Douglas and Priscilla Higby

Vision

How can they believe in Him if they have never heard about Him? – Romans 10:14  This challenge from Paul is the motivation behind Wycliffe Bible Translators and their goal of providing access to the Word of God to people from every nation, tribe, people, and language.  This mission continues today and is far from complete, with an estimated 2,078 languages with no access to God’s Word and no work begun.

Doug and Priscilla were privileged to take part in translating the Fulfulde New Testament which was dedicated in West Africa in 2006. During that time they learned how to use computer technology to speed up the work of linguistics and translation.  With the incredible pace of technology, much more is possible today than was back then. Language technology can help adapt a translation from one language into a related language with minimal effort.  It can also help in checking the consistency and quality of a translation. When it is time to publish, it can facilitate the distribution of Scriptures through audio recordings or text on small devices, including cell phones. It is the Higbys’ vision to harness modern technology to accelerate Bible translation in the remaining languages.

Mission

Getting technology out to the mission field has proven to be difficult. As a result, there are Bible translation teams today who are still unaware of the technology that was created expressly for their needs as many as five years ago!

In response to this challenge, the Higbys have implemented a plan in Africa to get the tools and training into the hands of the language workers more quickly. It involves finding competent computer users in each country, then bringing them together each year and training them to introduce and support the new technology in their areas. This program to train trainers has grown in its success for the past five years, and has allowed technology to spread quickly in Africa, often making its debut in less than a year of its release!

Doug serves as the International Coordinator for Language Technology and Priscilla serves as the Global Publishing Academic Production Manager. Praise the Lord for this effective ministry, and pray that it continues to prosper “…that the Word of the Lord may speed on and triumph”
— 2 Thessalonians 3:1 (RSV)