A Unique Opportunity with Wycliffe in Nigeria

  Tom Buratovich, the pastor of Porterville’s Grand Avenue Methodist church, had a unique experience this summer when he was invited by Ron Radke, a missionary with Wycliffe Bible Translators, to attend a three week consulting workshop in Jos, Nigeria.    

   While there, Pastor Tom worked with a team of three men along with his friend and mentor, Ron, as a Maya language consultant for the translation of the New Testament book of Revelation. While he had studied music, literature and classical languages such as Greek and Latin in college, this was the first time he had ever served as a consultant to a translation team.

   Tom and Ron would suggest various ideas to the men who spoke the Maya language and after much discussion they would all agree on something that checked out with the original intent of the particular scripture. For example, since the country is inland and has no access to the ocean, the word “island” had to be expressed as a “mountain in the water.” Nigerians were familiar with lakes which had islands.

    Not having had any prior experience with the culture or language, he found that trying to express words in images or concepts which could be easily understood by the Maya people was enlightening as well as challenging. One benefit was that Pastor Tom began reading the Bible in a new way, asking “what does that mean?” instead of taking it for granted.

   The typical daily schedule was: 8:00 a.m. devotional time with all of the different teams at the headquarters; 9:00-10:00 “structural translation” topics; 10:30 tea break; 11:00-1:00 check translations; 1:00 lunch. The rest of the day was spent in more translation checking, meetings and preparations for the next day. Saturdays were often spent catching up so that the entire book of Revelation would be finished in three weeks.

    On Sundays, Tom went into the large city of Jos (population one million) to attend church, which was an adventure too, with longer services and more offerings than what he was used to, and exuberant dancing. “The Nigerians inspired me by their unbridled passion for worship. They are completely in awe of the God who has saved them and offer themselves in song with an abandon the western mainline church has lost. I was so glad to have discovered it here.”

   Tom was also inspired by the risks the national translators take. “Nigerian Christians have so much to teach us.  Some of them suffer a lot and do it graciously.” One pastor who was present shared that his church had been burned down six times. Several of the nationals agreed that they had to go to the predominately Muslim villages in the northern part of the country to share the gospel because “otherwise the people there would die without knowing Jesus.” It was humbling to witness their extreme forgiveness and desire to evangelize.

   This experience greatly impacted Tom’s life. “It showed me that God is able to use you for what you have been called to do. I was able to perform at peak level, because of His working. He brought together the right people in the right place at the right time.”

     Thanks to Pastor Tom for making himself available! And thanks to God that the Maya people will now have the book of Revelation available to read in their “heart” language!

“If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.”  James1:5 NIV