I am glad to have had the privilege of filling the role of RBP director on an interim basis over the past year. Adding those responsibilities has been challenging, but God has provided the strength and wisdom to accomplish His will. I am grateful He never invites us to challenges without also promising to walk beside us.

Current Status and Outlook

Over this past year, RBP has added customers but has yet to return to prepandemic sales. Adding a director of RBP will be a key step in our continued recovery. We have excellent resources, making strong the potential for growth.

Update on 2022–2023 Projects

Being without a permanent director of RBP means we have had to pause some of the products we would normally produce in a year. We have not, for instance, been able to produce Bible studies as we have in past years. Yet we have taken on challenges. We added four courses to our Strong Students curriculum for Sunday School. We produced a course on basic Bible truths called Bedrock, a course on Mark called Here to Serve, a course on Philippians called Connected, and a James course called Action!. These courses provide solid teaching and are geared for middle and high school student understanding and application.

I am excited to announce that RBP finished a commentary on Matthew, the first volume of the New Testament Exposition Commentary series. The remaining NTEC volumes are slated to be released over the coming years. Chris Miller and Daniel Davies are the series’ general editors. Chris Miller also happens to be the author of the Matthew volume. Our goals for the NTEC are to exalt God by making His written Word clear to today’s reader, to strengthen Christ’s Body so each believer may be properly trained in righteousness and adequately equipped to serve God, and to present the gospel to readers who have yet to trust in Christ for salvation. RBP hopes to release the commentary on Romans later this year.

We are pleased to announce the RBP VBS theme for 2024 is “WildLIVE! Showing Christ’s Character.” This is an animal theme where kids encounter creatures from around the planet, complete with amazing skills, special habitats, and surprising features. Through the lessons, students will focus on Jesus’ captivating character and discover how to follow Him in their own “habitats.”

Our Kids4Truth Clubs program continues to grow. We are adding almost 150 clubs a year. We ended 2022 with at least 1,014 clubs, more than double the number using the program just four years ago. Churches who use Kids4Truth Clubs are excited about the material and the impact the program is having on their students’ lives.

Strong Additions

This past year RBP added Beth Prassel to work with our curriculum projects. She is an excellent writer and editor and a quick learner. I appreciate her ongoing contributions to our Strong Students courses. She came to RBP with valuable experience and a solid skillset.

Please pray for God’s leading in bringing other staff to RBP so we might provide maximum impact for churches in our fellowship and beyond. In the meantime, pray that our current staff might be efficient and effective in producing Bible-based materials that honor God and change lives.