At a Good Friday service in 1980, Leonard Bolioki stepped to the front of the church he attended in Cameroon and began to read the story of Jesusʼ crucifixion. Always before, this passage from Johnʼs Gospel had been read in French, but this time the priest had asked Leonard to read it in the local language, Yambetta.
As he read, he became aware of a growing stillness; then some of the older women began to weep. Read the rest of this entry »
Sometimes we talk about Bible translation so much that it becomes nothing more than a story or a concept. We forget the challenges inherent in the Bible translation process and how the Bible in the mother tongue has the ability to change lives.
So, here’s the challenge… Read the rest of this entry »
Wycliffe Japan's members work alongside other church members to prepare a relief truck. (Photo courtesy of Wycliffe Japan)
Many of us watched in horror as the videos and photos of the most recent earthquake and tsunami hit Japan last week. For those of us who have colleagues working in Japan, we were relieved to hear that all of our members are safe so far.
If you are like me, you are probably wondering how you can help and if it will make a difference.Wycliffe Japan has already joined in the relief efforts. They have teamed up with local churches in the area and have already packed up specific items needed in the area hardest hit in Sendai. A local church in Sendai sent them a list with very specific items to send and will be working at dispersing the items they receive.
If you would like to send a donation, you may send it to our Wycliffe USA headquarters and mark it “Japan: Disaster Relief Funds“. Here is the link online where you can donate: http://www.wycliffe.org/Give.aspx
You can get more updates on the situation on either of Wycliffe’s Websites www.wycliffe.net or www.thewordislife.net
Please keep praying! They have a long hard road ahead of them. What a wonderful opportunity for the body of Christ to come alongside those who are hurting so badly.
Rob Martin, from First Fruit, spoke for several sessions. (Photo courtesy of TWR, Benjamin Tangeman)
I (Anne) just came back from Cary, North Carolina where I attended a one and a half day conference titled, “Unhealthy dependency to faith reliance.” It was hosted by Trans World Radio and HCJB (another radio related ministry) but about 27 organizations were represented with myself and one other person from Wycliffe Bible Translators.
It was a challenging two days both personally and for my work. This year alone, we in Wycliffe have been challenged to raise $40 million dollars for our projects world-wide. These projects range from printing a new Bible to AIDS awareness classes held in local churches. 80% of this money will come from the United States.
But when should our brothers and sisters in Christ take over the running of these programs? We in the “west” have made a lot of mistakes. We’ve started programs that others cannot replicate on their own. We’ve created an environment where people expect the west to supply the funds. And The Church world-wide has not learned generosity.
We need to make some changes…and fast. I’m challenged to share this with my pastor and see if we can promote good practices as we serve others…even the poor in our own neighborhoods.
I bought a book while at the conference after hearing the author, Brian Fikkert, speak so well. It’s called, “When Helping Hurts.” The subtitle is, “How to alleviate poverty without hurting the poor and yourself.” I have a lot of work to do. How can i share what I learned and try to make changes in a system/model that we’ve used for 100-200 years?
Brian Fikkert said, “How many people would have given Jesus a second grant after his first three years of ministry? What did he have to show for His work? Most of what matters is difficult to measure.”
What is my new measuring stick?
Here is an excellent video on a people who have done this well:
[Another email from Bruce Smith in Jos, Nigeria, on Thursday, March 10, nearing the end of the CSTF team’s journey deploying B-TAKs (Bible Translation Acceleration Kits) for The Seed Company’s translation projects there, in collaboration with the NBTT (Nigerian Bible Translation Trust).]
There has been a few days delay in sending this email due to the completion of our installations and training. We left our last BGAN unit with the Maya translation team on Tuesday afternoon. Wednesday we made the long drive back to Jos. Thursday has been a day of meetings with leaders of our partner organizations in Jos. Friday I begin the return trip to the U.S., arriving Saturday.
Have you ever seen CBS’ Undercover Boss on Sunday evenings? It’s about corporate CEOs that go undercover and work at various roles within their organization to observe how things REALLY work outside of office headquarters. What they discover often changes their perception of their organization and their employees in a very positive way.
Recently, Bruce Smith, Wycliffe Associates‘ leader, did the same except he went to Nigeria to see first hand how we are accelerating Bible translation through satellite phone installations. Like Undercover Bosses, what he experienced was life changing.
Blog posts are supposed to be short and sweet, immediately catching the reader’s attention. Bruce’s observations are not like that at all. They are lengthy but I encourage you to continue reading to see what I mean. Bruce’s perspective is truly refreshing. Read the rest of this entry »
I was searching for a document on my hard drive the other day and received a long list of results. “There has got to be an easier way than this!”, I thought. Then I came TechRepublic’s article entitled, “Take advantage of Search filters in Windows Explorer“ that offered some new search techniques and tricks.
I hope you find it as helpful as I have.
I love being with my grandson, Luke. I love wrestling with him, reading to him, taking him for walks, and working in the yard, you name it. And he likes it too.
I was washing my car this week and Luke wanted to join in. But you know what happens when toddlers join in. Just cleaned and rinsed areas receive another soapy sponge bath. Clean tires get a dirt bath. You get the picture.
Anne took the pictures of Luke helping me and shortly thereafter, found his “Grandpa’s Sidekick” t-shirt. Talk about making a grandfather proud!
For years I’ve used two programs called FolderClone Pro and FolderMatch to back up and/or synchronize my data. Both these programs and others are created by Saltybrine software, a company run by dedicated Christians that use their resources for kingdom purposes. They are excellent utilities, as attested to by the comments on their homepage and reviews by others.
May I encourage you to give them a try as well. You’re data will be secure and you won’t be sorry.
The Haugh Herald 