Manila Underwater

When Charliece and I were last in Manila, Philippines ( in 2003 ) we taught on adjunct faculty at ICCM. Now the International Christian College of Manila Campus is underwater. I ponder what it must be like out in the villages. One Typhoon (Hurricane) has struck the Philippines and three more are lining up out in the Pacific. Please pray for the students and our missionaries at The International Christian College of Manila.

BBC reports dozens killed in Guinea

Please pray for the people and the missionaries in Guinea. All we can say. Just pray.

New Life Christian Church, Linden, TN

We so much enjoy visiting churches who have been the building stones for Pioneer Bible Translators over the years.

Thank you Linden, TN.

May God bless you all....!!

Matthew 13:16
"But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear." NIV

How Beautiful The Feet

Missionaries feet..??? Well.. sure, but,...

 
It came to me that those partners back home who donate time, energy, money, and prayers to missionaries...

may have the most beautiful feet.... because they hang in there day after day ... paying bills, raising children, working at church, they make it happen... the senders back home keep the missionary on the field.
 

NIV Romans 10:15

And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"

Airport Run

Just returned from DFW. Picked up our oldest son Stephen. He was returning from Africa. The capital city of the country he was in only has 4 or 5 flights in and out each week. When I ask him what was the single thing that stood out in his mind from his several weeks there.. he answered, "... you just can not really get a grasp in your mind on the depth of the poverty...." Thank you Lord for allowing Pioneer Bible Translators to bring light.....!

Paint Party at our new Dallas, TX home

Missionaries are a close community. No one has much money. Everyone just automatically jumps in an lends a hand. Our thanks to everyone (who came out of no where...very unexpected) to unload, clean, paint, eat, laugh... and yes --to pray and praise God.

PBT's current home

The International Service Center in Dallas, TX is three mobile units slid together. You are looking at the ends. Our new building is underway on 22 acres across the road. And... of course we are growing so fast the new building will be too small the day it opens. PRAISE THE LORD...!!

Back To The Bible

Sooner or later most adult Americans turn to the Bible. Why is that..? I think it is because deep down inside us we all accept there is something greater than us. Todays media shout, "me me me.." Purchase this and be in control seems to be the message. But it wears off when tough times appear. Is this country sliding off the cliff...? I think not. Praise God we have the Bible to turn to.

Chronological Study Bibles

Sometimes we think of time as flowing from our Bible in a neat and orderly fashion. I bought myself a new study Bible. The text is arranged so that you read it as things happened chronologically. Transition comments relate sacred and secular history as it happens and the influence they each have on the other. It's amazing when you read passages and fit them together. Sometimes, I stop and think, “I don't remember reading that before...” Hmmm, where was my mind when I read that section or do I just see things differently as an adult? Or just finally grasp the meaning as it related to a culture so different from mine yet so relevant, today, thousands of years later?? Words translate more easily than concepts---that's where a Translator really focuses!!!! Thank God for translators who have given me Bibles in my own heart language!! - Charliece

1,000 years ago...!

From within dark caves in 1947 Biblical Scholars were taken back back back a thousand years.

The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls near Qumran (NW coast of the Dead Sea) gave scholars scrolls written a thousand years earlier. The biblical manuscripts from Qumran, include at least fragments from every book of the Hebrew Bible (our Old Testament) with the exception- of the Book of Ester- these provide a far older cross section of scriptural tradition than ever before. Therefore I like Bibles translated after about 1950.

Lamps and Candles

Bible Translation is fun but .... complex..!
The Menorah LAMPSTAND is often referred to as the Menorah Candleabrum. The Egyptians are credited with inventing the "candle" but it was crude and smelly. Lamps burning Olive Oil were preferred. (think of a small clay Aladdin's Lamp) Finally in the Middle Ages candles really came into their own when bees wax and a good wick were added...

...and that friends is why the KJV uses "candle" and the NIV "lamp" in Luke 11:33. (FYI consider: KJV Candle, NLT Lamp, MSG Lamp, ESV Lamp, NRSV Lamp, WYC Lantern, on Candlestick and DARBY Lamp Lamp Stand 1890)

Thank you Hopwood

Bordering Milligan College is a beautiful church built of stone

Stone... stone.... many churches are stones to Pioneer Bible Translators. Thank you Hopwood for supporting PBT for all these years.