How one couple is bringing God's Word to the world
Thirty-nine years ago, Pete and Beth Beckman fell in love with each other on a mission trip. They went to Bolivia with a team from Anderson University and still remember building playground equipment for the local children.
Today, Pete uses his background as a brilliant computer scientist and Beth uses her administrative and technological skills to create a way for unreached people to hear the Word of God.
Pete, Beth and their two kids first traveled to Ghana in 2011 with a OneWay team. There, they met Ray Mensah, Director of OneWay Africa. Mensah had recognized the need for an audio Bible tool as he worked among Ghana’s unreached peoples, and in 2013, the Beckmans returned, eager to help launch the ministry.
In the West, we can easily take for granted having God’s Word presented to us in an understandable way. For Northern Ghana’s primarily oral culture, a written Bible can be difficult, if not impossible, to understand. This makes it imperative to audibly present God’s Word.
The ministry of BiblePlus has been meeting this need for 10 years, and the stories of BiblePlus’ impact are too numerous to count. One woman, Samantha, memorized both the Sermon on the Mount and Romans 8 after only one year of listening. Another boy, known as Jonah, was so radically changed after interacting with BiblePlus that he became a full-time missionary as a Jesus Film Rider for OneWay Africa.
To date, BiblePlus has distributed more than 25,000 audio Bibles.
Pete, Beth and local partners started out by distributing solar-powered audio players packed with the New Testament, Bible stories, music and testimonials. They have since expanded to include video and Scripture reading apps on microSD cards for Android phones.
By fall of this year, all of these features will be available in 13 languages!
When the microSD cards were first introduced in 2016, the Beckmans took 100 trial units to an event celebrating the completion of the audio recording of the Komba New Testament. At the end of the worship service (with more than 500 Ghanaians in attendance), they announced the new technology and were bombarded by eager believers hoping to claim their own card. The need for oral presentation of the gospel was even greater than the Beckmans knew.
“These people are so hungry for the Word of God,” Beth said as they regrouped later. “They were so excited to have God’s Word in their own language that they could listen to each and every day! Such a reminder of this precious gift that I sometimes take for granted!”
The Beckmans’ faithful commitment to getting the Word into the ears of the unreached has brought them back to Ghana nearly every year since 2011, coordinating audio recordings in various local languages.
Pete has kept an account of their trips on his blog. Stories of patience, perseverance and prayer are wedged between beautiful photographs of God’s ministry through them.
The Beckmans’ ministry with BiblePlus is a reminder that while it is up to God to move the hearts of unbelievers toward faith, it is the job of believers to make the Word as available as possible, as effectively as possible.
Romans 10:17 says, “So faith comes by hearing and hearing through the word of Christ.”
Join us in helping the unreached multitudes hear, believe and be saved!
Prayer Points:
Pray for provision of new workers, financial support and local media partners.
Pray for wisdom in translating new languages and developing new content so unbelievers can be reached, and believers can mature.
Pray that the Lord would prepare the hearts of the unreached to receive his Word!
Comments