Storly and Kate Michel serve with 4VEH, a ministry partner of Trans World Radio. 

Storly serves as the station director for 4VEH. “People tell me I don’t look 75,” he jokes. “But the reality is, it’s the proof that it’s not me. I wasn’t there [at 4VEH’s beginning]. It’s been God using His servants over time … Haitians and non-Haitians, people coming from all over the place.”

Pray for endurance as believers broadcast critical updates and the hope of Christ.
(Photo courtesy of Radio 4VEH)

Kate says 4VEH was started by an American missionary named G. T. Bustin who felt God leading him to start a radio station, even though he knew nothing about radio. That’s how La Voix Evangélique d’Haïti, or The Evangelistic Voice of Haiti was born.

“People thought he was crazy for even trying to do this, but he was faithful to what God called him to,” Kate says. “And 75 years later, generations of Haitians have come to know the Lord, have grown up serving Him, have become more like Jesus, and are making a difference in their communities and around the world.”

Haitians know how to celebrate! Special church services across Haiti and also the U.S. this summer will be full of lively praise and worship. In Haitian communities they’re even planning soccer tournaments with some of the best teams in Haiti. 

Kate shares another reason they’re excited for these upcoming celebrations: “because we know we’re going to hear from people who are listening, people who are watching 4VEH, and we’re going to hear just how God has moved in their lives.” 

As 4VEH looks back, the team also looks forward. There’s much more ahead as they move to harness digital technologies for wider gospel reach, by God’s grace. 

“We started as a radio station, and we’ve been doing radio for 75 years, but over the years, the way we see it is to use technology as a tool to reach people. So whether it’s radio, television, digital, we will use whatever [is] available and good to reach people where they are,” says Storly. 

“The future for us is exactly that: What do we use today to reach people for Christ?”

Would you prayerfully consider partnering with 4VEH’s mission? Learn how at their website, 4veh.org/en (English). 

“That gift will be used to broadcast the gospel across Haiti and beyond, and broadcast the gospel in a way that is Christ-centered, is compelling and is culturally relevant to the people who are listening,” Kate says. 

“So God will use that to reach people, to disciple them to become more like Jesus, and to help them serve Him in their communities where they are.”

Header photo courtesy of 4VEH.

The task before them is large, but they have to start somewhere. Deaf Bible Society’s Kristin Dodd explains, “Out of the over 400 sign languages, not one language has a full translation of the Bible yet. The language that is the closest to having a full translation is American Sign Language. Our goal with our partners is to have that full Bible translation completed by 2020.”

Currently, Deaf Bible Society’s website hosts 28 sign languages, each with various portions of Scripture available.

(Photo courtesy of Deaf Bible Society)

According to Dodd, this means a sign language “might have 32 [Bible] stories through DOOR [International] completed or they might have some chapters in the Bible but not others. But when a piece of Scripture is completely finished, it can be uploaded to the Deaf Bible website.

“There [are] also several translation projects that have been started that don’t have a complete portion of Scripture yet for us to put on our Deaf Bible platform.”

One looming question is, why has it taken so long to get even one full Bible into a sign language for the Deaf?

“People have been studying linguistics for spoken and written languages for hundreds of years. It wasn’t until around the 1960s that a man named William Stokoe verified that sign languages are indeed languages.

“People began to recognize…if these sign languages are actual languages, I guess we need to start researching them. We need to start doing translations for the Bible.

“Through that, that’s kind of where the birth of researching sign languages and then, later on, creating sign language translations began.”

Now, the challenge is that sign language translations of the Bible are different and sometimes more time consuming than written Scripture translations.

(Photo courtesy of Deaf Bible Society)

“The person [who] is signing in the video often has to memorize large pieces of Scripture to sign in full in one video take,” says Dodd. “As they take that video and they check it for accuracy and test it with the community and go through all the steps of Bible translation, they then have to go back and re-film that portion of Scripture. So it’s a little bit of a different process compared to written or spoken language Bible translation.”

Deaf Bible Society is part of the Deaf Strategic Alliance, along with several other ministries. As this coalition works towards getting full Bible translations into 400-plus sign languages, they need prayers and support from the global Body of Christ.

“All over the world, translation projects are either being started or are in the process of translation. But that’s where we really have a big need for resources so we can continue to fund those projects as well as start new projects.”

Please pray for sign language Bible translation efforts to get the people and resources they need so the projects can be completed without delay. Ask God to prepare the hearts of Deaf individuals to respond to His Word in faith.

If you would like to support Deaf Bible Society, click here!

Header photo courtesy of Deaf Bible Society

They gathered in Cameroon from four different French-speaking African countries. "They left with a real renewed vision for seeing their nations discipled for Christ, for evangelism to take great steps forward, and for the Great Commission to be
fulfilled," said Shibley.

Shibley said it is important for leaders from developed countries to "cross-pollinate" with church leaders in developing nations since "there is a lot that we need to download by way of what the Lord has taught us, or is teaching us, that is still very new and fresh to these wonderful leaders."

The conference will likely become a very important auxiliary program to Global Advance's Frontline Shepherds Conferences. They will hold 70 Frontline Shepherds Conferences this year alone. "We saw this as a pilot project. We intend now to refine it, fine-tune it, and to take it to other nations as well," Shibley said.

One of the challenges to getting this and any conference off the ground is stand-alone men who want to be independent spirits. However, Shibley said that the men who gathered in Cameroon understand that the key to the success of world evangelism is cooperation. Each man left with a vision for the future and literature to help keep that vision alive.

Shibley said, "We're very, very grateful for the opportunity to convene, by God's grace, some very strategic leaders who are in a position to really see significant advance for the
Gospel in their arenas of influence."