If I had one word to describe this year in my ministry and my walk with the
Lord it would be grace. Yes, Christmas is a time to reflect on God's Grace to send the baby Jesus. However, I hope New Year's Eve is a time of personal reflection on how God's
Grace entered into your life this year. We ask for His will in 2005.
This year gave me many stories of blessings. Therefore, here is one:
The JAARS message center received a call from Samaritan's Purse asking for
more volunteers. A group of us sensed the call to go for the day. The message said, "The warehouse STILL needs more help going through boxes, they won't be able to finish tonight."
The Charlotte Processing Center for Operation Christmas Child is one of six
major warehouses for the ministry. We walked in and were awe-struck by this huge place filled with shoeboxes. The information board said they had packed and processed over 1.55 million
shoeboxes. They had expected to do over 1.7 million by the end of the day. Every shoebox touched I thought I was part of serving a child somewhere. We finished well. When leaving to the parking lot we saw an overseas shipping container filled with cardboard boxes of the prepared shoeboxes. Wow, what blessing to participate in this Christmas Joy!
Please pray for these shoeboxes.
http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.asp?section=Operation+Christmas+Child
I heard second-hand that estimates are they processed 1.8 million shoeboxes.
Please review the 2004 Wycliffe Statistics below.
1. World Population: 6.4 billion
2. Number of languages currently spoken in the world: 6,913
[Ethnologue, 15th Edition, 2004]
3. Number of languages needing a translation project: 2,644
4. Number of language projects in progress worldwide: 1,678
5. Number of languages in which Wycliffe personnel are currently
involved in Bible translation, literacy, and/or preparatory linguistic work:
1,376 (82% of all translation projects; 1,376 of 1,678.)
6. Number of languages with some or all of the Bible: 2,355. Of these,
414 have an adequate Bible, 1,068 have an adequate New Testament, and 873
have at least one book of the Bible. [2003 statistics from the United Bible
Societies]
7. Number of new language programs begun in Bibleless language
communities worldwide since start of Vision 2025 (Oct 1999): 356 (93 in
2004) and 306 of those were with Wycliffe involvement (82 in 2004).
8. Number of translation products completed in 2004 with Wycliffe
personnel involvement: 2 Bibles; 6 New Testaments; 13 the JESUS film
scripts; 16 video scripts featuring the Gospel of Luke; 3 video scripts
featuring Genesis.
9. Number of languages where New Testaments and Bibles were completed
with Wycliffe personnel involved: 611 languages representing over 76 million
people.
10. Number of countries represented by the languages in which Wycliffe
staff are working: more than 70. This includes work among people who live
outside their traditional homeland.
11. Number of Wycliffe staff: There are 5,256 staff workers; 583 others
preparing for service. It is estimated that there are over 12,000 expatriate
and national workers from more than 60 different countries. Also, partner
organizations at the local, national, regional and international levels
include thousands of additional people committed to the language development
needs of minority peoples.
12. Number of organizations associated with Wycliffe International: 102
13. Number of personnel needed: 2,668 There are ongoing needs for
linguist/translators, literacy specialists, trainers, project managers,
computer specialists, accountants, administrators, and other support roles.
14. Comparison of time periods in which the greatest number of projects
were begun with Wycliffe personnel involvement: During 1990-1993 there were
98 total, averaging 25 per year. During 2001-2004 there were 254 total,
averaging 64 per year.
15. Comparison of single calendar years in which the greatest number of
projects were begun with Wycliffe personnel involvement: In 1986 there were
40 new projects; in 1991 there were 47 new projects; in 2000 there were 52
new projects; in 2003 there were 61 new projects; in 2004 there were 82 new
projects.
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