The Shining Light of Beacon Hill
- Rich Davis
- Mar 19
- 4 min read
Jo Ann and I live in a neighborhood called “Beacon Hill,” named for the shining lights that helped aircraft approaching a nearby airfield. This location is so appropriate for us as we continue to shine the light of Scripture into a spiritually blind world.
Shining Even Brighter
One of our core beliefs is the value of life-long learning. The word “disciple” literally means “learner.” What do disciples do? Disciples are essentially learners and followers. They follow someone from whom they hope to learn. Jo Ann and I became disciples of Jesus Christ in the late 1960’s and have been following and learning ever since. Much of our learning has come from serving in the foreign field, and some of it from formal academic training.
There are different concepts of “retirement,” and our concept is to change the name to protect the naïve (innocent). Retirement means rearranging our financial picture by dropping the expensive health insurance we have been paying for and going on Medicare. When you look at it this way, it makes sense to change the status of “retire” to “redeploy,” because now we have fewer expenses and more time to serve the Lord.
Life-long learning means that if we are still alive, we need to continue learning. We did a check recently and found that we are still alive – Praise the Lord! So, here’s our course of study for the next few months:
· Rich should complete his Master of Arts in Biblical Studies this summer. It has been wonderful to review and refresh our biblical convictions since graduating from Bible College in 1973.
· We are both registered to take several evangelism, discipleship, and teaching courses at the ABWE international headquarters here in Pennsylvania in May and June:
o The Story of Hope – Good Soil evangelism course + certification (one week). Rich has been teaching this seminar for about 25 + years, but the material
has been updated, and we are due for a refresher!
o The Roots of Faith – Good Soil discipleship course covering
redemptive stories from the Old Testament and the New Testament (two weeks)
o Beyond Lecture – innovative teaching techniques – (approximately one week)
· Rich is scheduled to participate in the Summit on International Theological Education in May.
Why are we doing all this preparation in our “golden years”? Because we need to be current in our thinking and sharp in our focus as we anticipate our future ministries taking short-term training trips here in the States and abroad until the Lord slows us down or takes us home.
Many of our supporting churches and friends have indicated a desire to continue providing the funds we will need to finance these trips, even though we will be based in the States rather than living overseas. We are so thankful for this confidence in our past and future ministries. Please pray that the Lord will continue to provide the necessary financial base as we transition to our new ministry outreach.
Shining in the Latin World
There is a possibility that we could become part of an ABWE team scheduled to teach in Portugal next year. Our training this year is good preparation for opportunities like this.
Our church here in Pennsylvania is planning to take a team to the Amazon area of Peru this coming summer to work with long-time friends of ours, Tim and Vergie Farley (ABWE). This trip coincides closely with the 25th anniversary of the Monterrico Christian School, which we have been invited to participate in and celebrate with faithful co-laborers who hold so many precious memories for us. This would be our first opportunity to return to Peru after serving there for 33 years. What a blessing it will be to see the friends we have loved and worked with during all those years.
We are happy to see opportunities for future ministries we are preparing for. Please pray that the Lord would open many more doors around the world where we might be used to build up and encourage national brethren and fellow missionaries.
Shining Together for 60 years
Jo Ann and I met in high school in 1962 and were married in 1966. It took her 4 years to get me in shape before she would put the ring on! There are multiple reasons why not every couple can celebrate 60 years of marriage, but we are thankful to the Lord for His faithfulness in giving us this amazing blessing. Now we are focused on making it to our 75th anniversary. Some of you have known and prayed for us during many of these years, and we are so thankful. We plan to celebrate on that special day this month (March 26) by going to the Sight and Sound Theater to see the live presentation of “Joshua.” He is a great example for us as we, too, seek to expand the kingdom for our Captain, the Lord Jesus Christ.
