Quite regularly I am in discussions about how to help people become effective missionaries. One statement that I have heard repeatedly is that it takes the average American about two years to become really effective in a cross-cultural environment.

Saying that, I need to clarify that we are talking about people who grow up in a relatively mono-cultural environment. And I also need to clarify that “cross cultural” doesn’t mean Frankfurt, Germany. My context for “cross cultural” is rural Africa or rural Asia. This requires adjustments to language, economic level, living quarters, even access to communications, water, and foods. For example, if you grew up on America, chances are you don’t know how to cook from scratch. How long would that take you? (Scratch means that you buy your vegetables at a farmers market, if there is one. You sift the bugs out of your flour, if you can get flour. You make your own syrup, if you need it.)

Bible translation isn’t easy. But it is worth the effort.

Sometimes you find an excellent bit of advice in a place you aren’t looking. I do look at Patrick Lencioni, but not on the topic of suffering.

I’d like to quote a bit from his recent newsletter. (Take this as a free advert — he is worth reading.)

When people fear suffering more than they should, they ironically experience unnecessary anguish and stress. Beyond that, some would say that worrying actually increases the likelihood that… Read the rest of this entry »

This weekend we travel to Williamsburg Virginia to again be an advocate for the Bibleless people of the world. We’ll be spending time with our partners at King of Glory church, trying to build vision and stir new people to become involved with us for the sake of those still waiting to receive the Good News in a language they can really comprehend.

While Ruth and I are intimately involved with Bible translation work, we don’t believe that the role of advocate “belongs” to us. We want to share that honor with everyone on our team. Each of us can speak out on behalf of those still waiting. Get involved. Go. Pray. Financially support your favorite missionary involved in Bible translation.

Busy, busy, busy.  But fun, fun, fun!

Early February was busy planning and celebrating my mother’s 80th birthday. It was a wonderful event – lots of family and friends. My sister from Montana even flew down – leaving beautiful Montana for flat Florida for a week. (That is hardship in her book!)

Two weeks later I was “officiating” at my brother’s “wedding”. Why the quotes? Well, I am not licensed to marry. And they were actually married about eight months ago. But his wife’s parents only now were able to travel from Russia to America. So while the wedding was last summer, the re-enactment of the vows and reception was just last weekend.

Again, it was a fun event. A healthy family is a true gift, isn’t it?

The banner has changed on the top of our website to reflect the new official statistics on Bible translation progress. Previously it read 2286 languages and 270 million people were still waiting. But since then, Bible translation has begun in new places, and less people are still waiting. That is good news!

Read the rest of this entry »

Today I attended another session of LifeWork Leadership – a leadership seminar series here in Orlando. And the topic was simply Generosity.

God calls us to be like him – and one obvious character trait he displays is generosity.

Several people spoke. One was an accountant – a business woman. She called people to live within their means, to budget and systematically remove debt, and to be generous with their surplus (money after tithing to God and paying the necessary bills).

Another person spoke who works for GenerousGiving.org. This is a non-profit organization funded by a foundation. The purpose of the organization is to encourage people to be generous. Wow!

Newly released statistics from Wycliffe Bible Translators — the world’s largest Bible translation organization — demonstrate that significant progress has been made toward making Scripture available to all languages.

Since the beginning of 2000, 55 million people worldwide have portions of Scripture in their own language who never had anything before. However,193 million people are still without access to the Bible’s Christmas story.

(For more from the source of this quote, click here.)

The traditional church year begins very shortly. Often the Sunday readings are taken from the beginnings of the Gospels. I find the opening four chapters of Matthew fascinating. (There is a major section break at 4:17. Greek readers will find the same phrase, or slight variations of it, at 7:28, 11:1, 13:53, 19:1, and 26:1.)

Ten times Matthew quotes from the Old Testament Scriptures. Seven times are direct fulfillments of prophecies. Three times are Jesus quotations in the temptation. Matthew has an important message to share. He is very deliberate about crafting the story so that his Jewish readers will receive the message well.

I believe the church today poised at an advent. It is technically possible for this generation to see a translation program started in every language still needing one. God’s Word given in a language and form that the readers will receive well. Will we have the intention to do that? I pray we do.