OUTREACH RUNS AFOUL OF OFFICIALS, COMMUNITY

LAWRENCEBURG, Tenn. -- The Lighthouse Outreach Ministries means different
things to different people in Lawrence County.

Locals call it a blight on the neighborhood. County officials call it a
halfway house in need of regulation. Allegations of mismanagement by its
founder - a newcomer to town -- have some in the community calling it a fraud.

Still, others have come to call the Lighthouse their final chance at sobriety.

Garry Bissinger spent much of a recent afternoon packing his belongings. He
was leaving the next day, and while his name would remain the same,
Bissinger said that's the only thing he'll claim from the life he lived
before arriving at the house.

"It was an option, so I came here and for $600 it was a miracle to me,"
said the 43-year-old man. "I've learned a lot about the Bible and Jesus
Christ. I was already a Christian, and I thought I knew a lot about the
Bible - till I got here."

For years, the Franklin, Tenn., man had used drugs and alcohol. That led to
a DUI arrest in Nashville - his second. Facing weeks in the metro jail,
Bissinger was allowed a reduced sentence if he chose treatment for his
addiction. He's been at the Lighthouse Outreach Ministries for nearly a
month. With his treatment program over, he'll return to Nashville to serve
the remaining 17 days of his jail sentence.

"Do it and get it over with and get on with my life," Bissinger said. This
time he'll have the strength to avoid old habits and temptations, he said.

'They Didn't Want Us'

Lighthouse Outreach Ministries has been the subject of praise, criticism
and scrutiny since its founder, Robert Flores, opened his first house in
September 2001 in Leoma, Tenn. Criticism intensified once he moved the
house into the Brace community on the northern border of the county.

"We have been told in this community that they didn't want us there,"
Flores said. "Every time the men would (take a) walk, they would call the
sheriff's department on them. The neighbors thought they were scoping . out
(the neighborhood)."

Criticism of the house echoed from the homes of the Brace community all the
way down U.S. 43 to reach the county courthouse and the sheriff's department.

"Mostly they were in a community they were not wanted," said Lawrence
County Sheriff William Dorning.

Before Brace community residents complained about the house, Flores had
close connections with the sheriff's department. A sheriff's investigator
even served on the Lighthouse board of directors. However, Dorning said
talk of mismanagement and fraud convinced him to sever ties with the
Lighthouse. The investigator resigned from the board.

"Flores was also a chaplain (in the sheriff's department)," Dorning said.
"He was one of the five, and I did pull his credentials and his badge."

While complaints continued to mount from Brace residents, no criminal
incidents were reported to the sheriff.

The Lighthouse's fate was put further in jeopardy early Jan. 27.

Bissinger was there as smoke blackened the rooms and flames begin to turn
the house into a pile of ash at 2 a.m.

The fire destroyed the home and is under investigation by the sheriff's
department.

"We can't find anything arson-like about it," Dorning said.

He said investigators have found the hot spot of the fire but did not find
its cause.

However, that's not enough to satisfy Flores, who said the anger of
neighbors might have reached its peak early that Sunday morning.

"I feel that there are not enough answers that I believe that need to be
investigated deeper," he said. "I believe it could be a possibility that
somebody set the fire."

With the house destroyed, the 10 men who used to live there were given
temporary housing while Flores searched for a new home for the Lighthouse.

In the meantime, the county commission passed an ordinance requiring its
approval before a "halfway house" could open.

The unanimous approval came four days after the house was destroyed. It was
sponsored by Commissioner Delano Benefield, whose district includes the
Brace community.

While he agreed everyone deserves a second chance, Benefield said that
should not come at the risk of endangering an entire community.

"It's a great community, and here they are roaming around," Benefield said.
"(Flores is) supposed to be in charge of it, but nobody ever sees him."

Flores refutes notions that the house was unmanaged, saying there was
someone present day and night.

"When that fire burned, I was immediately on the scene," he said. "The
problem is they're trying to put me out of the ministry."

That's just not true said Kathy Evans, a resident of the Brace community
who lived near the house. Evans said she and other residents were duped by
Flores, who gave a series of changing statements about his mission.

While Flores said the men worked, Evans said she saw them walk the
neighborhood all day.

"What does Mr. Flores do all day that he can't see and stay with the boys?"
she said. "He doesn't work. As far as we're concerned, Mr. Flores is
nothing more than a con man."

Flores' Story

After rumors, complaints and eventually the destruction of the house,
Flores said he considered leaving Lawrence County. But the decision to
leave or stay wasn't his, he said.

"God had put it in my heart that I had to help these type of people," he
said. "Because I saw the need here, I realized why God put me in this county."

Flores' life story is similar to many of the men in the program. He was
once a drug addict, sleeping under bridges in Nashville. He had gone
through more than a dozen rehabilitation programs but always ended up
returning to chemical highs.

Nothing seemed to fulfill his needs the ways drugs and alcohol could.

"It was hard for me to catch the concept of saying that I was a drug addict
because the more I said it, the more I believed I was," Flores said.

It wasn't until 1998, after a night of depression, that his life began to
change.

Flores said he was contemplating suicide when he phoned a minister he had
met earlier. He had no one else.

"I got on my knees that night, and I prayed to Jesus," Flores said. "He
took my alcohol away; he took my drugs away. I felt something get out of me
and something else come in."

He decided to try rehabilitation once more and went to Teen Challenge, a
Christian drug treatment program.

"I found Jesus when I did," Flores said.

Two years later, Flores was sober and was back in Nashville, where he
became an associate pastor at Full Gospel Pentecostal Church.

Flores, his wife, Tammy, and their children moved to Lawrence County in
February 2000 to begin the first Lighthouse Ministry in Leoma.

"We did great there; we didn't have any complaints," Flores said.

The group had to move to the Brace community after losing the lease on the
previous house. A church owned the house, and the congregation needed to
resume using it as a parsonage.

That's when the problems began.

God vs. County Commission

Critics of the Lighthouse say its founder runs a loosely organized program
that threatens the safety of its neighbors. And some law enforcement
officials accuse Flores of harboring a fugitive.

"They were not following the guidelines that they said they were following
by any stretch of the imagination," said Lawrence County District Attorney
General Mike Bottoms. "It was a sham; that's what it was."

Flores counters, saying the incident Bottoms referred to was a
misunderstanding. All men who came into the program were checked through
the sheriff's department, he said. However, he was not told that one man,
his wife's uncle, was wanted by police in Nashville.

Once he learned about the warrant, Flores said he contacted the authorities
in Nashville and brought the man back.

"I got permission; I was not trying to hide anybody," Flores said. "I was
trying to help a man that asked for help."

But it was too late. Flores said rumors spread that the Lighthouse was a
haven for wayward fugitives.

A few weeks ago, Flores opened a second Lighthouse home, this time in
Ethridge, Tenn., a town a few miles north of Lawrenceburg.

In spite of the county commission's order requiring all new facilities to
have its approval, workers at the Lighthouse said they aren't violating any
laws.

"I fully respect and understand what the local government is trying to do,
but at the same time, there is a call of the church to respond to a lost
and dying world," Williams said. "If that is in violation, then every
church in this nation