We celebrate today the publication of Bruce’s second book! Here below is our press release.
Thanks
Donn Hallman
https://wycliffeassociates.org/who-we-are/for-the-press/press-release/676
Wycliffe Associates President Bruce Smith Chronicles Miraculous Stories of Mother-Tongue Bible Translators in New Book
(Orlando, Florida, USA)—Bruce Smith, President and CEO of Wycliffe Associates, an international organization involving people in the advancement of Bible translation, has released his second book, Living Translation: Their Stories, published September 2017.
In 11 chapters, Smith documents the stories of mother-tongue translators, the miracles they’ve witnessed, and the struggles they’ve endured in their work to bring the Scriptures to their own language groups.
“This book is an attempt to give voice to hundreds of language groups, and millions of people, whose voices are too seldom heard. In order to faithfully capture their words. I spent a lot of time listening, asking questions, and soliciting their editorial input,” says Smith. “My sincere desire is to faithfully communicate their stories in a way that respects their history and journey as stewards of God’s Word in their nations and languages.”
Smith includes the stories of mother-tongue Bible translators in Myanmar, Cameroon, India, Ethiopia, and Brazil, and covers the work of translators on oral language projects and Deaf-owned languages. Smith also highlights the impact of MAST (Mobilized Assistance Supporting Translation), a collaborative Bible translation method that rapidly reduces translation time.
With MAST, mother-tongue translators work together in parallel to translate books of the Bible while maintaining the highest levels of accuracy and quality. Typically, an entire New Testament translation can be completed in a matter of months using MAST.
Since the development of MAST three years ago, the pace of Bible translation has rapidly increased. However, more than half of the world’s languages are still without the Scriptures.
“It would take a miracle, or perhaps many miracles, to translate the Bible into all of these languages in our lifetime,” says Smith. “These miracles are happening today in hundreds of languages worldwide. These are just a few of their stories.”
To date, the complete Bible has been translated into 630 languages. Bible translations are in progress in more than 2,700 languages worldwide.
Bruce Smith began his tenure as President and CEO of Wycliffe Associates in February, 2000, and has expanded the role and numbers of volunteers in the work of Bible translation to more than 73 countries. Through his leadership, Wycliffe Associates has developed volunteer services for specific Bible translation projects around the world, affecting hundreds of language groups that still need the Bible translated into their heart language. “My desire is to see the truth of the Scriptures transform the lives of people throughout the world, bringing honor and glory to God,” he says. Bruce and his wife, Jan, live in Orlando, Florida. They have two children and four grandchildren.
About Wycliffe Associates
One of the world’s leading Bible translation organizations, Wycliffe Associates was organized in 1967 by friends of Bible translators to accelerate the work of Bible translation. Wycliffe Associates empowers national Bible translators to provide God’s Word in their own language, partners with the local church to direct and guard translation work, harnessing their passion and desire for God’s Word, and engages people from all around the world to provide resources, technology, training, and support for Bible translation.
Because millions of people around the world still wait to have the Scriptures in the language of their hearts, Wycliffe Associates is working as quickly as it can to see every verse of God’s Word translated into every tongue to speak to every heart. Wycliffe Associates is directly involved with speeding Bible translation by providing technology, training, resources, logistics, networking, expertise, volunteers, discipleship, church planting, and support. Last year, 7,097 Wycliffe Associates staff and volunteers worked to speed Bible translations in 76 countries. For more information, please see www.wycliffeassociates.org.
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