What is your consulting philosophy? Giving input, and discipleship in the context of translation checking. It is less about approval and more about serving and helping.

What translation resources do you really value? Paratext is incomparable. I am very grateful for those who developed it, and also for the interagency collaboration that has developed. Scripture Forge has changed the Bible translation landscape as an AI engine that can extrapolate from a corpus of translated Scripture to draft more.

How do you continue to grow as a consultant? I maintain a list of 20-30 verses in Hebrew that I write out, one a day, to help keep Hebrew at top of mind. I also am patiently working through a Hebrew grammar. I read Indonesian history books and occasionally watch an Indonesian film on YouTube to keep my fluency sharp.

How do you share your translation discoveries with others? I have seen the biennial Bible Translation conference as the chief venue for me to share thoughts about our discipline.

What do you see as the place of the church in Bible translation? We in the translation organizations need to zealously court a relationship with churches and other Great Commission ministries. They have a growing desire for involvement in the Bible translation cause. They no longer are satisfied to “outsource” needed Bible translation work to the Bible translation specialists. We need to position ourselves as equippers and servants to God’s people around the world to help them do the Bible translation part of the Great Commission well.

What is the most gratifying thing you have done as a translation consultant? I mentored a retired Indonesian pastor to help translation teams check their translations for faithfulness. After I was asked to take over the Seed Company CEO role in 2020, he stepped in and began handling a heavy load of checking in central Indonesia on his own. The local denomination has recognized him as an official translation consultant and he continues to make a great contribution. 3 John 4 says “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.” I feel that way about those I have mentored who are serving translation teams well.