Bob Creson

Checking the Lubwisi translation

Mulindi, a speaker of the Lubwisi language in Uganda, attended church for 50 years before he heard a Bible verse read in his own language. “People used to say that no one would manage to write the Bible in Lubwisi because it is an unwritable language,” he said.

But then someone did write the language. They chose symbols for an alphabet that fit the Lubwisi language, and they began writing stories and books, including HIV/AIDS materials that benefitted their people greatly. They even created an online dictionary.

Most importantly, they translated the Bible. At the end of July 2016, the Lubwisi people will celebrate the arrival of the New Testament in their language.

Mulinda says, “I am like the old man Simeon in the Bible whom the Holy Spirit promised would not die without seeing the Messiah. God has given me a time of grace in this world so that I can hear the Word of God in my own language, the language which I understand.”

In March 2015, Ugandan people speaking four different languages — Lubwisi, Lugungu, Lugwere, and Lunyole — gathered to celebrate the completion of New Testament drafts into each of these languages, the languages of their birth, their mother tongues. Continue reading →

Today should have been a beautiful day in Orlando…but it wasn’t.  What promised to be a day of worship, picnics, and trips to the beach didn’t happen. The unimaginable and tragic happened at 2am and we woke to the horrific news that 50 people had been murdered at what is now described as the worst mass shooting in US history. Continue reading →

Following his death this week, I stumbled on this old video clip of Mohamed Ali.

No matter what you think of his choices in life, he is undeniably one of the greatest athletes of his generation. If you decide to invest the six minutes watching the clip, don’t let the humor mask the unfortunate history he lived through, and how it influenced the choices he and others made during this time.

Only days after winning a gold metal at the Olympics, Ali was refused service in a restaurant in his home town! His comments, reaction and ultimate decision leading him to a major life-choice and worldview change reminded me of a book I’m currently reading, The Children, where a group of African American, mostly college students, led by John Lewis and Jim Lawson challenged the status quo in Nashville where they, too, had been denied the right of service in restaurants across the city.

For most of us it’s hard, if not impossible, to remember 1960 when these events occurred. Continue reading →

Evelyn Griset Pike (March 1, 1915 – June 3, 2016)

Evelyn, who loved her family and friends deeply, and gave herself completely to a cause she cared so much about, entered into the presence of Christ, the one who defied, defeated and destroyed death, on June 3. She was 101.

Evelyn stepped into the pages of Wycliffe Bible Translators history in 1935 – just a year after William Cameron Townsend conducted his very first training camp for Bible translators. The daughter of Townsend’s sister, she was a student at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) when she accepted his invitation to go to Mexico for a year. He was establishing his new Bible translation work and needed someone to help manage the Townsend household. Continue reading →

Translation advisor, Bob Ulfers, and his Karang-speaking colleague, Jacob, had come to the village of Zefatu in Cameroon to test the translation of 2 Thessalonians into the Karang language. But as they approached the isolated chapel at the top of the hill (see the photo), Bob wondered if anyone would show up to help.

A few men did come, and the two began to read the translation to them. When they came to chapter 2, verse 13, they read, “I ba tul fe pay ke sakra nzuk-kan lawri ke-e ya.” (You are the first fruits among those who believe whom God rescued).

The men responded with blank stares. Continue reading →

Studying the Bible in a language you’re not very familiar with complicates understanding and could compromise the message. The Dukawa people of Nigeria tried to use the Scriptures in the “trade” language,* Hausa. But though Hausa was the language of the marketplace, it wasn’t the language of their home or their heart. Now God’s Word is being translated into their own Dukawa language, and many are surprised to find out what it really means. Continue reading →

 This month Wycliffe Bible Translators is celebrating the 100th birthday of President Emeritus, George Cowan. Knowing George, he would be happy to have his birthday celebration set in the larger context of what God is doing though Bible Translation. I also know that he would want it set in the context of prayer. Continue reading →

This video clip highlights the progress made in Bible translation during 2015. Thanks to all for traveling this road with us.

Bible translation for the deaf