Today we’d like to introduce you to Greg Pruett.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Pioneer Bible Translators started in 1976 in the Dallas area to send people from the states to live around the world translating the Bible into the languages that have never had Scripture. My wife and I worked for over 12 years in West Africa to translate the Bible in the Yalunka language, spoken by about 80 thousand people. Then in 2007 I became the president of the organization and we moved to Dallas. Since then the organization has gone from translating the Bible in 35 languages in 5 countries to translating into 73 languages in 16 countries. We now have over 430 people on our team. About half live overseas. About 100 are in preparation to move overseas.
Pioneer Bible Translators is part of the vibrant Bible translation movement recently featured in Christianity Today. http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2017/may/together-for-gospels-bible-translation-unity-illuminations.html
We and our partners in the Bible translation movement are working together to cross a historic milestone. In the next 13 years, we will start the last remaining Bible translation projects needed, an achievement that has never been possible until now.
Before 2050, every language on earth should have the entire New Testament available on every digital device in text and audio.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The greatest challenge is to find people willing to leave their home country and work in the most challenging places on earth. They raise all their own funds from churches and individuals. To go from 185 to 430 teammates in 10 years has necessitated a great deal of prayer and a huge amount of work.
Please tell us about Pioneer Bible Translators.
We have set the audacious goal of starting and finishing 250 projects by 2050 bringing our total number of projects to 300. We estimate that if we can complete 300 translation projects total, our 30 Forum of Bible Agencies partners will have enough momentum to handle the rest of the needs.
Because we are a Bible translation agency that also does church planting, we are uniquely suited to send teams of translators, church planters, literacy workers, and community development workers to cross language barriers among the remaining language groups for whom there is still no church and no Scripture. These least-reached, Scriptureless language groups suffer the greatest spiritual poverty remaining on earth. We are focusing most of our energy on this strategic gap to help eliminate the tragedy of extreme spiritual poverty.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
I remember my mother teaching Bible stories on flannel graph in inner-city government housing projects.
Pricing:
- For a $38 donation you can pay for the translation of one verse of Scripture.
Contact Info:
- Address: Pioneer Bible Translators
7255 West Camp Wisdom Road,
Dallas, TX 75236 - Website: https://pioneerbible.org/
- Phone: (214) 699-4300
- Email: https://pioneerbible.org/contact
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PioneerBible/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/pioneerbible
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