In the wee hours of the morning Ozark Mountain Highway 39 stretches dark and lonely between the small bedroom community of Aurora, Missouri, and well-traveled roads that lead to the popular city of Branson, an emerging country music capital in America's heartland. Through the thick darkness, cars speed by anonymously.

Just outside Aurora, a large sign projects a light and a message so bright that it penetrates the black sky, and hopefully, hearts as well--much like the comforting lighthouse beacon that leads sailors safely home from the sea.

"Kneel before God, stand for Jesus and serve you Humbly," reads the message and mission statement of the small Humble Baking Company, owned by Peggy McKee.

She is an outreach-minded Christian and former stay-at-home mom whose goal is to serve customers scrumptious food while reminding them Who it is she truly seeks to serve.

"We use our big sign to evangelize," Peggy said. "It lights up the highway. We love to shine for Him."

Peggy serves breakfast, lunch and homemade baked goods from the cozy little bungalow with gleaming hardwood floors that used to be a two-bedroom home.

References to her faith are everywhere, starting with the menu that offers "heavenly desserts" and a prayer, "God is great, God is good, let us thank Him for our food."

On several occasions, Peggy has held "illustrations of faith" suppers, using the large highway sign to invite the community. Standing before a large kettle and surrounded by curious guests, Peggy explains the Four Spiritual Laws with scriptural references while she makes a big batch of chili.

The large pot represents the world. Hamburger is our carnal selves, Peggy explains. Skimming off unhealthy grease, she tells diners: "The grease is sin, and it has to go. It's not good for you."

After offering the significance of a string of other ingredients, Peggy stirs in chili powder last, saying: "This is faith, the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. Faith brings everything together in the pot. This is your spiritual life, and if you don't have this, it won't taste right. No one wants to eat chili that hasn't been seasoned."

The guests then dine by candlelight. Each time, the 26-seat dining room is filled and a waiting list is begun for the next dinner.

"We are not just another business," Peggy said. "We want people to know that we serve God here. We are a light to this community."

Are you a light to your community?

Christians are very much like lighthouses that stand along rocky coastlines braving the crashing waves. Each one is different and emits its own unique signal. Yet each shares a common purpose: to serve as a sentinel between danger and safety, between death and life, with a goal of guiding the lost from troubled waters to safe harbor with their saving light.

Perhaps you don't yet recognize that, by being a Christian, you are already a lighthouse, and God is igniting His flame in you.

Your light can be a beacon to your neighbors. They may be drawn to you but not know why--until you share with them the Source of your own eternal light that brightens up the neighborhood.

At work the beam of your Christ-inspired ethics can draw attention to the principles in His Word by which you live. Maybe your workplace becomes a gathering spot during lunch or after work--an alternative to the proverbial water cooler of gripes and gossip. Instead, you offer a secure place and an ear for questions from co-workers seeking the Truth they sense in you.

Your playtime--hobbies, sports, activities with friends--can be opportunities to share Christ's love and saving grace. With a little ingenuity you can mix fun with fulfilling the Great Commission.

Here are examples of how some Christians have used their homes, their jobs or their play to illuminate their little corner of a dark world.

A Little Bit Of Heaven is what Shelley and John Johnson, an electrical engineer by trade, call their charming Burnsville, North Carolina, home that they've turned into a bed and breakfast mission field for God.

"As the Lord leads people here, we try to take every opportunity to share our faith," Shelley said.

With a goal of sharing Jesus Christ, nearly every evening the Johnsons invite their guests for coffee and dessert on the deck that overlooks the breathtakingly beautiful Pisgah National Forest. And they take as many as are willing to church with them on Sundays.

Shelley said she has been made aware of many who came to the Lord after a stay at A Little Bit Of Heaven.

A recent visitor called and said on the way home that her husband, who had been a church-goer most of his life, pulled off the road and cried while he prayed to accept Jesus as his personal Savior.

"People often talk about feeling the presence of the Lord here, and it's not our doing, it's almighty God," Shelley said. "Praise His name."

There was a time when Thomas Hammond was okay with confronting people with the gospel and moving on. But it wasn't effective for him and it left him feeling that there must be another way to reach people.

Thomas discovered a transformational technique for leading people to Christ called Building Witnessing Relationships. He and his family employed the principles in their former neighborhood, and all but two of the 11 families on their cul-de-sac became Christians or rededicated their lives.

"The training gave me a consciousness that witnessing is more than sharing the gospel--it's showing people who you are. And who sees you more than the people you live around? My wife, Kerri, and I offered our family and our home to be used in any way God would lead us," Thomas says.

At its heart, Building Witnessing Relationships encourages Christians to earn the right to be heard through the way they live and by developing friendships with others. At the same time, the program encourages Christians to determine the spiritual condition of people they meet.

"We basically let people know we cared and would help them any way we could. We would help people do yard work, help them watch their kids and invite them over for dinner. We had a block party and grilled out in our backyard. The only spiritual thing we did was pray, but it was the beginning of seeing people's lives changed, and instrumental in the impact of our future fellowship."

Now in Atlanta, Georgia, Thomas, director of direct evangelism for the North American Mission Board, says, "We're in a new neighborhood, and we are excited about allowing God to do it again through us."

I pray in the morning, 'Lord, give me someone to share my faith with.' And God gives me opportunities all the time," said Russell Gagnard.

A Christian of two years, he is the owner of Cool Master air conditioning service in Kenner, Louisiana.

Russell started in the family business at age 7 when he began carrying his father's toolbox. That's where he first met Mr. Ed, a vibrant man who always let young Russell watch his electric trains while his dad worked.

Russell now owns the business and recently went on a call to find Mr. Ed in a hospital bed, hooked up to oxygen tanks. Mr. Ed's wife confirmed he was dying. As Russell began to work on the equipment he couldn't get his mind off his old friend. He asked the Lord what he should do.

"I shared God's truth with Mr. Ed, and then I asked, 'Do you want eternal life?' He whispered, 'Yes,' the best he could. And we prayed together. He repented and received Jesus."

One week later, Mr. Ed died.

"In the past two years I've led about a dozen people to Christ," Russell said. Russell has given away at least 60 Bibles, which he and his wife, Suzanne, purchase by the case to give to customers to whom he has witnessed.

"I believe we all have those kinds of opportunities if we look for them."

As owner of an outdoor advertising firm in Laurel, Mississippi, Richard Hedrick often used his 4,000 billboards spread over nine states to promote his passion: reaching people for Christ.

Motorists viewed such messages as "Lonely? Try Jesus," or "Happy Hour, 6 p.m. Grace Covenant Church."

Richard sold the business in 1997 and used the money to fund The Hope Foundation, which he established to finance full-time international mission work. Richard and his wife, Gina, are now planting churches. They also served the Lord overseas, ministering in leper colonies and orphanages in Vietnam, establishing a Bible institute in El Salvador.

He continues to shine a light for Christ at the Hedrick Sign Company, which manufactures high-rise signs. Every week most of the 80 employees attend optional devotions. Richard also has invited a missionary who specializes in ministering to factory workers to visit the business.

"We pray that our employees will find Christ through this," Richard said. "Jesus is the first priority in our lives. We love Him. He is precious to us."

.M.R. Hamilton is a skillful craftsman who, at 26, reached his life's goal to be a self-sufficient mountain man by crafting long bows.

Then he was shocked to realize that his dream wouldn't sustain him.

After visiting a Southern Baptist church, M.R. met the Creator of the universe, Whose work in the outdoors he had long admired. He earned a doctorate of divinity, became a Baptist minister and is now using his world-renowned reputation as a sportsman to draw hunters and fishermen to Christ. He estimates that at least 90 percent of all outdoorsmen do not know God.

M.R., who is also a Mission Service Corps volunteer and bi-vocational pastor, speaks at wild game suppers sponsored by local churches in rural Missouri.

"I tell them hunting stories, and then I move into my story about being lost in life. Every hunter knows that feeling, the panic and terror that grips them. I tell them I got that feeling once while looking down on my own house from a mountain in Colorado when I realized there was a God, the Creator of the universe, and that I did not know Him.

"Then I tell them, 'If you are here and you don't know Jesus Christ, let me tell you, friend, you should be having that same experience,'" M.R. said. After his talks, church attendance has increased by about 10 percent.

"God gives us gifts, and He expects us to use those gifts to reach people no one else can reach."

As a teacher in a Christian school who mostly socialized with church friends, Jami Weber of Sisters, Oregon, was troubled that she didn't have many opportunities to share Christ.

About a year ago, Jami took up the craft of quilting.

As her interest in quilts grew, she found herself reading about how some women gathered into groups--called quilting circles or bees--to share the task and to socialize. The practice was particularly popular during the Great Depression of the 1930s when women often joined forces to get their work done and to visit with each other without spending money.

Suddenly, a light bulb went on in Jami's already creative mind, and she recognized an opportunity for evangelizing around an enjoyable hobby.

She created a quilting circle to draw in non-Christians. When the 10 members meet to sew and chat, Jami illuminates the discussions with the Christian principles she threads in.

Frank and Jane Pollard,
Jackson, Mississippi

When do you get to reach around the world from your own home? When God brings the world to your door. I am senior pastor of the First Baptist Church in Jackson, Mississippi, and my wife Jane, is involved in prison ministry. At home we try to live a lifestyle of evangelism.

Every four years an international ballet competition is held in Jackson. Sometimes the Russians live in our home for a while. One year we got to be friends with Jorge Lysenco, who was the Russian ballet master. He wanted to stay in America, so we sponsored him for a year. He became a Christian, a member of our church, and I got to baptize Jorge.

One night we invited the entire Russian dance troupe to our home for dinner. We gave Jorge our credit card to buy groceries, and they prepared a Russian meal for us.

I asked our neighbor, a Jewish man from Russia, to interpret because I would be talking about the most important thing I know, my faith in Christ. My Jewish friend interpreted the gospel to his Russian comrades and it was he, not they, who became a Christian.

Rick Trimble,
owner of A.G. Tremble Company,
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

My family's business, the A.G. Tremble Company, imprints names, slogans or company logos on promotional products such as coffee mugs, key chains and calendars.

We include Bible verses on our products to send to new customers and on invoices, order acknowledgments or thank you notes to our suppliers. This often surprises them because not many businesses do that.

We give a lot of thought to choosing the scriptures. We've sent a lighted key chain imprinted with: The Lord is my light and my salvation (Psalm 27:1), and a plastic can cover that reads: I CAN do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:13). Our brochure, "Why you should do business with us," contains my personal testimony and is sent with a refrigerator magnet that lists the Four Spiritual Laws.

Occasionally we lose a customer. But I would rather share Christ and lose business than get the business and be silent about the Lord. I believe your Christianity should flavor everything you do.

Allen and Becky May,
Augusta, Georgia

My husband, Allen, and I raise and show Tennessee walking horses. It was obvious when we saw Olympic's Energizer that he is exceptional.

We nicknamed him Possum. He was wild and hard to break, and the first time I showed him was at the 1998 world championship. It was nerve wracking to go in front of 30,000 people knowing if I were nervous, high-spirited Possum would sense it. I prayed I would be at peace all day. When I got on Possum, I was totally calm, and so was he. We had a flawless ride, and all five judges unanimously picked Possum as the world champion in his class.

Two days later Possum competed against mares, geldings and stallions and won the 2-year-old amateur World Grand Championship. After Possum and I circled the arena in the winner's traditional "Spotlight Ride," I turned that spotlight on Jesus and told everyone who would listen that the glory goes to Him.

We have continued to thank God, using our trade publication advertisements to share our faith with readers across the country. Our Christmas ad began, "From our home to yours, have a Christ-filled Christmas. Thank you, Lord, for blessing us with an exceptional little bay stallion. Your calming, reassuring presence was with Possum and me every step of the way."

Deborah Mendenhall is an award-winning journalist and author living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.