Seeing the Need for Bible Translation

People often ask me, how did I get involved in the Mongolia project? A little background is necessary. I have always had a great respect for the Bible and even before I was saved, I reverenced it. Along with my love for the Scriptures, God also put a love in my heart for missions early on in my ministry. So, a love for the Bible and a love for missions was a marriage made in Heaven. When I became a pastor in 1964, it only seemed natural I would lead the church in Bible publication for missionary work. Hence, in 1973 Carlos Demarest, Sam Caudill, and I lit our fires from Don Frazier’s torch. First Baptist Church launched a Bible publishing effort called Bearing Precious Seed. Our goal was to print Bibles for missionaries in the industrialized nations, free of charge.

Seeing the Need

In 1999 I discovered One-half of the world has never had a Bible in their mother tongue. I was so moved at that fact I felt led of God to resign the church I had pastored for 35 years and go into full-time mission’s ministry, with a goal to get people their first Bible who had never had one in their mother tongue. We called the ministry First Bible international because it was very descriptive of our goal. Anthropologists called the half of the world that did not have the Bible unreached. There was little, and in most cases, no effort toward getting them the Christian gospel. With the majority mostly living within an imaginable rectangle called the 1040 window. It is located 10° above the equator to 40° above the equator, stretching from Japan across northern Africa and southern Asia.

The 10/40 Window

Luis Busch coined the phrase 1040 window in 1990. This area of the world is comprised of 69 nations and over 90 percent of all the unreached people live in it. The nations in the 1040 window have the least access to the Christian gospel of any nation on the planet, the lowest level of human rights, and the highest degree of poverty. The predominant religions are Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist.

The Lord was beginning to open His servants eyes to the need for Bible translations among unreached people groups. God would soon begin His work, translating the Bible for the Mongolians in their mother tongue. Visit Great Company of Publishers website to read more about The Mongolia Project.