The Lapp Brothers, Light of Hope, Blessings of Hope

[Judas Maccabeus]

Name it- claim it is associated with, but not necessarily charismatic, it has its origin in Norman Vincent Peale, strangely enough.

I will try to look for that.

That may help explain why they find Trumpism so apealeing.

I normally refer to Mr. Trump's religion as "Pealism." His dad took him to Peal's church as a young man.

[mike]

Snippets in this article give some indication of why the Blessings of Hope ministry is owned by the Lapp brothers and is not accountable to a board of directors.

The Lapps moved their large families back to Pennsylvania and quickly founded Light of Hope Ministries, the parent ministry of Blessings of Hope that offers religious programming in Lancaster, West Virginia and Kentucky.

...

Light of Hope is also the name of a church that hosts weekly Sunday services for Christians in a meeting room in Earl Township. The Lapp brothers are frequent speakers there. The latest livestreamed meeting shows more than 50 congregants in folding chairs looking up toward a white board and podium. A Facebook comment from the church in April 2025 says the congregation includes “Christians from a variety of cultures.” When asked what denomination Light of Hope serves, Lapp said the church is a part of “Kingdom Anabaptist Nation,” a nonprofit registered to a farm owned by Blessings in West Earl Township.

...

The Lapps also lead Hope RE Funding, a nonprofit founded in 2024 as “an investment opportunity to use private capital to build out the real estate for Blessings of Hope,” according to its LinkedIn profile. Steve Lapp is president, Jacob Lapp is treasurer and David Lapp is one of several directors, as reported in a 2024 financial report to the IRS.

The brothers’ wives, brothers-in-law and other relatives are and have been involved in Blessings of Hope as board members, leaders and secretaries for at least a decade. Liz Lapp, the current communications director, is Steve Lapp’s daughter.

The Blessings of Hope website calls the organization a DBA of Light of Hope Ministries.

Oct 2010 - Blessings of Hope would be formed as a DBA of Light of Hope Ministries

So according to one of the Lapp brothers, Light of Hope (which has been around for some time) is part of "Kingdom Anabaptist Nation" which according to this online record was only recently formed in 2023, which in turn is registered to a farm in Ephrata PA owned by Blessings of Hope (which is a "DBA" of Light of Hope).

I don't know what all of this means exactly. But at the very least, it speaks to the wisdom of operating a charity or nonprofit as a truly accountable organization under a board of directors with real control as opposed to being owned by an unaccountable person or family.

[JohnH]

I’m no lawyer, but it appears they may have done everything entirely legally. (Whether that is moral / ethical is another question.)

My guess is they consulted with competent legal counsel and competent tax accountants who specialise in nonprofit and church matters. Their arrangements remind me of the Mormon church a bit.

[JohnH]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sW2_mYYfEs&lis ... p&index=19

If the scene at 1:38 and following is not overly charismatic, I'm not sure what is.

Speaking as someone who has spent a great deal of time in charismatic type of circles, that doesn’t strike me as a charismatic service or style at all.

Amongst other things, there would be speaking in tongues, live music, people invited come up and share testimonies etc

That struck me as a more “demi-liturgical” style where he leads the crowd in something and they say a response. A charismatic style would be much more spontaneous.

This would be an example of a very charismatic service:



At 3:40.

(One of my favourite songs. One thing I sincerely miss since I joined a
more conservative Anabaptist church is no longer listening to songs like to feel close to God. Nowadays it would just be entertainment.)

[mike]

I’m no lawyer, but it appears they may have done everything entirely legally. (Whether that is moral / ethical is another question.)

My guess is they consulted with competent legal counsel and competent tax accountants who specialise in nonprofit and church matters. Their arrangements remind me of the Mormon church a bit.

I don't know that there is anything illegal about the setup, either. And yet somehow they managed to end up in a situation where they are severely underwater financially, which speaks to poor governance.

[JohnH]

Legally speaking their creditors can pursue judgments against them and liquidate their assets. It is “buyer beware” for making loans.

[mike]

Legally speaking their creditors can pursue judgments against them and liquidate their assets. It is “buyer beware” for making loans.

Looks like it is just a matter of time then, unless they can raise a bunch of money from some big donors.

[JohnH]

Legally speaking their creditors can pursue judgments against them and liquidate their assets. It is “buyer beware” for making loans.

Looks like it is just a matter of time then, unless they can raise a bunch of money from some big donors.

Interestingly, their corporate structure provides the equivalent of LLC protection. The church itself might also be a creditor to the nonprofit.

I have my own affairs set up somewhat similarly, minus the church part. It was on my todo list to set up a “backup” church and school after the whole Covid debacle, but nowadays I just can’t get motivated to see that as necessary.

[mike]

Legally speaking their creditors can pursue judgments against them and liquidate their assets. It is “buyer beware” for making loans.

Looks like it is just a matter of time then, unless they can raise a bunch of money from some big donors.

Interestingly, their corporate structure provides the equivalent of LLC protection. The church itself might also be a creditor to the nonprofit.

In terms of the ability to continue to operate, though, they need not only the limitation of liability, but also donations and apparently investments. Even if their legal structure protects certain assets, their continued operations surely depend on continued revenue from these sources, and if public goodwill dries up due to negative publicity, their ability to continue operating is in doubt.

[JohnH]

Looks like it is just a matter of time then, unless they can raise a bunch of money from some big donors.

Interestingly, their corporate structure provides the equivalent of LLC protection. The church itself might also be a creditor to the nonprofit.

In terms of the ability to continue to operate, though, they need not only the limitation of liability, but also donations and apparently investments. Even if their legal structure protects certain assets, their continued operations surely depend on continued revenue from these sources, and if public goodwill dries up due to negative publicity, their ability to continue operating is in doubt.

Indeed. We’ll see how far raw hucksterism can take them. Donating $15 million out of $30 million to retire debt isn’t that exciting… but I think they could pull it off

The question is if they’ll fix the problem that led to them being mired in debt in the first place