The Vision
We desire our generation to hear, understand, and be transformed by the supernatural Gospel of Jesus Christ & God’s Word.
Our Mission
Communicate the Gospel of Jesus Christ & God’s Word to our generation through creative resources & Gospel outreach.
The primary expressions to accomplish our mission:
Streetlights Audio Bible in Multiple Languages
Gospel-Centered Outreach through Music & Preaching
Bible Resources directed to “Not-Yet”/New Believers & Church Leaders
Collaborate with other like-minded Kingdom Partners
Check out our App to experience Streetlights’ Resources
Overview of Our Focuses & Ministry Lanes
All of our ministry lanes intentionally focus on reaching this and future generations through Gospel Outreach efforts & creating relevant Discipleship Resources focused on the new or not-yet believer in Jesus Christ.
Our Approach:
We take joy in coming alongside the local Church to spur on Gospel evangelism and empower discipleship through God's Word- especially when a variety of learning barriers are present. We combine an authentic multi-cultural and an artistic multi-medium approach to produce discipleship resources and events to serve communities and help translate God's love and His powerful Word to a global-urban culture. Often the audiences we focus on serving are compromised of many global worldviews and do not have an extensive knowledge of the Bible or the good news of Christ. We know these communities well, because we are from them, and live in them. Therefore, we always seek in all we do to deliver the Gospel in the best way we are able in the heart language of the people we serve "so all can understand and know the Jesus". It is our call to continue to help empower God's people in the ground-level Gospel-Work being done in their communities through the resources we make and provide them Given-Freely. Our focus on Gospel Outreach & creating Discipleship resources serve in tandem; each product, event, or partnership endeavor is complimentary in their intentionality to sow and cultivate Gospel seeds alongside the local-global Church online and face-to-face.
The Streetlights Team
WHO WE ARE:
Streetlights is a ministry of Creative Communicators based in Chicago called to communicate the Gospel-Word of Jesus Christ faithfully & creatively through Resources & Outreach. To accomplish this mission our primary expressions of focus are the following: 1) Streetlights Audio Bible in Multiple Languages 2) Gospel-Centered Outreach through Music & Preaching 3) Multimedia Bible Teaching directed to “Not-Yet” or New Believers in Christ 4) Collaboration with Kingdom Partners and 5) Encouragement to Leaders & Patrons. Overall our desire for this & future generations is to hear, understand, & be transformed by the supernatural Gospel-Word of Jesus Christ. Our ministries’ origin, current identity and ongoing call are founded on the belief that God’s Gospel-Word is spiritually transformational and the means in which humanity’s souls are transformed with new life. We not only believe this factually, but have personally experienced this transformationally!
MEET THE SL TEAM
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Co-Executive Director & Creative Content Director
Esteban Shedd is one of the founders of STREETLIGHTS ministry and serves as Co-Executive and Creative Director, as well as an active Gospel Communicator. The communication of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to this generation is his passion and focus; especially to the large, global, urban cities and sub-cultures of the world. As a Chicago native and resident, he wants to see his own city know and love Christ, but this vision goes beyond Chicago as he sees the opportunities internationally for Gospel mission through the creative arts and the proclamation of God's Word in every heart language. He is a husband to his amazing wife Iris and a father to their 4 children, as well as an active member of his local church in Chicago, IL.
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Co-Executive Director & CFO
My day-to-day at Streetlights consists of caring for our staff, caring for our books (finances), building relationships with our supporters and partners, drumming with my brothers in Alert312 and helping on cameras here and there. I also have a gift of making sure everyone on staff smiles at least once a day. :) Whether drumming, working the cameras, crunching numbers, or loving people; I'm blessed and humbled to do what I do and take great joy in knowing that the work we do is honoring to the Lord. My family is from Puerto Rico but I was born here in Chicago. The Lord grabbed a hold of my heart at a young age and I made a decision then to serve the Lord the rest of my life. Music and basketball still are two of my biggest passions outside of my family. I met Esteban and Aaron when I was 18 and I decided to attend Moody Bible Institute. Our friendship and brotherhood has been a gift to me. I also met my wife when we were teenagers. We have been married for 12 yrs and we have been blessed with 6 beautiful children. We have been members at Chicago Tabernacle for the past 17yrs.
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Audio Director
I'm the Director of Audio at Streetlights and a Alert312 musician. Anything you may hear in any language runs through my desk and my ears. In my day to day, I may be mixing the next Audio Bible book, producing music for the next Alert312 song, or talking to vocalists, music makers, or volunteers the make sure the next project is on its way to completion. I thoroughly enjoy music. I enjoy making it, listening to it, and learning how it's made in new and creative ways.
I'm the son of a pastor. I took a long religious road to eventually discover how much Jesus is better than what I thought I wanted in life, art, music, and career. I am a member and servant leader at New Life Community Church in East Humboldt Park. I honestly think I enjoy building and buying Lego more than my 2 kids do... I am honored to be the husband to my beautiful wife Susana and father to my 2 kids. I see the collection of all of the roles, tasks, and loves as valuable means to make God's love known.
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Director of Operations
I was born and raised in the Humboldt Park neighborhood in Chicago. I first acknowledged Jesus as my Savior when I was 6 years old. By God's grace, I rededicated my life to Him when I was 16 and have been on this faith journey for more than half of my life now. I met my wife, Alisha, while serving in youth ministry and we have been married for over a decade. We have a beautiful daughter with whom I share a birthday. I am a member at New Life Community Church in East Humboldt Park where I serve in various capacities. Some of my other passions include music (especially Hip Hop), technology, and coffee.
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Social Media Director
My name is Christian Lazú, but everybody calls me Chaq -that's the short version of my second name. My roles at Streetlights are Social Media Manager, Creator & Spanish Audio Assistant. My passions are teaching God’s Word creatively, being involved in my local Church, serving Youth Ministries, creating/listening to music & coffee. I'm a Human Biology Major with a Masters in Public Health, but by God's grace, and His guidance, learned that my plans were not God's plans for my life. So I chose to follow His voice. His voice led me here to Streetlights as a Social Media Manager, Communicator, and Audio Assistant. My daily prayer and my heart's desire is to effectively communicate God’s Word through Christ-centered and purposeful social media posts with Spirit-driven copies as I grow and learn in the process. My local church is Disciples of Christ Church in Buena Vista, Bayamón, Puerto Rico. Being a Social Media Manager Biologist sounds funny, doesn't it?!? :) Also... I've been rapping since I was 8 years old and am starting to make music with Alert312. I am married to my lovely wife, Stella.
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Video Director
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Co-Executive Director & Creative Content Director
Esteban Shedd is one of the founders of STREETLIGHTS ministry and serves as Co-Executive and Creative Director, as well as an active Gospel Communicator. The communication of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to this generation is his passion and focus; especially to the large, global, urban cities and sub-cultures of the world. As a Chicago native and resident, he wants to see his own city know and love Christ, but this vision goes beyond Chicago as he sees the opportunities internationally for Gospel mission through the creative arts and the proclamation of God's Word in every heart language. He is a husband to his amazing wife Iris and a father to their 4 children, as well as an active member of his local church in Chicago, IL.
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Loren La Luz is one of the founders of STREETLIGHTS ministry. His day-to-day consists of caring for Streetlights’ staff, books (finances), building relationships with its supporters and partners, drumming with Alert312 and helping on cameras here and there. Loren attended Moody Bible Institute from 2002-2005, and graduated with a BA in Counseling/Family Ministries. Loren and his wife Kassandra, have been married for 14 yrs and we have been blessed with 6 beautiful children.
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Amber Bishop along with her husband Mike Bishop have initiated and lead various ministry projects and planted multiple microchurches over the last 25 years. Amber is committed to the idea of modern-day tent making and works for her family business RGD Consulting Engineers, where she handles marketing and land development. Amber is extremely gifted at getting others excited and motivated towards God’s Kingdom. She is a champion for releasing people into their gift and calling in ministry. She is also effective at rallying others to a cause and organizing people to get a job done. Amber’s passion is contagious, and she leads by example. Amber has always loved starting and cultivating new businesses. She uses that gift combination by serving as the executive director of Everyday Mission. Before Amber went back to work in the business world, she spent 18 years at home homeschooling her children all the way through high school and successfully launched them into their academic and athletic careers in higher education.
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David is the son of a military chaplain, and grew up all over the world. Similarly, Susie was raised in Bosnia in a missionary family. David was saved as a young boy, and felt a call to ministry in high school. While attending Moody Bible Institute, his brother invited him to the Chicago Tabernacle, where he began to serve and continue to grow in leadership. During this season of his life, Pastor David encountered God’s presence in a powerful way. Pastor David has a desire for all people to encounter God in this way, so they can see the supernatural power of God in their everyday lives. Susie also felt a call to ministry at a young age. She has a passion to see every child in Chicago be reached with the gospel and to see them become godly, powerful leaders in God’s Kingdom. Pastor David and Susie have three little ones of their own; Owen, Eden and Elliot. Both David and Susie have a heart to evangelize and their prayer is to see revival come to Chicago.
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Jorge Rodriguez serves as the Lead Pastor of Grace Family Church, a multiethnic, urban church in Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood that he and his team planted in 2019. Jorge's passion is to equip urban pastors and leaders through the local church with the gospel for the glory of God and the city's good. As a native Venezolano and local Chicagoan, he's been a bi-lingual pastor and multicultural church planter in Miami and Chicago since 2003. He holds a B.A. in Pastoral Studies and his M.A. in Ministry Leadership from Moody Theological Seminary. Jorge has been married to his lovely ministry partner, Belkis, since November 1998, and shares the joy of raising 3 children. Besides taking time to train-up young pastors through NAMB and Send Network, Jorge enjoys reading a good book, listening to music, playing sports, and spending quality time with his family.
