Tuesday Chapel at PIU

  Chapel is almost always a good experience at PIU, but yesterday’s chapel was especially so. We began with our traditional hymn sing led by Dr. Bill Wood. Bill always does a great job explaining the background of the hymns and drawing out application from the songs’ messages. In addition his piano playing is never traditional. We always seem to be smiling after the hymn singing experience. Our speakers were PIU faculty Ken Dixon and Peter Knapp. Ken and Peter are also missionaries with the Isles of the Sea group who are working to translate the Bible into all the languages of the Pacific islands. PIU and Isles of the Sea are now working together to train national Bible translators for the ongoing, much needed work of Bible translation. PIU, with our very diverse (and becoming more diverse every year) student population, emphasis on ESL and solid academic, graduate and undergraduate, Bible programs is an excellent venue for a center for the translation efforts in the Pacific.

  Ken (left) talked about the importance of Bible translation and the continuing need for the translation of the Bible into the more than 4000 languages that do not yet have a full translation of the whole Bible. Most of these languages are in the region of Asia and the Pacific. In fact over 400 of the needed translations would serve the people of Indonesia where PIU students and graduates have already begun preliminary work. Peter challenged students, from his own story of how God called him into Bible translation work, to enroll in the PIU Bible translation minor and join them in the work. This year some of our students who speak languages that still need Bible translation will be doing their “WEWORK” campus service working with the Bible translation projects.

  It was so encouraging to us to be able enjoy God’s word sung, with Bill, and we were inspired by Peter and Ken to play a part in Bible translation work. On the white board (left) we listed the languages spoken by PIU students,  staff and faculty. Many of these languages still need translation work and some of them are cognate to languages that need work. Please pray for the partnership between PIU, Isles of the Sea and other Wycliffe groups and that the many peoples of the world will know the joy of being able to read the Word and worship in their heart languages. It really is exciting to work in a place that is both a mission field and a training center to send out missionaries.