On Saturday evening, November 4, 2006, homeschoolers gathered in Abingdon, Virginia, for a barn dance. But this wasn’t a barn dance for the sake of barn dancing—this barn dance had a purpose. It was held to raise money to help support the missionary work of Dave and Becky Lynn Black as they share the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and train disciples in Ethiopia. This work was started by Becky Lynn’s parents in the 1950s. Although Becky Lynn was raised in Ethiopia, the mission work of the Blacks didn’t begin until 2004, when they visited Ethiopia as a sort of sentimental journey to introduce Dave to the land of Becky Lynn’s youth. Little did they know that our Lord had work for them to do there!

In the past two years, the Blacks have worked tirelessly to help the Lord’s churches, particularly the believers in the Burji and Alaba districts. These two districts have been abandoned and neglected by other mission agencies because they are so difficult. Burji is an area far to the south, “at the end of the world”; Alaba is an area that is 99% Muslim, with severe, active persecution. Burji is too difficult to reach; Alaba is too severe a religious climate. Dave and Becky Lynn work directly with the church leaders from these districts to assist them with medical needs, education, evangelism, Bible distribution, and church building.

Medical assistance has included sponsoring blind boys for treatment in the capital city, distribution of eyeglasses, and supplying protein bars to evangelists and prenatal vitamins to pregnant women.

Education assistance has included sponsoring evangelists for advanced Bible training, completing the Bible School building, on-site teaching, and distribution of laptops with library CDs.

Evangelism assistance has included supplying them with teaching aids like flannelgraph sets and with the Jesus Film, along with a projector and speakers; the Blacks have also underwritten the salary of evangelists.

So far, 3,000 Bibles have been distributed as part of a Bible Memory Program; the elders help the people memorize nine passages of Scripture (like I Cor. 13 or John 3), and then the Blacks give them their own Bible.

The final category of assistance that our Lord has appointed them is to supply the materials for meeting halls for His people in rural Alaba. These buildings have mud-and-stick walls, mud floors, tin roofs, concrete perimeter foundation (to protect from termites), and solid window shutters. There is no electricity or restroom. The people are doing the work of building, and the Lord is providing the supplies through the Blacks and those who contribute to this work. Each church currently costs about $6,000. Our Lord has sent funds for four churches; another five churches remain.

Dave and Becky Lynn see themselves simply as liaisons between the Lord’s churches in America and the Lord’s churches in Ethiopia. They are ministers of the gospel who pattern their work after the example of the Apostle Paul, carrying the gifts of the Lord’s churches in Asia Minor to His churches in Jerusalem. Like the Apostle Paul, Dave and Becky Lynn pay for their own expenses. Also, unlike most charities, they do not deduct administrative costs from the funds given through them; 100% of gifts given to them goes directly to the Ethiopian churches. In the past two years, the Blacks have spent 23 weeks (almost six months) in Ethiopia. While in the US, they speak regularly to groups, sharing what God is doing in Ethiopia. Please contact them if you would like to discuss this for your group.

Currently, funds received are being used to build churches and distribute Bibles. There are “high dollar” needs completely beyond the capability of either the Blacks or the Ethiopians. Only as the Lord’s people band together can these needs be met. Dave and Becky Lynn will leave again for Ethiopia on December 14, 2006; they are encouraging people to give as much as possible before that date so that they can take the gifts with them; this will save about 15% in cost. The occasion of the Barn Dance and Auction was especially timely for their work, as funds for both Bibles and churches have been exhausted.

Please see daveblackonline.com for more details. Visit “Ethiopia Files,” scroll down through the blog, or scan the main page articles.

How did this barn dance and fundraiser come about? It was inspired by a sweet family in Illinois. Perhaps you know them—the Bluedorns of Trivium Pursuit.

In September they had a barn dance and fundraiser to help a family with medical expenses. You can read about that barn dance at Laurie Bluedorn’s blog: www.triviumpursuit.com/blog under the date Tuesday, October 3, 2006, to see more.

Laurie Bluedorn was so kind to give pointers and assistance in planning the barn dance and fundraiser in Abingdon, Virginia. Harvey, Laurie, and Ava Bluedorn even came to help with it. What an exciting thing to see the body of Christ working together.

When we were first thinking of the barn dance, I spoke with Gena Suarez to see if she’d be willing to help with it. She and her sweet sister, Jenefer Igarashi, were willing and excited to help. They love our Lord Jesus Christ, and it was exciting to think of how we could not only have a fun barn dance for homeschoolers but also do it for the work of the gospel. So the planning began. We started announcing it to the local homeschool groups. We asked for help from homeschoolers in our Tricities area along the Tennessee/Virginia border.

The members of our Abingdon homeschool group, GRACEducators, put a lot of time, effort, and talents into making the barn dance a success. Thank you to all of those who helped! Local homeschooling mom Diane Hawkins organized the decorations and set up for the evening. When I think of the Hawkinses, the word “blessing” comes to mind. Diane had help from other “local blessings” such as Jennifer Herndon and Lisa Birzer. Other helpers had to travel a bit to get here: Paul and Gena Suarez and Geoff and Jenefer Igarashi with their crew and the Gonzales family. But those who traveled the farthest were the Bluedorns. They came from Illinois!

Our dance caller and resident bugler for the evening was Nathan Black. Nathan is a multitalented gentleman farmer. He is the son of Dave and Beck Lynn, our missionaries. He brought along his restored 1850s pump organ and did a wonderful job calling the dances and keeping a room quite full of barn dancers of all ages moving smoothly throughout the evening. Everyone seemed to be having a great time together.

We enjoyed beautiful music from our homeschooled barn dance fiddlers, Benjamin and Bethany Dawson of Dawson Family Strings. Benjamin, age 14, plays violin, fiddle, and piano. His sister Bethany, age 11, plays the cello, piano, and fiddle. Their friend, guitarist Walter Lawson, also helped with the music.

Benjamin and Bethany have won local Bristol Music Club competitions. They enjoy playing for weddings, for which they perform classical, Celtic, and sacred music. They also play regularly at their church and for other special occasions. This was their first barn dance!

If you are located within an hour of Abingdon, Virginia, and need a wedding pianist or a violinist, fiddler, or cellist (or some combination thereof), contact the Dawson Family Strings at dawsonmusic@comcast.net or 276-698-7127 Sometimes their mom plays piano with the other family musicians. Yes, the piano is a stringed instrument, too!

The father of our fiddlers, David Dawson, was our very entertaining auctioneer.

The pie-eating contest was an “interesting” part of the evening. I don’t think I’ll mention the name of the “winner,” although I do know him quite well. His initials are J.A.

Next year we plan to do the whole thing over again, if the Lord so wills. So start making your plans to come!

Many times we homeschoolers get caught up in this agenda or that movement, and we sometimes lose sight of the really important things. The most important thing is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We are to share His gospel and train disciples to love Him and, in doing so, desire to obey His word of truth. We train our own children in this, not only as we homeschool but also as we help one another in need and show the love of Christ. All of life is to be lived for the glory of Christ Jesus! This is our life’s purpose as Christians. This is the reason we homeschool!

I hope to see other homeschoolers getting involved in these types of events that produce good things and where we can find unity in promoting and helping the spread of the gospel. To Christ alone be all the glory!

Mrs. Austin is the happily blessed wife of John Austin; they have been married for 18 years. The Austins have been blessed with five children. They enjoy homeschooling for the glory of God and appreciate the opportunity to encourage others to do the same. Originally from California, the Austins moved to beautiful Abingdon, Virginia, in the summer of 2003. Visit their website, Austin’s Parenting With Purpose, at parentingwithpurpose.net.

Special Thanks

We would like to recognize the following people and companies for their contributions to the barn dance.

• Henry and Peggy Burggraf, who donated Ol’ Mill Soap, www.HomesteadBlogger.com/MajesticHillsFarm.
• Christina Moore, who donated CLM Designs Jewelry, www.clmdesigns.net.
• Alan and Tedra Strickland, who donated a two-night stay at Cosby Creek Cabins in the Great Smoky Mountains near Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, www.cosbycreekcabins.com.
• Homeschool Headquarters, who donated several books, games, and audio books, www.homeschoolheadquarters.com/index.html.
• Pat and Linda Marcum
• Dave and Lisa Baughn of Blue Mountain I.T. Solutions, www.bmits.com, who donated computer checkup and optimization gift certificates.
• Diane Hawkins, who coordinated the decorations and set everything up for the evening. Helping her were Diane Birzer, Kathy Lower, and Jennifer Herndon.
• Auctioneer: David Dawson
• Fiddlers: Benjamin and Bethany Dawson; guitarist: Walter Lawson
• Dance caller: Nathan Black