinos, as I am a Filipino myself, and I moved to this region primarily to preach to them,” the pastor said. “I discovered that there were many Asian groups in this region, particularly Vietnamese and Chinese, and so I talked to Director of Mission Ministries Lonnie Wascom and asked if there was an outreach to these people. He said no and told me to start something, and I did. I’ve started to talk to representatives of these Asians, including a group of Chinese that meets for Bible study in one of the churches around here and a Vietnamese church across the lake who might be able to send people over here to meet with these Vietnamese.”
For the future, Magbanua hopes a church will be established in Talisheek again and that a regular church service will take place every Sunday on the property Light by the Lake is on now.
“I’ve asked those at Woodhaven to really take this on as their mission,” the pastor said. “We are helping them now, but later on, we’re going to be withdrawing from the place, and the Talisheek people will take over on the whole campus and run the church from there.
“As for the work involving the Asians and Filipinos, the goal is just to multiply house meetings, as we have quite a few other places we are starting new house meetings. However God leads us in these ventures, we shall follow.”