[1] Originally located at Table Bluff, in Humboldt County, California, 4.5 miles (7.2 km) south of Fields Landing, at an elevation of 318 feet (97 m) on a bluff adjacent to the Pacific Ocean,[2] the local movement still exists with a school and Church in Eureka, California which was completed in 2009, as well as three churches located in Portland, Oregon, Olympia, Washington, and Tacoma, Washington.
[3] During the 1960s, members of the hippie counterculture sought a simple life; many were drawn to areas away from large cities and getting back to the land.
The Lighthouse Ranch was an abandoned Coast Guard station occupying 8 acres (32,000 m2) of coastal land 11 miles south of Eureka, California.
In 1971, Jim Durkin, a local pastor and real estate agent, formed Gospel Outreach to purchase the ranch from Ken Smith.
Throughout the 1970s and 80's, the organization established churches in Palmer, Alaska; Chicago, Illinois; Brooklyn, New York; Silverton, Oregon; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.