Gregg Lewis - True to His Word: The Story of Bible Study Fellowship (BSF)

by Susie Rowan

A s its fourth-generation leader, BSF chose Susan C. Rowan (Susie), a woman long involved with the organization domestically and internationally. Here is her story.

F ROM THE D IRECTOR

Susie Rowan:

When I was in my early thirties, with an infant and a toddler, I became very aware of my own sin. But I wasnt sure what to do about it. Then, sitting in church next to my husband, Roger, I finally grasped what I had been taught as a youth: Jesus Christ died, not just for the worlds sins, but for mine. He alone could carry the guilt weighing me down. I turned my life over to Jesus and He released me from my burden.

A year or two later, I was invited to Bible Study Fellowship. I had never studied the Bible. But God made it clear that this was something He wanted me to do. In a class of more than three hundred people, I knew only one other person. But I felt as if I had come home.

Six months into my study, Roger said to me, Youre a different woman than the one I married. I love what Im seeing. Im going to that Bible study to find out what its all about. He began attending BSF.

Susie Rowan

The following year I was invited into leadership, first as Discussion Leader, then as Substitute Teaching Leader. It was around this time I realized that my commitment to serve God through the ministry of BSF was a life calling. Not long after, God began to make it clear that He was calling our family to serve internationally with BSF. When I asked Roger to pray about the opportunity, he looked at me as if I were crazy. After all, Id once told a friend whod felt a similar call, Im glad its youand not me!

A week later, though, I asked Roger what he was thinking. He took a couple of cards out of his wallet and said, Since you asked me to pray, I havent been able to get away from these two verses. One was from Psalm 40. In my Bible, next to the exact verse, I had written, Gods call on my life.

Thats when we began to get nervous.

We were the most unlikely people in the world to go. Wed lived in Kansas City all our lives. Wed never even been on a short-term mission trip. Moving just twenty minutes south of where Id grown up had been a major trauma for me. Were we insane? Some friends thought so. But we knew God had asked us. It was the only thing we could do.

I called BSF headquarters and asked Susy Harbick if theyd be interested in someone willing to go abroad for only two yearsno longer.

Suzy replied, Let me send you an application, and lets see what God is doing.

Clearly, He was doing something. In 1995 Roger and I packed up our two children and our dog and headed to So Paulo, Brazil, to work with The World Outreach and, later, Rafiki. We launched evening classes and nurtured them along until Susie Rowan local leaders were able to take over. Then we came homesix years later.

We quickly settled back into our Kansas City routine. Roger reestablished his real estate career. I began working with him. Our son joined the business. Roger started teaching a Mens Class. I started back at BSF as a Childrens Leader, then a Teaching Leader. God restored our bank account. We were enjoying our teaching ministry. We were surrounded by family. We were nearby to support ailing parents. Life was good.

Then, in 2004, God began to stir things up again.

Roger and I were in the office together when an email arrived from Linda Hunt, inviting us back to Latin America and suggesting we meet the new BSF Director of International Operations, Dr. Chuck Musfeldt. As we were reading the email, we got a phone call. It was Dr. Chuck Musfeldt asking if wed be willing to go abroad once again.

Maybe someday, we said, but not right now. Now was not a good time.

Next morning, preparing my BSF lesson on Hebrews, there it wasa reference to Psalm 40. I shut my Bible so fast!

That night Roger was working on his BSF lesson and was confronted by the reference to Psalm 40. He came to me. Susie, have you done your lesson?

Yes, I told him, but I dont want to talk about it.

At a citywide prayer gathering the following day, I broke into tears, overwhelmed by the Lords call. I phoned Roger and said, I am struggling. But I am beginning to believe that I would be in great disobedience if I did not at least admit that God is calling us back overseas.

Good, Roger said. Ive been waiting for you to get ready.

It was an incredible test of faith. I wanted one thing. God clearly wanted another. Faced with a decision to reject Gods will in favor of fulfilling my own selfish desires, I knew I could not deny my Lord. So I held tight to God and called Chuck Musfeldt. By 2006, we were back in the field, this time in India, teaching BSF classes as Foreign Resident Ambassadors.

Our time in India also marked twenty years of studying the Bible through the BSF methods. God began to speak to my heart about the life change He had wrought in me over these twenty years. It was as if my Lord continually reminded me to consider who I would have become if left to my own devices. I realized that serious commitment to study Gods Word and obey it had kept me from a life of sin and destruction of not only myself but also others. My gratitude to God for His life-saving work in me translates to a passion for others to know Him as I know Him and to find real joy and satisfaction in Him alone. Sin is such a deceiver, but life lived for Gods praise, pleasure, and proclamation is good and rightand it is also rich and full. I had learned that living for and walking with God was the greatest privilege, purpose, and pleasure of life. That is something I long to share with others.

Fast-forward to April 2008. Another phone rings. Another call is made, this one perhaps the most challenging yet. Its Ron Rogg on the line. He asks if Id be willing to be considered for the Executive Director position at BSF, replacing the retiring Jean Nystrand. One long talk and a lot of questions later, I said yesto going through the process, at least.

After I hung up, I was pretty shaken. I couldnt even pray. But I am a trained BSFer: I could read my Bible. I went to the next passage in my reading schedule. It was Deuteronomy 31, Gods call to Joshua. As I read, I began to sense that this was what God had in store for me and that I was to trust Him, not myself.

That May, Roger and I came home for a furlough. Members of the BSF search committee interviewed us. I remember a delightful conversation with them and the joy of hearing Roger say, There is not a single reason why my wife should not be the next Executive Director of BSF.

We returned to India. Months went by. In August, Ron Rogg called again. The search committee, he said, had decided to present one candidate to the Board for consideration: I was the one.

The next step was a telephone interview with the full Board. Routine, right? Not in India, where our spotty phone service made dropped calls the norm. We were prepared to make numerous attempts, but the line held for a full hour-and-a-half interview. As I fielded question after question, Roger knelt in the next room, praying.

For every question asked, the answer was on my tongue. Except one. It was a technical question that I didnt even understand. But the next moment I found myself answering, with full knowledge. The Lord enabled His servant.

A day or so later, Ron called again. Once again the line held, enabling me to hear his words: The Board of Directors of BSF has unanimously voted to extend to you the call to be the next Executive Director of BSF.