2017 ANNUAL REPORT Fiscal Year April 1, 2016 March 31, 2017
WITH GRATITUDE Dear friends, What a year! God is so good, and investment partners like you are so generous. My prayer is that as you look through this Annual Report, you will sense just how WHO WE ARE Vision Get God s Word to every person important this work is and what a key role each of you plays in making it possible. At the same time we can t slow down or spend so much time rejoicing in the 99 that we forget about the 1. Consider for a moment: There are still an estimated 1,800 languages with no Scripture translation. Approximately 3 billion people live in areas where Internet connection is unreliable or restricted by the government meaning they cannot access the Digital Bible Platform or similar resources. Faith Comes By Hearing and our partners are addressing these needs through Render, new recording technologies, the Global Bible Network, and partnerships that Mission To record and provide the Word of God in every translated language We Believe The fulfillment of the Great Commission can be completed within our lifetime make Audio Bible content available to other ministries. Significant breakthroughs have taken place in each area, but we need to keep going in order to see them reach their full potential. We are so thankful for your giving, prayer support, and sharing with others Faith Comes By Hearing is a vast family of friends all over the world, working together for a common about our work together. By continuing to work together, we can make God s Word cause. From a donor in Texas funding available to more people than ever before! Audio Bible recording projects to a Your Servant in Christ, Jackson founded the ministry, there has been an underlying current of urgency to reach people everywhere with God s Word in their own At least another 1,000 languages have translated portions, but do not yet have an audio recording. Since 1972, when Jerry and Anet language and in audio because the majority of people in the world are oral learners. What began as a tape-lending library out of a friend s living room has now become a worldwide ministry offering Scripture recordings in more than 1,000 languages. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is proclaimed to hundreds of millions of people on every continent through Audio Bible listening programs (using a device like the Proclaimer), local radio programming, BibleSticks, SD cards, the Bible.is app, and the Digital Bible Platform. Syrian refugee gathering people in his tent to listen to God s Word together, we each do our part in the Bible cause to make Jesus Christ known. Our founders, Jerry and Anet Jackson, with their children in the 1970s. Morgan Jackson Senior Vice President Page 2 Faith Comes By Hearing Annual Report 2017 Page 3
GLOBAL IMPACT & We exist to meet a need. The Bible need for oral people groups, because over 70 percent of the world s 7.2 billion people are oral communicators. They do not, or cannot, use the printed Word in their daily lives. This is why we join arms with other ministries, organizations, and translation agencies to record God s Word and get it to the people so they can hear truth God s Word that gives life and meaning. Your partnership helps us meet this need head on. This Annual Report provides a summary of the Kingdom impact made because of your generosity from April 1, 2016 through March 31, 2017. We cannot do this work without you, and are sincerely thankful for your ongoing partnership. FY2017 Highlights: Scripture recordings completed in 107 languages spoken or signed by nearly 70 million people. Over 51,000 Audio Bible listening programs discipling an estimated 4.5 million people. The very first oral Bible translation project using Render launched in Brazil. A threshold was crossed: Scripture recordings are now available in more than 1,000 languages with a 6-year goal of 1,000 more! Nearly 140,000 Military BibleSticks were given to warriors and veterans. The stories on the following eight pages reveal the impact made through two key areas that are the lifeblood of Faith Comes By Hearing recording Scripture and Audio Bible listening programs. We record Scripture so that people around the world, most of whom are oral learners, can hear God s Word in their languages. We then work to implement Audio Bible listening programs so they can engage with His Word on a regular basis within a group environment. While the brief descriptions below of recordings and programs sound simple in concept, our complicated world can make their execution quite challenging. Faith Comes By Hearing has developed a variety of tools Once the final mastering and editing of a field recording and methods to record Scripture. Whether we are sending is completed in our Albuquerque studio, we work with one of the 40+ two-person field recording teams into an in-country ministry partners to effectively train and equip indigenous community or training and equipping local leaders on how to implement Audio Bible listening partners who are already on the ground or enabling programs. Each leader gathers people together at least others to utilize Virtual Recording software, we are mindful once a week to listen to a passage of Scripture using a of the various risks and opportunities present with each playback device, such as a Proclaimer. The leader then recording project. Transportation, logistics, and power grid encourages and facilitates discussion of the passage reliability (if there is one) are just the beginning of a long within the group. Each playback unit can be shared list of items to consider. Identifying and recruiting local among several groups, and we often see four groups speakers who can read well enough to participate in the formed from a single playback device. Through this project can take time. When political instability, sharing and the passing of time, each Audio Bible can persecution, and sickness are thrown into the mix, well, as help disciple an average of 90 people. one recording coordinator says, Every recording project is a miracle. We record Scripture and implement listening programs out of obedience to God s commandments, for we know the transforming power of God s Word. Over the past 45 years, we have heard countless testimonies that prove God s Word does not return void. As you read the following stories, know that you played a part in making their testimonies possible. Page 4 Faith Comes By Hearing Annual Report 2017 Page 5
I will lift up my hands toward your commandments, which I love, and I will meditate on your statutes. Psalm 119:48 AFRICA Within the vast continent of Africa, a milestone for the ministry emerged. In July 2016, the Nkonya language of Ghana was the 1,000th language to have Scripture recorded. We give glory to God for this language recording, and the other 27 languages in Africa that had recorded Scripture completed during FY2017. These 28 languages are collectively spoken by more than 10 million people who can now hear truth in their mother tongue. In addition to these completed recordings, more than 13,000 new Audio Bible listening programs are helping an estimated 900,000 people hear about Christ, and grow in obedience to Him. Our Father who is in Heaven, Your name should be holy. Your chieftancy place should come. They should do your will in Nkonya land like they do it in heaven. Give us today s food today. Mmmm (the people sing in agreement) Remove us from evil. Yes. (the people sing in agreement) This prayer should meet the Father. This prayer should meet the Son. This prayer should meet the Holy Spirit. Like the way it was in the ancient days. Like the way it was in the ancient days, it is now. It will be from now going on. It will be from now going on. Mmmm (the people sing in agreement) Until the end of the world. So it will be. Yes (the people sing in agreement) The Lord s Prayer spoken by the Nkonya community The hard work of the people who have gone through the challenges of recording the Word of God will not be in vain. It will bring peace and prosperity and transformation to Nkonya land. Nkonya leader at the Audio New Testament dedication FY2017 28 10,018,700 13,362 1.2 million ALL-TIME 428 600 million 326,940 29.4 million Page 6 Faith Comes By Hearing Annual Report 2017 Page 7
Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 19:14 AMERICAS I never thought I would be changed like I have been changed. For a long time I lived in deception and lies. My husband was a drunkard and I would go to a witch so that my husband would die. I just wanted to commit suicide. I went to church, but my situation remained the same and never changed. I finally took my children and separated from my husband. I was invited to a listening group, where a Proclaimer was used. It wasn t until then that I was able to hear the Word of God in my own language. This changed my life. I want to thank God because He had mercy on me, on my children, and on my husband. have received Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Because of listening to the Word of God in my own language, there has been a change for the better in my family. The Word of God has power and I never thought I would be changed like I have been changed. I am listening to the Word of God together with my neighbors and other people that are going through what I went through. I pray constantly that the Word of God will come to the most remote communities. There are thousands of people that can t read and write and are living without Christ. - Maria, Quechua Margos Speaker, Peru After being separated from my husband for three years, I went back and reunited with him. For the first time we were together with all our children at Christmas. This was a time of asking for forgiveness and a time of reconciliation. Now, my husband and I are attending a church and my children FY2017 19 227,803 10,202 918,180 ALL-TIME 316 900 million 248,304 22.3 million Page 8 Faith Comes By Hearing Annual Report 2017 Page 9
The LORD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation Exodus 15:2 ASIA/PACIFIC I am a pastor who attended one of the become a part of the story, and because Audio Bible listening group trainings put of this, some are learning to read by on by Go With God Global and Faith following along in the printed text. My Comes By Hearing in China. I received own parents and grandparents cannot Proclaimers to further train and equip read, and they are benefiting greatly leaders in my region. Nearly 30 groups from this program. have already formed, as the Proclaimer is a very effective tool. Before, people Before the listening programs began in gathered irregularly because there was my region, the people were only able to no local pastor in their community to support and encourage one another support them. If they heard about a through prayer. Now that they are able pastor visiting another community, they to listen to the Bible in their language, would go there to listen to the teaching. they are remembering Scripture and are Often, they would hear false teaching, or able to encourage each other with both be deceived by a cult. They didn t know the Word and prayer. God s Word truly truth because they didn t have the brings great comfort. They didn t know truth because they didn t have the Scriptures. Now they do. Scriptures. Now they do. - Bao, Mandarin Speaker, China Because Scripture is being played in our language, and we are discussing what we hear in a group environment, people are coming every week because they don t want to miss anything. Most of the people are middle-aged or older living in rural villages. They have little or no education and many cannot read. Listening to the Bible in dramatized form is very special. It helps the people to FY2017 ALL-TIME 42 254 12,725,530 3 billion 16,831 322,244 1.5 million 29 million Page 10 Faith Comes By Hearing Annual Report 2017 Page 11
It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world. John 4:42 EURASIA/MIDDLE EAST I was told about Jesus, but I did not receive Him. I turned to another religion and was put in a Russian prison for my beliefs. After prison, I returned to Azerbaijan and joined a very strict sect of the religion. I thought this was the very right way of God. I was ready to die for God s sake. Together with my friends, we often attacked some Christians that we knew and would beat them. We did our best to mock and insult them. We thought this was the way of serving God. We were taught that this was the right thing to do to shed Christian s blood. I always prayed to God and asked for an opportunity to kill a Christian. I met another person who was telling people about Jesus. I said to him, Return to my religion, while it is not too late, or you all will be killed. I propagated my beliefs, and he would tell me about Jesus. We did not have a good conversation, but he gave me an apparatus and told me to listen to it. He looked at me and said, If you have a question we can meet again. I listened to the apparatus, called a Mini Proclaimer, at home and was influenced strongly. I had many questions and contacted the man who gave it to me. We spent all night talking about Jesus Christ and His sacrifice for the sins of the world. After that I understood that Jesus is truly the Savior. My old friends started to threaten me with death. They severely beat me and broke my rib, but I will not turn away from the Truth. They are trying to do their best to turn me away from Jesus. Even if they kill me, I will continue to testify to them that Jesus is the Savior. - Ahmed, Arab Speaker, Middle East FY2017 18 46,895,493 11,394 1 million ALL-TIME 79 1.5 billion 29,301 2.6 million Page 12 Faith Comes By Hearing Annual Report 2017 Page 13
RENDER THE RENDER PROCESS And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. Genesis 45:7 As the world celebrated the 2016 Render projects are currently Olympic Games in Brazil, another great underway, bringing translated and celebration was occurring in this recorded Scripture to people sooner country. In June, the first oral Bible rather than later. After two weeks of translation project launched using Render. Developed in partnership with Pioneer translating and recording the story of Joseph, the Ma di South speakers in Uganda (pictured above) are now able to hear it using SD cards on their A speaker hears a Scripture passage in another language that they understand. The speaker translates and records the same passage in their language. Bible Translators and Seed Company, mobile phones. Render is a software and methodology designed with the oral communicator There are eight Render projects at its heart. It is helping address the currently underway in Asia, Africa, and Bible void that currently exists among the Americas. Your faithful partnership the remaining 1,800 language ensures more Render projects will be communities that have no written or on the horizon. recorded translation. Peer review, community testing, and consultant checking occurs. The people listen to this passage using various tools, such as SD cards on their mobile phones or Proclaimers. Page 14 Faith Comes By Hearing Annual Report 2017 Page 15
MILITARY BIBLESTICK we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. Romans 8:37 Serve. It is what our military members During the last year, more than 5,000 I am coming back into the arms of the One soldier in particular received a and veterans do. Some of them make churches and numerous individuals Father who has never forsaken me. This Military BibleStick and never used it the ultimate sacrifice in the line of responded to the call to help equip Audio Bible came right on time because until nine months later when he called duty. Others, struggling with Post our military and VA chaplains with I had been contemplating suicide. his wife on his birthday and they got Traumatic Stress Disorder, continue to Military BibleSticks. Over 60% of the into a heated argument. He had gone fight long after their military service churches that supported the program - Sara, US Air Force back to his bunk and saw his BibleStick has ended. have made it a continual part of their lying there. He listened to it for a couple annual giving. Thank you for your On the plane transporting us to of hours and then called his wife back. During FY2017, nearly 140,000 military commitment to this program that is basecamp, we handed out Military He apologized to her and told her he heroes received Military BibleSticks. providing a life-giving tool to our BibleSticks to the soldiers. Throughout understood that God really loved and We thank God for opening a warriors and veterans. the deployment, we were attacked cared for them. significant door with Veterans many times and saw how the soldiers Administration (VA) facilities across the relied on God s grace and their faith in I know all of this because his surviving country, allowing the program to Him to pull them through. The wife told me at a fallen soldiers expand to VA chaplains. BibleSticks were so useful, as they were remembrance ceremony one year later. small enough to be packed and used That last conversation over the phone in during missions where soldiers had to which they were able to reconcile had maneuver in darkness or simply couldn t been their last. Less than six hours after read while traveling. that call we were hit with multiple IEDs and lost many soldiers. He was one of them. FY2017 PARTNERING CHAPLAINS 214 PARTNERING CHURCHES 5,401 SERVICE MEMBERS REACHED 139,916 ALL TIME: PARTNERING CHAPLAINS 1,886 PARTNERING CHURCHES 10,890 SERVICE MEMBERS REACHED 792,708 - Chaplain, US Army Page 16 Faith Comes By Hearing Annual Report 2017 Page 17
DIGITAL BIBLE PLATFORM GLOBAL BIBLE NETWORK Having a Bible is one thing. Engaging with it is something else altogether. The Digital Bible Platform creates connections with digital Bible content (text, audio, and video) to increase engagement with God s Word. Bible.is app Internet radio Podcasts Partner websites and apps Millions of people around the world are listening to God's Word in their language on their digital device! I'm experiencing some severe challenges in life right now. Health issues, facing homelessness, and unable to function due to disabilities from a rear-end collision. It's made it very hard to sit and focus; my times of reading and quiet times have been tough. I've felt as if I couldn't breathe. However, life continues, and I can't figure out how to move with it anymore, and the grave won't take me. My friend called this morning to check on me. She told me that when she gets weary like this having a Bible app on her phone that will read to her helps and suggests I do the same. I listened to Psalms 91-94 just now and I can almost feel the oxygen filling my lungs again. Starting tomorrow, before I try getting up for the day I'm going to be listening to your app. I need to be on life support... Bible.is. Thank you! - Rikki, a Bible.is User Despite the amazing advances being made in communications technology, an estimated 3 billion people still live in areas where access to the Internet is unreliable or restricted by the government. However, many of these same people own cell phones even smart phones. The Global Bible Network has been designed to make digital Bible content available to people who own cell phones but lack consistent access to the Internet. Following an extensive research and development stage, this past year produced two major initiatives: Global Bible App: Faith Comes By Hearing is working with SIL International, using Scripture App Builder to create a series of region- and languagespecific Bible apps containing Scripture and the ability to share directly with other cell phones without the need to connect to the Internet. Global Bible Hub: A ground-based relay unit that can be placed in any populated area, using a private connection to transmit an Audio Bible and Global Bible App to mobile phones. Global Bible Hubs and micro-sd cards containing the Global Bible App will be deployed all over the world with an emphasis on the 10/40 Window in order to start a truly viral, organic spread of Scripture from person to person. Your investments in the Global Bible Network will make Scripture available to millions of people around the world who otherwise may never hear of the saving power of Jesus Christ. Page 18 Faith Comes By Hearing Annual Report 2017 Page 19
STRATEGICALLY UTILIZING YOUR STEWARDSHIP April 1, 2016 - March 31, 2017 0.73% 99.27% REVENUE CONTRIBUTIONS OTHER 6.22% 6.17% $ 21,231,800 21,077,400 154,400 BIBLE LISTENING 51,000+ AFRICA AMERICAS 25.8% 19.7% ASIA / PACIFIC 32.5% EURASIA / MIDDLE EAST 22% 87.61% EXPENSES $ 18,610,800 $ 16,305,000 FUNDRAISING $ 1,147,600 MANAGEMENT AND GENERAL $ 1,158,200 MILITARY BIBLESTICKS 140,000 MILITARY PERSONNEL VETERANS 73.52% 26.48% BIBLE 107 AFRICA AMERICAS 25.8% 19.7% ASIA / PACIFIC 32.5% EURASIA / MIDDLE EAST 22% Faith Comes By Hearing has been a top-rated charity with Charity Navigator for ten consecutive years. Page 20 Faith Comes By Hearing Annual Report 2017 Page 21
PARTNERSHIP God loves unity. We are very thankful to all of our partners who are helping to spread God s Word around the world. Each ministry has unique giftings, and all are coming together to ensure that the light of Jesus Christ shines bright. Faith Comes By Hearing is honored to work with more than 300 field partners, 100+ Bible Societies, 88 translation organizations, and 42 recording teams from 19 different countries. These include: THANK YOU First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. - Romans 1:8 Teenagers collecting donations to support an Audio Bible listening program in Africa. Individual donors providing the seed funding for new recording technology. A single mom giving monthly to wherever funding is most needed. Foundations giving to ensure God s Word is recorded in another language. Churches partnering to get a Military BibleStick into the hands of a warrior or veteran. Thank you for giving to Faith Comes By Hearing. Each of you plays a vital role in getting God s Word to everyone everywhere in their heart language. Through your faithful prayers and great generosity, God s Word is being recorded in many languages and proclaimed throughout the nations. Bouni Barupu Lun Bawang Pahanan Agta Akawaio Azerbaijani, South Arop-Sissano Dayak Ma'anyan Khakas Juang Coastal Kadazan Koryak Ewe, Ghana Basketo Bete-Bendi Bum Central Eastern Fulfulde Central Buang Kyanga Lubwisi Central Ifugao Chukchi Bantoanon Beembe Mro-Khimi Chin Chuvash Dagaare Didinga Fon Logo Elhomwe Maasina Fulfulde Kalagan Eastern Khanty Bouni Pou Alune Bisã Balkar Kiribati Garab Ewondo Itelmen Bantoanon Evenki Niger Hungarian Kishambala Loko Kutu Lak Luang Page 22 Faith Comes By Hearing Annual Report 2017 Page 23
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