Our Desire
Is to see God’s Word have maximum impact among the Bibleless people resulting in changed lives. Vernacular media helps motivate reading, reaches into isolated areas, and empowers the less literate.
We have been learning that audio projects have a more lasting effect on communities because we work in cultures that have little or no written language. Many times, the literature doesn’t have an impact until the people see the need to become literate. This is where we come in.
With committed partners behind us we will be able to serve and impact lives. We want to enhance and encourage access to Scripture and related materials in usable media which are appropriate for the situation, with a special focus on media that meet the needs of oral communicators.
A high percentage of the peoples with whom Wycliffe serve live in an oral learning society. Many members of the people in an oral society will never learn to read in their mother tongue. Others may learn the mechanics of reading but will not read well enough to understand the meaning of the text. Communities that are primarily oral are dependent on oral styles of communication such as dialog, storytelling, parables, etc. to transmit and receive information.
Vernacular media provides powerful ways people in oral societies have access to materials in forms that facilitate real understanding. Our hope is to stimulate increasing use of them to impact lives and produce spiritual change.
The Impact of Vernacular Media
Dr Herb Klem wrote, “After 150 years of literacy-based strategy, we will still miss half the world if people must learn to read in order to receive God’s Word.” More than a billion people either do not have reading skills or rarely use them. The Word must go beyond the printed page to other media, such as video, SD cards, radio, television, filmstrips, and drama to reach these oral learners.
These media options are not intended to replace printed Scripture but are meant to encourage the ongoing use of Scriptures and literacy development.
It doesn’t require waiting until an entire translation is published before people can hear the Word. “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” Romans 10:17
Our Ministry in Cameroon
We are currently living in Cameroon, Central Africa where there are approximately 270 different languages spoken. In addition to English, French is the most used language to communicate with people from these different languages.
We are based in the capital city of Yaoundé. We work with translators and literacy workers to come up with non-print ideas for putting the Scriptures into the hands of people. Films are a powerful tool, like the JESUS Film, LUKE film, Matthew Film, Mark, Film, John Film, ACTS film, Magdelena film, DVDs and micro-SD cards.
From Yaoundé we will take trips to various language groups for recording projects. We return to Yaoundé to edit and do postproduction work before sending the film to the USA for quality check. Once the film passes quality check and is mastered we can start duplicating the finished project for distribution.
We believe no one should be left out of hearing about Jesus just because they cannot or prefer not to read.
New opportunity increasing our impact
Nathanael had a lot of time to pray and listen to the Lord during his recent bought with illness (He have been sick for nearly three weeks, and he is still healing Jan 2022). During this time after praying and seeking Him, we felt the Lord was leading us as a family to another assignment.
Just after feeling the Lords leading that he was going to change or move us the International Media Services Dept of Wycliffe Bible Translators contacted us and asked if we would be willing to relocate to Waxhaw, North Carolina, USA. We have decided to accept that invitation and the plan is for Nathanael to join the team there as a Quality Checker.
Quality checking a dubbed film is one of the last steps in the dubbing process before a film is mastered and sent back to the country for distribution. A quality checker makes sure that the dubbed film is to the standards of the copy right holders. What an opportunity to mentor recordists around the world. Nathanael has dubbed over 20 films and is a great candadate for this new position.
Our impact in media here in Cameroon has lessened over the years. There are many factors involved with that…. Instead of dubbing four to six films a year, we have been dubbing one or maybe two films a year. The idea that we can increase our impact to a worldwide scale is exciting!! The quality checking dept of International Media Services in Waxhaw, North Carolina checks films for Wycliffe from all over the world.
This is a critical need for Wycliffe. We plan to return to the USA June 8/9 after our daughter finishes 5th grade. After a short rest, we will need to raise more financial partnerships. We will need to be at a 100% of our required Wycliffe budget before starting in this new roll. We are very excited about this new opportunity to use his skills in media on a more international scale. However, we are very sad to be leaving Cameroon. We are so grateful for nearly 12 years of memories!
Thankfully, we will be allowed to return to Cameroon or Central Africa for film dubbing projects or workshops as needed. Lord willing, he will continue to teach at the annual conference in Netherlands or Thailand.