Once again I find myself in this cross-roads city in central Nigeria. After a six month's hiatus in international travel, it feels good to be out here, on the road and sharing with my African brothers and sisters.
I'm back at the headquarter campus of the Nigeria Bible Translation Trust, the country's largest indigenous organization focused on getting God's Word written in all the remaining languages of the country that do not yet have a Bible.
This time, however, most of my audience are not the translators themselves, but members of their support committees. Usually community leaders or pastors of a related local church, they have never before been invited to participate in seminar designed to help them do their support job better. My role? To provide a number of short, impactful sessions that will help them gain a big picture understanding of the importance of Bible translation in missions plus learn a bit about good principles of project management, stewardship and team-building.
From the responses I've already received after the first two day workshop which involved about 160 men and women, I'm pleased by the affirmation I've received plus the request for copies of my talks all of which indicates that the messages seem to be getting through. Now I get to repeat the workshop again during the next two days with an even larger group of participants.
One treat for me was to discover among the participants some of the members of the translation project for the Kamwe people in northeast Nigeria. Coming from the very area where Boko Haram has devastated homes and churches, they have basically fled here to Jos and set up temporary residence in order to keep working on their Old Testament language project. Some have had their own homes destroyed and extended family members killed by the terrorists, yet, they carry on undaunted with this translation project. Amazing! These are the same men my good friend, Dr. Roger Mohrlang in Spokane, WA has been raising funds for as well as serving in the official capacity as language consultant.What a privilege to stand next to men who truly know what it means to stand firm on the front lines of today's fiercest spiritual battles.
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