I once admitted to a pastor that I was hesitant to preach in churches because of James 3:1: “Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.” This pastor responded to me: “Do you think that the judgment is going to be LESS strict for those who are translating his Word?!” His warning has been well received. As we begin Bible translation this term, we are going to be producing the text that future Bakoum pastor’s will preach from. Our task is both difficult and serious. Of…

Mary T. Lederleitner in her book Cross Cultural Partnerships writes about how money matters cause many divisions in cross-cultural partnerships: Cross-cultural partnerships are on the rise. They have become a primary method in which churches and organizations engage in global missions. Partners from different cultures and contexts start working together with the hope of accomplishing great things for the kingdom of God. Yet despite their noble dreams and aspirations, working through cultural differences that surround money can become overwhelming at times. Over the years I have witnessed often that these cultural differences about how funds are utilized and accounted for…

There is so much work to be done among the Bakoum and surrounding people groups. The efforts of Dave and I are but a drop in the bucket. We would love to see full-time literacy workers, someone to come start a Christian school, church planters, people to work with children, and medical workers. The people groups around us are also without the Scriptures. We simply need more life-long workers beside us in Cameroon. Pray that the Lord would send out more laborers among the harvest in Eastern Cameroon Pray that the Lord would send out Bible translators for our neighbors:…

Working through the kinks of a writing system can be a very emotionally charged process (in some countries it has caused riots). Therefore, please pray that the process of proposing, testing, and implementing the writing system would be peaceful. Pray that the Bakoum writing system would be standardized and used. Pray also for literacy. If we attain an excellent writing system, but this writing system is not taught, then it is nothing more than a trophy without any function. Pray that we would have a thriving literacy program – that we would have writers’ workshops, that we would train teachers…

By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.  John 13:35 Pray we’d love like Christ. Pray that the love that Dave and I have for one another and for our children – that it would not be assumed to be part of “white-people” culture, but instead would communicate that our love is an overflow of the love with which we have been loved by God. Pray for physical health. Pray especially for Dave as he spent our last term sick half the time. Pray that the Lord would keep us…

Dave read a book a few years back that described the history of missions in Africa. One striking characteristic of the missionary community was that they achieved a mastery over local languages to the point that they were called teachers of the Bakoum language to the Bakoum (for example).This is what we want.We want to be conversant in the language, we want to teach abstract spiritual truths in the language, tell jokes, give a simple gospel presentation to a child, and disciple new believers. We want to know the grammar of the language, the various tonological processes, how to read…

Mary T. Lederleitner in her book Cross Cultural Partnerships says: In order to work together well we need to listen to one another. We need to not only deeply grasp how our partners feel and what they believe but also take the additional step to understand why such feelings and beliefs are wholly logical within a given context. If we can see the logic of a person’s worldview, if we can value it as being wholly reasonable given a unique cultural heritage and history, from that place of mutual respect and dignity we can find new and creative ways to…

We are scheduled to fly out to Cameroon on August 20th and are feeling our great need of the Lord and of people to intercede on our behalf. So, for the next 10 days we will be sharing a specific way you can be praying for us as we transition back to Cameroon. Our first prayer request is that this will be the term if great fruit… This is the term that we have patiently waited for for over a decade. I committed my life to missions my senior year of college, and now, FIFTEEN years later, we will finally…

Often in the face of dangers, missionaries reassure themselves that if just one soul is spared from Hell and spends eternity worshipping Christ, or if there is a Bible left behind, or a church is planted, then their missionary service is worth it. The crisis for the missionary comes when there is no visible fruit. The scales in the mind of a missionary are constantly weighing the cost-benefit of the choice made to leave the familiar and embrace the foreign. It is when the costs are forefront in the mind of a missionary and the benefits are non-existent that a…

When we were out in Southern California, we were able to do a Question and Answer time at The Master’s Seminary about life as Bible translators. Here is one of the questions and our answer: PLEASE TELL US ABOUT YOURSELVES AND YOUR MINISTRY IN CAMEROON. Stacey Hare: I’m Stacey and this is Dave. We are Bible translators with World Team in West Africa, in a country called Cameroon. We’re in the eastern region of the country. Dave Hare: In 2004, we graduated from The Master’s University and went to The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Both Stacey and I graduated from…