JAARS Rev. 7 - Truth on Wings

Truth on

Scripture distribution

via mobile phones,

websites,

and social media

Wings

truth on wingsVirginia Vinton, Editor

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Contents

Bible more attainable for the masses. Referring to his invention, he said, “Let us break the seal that binds these treasures and give wings to Truth, no longer copying it at great expense and effort by hands that tire, but let Truth fly, multiplied by an untiring machine, that it may reach all of mankind.”

Scripture-packed websites, mobile phones, and social media—this combi-nation is revolutionizing Scripture distribution. In this issue of Rev. 7, read about how this technology trio allows Truth to fly, as on wings, even into the most inaccessible regions on earth.

Forty-four years ago we held our breath as Apollo 11 shot to the moon, guided by powerful computing systems many never dreamed possible. Today, we walk around with more computing power in our pockets—on a mobile phone. Six billion subscribers now use this tool to communicate, to gain knowledge via the Internet, to share files, or to access social media.

In remote communities, mobile phones aid daily decision-making. A farmer checks the price his goat will bring before traveling to market. A mother advises her children who attend school in a far-away capital. At least one nomadic group decides where to set up camp, not based on the nearest water source’s location, but on the availability of mobile phone coverage.

More than 100 minority language websites now reach into geographi-cally remote locations with the goal of enabling mobile phone users to download Scripture. Other sites carry the Word into restricted-access countries previously isolated due to political or religious barriers. And after visiting these sites, many refer friends to them via social media, giving wider and wider access to God’s Word.

With his invention of the printing press, Johannes Gutenberg made the

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Contact us

JAArspO Box 248Waxhaw nC 28173-0248

general800-890-0628

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www.JAArs.org

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the new International Version, 1984.

Rev. 7 Every Nation People Language is a quarterly publication of JAARS Inc., which supports appropriate technologies and services in transportation, information technology, and language media for SIL International, the Wycliffe Global Alliance, and other partners in the global Bible translation movement.

The magazine’s name pointsto Revelation 7:9–10—thetime and place where peopleof every language group willone day worship togetherbefore the throne of God.

Our Vision: To see people’s lives and communities transformed by experiencing God’s Word in their own language

winter 2013Volume 8 issue 1

editorVirginia Vinton

managing editorSarah Baer

graphic DesignerJoyce Hyde

Fast Forward to Digital mediaWidespread mobile phone use opens new avenues for Scripture distribution in Burkina Faso.

good news travels FastIn rural Ethiopia, audio Scriptures travel from one phone to another via Bluetooth.

scripture Distribution takes offThrough the years Scripture availability has accelerated, making the Truth more accessible today than ever before.

An unlikely media specialistAn Aboriginal woman uses technology to spread the Good News among her own people.

A website speaksA new means of delivery opens the door for Scripture in restricted-access regions.

Ask an expert The managing director of a nonprofit media company tells how Scripture access is becoming a reality for millions.

god’s word unleashedWorldwide, reports of Scripture engagement via mobile phones and websites abound.

google Ads—A must for scripture Distribution? Ads increase a Scripture website’s hits to over 50 times the usual number.

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When I arrived in Burkina Faso a year ago, I expected to find a poor country lacking hi-tech gadgets, phones, and even electricity. As a media specialist, I was prepared to work mainly with cassettes, thinking cds would be too expensive to be a popular form of media. So I was shocked to find that many Burkinabé* have skipped even the cd era and jumped directly to digital media.

I first saw this when I visited the home of Emmanuel Bonzi, a local pastor and Bible translator, in the city of Dédougou. He has a stereo set with no cassette or cd player; instead, it reads a usb flash drive or an sd memory card. But with access to electricity still very limited or non-existent in most of Burkina Faso, I wondered how people could even think of using digital media. Then I discovered that even in no-electricity areas lights and TV antennas are found because more and more people now use solar panels to generate electricity.

I recently rode a “bush taxi” to visit a colleague in her village. During the entire four-hour trip, the man sitting next to me fixed his eyes on his mobile phone, laughing from time to time. He was watching video clips saved on his phone—songs and dances, as well as comedies.

I remember how surprised Burkinabé were when I first arrived and told them my cellular phone accepts only one sim card, does not have a flashlight, and cannot even play music. Burkinabé use their mobile phones to

—Fina linanBorn in Indonesia, Fina has served as a vernacular media specialist in Burkina Faso since 2011.

Digital Media

Fast Forward

to

The mobile phone is an integral part of life in Burkina Faso.

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*Burkinabé: an inhabitant of Burkina Faso

socialize, listen to songs, record and watch videos, take pictures, and even as an alarm and a flashlight. They talk about “giga,” referring to the gigabyte capacity of the memory card in their phone. They use Bluetooth to exchange data. Some people even carry two mobiles. Charging the battery isn’t a problem even in a no-electricity area. Local shops provide a battery recharging service, and some people even use their motorcycle’s battery to recharge.

In 1995 there were no cellular telephone users in Burkina Faso. However, the number jumped to 25,000 by the year 2000 and rose to 2.5 million by 2008. By 2015, researchers estimate that

Burkina Faso, with a population of about 16 million (2010), will have 14.5 million mobile phone subscribers.

The mobile phone is no longer just a communication tool but an integral part of life in Burkina Faso. So why not use this increasingly ubiquitous tool for Scripture distribution? Can you envi-sion the Kaan watching video clips of Bible stories in Kaansa? Or how about the Turka glued to their cellular phones for hours listening to Christian music in their language? And can you see the Bwaba watching Jesus speaking to them in Buamu on their cellular phones?

I, for one, can’t wait to see where this digital phenomenon leads.

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Bluetooth: a wireless technology that allows sharing voice, music, photos, videos, and more between two paired devices via radio waves

Secure Digital (sd) memory card: in original, mini, and micro (pictured) sizes, this memory chip for portable devices stores up to 256 gb (original) or 64 gb (micro) of data

Subscriber Identity Module (sim) card: supplies wireless service through cellular handsets

TECH HELp


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Deep in the Rift Valley region of southwest Ethiopia, the 20,000 Zayse people may appear cut off from main-stream media. But even here, good news travels fast.

Genesis chapters 1−9 had been trans-lated into Zayse and then checked by a consultant. But because the language’s orthography (writing system) was not yet decided, Scripture printing and literacy programs were still a long way off.

After observing the popularity of mobile phones for sharing music files, the translation advisors decided to experiment with this simple technology to gain a wider audience for Zayse Scripture portions. When the translation team was next in the capital, Addis Ababa, translators Tadele Badege and Mulatu Goshu made a simple recording of several chapters of Genesis. With a minimal amount of editing, the audio files were ready for distribution. They bought five mini sd memory cards (for about the equivalent of $5.50 each), copied the audio files S

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Circa AD 60 Apostles’ letters hand-carried and read to early churches

331 Emperor Constantine I commissioned 50 "official" church Bibles, copied in a new book form ("codex," not scrolls)

382 Official Latin Vulgate translation begun by Jerome, commissioned by pope Damasus

800–1100s Thousands of Scripture copies made by monks; later, by professional copyists. Very costly, physically weighty, no entire Bible bound together

1229 Council of Toulouse (Inquisition-related) forbade anyone but priests to own a copy of the Vulgate

1382 The first translation of the Vulgate into English, advocated by John Wycliffe, who underlined the need for Scripture access for the common people

1455 printing press launches print revolution. Two hundred Bibles printed, mostly for church use, as cost for one equaled three years’ salary

1804 First Bible society created to distribute Scripture worldwide

1899 Gideons International established; more than 1.7 billion Scriptures distributed since 1908. One source claims 6,001,500,000 total Bibles printed to date (2012)

1985 First mobile phone available to general public

1988 First digital Bible library on cd-rom

1991 World Wide Web launched, followed by a number of sites offering Scripture access and downloads

2008 mobile phone apps provide Scripture access for smartphone users

2012 Digital Bible Library, containing 270 Scripture translations, launched by Every Tribe Every nation alliance, with the hope of providing Scripture access to over six billion people

Good Newsonto them, and distributed them to local people who were interested.

A couple months passed without the team knowing what had become of their little experiment. Then one day as Tadele was walking along the road, about six miles from his village, he started talking with a man he had never met. As they were chatting, the man suddenly said, “Hey! I have your voice on my mobile!” Sure enough, there on the man’s mobile phone were the Genesis recordings. Using simple Bluetooth technology, the files had been transferred from phone to phone.

With an already-existing, free, effective system of file-sharing via mobile phones, and people eager to pass on new information to friends, the potential for mother-tongue Scripture distribution is huge. If God can make winds his messengers, he can certainly use mobile phones as well!

He makes winds his messengers, flames of fire his servants.

—Psalm 104:4

Kelly and her husband, Doug, started the Scripture use department of SIL Ethiopia, where they have served since 2004.

—Kelly Blacksten

Travels Fast

Downloads of whole Bibles are now sometimes free; centuries ago they could have cost up to three years’ salary.

Via Bluetooth,the files went from phone to phone.

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her phone via Bluetooth, and everyone watched, smiled, and began thinking of all the possibilities. They set up a YouTube channel, uploaded the Bible story video, and added a link to it on a colleague’s status update in Facebook.

That was just the beginning. Wäŋgarr went on to create her first video from Luke chapter 8, where Jesus calms the storm. She chose this because her life felt stormy and she could relate to Jesus bringing peace. She added music and pictures to an audio recording of the account.

Soon after, Wäŋgarr heard that some children had been reciting these Bible stories. When she asked their mother how they had learned them, she said, “Every night my children fight over my cell phone because they want to watch the Bible stories before they go to bed.” She asked Wäŋgarr to make more videos!

The videos create opportunities to memorize Scripture. One boy listens to the stories every night and can now join along following every word that the narrator speaks. Other children join in, reciting the stories. Youth leaders are “bluetoothing” the videos to friends. The biggest challenge has been maintaining a constant supply of videos to meet the demand for them.

And it all began with one unlikely, but determined, media enthusiast.

Wäŋgarr Wutjara brims with enthusiasm and determination. A mother of three adult children, she was involved with the New Testament translation in her heart language, Djambarrpuyngu, which was completed four years ago. Since then she has taught herself how to record audio programs and produced a variety of multimedia products.

Recently Wäŋgarr noticed that practically everyone owns a mobile phone and wondered what it would take to get audio Scriptures on phones. She knew many phones could play music files because community members download music and transfer songs from phone to phone via Bluetooth. Nearly everyone’s phone has a micro sd card that provides abundant space for files to be stored inexpensively (about $5.00 for four gigabytes).

Because the Scripture audio files were in the same format as the music downloads Wäŋgarr was able to transfer these files to her friends’ phones via Bluetooth.

What Wäŋgarr hadn’t yet tried was playing videos on her phone. Working with the Djambarrpuyngu Scripture use team, she trimmed the Christmas story from the partially dubbed Luke video and converted it to a format cell phones can read. The file was then transferred to

Bedtime Story: many Djambarrpuyngu children watch a Bible story video each night before bed.

—A vernacular media specialist

An UnlikelyMediaSpecialist

We uploaded the video and

added a link to it on Facebook.

wAtCh as Wäŋgarr shows a friend one of the Djambarrpuyngu Bible story videos.

In Action: Wäŋgarr Wutjara creates a Bible study powerpoint to later distribute on dvd.

The rapid deployment of mobile technologies worldwide provides a low-cost, immediate means for

distributing Scripture, dictionaries, and other materials. Translated Scriptures are currently available through a variety of mobile phone apps as well as on language-based websites. In addition, we can now generate epub outputs of dictionaries and Scripture, which can be read on all of the different devices and passed from one to another. And as mobile devices become increasingly capable, we believe they will prove more and more strategic for both lan-guage work and distribution.

Audio scriptures for Papua new guinea

In papua new Guinea, teams are eager to create audio products and dub films, including JESUS and Luke, into local languages. Your gift to project 1005, Audio Scriptures for papua new Guinea, will touch lives in oral communities across this pacific nation. To give, see the response page in this magazine.

—mike CochranLanguage Technology Developer

SIL International


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—eric grahamEric serves as the digital publishing coordinator for SIL Eurasia Area.

A Website

Speaks

I’m one of just a few Zamal websites in cyberspace.

I distribute Scripture in digital formats.


You may not have heard of me before. I’m new, one of just a hundred or so. I have the unique and glorious task of delivering Scripture to speakers of the “Zamal” language. Hearing that, you may immediately think of a book or printed page, but that’s not me. I’m a website and I distribute Scripture in digital formats—audio and audio-visual, as well as text.

I’m unique because I’ve been designed specifically to connect with the 600,000 or so Zamal speakers. My menus and navigational links are in Zamal, making me customized to meet the needs of its speakers. Searching the Internet, they quickly find me because I’m one of just a few Zamal websites in cyberspace. Many who come to my home page are surprised. They may not have been looking for me or had any idea that part of the Bible is in their language. In fact, many of them have never heard of the Bible. So I present Scripture in ways that will be understood best, and this is where it gets really exciting.

You see, the Zamal people prefer to receive information in audio and audio-visual forms. Many can read, but given a choice, they will go for a film or an audio program rather than a book.

And I’m specially designed to deliver Scripture in these forms. I wish you could hear some of my audio dramas. It’s as though Jesus himself is speaking Zamal.

It gets busy around here some days when several visitors arrive around the same time. Some take a quick look and go, but more than half linger to visit my different rooms where the files are kept. I get the biggest kick when a visitor asks to download a file to a computer or mobile phone—you never know what will happen next. My visitor could share that Scripture item with friends who in turn share it with their friends. This gets to be a bit like the parable of the sower, with no knowing how many times the good seed will be multiplied.

Although many stay to look and download, my creators are saddened by those who leave quickly without looking at much of my content. They make great efforts to improve my welcome page and develop new items of Scripture in various formats. For example, they recently added the JESUS film. There’s no other film of this quality in Zamal, so it caused quite a stir. They had to divide the film into a number of segments so my visitors with phones or poor website

connectivity could view or download it more easily. There’s been a pile of interest in this film, and some of my visitors have even mentioned it on their Facebook pages. I know, because their friends come hotfoot to me directly from Facebook and not from a search engine.

I wish that more visitors wrote in to say what they think about my Scripture materials. But I can understand them not wanting to give feedback—most live in parts of the world where they have to be very discrete about their visits with me. Any indication of interest in Scripture can result in harassment or persecution. They don’t really know my creators, so they don’t know if they can trust them.

My creators are in the process of developing 140 more websites like me in other minority languages right now. Wow, just think of how many more people we will be able, with God’s help, to effectively and discretely reach with his Word!


Do you think Scripture via websites can reach those in very remote places?

How long does it take to launch a new website?

How do visitors find the sites?

What is “progressive publication”?

Why is progressive publication important?

Tell me about the training of new website developers.

How do you decide whether to develop an app for mobile phones or not?

Is there anything you want to say to Rev. 7 readers?

Yes! Even people living in remote North African deserts are on Facebook. How? They post at an Internet café each time they travel to the city.

It depends on how much content (text, audio, and audio-visual) has been prepared—that determines the delay factor. Once the content is ready, it takes only two to five days to actually build the site and no time at all to throw the switch and turn the website live.

About half find the websites through Facebook. Others come via Google, Wikipedia, and other social media.

Uploading Scripture portions to websites as soon as they are translated and approved by consultants.

First, Scripture gets into the hands of the focus group more quickly. Second, the longer a website exists, the easier it is to find. In a Google search, one criteria used to rank the site is how long it has been established. So the goal is to establish the website early and add Scripture as it is completed.

Exciting events are underway in cyberspace. Today, Scripture is read, watched, listened to, downloaded, shared, and posted on Facebook … even in countries previously closed to Christianity. A nonprofit media company, which we must leave unnamed, has partnered with SIL and JAARS since 2010, doing necessary research, working with language personnel, and finally turning Scripture-packed websites live. I had the privilege of talking with this company’s managing director recently and learned some astonishing facts.

Ask an Expert

As the 14 new Scripture sites became public, 33 million people had instant access to God's Word.

Digital Publishing in sensitive Areas Two thousand years ago the stage was set for delivery of the Good news. The 250,000-mile Roman-built road system, coupled with the pax Romana (Roman peace), made travel possible like never before. Today, the stage is set for a radically different method of delivery. The Internet and widespread availability of mobile phones pave the way for God’s message to reach people groups previously cut off by geopolitical and religious barriers.

JAARS partners with this nonprofit media company to make Scripture-based websites a reality for millions. Our commitment to this initiative for the 2012–2013 fiscal year has been reached and we are grateful for your support.

In 2012 we initiated in-country training. The fourth session was recently held in Asia, with 27 language team members participating. For 10 days the students worked hard to master website-building basics. On the final day, students, trainers, and others gathered to watch the sites go live and pray for future visitors. As the 14 new Scripture sites became public, 33 million people had instant access to God’s Word.

Language teams tell us where the focus group is located, then we ask local mobile companies where and what kind of service they provide in that area. If there are even a small number of smartphones there, and if our stan-dard software doesn’t support them, we develop an app.

Yes, a recent group of trainees asked us to express their thanks to those of you who have supported this project. My colleague adds, “You will never meet the trainees, but you have had a tremendous impact on them and their people groups.”

—Virginia Vinton, Rev. 7 Editor


tAKe A looK at what this islander read on his smart-phone—nali Genesis online.

In Mexico and the U.S.

Mobile phones are playing a strategic role in efforts to address the mission-impossible-sized challenge of distributing Scripture materials among the 30–40,000 Copala Triquis, spread throughout 30-plus states in two countries.Phones have been foundational in building a network of dozens of individuals who have dis-tributed over 10,000 cds and dvds in the Triqui language. They double as media players, playing audio and video materials distributed on preloaded micro sd cards. Some share Bible story videos phone to phone via Bluetooth. Many also use cell phones to listen to a daily Scripture-based fm radio program.

In Europe and West Asia

A people group of over three million—only 1−2 percent Christian—lives in a restricted-access country. The complete Bible is years away from being finished, but Scripture portions can now be accessed as soon as they are translated—on a web-site. To date, the site has been visited by people from 300 cities in Europe and 94 cities in West Asia. Many have downloaded Scripture video portions, audio files, and text to computers or cell phones.

In remote regions of Papua New Guinea

Translator Jerry Pfaff reports an encounter with a stranger on remote Manus Island: “When I told him the book of Genesis in his language was available on the Internet, he pulled out his Inter-net-capable phone, and in just a few minutes he was reading to me from Genesis chapter 1 in Nali! Two of the Nali translators, Martha and Thomas Pohonum, saw for the first time how the fruit of their labor can benefit people via the Internet.

In restricted-access countries

There are no printed “Palesi” Scriptures. The only Scripture material now available is the God’s Story film, which presents an overview of the Bible. It has been distributed on dvd, but it is the Internet version of the film that continues to increase in popularity. By breaking it into small segments, the entire film has been posted on YouTube. One of the Old Testament portions has been watched nearly 360,000 times to date. Because there are so few Palesi Christians, it is apparently followers of the majority religion who are sharing these Internet links with family and friends.

In Australia

An Aboriginal pastor assigns Bible passages to listen to on cell phones during the week so the congregation will be prepared for the Sunday sermon.

In Mali, Africa

Being able to hear or read the Bible discretely here is very important. Many young people are commonly seen walking around with their cell phone in their pocket and an ear bud in one ear. Most people would assume they are listening to music or waiting for a call. If these young people are seekers, or believers who are not yet ready to be publicly known, that is just what they might want people to think. In reality, they could be listening to portions of the Bible in their heart language.

God's WordUnleashed

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we celebrated God’s faith-fulness to the Ciramba and 50-plus other language communities that received Scripture this year.

After our meeting, I opened the YouVersion Bible app on my iPhone and discovered something amazing. The Cerma New Testament is now available, free of charge, for anyone around the world. What an incredible change in just 16 years. Back then, cell phones were rare and smart-phones a sci-fi dream. Today, they can make the Bible available instantly.

We are at a unique time in history. God’s Word is available in more languages than ever before, and tools and technologies make it accessible anytime, anywhere. Please pray God will be glorified through his Word among all peoples of the earth.

My wife and I took a circuitous route to get to JAARS. We joined Wycliffe Bible Translators twenty years ago to serve as translators in Niger, West Africa. After arriving in 1996, we attended an orientation program in neighboring Burkina Faso that included living with an African family for three weeks.

Paul and his family were Christians and generously hosted us in their mud brick, thatched roof home. A literacy worker, Paul taught his people in their own language, Cerma. The New Testa-ment translation was in progress and the Ciramba church was growing. During our brief stay we clearly saw God at work.

Fast forward to 2012—in April Cerma speakers of Burkina Faso joyfully received the New Testament in their language. In September I began serving as president of JAARS. During a special prayer event on November 9,

goD’s worD—Anytime, AnywhereWoody mcLendon, JAARS president

My wife and I work in a sensitive country and have been distributing Scripture on cds, dvds and sd cards for some time, but due to security issues it’s difficult to do on a large scale. For over two years all our products have been available and downloadable on our website: Scripture texts and recordings, biblical films, radio programs, and cultural items. We convert films and audio materials into every possible format, to accommodate cell phones, mp3 players, and mp4 players. In addition, we upload them to YouTube.

Per month, hits on our site averaged between 500 and 1,000, with about 25 downloads. We were happy with that; people were accessing more Scripture than we could ever have distributed in 30 days. Then in March 2012 a partner mission organization decided to try an experiment: they spent $500 to place some Google ads for one month. With the ads, every time someone searches the language name, an ad offers a free download or a viewing of the JESUS film in their language.

A Must for Scripture Distribution?

In September 2012, the site had more hits per day than we had before

in one month.

and his wife have served as Bible translators in a restricted- access country in Africa since 1997.

Ads

The results amazed us: by the end of the four weeks, we saw 15,000 hits and 750 Scripture products downloaded to computers and mobile phones! The ads have continued and in September we saw 42,000 hits and more than 4,000 downloads—more hits per day than we had before in one month. It seems the longer the ads run, the more momentum picks up. And the way downloads are quickly shared from one phone to another here, we may never know the full impact of this experiment.

Our partners now say, “It’s not an option whether we place Google ads or not. It’s just a matter of finding the funds.” As of today, they have dona-tions in hand to continue Google ads for this website for most of 2013.

—“Alexander”

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(Movie Theater)

MATcH THE fIvE ScrEENSThrough the years, five types of screens have been used to send messages—listed below in chronological order. Draw a line to connect each screen to its picture.

Screen #1: cinema

Screen #2: Television

Screen #3: Personal computer

Screen #4: cellular phone

Screen #5: Digital sign

rEvIEW THE fAcTSrefer to pages in this Rev. 7 issue for answers.

AcroSS

3. The fourth screen

4. 6,877 _________ are spoken in the world (p. 18)

5. In 1804, the first Bible _______ was founded (p. 5)

6. A television show that featured an unusual mobile phone

8. A small memory card for portable devices (p. 3)

DoWN

1. A wireless way to share music (p. 3)

2. The second screen

3. The first screen

4. In AD 60, the apostles’ _______ were hand-carried (p. 5)

7. A phone you carry with you

Down: 1. Bluetooth, 2. television, 3. cinema, 4. letters, 7. mobile phone

Across: 3. cellular phone, 4. languages, 5. society, 6. Get Smart, 8. Sd cardANSWErS:

6 7

8

5

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1 2

God’s Word is holy, and Bible translators make sure it is translated accurately. Then, whether from a phone or computer screen or a book, the reader gets the right message.

It’s easy to get the wrong message. You’ve probably played the telephone game, where a story is whispered around a circle, often creating surprising changes by the end.

Now try this variation:Instead of telling stories, make faces! The first player makes a face at the second, who tries to mirror the same expression to the third, and so on. End with the first and last players making their faces for the whole group to see how similar they are, or not.

Your parents or grandparents may have watched a television show in the late 1960s called Get Smart, which featured a “shoe phone” —a comical hint of the future cell phone! Use your creativity to design an invention people might use 50 years from today.

DESIGN A fUTUrISTIc INvENTIoN

SEND THE rIGHT MESSAGE

For the earth will be filled with the knowledge

of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover

the sea. —Habakkuk 2:14

As if on wings, God’s Truth travels to far-flung locations on mobile phones and websites.

truth on

wings


newsworthy


Check-IT-Out will be held March 15−16 at the JAARS Center. Demonstrations, field stories, tours, and more show how computers

and communications support Bible translation. Preconference events include a tour of the Billy Graham Library (www.billygrahamlibrary.org); a visit to Passages, an interactive Bible exhibit (www.explorepassages.com/charlotte); and a barbecue dinner at Sticky Fingers Smokehouse. For more information, go to www.checkitout.org.

JAARS Day gives an up-close look at Bible translation and how it, aviation, and media play a vital part in its support. Join us for this interactive event on March 9, June 8, August 10, or October 12, 2013.

The Lightspeed Aviation Foundation awarded $10,000 to JAARS, one of five Pilot’s Choice Award recipients for 2012. The grant will help fund the new flight program in Tanzania. Thank you to everyone who voted for JAARS! See www.lightspeedaviationfoundation.org for more details.

• Languages in the world: 6,877 • Languages with some Scripture or the

entire Bible: 2,798• Languages with an active language

program: 2,075*• Languages with likely Bible translation

need: 1,967

*1,537 projects underway by Wycliffe Global Alliance organizationsStatistics and graphic released by wbti Communications, november 2012

Today, the number of language communities in need of Bible translation has dropped below 2,000! For the first time ever, translation programs in progress outnumber translation needs.

Bible Translation Statistics 2012

Languages withLikely Need

for praying, giving, and telling others about JAARS and Bible translation.thAnK youPlease send me (check all that apply):

Rev. 7 Partner Expressprayerline

Quarterly magazine highlighting Bible translation worldwide

Quarterly publication featuring JAARS giving opportunities

Bimonthly prayer calendar

Please contact me with information about:Working or volunteering in the global Bible translation movementpresenting how technology supports Bible translation to my church or groupJAARS global project opportunitiesIncluding JAARS in my estate or will, or giving non-cash, appreciated assetsBibleless people’s prayer project. I want to pray for a Bibleless people group.

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project ID project title Amount

1005

Audio Scriptures for papua new Guinea

totAl

JoP JAARS Operations

JAA

rs

inc.

P

o B

ox

24

8

wa

xh

aw

nC 2

8173

-02

48

Cov

er p

hoto

: Ste

ve E

vans

praise God we can be part of a team that leverages man’s inventions for God’s purposes.—Duane Troyer, Resource Developer for SIL’s Vernacular Media

Documents

JAARS Rev. 7 - Truth on Wings