Ron’s Biography

Lighthouse Educational Ministries Inc

C/O Pastor Ron Zaucha

P O Box 3712, Laguna Hills, CA 92654

949-599-4212

I am Executive Director/Founder of Lighthouse Educational Ministries Inc. (LEM) a nonprofit 501 C/3 self-supporting ministry which was started in 1996. I am an ordained and licensed Minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Please see our website at Lighthouseedministries.org

LEM has ministered in the California State Penitentiary system for women for over 25 years and at the Chuckawalla Valley State Prison for over 7 years. I have ministered in the Chino Men’s Prison, California Youth Authority, Orange County Jails, L. A. County Jails and the Fred Jordon Mission.  

After many suggestions from my dear friend Chaplain Randy Samson and mentor Chaplain Wally Nelson, and other Pastors I enrolled in Seminar School (Vision International University) and upon graduation, I received my B. A. in Theology in 2001 with emphasis on Chaplaincy Studies for becoming a State Prison Chaplain. This has equipped me to counsel many individuals, especially in the areas of Grief, Family, and Substance Abuse counseling.

Shortly after my graduation, my dear brother and friend Pastor Chuck Singleton gave me the opportunity to become an Associate Pastor at Loveland Church in Ontario, California.  I was on staff there for 7 years.

My personal life experience and training have equipped me to be an encouragement, help and inspiration to those who are impacted by the Criminal Justice system, or have experienced problems with substance abuse, grief, and family issues.

Having been incarcerated and paroled myself I understand the difficulty in becoming self-sufficient outside the prison walls. I have found through my prison ministry there are thousands of people all across the country serving time that are in the same position I was in before I met Jesus Christ as my personal Savior and Lord.

Sadly, in our society, we never hear about people that are incarcerated, because they have been mostly forgotten by the rest of us. These people need to know that God really does care for them. He died for them too. They need to know that Jesus is real and He loves them no matter what they have done. I have learned from firsthand experience that God is no respecter of persons. What God did for me He will do for anyone of these other lost souls who have taken the wrong path   If God thought it was important enough to reach out and save me, and reveal to me that He has a plan for my life then we must show that He cares for them too and wants to show them that He has a plan for their life and is willing to meet them right where they are.

As to my conversion experience and coming to know Jesus Christ as my Savior and Lord, while I was in LA County Jail before Easter 1990 I had a visitation from Jesus. He spoke to me and I asked Him what He wanted. He said that “He came for people like me”.   I debated with Him that He couldn’t want me after all of the evil things I had done in my life. His response was that ‘He knew all the evil things I had done and that He still wanted me.’  I continued to debate with Him for quite some time until finally I said “if you want me then I will try and follow you.” After that statement, He disappeared and I called my mother.

Through the generosity of my grandmother, I was bailed out of prison, and I went to my mother’s church (Central Baptist Church in Pomona, CA)  and ask Jesus Christ into my life. It was then that I experienced a miracle; I was radically born again on Easter Sunday April 15, 1990. It was at that moment when I asked Jesus Christ into my life, that the Lord saw fit to deliver me from over 20 years of substance abuse. My Saul to Paul experience according to Acts 9 

The Lord put a burning desire in my heart to learn who He is and to know and do His will. I spent the next 10 years taking Bible Study courses through Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa.

Three years after my release from prison in 1990 the Lord led me to get involved in prison ministry (Christ Truth & Steinkamp Prison Ministries) through a Godly man named Wally Nelson who became instrumental in my journey through maturity in Christ. After Ed Steinkamp who ministered together with Wally went home to be with the Lord, I took over the ministry and was the Administrator and Director of Steinkamp Bible Study Prison Ministries, a nation-wide Bible study correspondence course for prisoners. Then left it in the hands of a growing non-denominational church called Water Of Life Church in Fontana, California to start my own ministry.

I have also been involved with Chaplain Ray years ago in Dallas, Texas and soon thereafter with Chuck Colson who started Prison Fellowship and then worked with Bill Glass Ministries in Texas too.

My prayer is to be used of God to continue to expand His church and as the Lord provides and opens doors for ministry in Texas and throughout the country.

My autobiography has been published and hoping to raise support to get it into as many hands as possible to help others find their freedom in Christ as I have.

I am available to assist those who need help in the foregoing areas as a life coach and counselor.

Ron Zaucha