Latest News...

Jan 26, 2024: Code-a-Thon 2024: We had the privilege of recruiting at LeTourneau University's GO Week this week.
We've got 12+ coders coming from LeTourneau for our Spring Break Code-a-thon for Missions in March. Sign up to join them at [link]
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Apr 16, 2023: Operation Mobilization founder George Verwer passed into eternity this past Friday.
[link] We should celebrate his passion, servant's heart, and impact. At the same time, know that you don't need to be the founder of a large international mission agency to hear those words, 'Well done, good and faithful servant'. Focus humbly on seeking God's kingdom first and on faithful obedience. Love the things God loves. Let Him in His sovereignty do the rest, as He weaves your life into the beautiful fabric of His Kingdom. LightSys is one of dozens of missions agencies today that have roots in Operation Mobilization - we were based out of the OM USA office for our first eight years of ministry.
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Oct 5, 2022: Come use your skills for the Kingdom!
Mobilization season is here again. We're preparing the LightSys booth for college visits where we share the need for Geeks in Missions. Our first stop is LeTourneau University's Career Fair on Thursday, October 6th. Pray for God to bring us the right students!
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Mar 17, 2022: A huge thank you to Dan Williams - our amazing volunteer Scrum master who flies out to Colorado each year for our Spring Break Code-a-Thon for Missions events.
His goal: to help the young coders understand basic project management and keep them on task as they work on programming projects for missions. Dan - you make a huge impact on the students and the projects and in our hearts. Thank you.
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Feb 19, 2019: Story One: Becoming a Nonprofit: If Jesus can provide a tax payment in a fish's mouth,
then surely... Today's anecdote is a testament to God's faithfulness from long long ago in the ancient history of LightSys. That is, back in the ancient days of May 2000. You probably know that LightSys is a "tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit". But, what does all of that gobbledygook mean? To you it means that your gifts are tax-deductible and provides you the assurance that we're not essentially a for-profit corporation in disguise... but to us it meant a lot of work and a real faith-building endeavor! God Provides Finances Just for some context, LightSys has always sought to be a financially efficient organization, and our early days were no exception (in fact, those days were almost too much of a non-exception!). We had a total of $1,400 in donations during our first year (1999), setting the stage for being in a position to need a miracle. May 31st of 2000 was for all practical purposes our deadline for filing for 501(c)(3) status. Unfortunately, by May of 2000 we only had $433.50 in our bank account -- not enough for the $500 filing fee. Not only so, but we lacked the knowledge to fill out the form (and we definitely lacked the finances to pay someone else to do it!). The form was a real bear, too, at 10 pages long, not to mention requiring dozens of pages of exhibits and attachments. We were praying for the finances and expertise, as well as for a fair and understanding person at the IRS to review our case (we had heard horror stories of poorly handled cases). Then, in mid-May, we received a $100 check from a generous donor - we finally had the funds (with a whole $33.50 to spare)! Excitedly we continued to research the IRS form and continued to pray for the knowledge and confidence to fill it out. God Provides Knowledge About five days prior to the May 31st deadline, we received a surprise email from a guy from Texas who had just visited our website, saw a note that we were in the process of obtaining 501(c)(3) status, and wanted to send us a copy of his (computer related) ministry's 501(c)(3) application, if it would help us file ours (i.e., so we could use his successful application as a model for ours)! He even mailed it overnight to us and wouldn't let us pay him for the shipping! Encouraged, we got our application package (all 50 pages of it) in the mail to the IRS, on time. More Divine Provision But this was not to be the only set of miracles related to becoming a nonprofit. In mid-August of 2000, the IRS had a concern about one aspect of our application, and our case reviewer brought up the issue with us. After kindly explaining the issue and the recent IRS ruling applying to it, she gave us several options we could pursue in order to resolve the issue and obtain our exempt status. The IRS needed our answer within a few days, and our "answer" legally required that LightSys co-founders Greg Beeley and Tim Young hold an official business meeting. Unfortunately, while Greg was discussing this with the IRS, Tim was meandering around among random mission groups between San Francisco and Seattle, and he did not plan to "surface" for another week. A week would be too long! Not knowing where else to turn to locate this exceedingly itinerant Tim Young, Greg called Tim's parents. In order to appreciate how much of a long shot this was, you need to understand that members of the Young family rarely kept each other up-to-date regarding such detailed goings-on. Predictably, Tim's father did not know where Tim was. However, he did happen to know someone who did! While meandering through Oregon, Tim had providentially come across an old friend of his father; that friend had then promptly called Tim's father in Arizona to catch up. Greg then called Tim's dad's friend, who also did not know where Tim was, but he knew someone who did. After yet a third phone call, Tim and Greg were finally in touch, had completed their required business meeting, and Greg faxed the appropriate documents to the IRS. Less than a week later, in late August of 2000, we received our official "tax exempt" recognition from the IRS, allowing us to confidently issue "tax deductible" gift receipts! Not only so, but the IRS issued us a firmer decision than we had expected, meaning we did not have to do as much work to justify our 501(c)(3) status in the years to come.
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Feb 19, 2019: Stories of God's Faithfulness: A collection of short stories of God's faithfulness to His children serving in missions. This blog is dedicated to God's glory and to your encouragement.
We deeply desire that you would be set free to place your full trust in God, not primarily because of our stories, but because you choose to trust Him. But, our hope is that these stories will help you envision walking in a place where your faith can't be shaken by circumstances. Many years ago, pastor Jimmy Seibert of Antioch Community Church said, "Many of us want to see God do a miracle in our lives, but we don't want to be in a position to need one." So, God has to force us into those situations, for His glory and for our joy. Count it all joy, my friends!
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Dec 3, 2018: A Mission Infobank major update!
Visit [link] to browse tens of thousands of Great Commission maps, charts, photos, research documents, and useful internet links (create an account to download high-res images). #missions
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Our Team.

So, who are we?

We are brothers and sisters in Christ who share a common heart to know God, see the Gospel furthered via The Fulfilled Mission, and to serve to the utmost. We're from missionary backgrounds and from the ordinary middle-class; we're single and we're married; we serve full-time and we serve part-time; we like Linux® and we like Windows®; we're quiet programmers and we're adventuresome travelers; we're computer-game-players and we're musicians. But most of all we love God and seek to worship Him with our lives!

Greg and Dorinda Beeley

Greg: CEO and Co-founder
Dorinda: Director of Mobilization
Serving In: United States (Colorado)
Joined: 1999 (Greg), 2009 (Dorinda)

We're Greg and Dorinda Beeley. Greg is president and co-founder of LightSys, and this ministry has been an incredible faith-journey for him, following a calling from God that he's had since a life-changing missions conference in high school. He's a Christian, a worshiper, a visionary, and a techie, ever seeking new and creative uses for his computer technology skills, particularly in software & networking systems and in computer security. Greg is a '96 grad of Taylor University.

Dorinda serves as Director of Mobilization, and is excited to see others find their place in technology and missions work.

Greg and Dorinda met at the ICCM Conference in 2003, and were married in 2009 after a whirlwind courtship (thank you Skype for helping span the nearly 2000 miles between us at the time!). They and their three children now serve and travel together with LightSys as they seek to further God's kingdom and mobilize others to join in and do the same.

Tim and Patricia Young

Tim: Vice President of Consulting and Co-founder
Patricia: Volunteer and Finance Assistant
Serving In: United States (with assorted trips abroad)
Joined: 1999 (Tim), 2002 (Patricia)

We are Tim and Patricia Young. Tim is a field consultant with LightSys. They travel most of the year, visiting one mission organization a week and helping out with their computer needs. Patricia does many things, from volunteering at the mission we are visiting, to making a temporary home for us everywhere we go. She also does some paperwork for LightSys as we travel.

For some years, we traveled in a motor-home, but found that our reliable car was much less stressful to drive than the motor-home. We now travel around in our car and live with missionary families or guest-houses of the missions we are ministering to.

Our home is in Red Wing, Minnesota. People ask us why we winter in Minnesota, and it is because it is such a good place to hibernate. When we live in other people's houses for 8 months of the year, it is a joy to return to our own place. While most people want to go somewhere for their vacation, for us, it is stopping going places that helps us rest up. Minnesota in the winter encourages us to lock ourselves into our warm house, cuddle by the heater, and rest up. Come spring, our friends start inviting us over to do things, and our time of hibernation is over.

Kevin and Heidi Weaver

Weavers

We're Kevin and Heidi Weaver. We're been full time with LightSys for several years now. Kevin has about a dozen years of prior experience as a Windows network engineer, working primarily with the missions Bibles International and Crossworld. Now we are missionaries serving many agencies, as opposed to being employees serving only one. Kevin's strong points are Windows Servers, Active Directory, Exchange Servers, server hardware, firewalls, and overall security issues. Heidi's strong points are arts and crafts. She is learning how to research and teach science from a Christian perspective.

Kevin is a former Army officer and seminary graduate. He felt the call to missions back in 1994, when under the tutelage of some Navigator missionaries in Germany. He went on trips to Jamaica, Latvia and West Africa before realizing that the best place he could serve vocationally is in computer support. We attend Faith Community Church of Roslyn when we are home in the Philadelphia area. Currently, we are somewhere else about two-thirds of the time, serving at a mission agency HQ somewhere in the United States or Canada.

Kurt and Beth Symanzik

Kurt: Senior Software Engineer
Beth: Missionary Care and Mobilization
Serving In: Philippines
Joined: 2013

We’re Kurt and Beth Symanzik. We have been serving as missionaries in the Philippines since 2006 and have been serving with LightSys since 2013. We have 4 children: Mikayla, Kirsten, Benjamin and James.

Kurt is a software engineer with over 20 years experience in a wide variety of computer systems. During the last 10 years Kurt has specialized in building custom web applications for mission organizations.

Beth has a bachelors degree in social work and is currently pursuing her masters degree in counseling. Beth has a heart for providing support for missionaries who are experiencing the challenges of cross-cultural and ministry pressures.

Bill and Linda Dickson

Bill: Director of Strategic Technology
Linda: Speech Language Pathologist, Educational Software specialist
Serving In: Worldwide, from a base in Colorado
Joined: 2016

Bill Dickson passed away in August 2017 in a tragic auto accident. Be praying for his family and the rest of the LightSys team.

We're Bill and Linda Dickson. We're new to LightSys but feel like we've been part of the LightSys family for years: Tim and Greg helped Bill do missions computing back in the 1990s, and the Youngs have often stayed with us while serving in the Colorado Springs area. Bill has been helping mission organizations worldwide in areas of technology and research since 1982 through the U.S. Center for World Mission, DataServe, and Global Mapping International (with a continuing role as a GMI Global Fellow).

Bill trained as an Electrical Engineer with concentrations in Computer Science and Communications Systems. A computing generalist, he has design and implementation skills in Windows and Linux, email and web servers, Microsoft and open-source office suites, databases, GIS and other data visualization tools, electronic publishing, content management systems, and e-commerce. Growing edges include learning the iOS and Android mobile platforms and dusting off long-dormant coding skills.

Linda is skilled in early childhood and elementary education, with particular skills regarding speech delays and language disorders. She is also an early adopter of technology for working with these students and their parents on needed skills and for tracking educational progress. She has done educational assessments in many languages through interpreters and is fluent in Spanish. She is also very skilled at explaining technical concepts in non-technical language.

Now that our kids are out of the house, we look forward to traveling and working together for part of the year; situations where Kingdom workers have both technical and educational challenges are likely not rare.

Kathy Lannon

Role: Strategic Technology Software Developer
Serving In: United States (Colorado)
Joined: 2017

After serving with Global Mapping International (GMI) for nearly three decades, Kathy joined LightSys in the summer of 2017 after GMI closed its doors. A software developer, Kathy works on software projects, including an upcoming update to the Mission Infobank website, that help missions and church leaders more effectively pray and strategize for the work of the Gospel around the world.

Loren Muehlius

Role: Strategic Technology Cartographer
Serving In: United States (Colorado)
Joined: 2017

Loren joined LightSys in the summer of 2017 after serving with Global Mapping International (GMI) for over three decades. After having assisted with ministries such as the Global Ministry Mapping System, Operation World, and many other strategic resources for various mission groups, Loren now serves the mission community with his cartography skills as a member of LightSys.