LastLanguagesCampaign

Phil Doud

Gathering SNAPSHOTFrom page 2

“There’s no quick fix, no substitute for putting in the miles.”

— David Carnell, Andrew Carnell, and Andrew Savage

GatherinG Speed for the CourSePhil Doud has earned accolades as one of Oregon’s top automobile dealers, but his most meaningful sale happened off the car lot, while he was a board member during the biggest transition in Wycliffe’s history.

In the late 1990s, Wycliffe adopted Vision 2025, an ambitious goal that required a dramatic expansion of facilities, staff, and resources. Doing this would be unaffordable at the existing U.S. headquarters in Huntington Beach, California, so Wycliffe decided to relocate.

Phil played a key role in selling the old headquarters, producing funds that ultimately helped finance the construction of the new building. He also helped with the search for a city to house the new headquarters. Finally, the board members found themselves in southeast Orlando, and they realized the area was perfectly positioned to advance the work of Bible translation.

“If you have to be in one place in the United States, Orlando is where you’re most centrally oriented to the rest of the world,” says Phil, who currently serves on the Wycliffe President’s Council, a group that advises President Bob Creson. “That’s critical to moving people out and having leaders come the shortest distance to meet together.”

Wycliffe moved to Orlando shortly after that visit. Since then, God has used the Orlando Mobilization Center to further the Last Languages Campaign.

Continued on page 2

ReachNewsletter of Wycliffe’s Last Languages Campaign • Winter 2011

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ReachingMany people would join in a five-kilometer run to support a charitable cause that is meaningful to them. But how many would walk 2,000 kilometers (or about 1,240 miles), nearly the distance between Miami and New York City? Three Australian men recently did just that, walking a two-thousand kilometer route through the province of Queensland, Australia, to raise awareness of the more than two thousand languages in the world that still don’t have one verse of Scripture.

Cousins David and Andrew Carnell, and Wycliffe member Andrew Savage, see many parallels between their trek, known as The 2000 Walk, and finishing the task of Bible translation. The journey to both destinations is long and often painful. “There’s no quick fix, no substitute for ‘putting in the miles,’” they wrote on their Web site, www.the2000walk.com.

The men walked the route over a span of eighty days between August and November, averaging nineteen miles per day and resting sixteen days. The route they took between Cairns and Stanthorpe—the small town where all three men grew up—was roughly parallel to the northeastern coast of Australia.

Andrew Savage was working for Wycliffe in France when he heard God’s call to make this epic journey. After returning to Australia last January, he invited the Carnell cousins to join him.

An informal poll on the men’s Web site shows they met their goal of informing others about the great number of remaining Bible translation needs. More than sixty percent of the several thousand respondents said they didn’t know so many people were still without Scripture.

On November eleventh, the men trudged up the dirt road to their hometown with sweat and relief plastered onto their faces. As they crossed this earthly finish line, they anticipated the heavenly homecoming described in Revelation 7:9a: “After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb” (NLT).

When all peoples of the world have God’s Word in a language and form they can clearly understand, it will be a joyful day indeed.

For more information on The 2000 Walk, visit www.the2000walk.com.

reaChinG the finiSh Line

GatherinG Speed for the CourSe Continued From page 1

Ten miles east of Orlando International Airport, and in close proximity to the city’s tourist attractions, the location offers a steady stream of visitors—allowing Wycliffe to invite more people to be involved in accomplishing its mission.

Phil’s commitment helped the organization begin a new chapter of its history. “Phil, along with his wife, Sharon, has been a good friend and strategic partner in the greatest acceleration of the pace of Bible translation ever witnessed,” Wycliffe USA President Bob Creson says.

Phil continues to advance Wycliffe’s work because he is passionate about the impact of Scripture. “I find Scripture to be practical in every situation in life,” Phil says.

Yet God’s Word is still out of reach for so many, and reaching them will require significant effort and resources. Through the Last Languages Campaign, people like Phil are pressing the gas pedal to reach the finish line sooner.

Spotlight OnSPOTligHT ON COmPReHeNSive PROjeCTSThe Last Languages Campaign strategy involves the creation of comprehensive projects—ambitious plans that incorporate all of the elements required to start translation work for the remaining languages in each area of the world. Here’s a look at the Ethiopia comprehensive project.

ethiopiaaccelerating Ministry in the horn of africa

Project goal: Christians from every language community in Ethiopia maturing in Christ as they reach out to their communities and to the wider world.

Bible translation came to Ethiopia in the fifth century but lost momentum for many years. Today, more than a third of Ethiopia’s eighty-plus language communities still don’t have a single verse of Scripture, keeping many Ethiopians from an intimate knowledge of the God of the Bible.

However, the tides are changing. Many church leaders, and even whole denominations, recognize the need for Scripture in each community’s language—and those leaders are working together like never before to make this happen.

Ethiopian government policy, which gives all people groups the right to develop their language and use it for education, serves as a benchmark for minority language development in the Horn of Africa. This has opened a

window of opportunity for a major advance in language development and Bible translation.

Ethiopia: Accelerating Ministry in the Horn of Africa will involve community members and leaders in the

planning stages, equip communities to lead the work for their own languages, and build capacity for projects to continue after outside support is gone.

The project will produce quality translations to equip Christians for spiritual growth—accomplishing this by providing training for nationals, organizing

events to raise awareness, and using the established educational systems. Staff will engage local churches and individuals to decide which portions of Scripture they desire, and in what formats.

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“the MarroW iS noW in the Word of God.”this new guji saying expresses people’s fresh understanding of the Word of god. guji translator tsegaye Hailemichael reports that they can now understand what they hear or read and can dig deeper into god’s Word because it is in their heart language.

4Eternal Impact

JoyousSongs of thanksgiving to God rose from the stadium into the crisp air, echoing back from the surrounding Andes Mountains. Some had walked for days to experience this moment in the Peruvian town of Panao. Finally, the translation team opened boxes containing copies of the newly translated Panao New Testament. After clamoring to get a copy, some simply held it tightly to their chests, while others flipped through the pages in search of a beloved verse, now in their mother tongue for the first time.

“I was thinking, ‘This is just the beginning,’” said John Krehely, vice president of finance for Wycliffe USA. He witnessed this scene in August during a vision trip to Peru led by the Last Languages Campaign. “The Word of God has been unleashed among those people, and I am confident the fruit will be transformed lives.”

This celebration profoundly affected John, his wife Daneen, and other trip participants who had the privilege of seeing the Panao Quechua receive Scripture nearly three decades after Wycliffe began working among this people group.

This triumphant celebration in Panao was just one milestone along the course of Bible translation in the Americas. While visiting a linguistics school that partners with Wycliffe, John met several students who are making significant sacrifices to finish the task. These men and women left their homes in Argentina,

a JoyouS MiLeStone

Continued on page 5

“The Word of god has been

unleashed among those people,

and i am confident the fruit

will be transformed lives.”

— John Krehely, Vice president of Finance, Wycliffe uSa

The Last Languages Campaign

will lead another trip to Peru

next August to celebrate the

completion of the Huallaga

Bible. For more information

about this trip, please contact

Joel Frieze at 407-852-3705 or

joel_frieze@wycliffe.org.

JoyousColombia, Chile, and Venezuela, often facing disapproval from their families and making significant financial sacrifice, to study linguistics, translation, and literacy in preparation for translating the Bible. They represent the next wave of Bible translators—indigenous believers obeying God’s call to lead the work in their own communities and in other unreached people groups.

“We were tremendously awestruck by the deep level of passion and sold-out, selfless commitment that we saw,” John said. “It humbled us. It drove us to our knees.”

John encourages others to discover how God is working in the Americas to transform lives through His translated Word. “You will be challenged to re-evaluate what your level of engagement will be as a steward of God’s kingdom,” he says.

a JoyouS MiLeStone Continued From page 4 CAmPAigNFUNDiNg PROgReSS

In the two years since its public launch, The Last Languages Campaign has received more than $231 million in gifts, pledges, and expectancies. We are grateful to God for His provision, and thankful for those who are praying and giving to see the last languages reached with God’s Word.

100%

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70%

60%

50%

40%

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23.1%

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Wycli�e Bible TranslatorsP.O. Box 628200Orlando, FL 32862-8200

1-800-WYCLIFFE(1-800-992-5433)www.wycli�e.org

CorppuB1666

a note froM the preSidentDear Friends,

It’s been two years since Wycliffe USA launched the Last Languages Campaign, and in that time, our economy has faced enormous challenges.

Despite the difficulties, the pace of Bible translation continues to increase as more unreached people groups express a desire to have the Scriptures in their own language (see page five).

The Last Languages Campaign is about vision and opportunity—the opportunity in our generation to start the remaining Bible translation needs.

Of course, there is a financial component. Just one-fifth of the way into this ten-year, one billion dollar campaign, we’ve raised roughly two hundred and thirty million dollars. This is considerably less than we’d anticipated at this stage in the campaign, but in light of the economic downturn, the response is remarkable. It’s clear that partners like you share our passion for reaching the last languages with God’s Word in this generation and recognize the historic opportunity.

As a result of your generosity and new innovative strategies such as the Ethiopia comprehensive project (see page three), we have seen nearly three hundred new translation projects started since the launch of the campaign. This is by far the greatest acceleration of Bible translation in the history of the Church, and it would not be possible apart from God’s favor.

But even as we celebrate this second anniversary of our campaign launch, my heart is heavy for the more than two thousand people groups still without God’s Word in a language and a form they clearly understand. Some of these communities include mature Christians who have prayed for years for God to open the door for a translation project in their language. For some of them, time is running out, but they continue to pray that their children and grandchildren will have the joy of experiencing God’s Word in the language they understand best.

Other communities are not so fortunate. For them, the hope of the gospel is still unknown. Although there are many obstacles to reaching these isolated and largely forgotten people groups, it is the goal of the Last Languages Campaign to see these challenges overcome through prayer, so one day every nation, tribe, people, and language can stand before the throne and worship the King.

Thank you for your continued and faithful support of Bible translation through this campaign. Together, we are participating in something I believe is both historic and close to God’s heart. We have much to look forward to in the coming months and years.

Warmly in Christ,

Bob CresonPresidentWycliffe Bible Translators USA