Pastor David A. Burden

Thank you for visiting our web site. Our hope is that the material and links that we have made available to you will bless and strengthen you.  Lighthouse Baptist Church is committed to reaching the inner city of Akron, Ohio. We realize that God is no respecter of persons and neither are we. However there is a great sense of vision, purpose and burden in the hearts of our members to reach the Black Community with the gospel of Jesus Christ. We feel that God has placed us in an ideal situation, to reach the Black Community. This page of the web site will address issues facing and destroying Black homes. It is time for Fundamental Baptist to start identifying with this people group. It is time for us to inject our values and make our issues the issues of the Black Community. The Apostle Paul said;

"For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more.  And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. And this I do for the gospel's sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you."          1 Corinthians 9:19-23 

It is important therefore for us to "...sit where they sat..." and identify with people. The ministry is people and we should never lose sight of that. However we will never be able to impact the Black Community if we simply tolerate and not speak out against the infidelity, teen pregnancy, drug abuse, violence and poverty that plaques the "Hood."  We must provide solutions. Talking about the gospel is not enough, we must live the gospel and prove that a higher standard of living starts with living a higher standard for God! The coming generations will mock our message if all they see is corrupt leadership before them, pastors living in adultery, fathers abandoning their children, churches that honor talent more than character and parents who cannot rise above the dependency of the government. There needs to be a call for repentance within the Black Community just as Jonah proclaimed in the streets of Nineveh and perhaps God will have mercy and lead many to salvation with deliverance. As a black man I can identify with Paul when he said;

"That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh:"                    Romans 9:2-3

My heart and commitment is to make the entire Black Community accountable with the gospel of Jesus Christ and to see this community turned around. I pray to the Lord of the Harvest to send laborers into His fields to help this Church in this great enterprise.

Pastor David A. Burden