March 2010

Mission/Ministry: Ethiopia with Dave and BeckyLynn
BeckyLynn with Ethiopian Women
BSP: When and how did you initially become connected with the people of Ethiopia?
BeckyLynn: Very shortly after my birth 🙂 Before I was walking, my parents loaded me and some large metal barrels with our stuff onto a freighter in New York, bound for Yemen, and then from there to Ethiopia by airplane. Until I was almost 11 years old, Ethiopia was the only home I knew. Half of that time was spent in boarding school far from my parents “down-country”; the other half was spent on the mission station, squatting in the huts eating roasted corn called “kolo”, helping the Ethiopian children herd their goats, etc. It was a very special upbringing, full of unique challenges, but also wonderful blessing.
We left Ethiopia on an emergent basis, with only 3 days’ notice. We thought my mother was dying of a brain cancer. Parting with Ethiopia was very traumatic for me. I planned to return as a nurse, so got my bachelor’s degree in nursing. But then God appointed me to be a wife to Dave….so all those preparations were abandoned, and for the next 28 years Ethiopia remained only in my heart.

Bible Path Award

Bible Study Path Award 2010 Close Up

HAVE YOU MADE YOUR NOMINATION?

Energion Publications, its staff and subsidiaries have established the Bible Path Award. We ask that you, our customers and friends, nominate an individual who personifies the passion of God’s Word, in all its facets, which is to be living and active in our lives.

Vacation with God


Radio City Music Hall
“Are you on vacation?” A million responses flew through my mind the first time I was asked while on a road trip for the Lord. The simple answer, “Why, yes. And what a great vacation it has been!”
I never knew how important places were to God until the Holy Spirit started taking me to some really strange places! GPS? Unless you are talking about “God’s Positioning System”, you won’t find anything more than an interstate level map in the car and a Frommer’s book in the carry-on!The buildings and things He’s revealed in those places and the people who have been encountered–no travel agent can plan a better trip than Him! Availability, not ability, is the key to traveling with God. With Him as the pilot, you will go farther and longer than you ever dreamed….

Youth/Young Adults


Timothy, my son, I give you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by following them you may fight the good fight, holding on to faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected theses and so have shipwrecked their faith. 1 Timothy 1:18-19 (NIV)
Erin McClellan, youth director, wife, and mother, has a heart for the young people that she has been charged to pastor. Like most who are in youth ministry, she must work with little financial support and leftover space and resources. BSP asked Erin to share her heart about the ministry she has been given.

Bible Q & A

Dr. David Alan Black

Each month we will pose a question to our featured ‘professor’. We welcome questions from our readers. Send in your questions!
Featured Teacher: Dr. David Alan Black, known for his love for New Testament Greek and passion for teaching, Dave Black is a husband, father, professor, author, preacher, lecturer, web journalist, and (above all) a sinner saved by God’s sovereign grace.
Ephesians 4 speaks of God’s appointments to pastors, prophets, apostles, evangelists, and teachers. It does not mention “missionaries”. Did God leave this appointment out?
Reader, you are correct that English translations of the New Testament do not contain the word “missionary.” However, the Greek word apostolos can have that meaning in certain contexts. For example, in Philippians 2:25 Epaphroditus, who represented the Philippian church to Paul in prison, is called an apostolos. Here the term clearly refers to someone who is sent out from a local congregation on a mission trip …
Read more …

Editor’s Table: The Great Need in the Body of Christ

More prophets – More pastors – More evangelists – More teachers – More apostles? Paul says that God gave us these to build His kingdom  (Ephesians 4). He also said that we have been given gifts to help each other; these gifts are not just for ourselves (Romans 12). I believe that one of the gifts we most need in abundance is encouragement.