Post 113 / The Next Language
October 25, 2022
Reset
[1Co 11:25-26 KJV] 25 …this do ye, as oft as ye drink [it], in remembrance of me. 26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.
As finite humans it is necessary that we periodically look back. That injunction in the New Testament does not come with a prescribed frequency but it does not come with any other uncertainty. It must be done and it must be focused on Jesus and the cross.
Since the Lord called me back to the mission of unrecorded languages there have been a few bends in the road that required a reset.
The first major one was when I realized that the mission was not just the unrecorded languages of Colombia but of the whole world. That happened when I was shifted from an independent contract recordist to the Director of GRNUSA in 2019.
A shift on a similar scale happened in 2021 when the Board assigned me to this two year world training trip focusing on training and mobilizing recording activities. To date the Board has affirmed their gratitude for that effort but the two years are coming to an end. That prompted the Director’s Statement that I put out the day before leaving Tucson and which I copy below.
October 15, 2022
Director’s Statement
Staff, volunteers, and partners with GRNUSA
As we approach the conclusion of my two year assignment to train and mobilize recording projects around the world and more particularly in Mexico, Nigeria, and Indonesia it is necessary to look to how things are going to work going into the future after February, 2023.
The board and I are in agreement that directing the mission from the other side of the world is less than ideal. It would not have been even remotely possible without the loyal and faithful support of Interim Assistant Director John Steinmetz and Operations Director Dan Rulison. We owe a lot to them both.
Because of the need to move into a more normal, effective style of leadership in the USA I am announcing my intent to step aside as Executive Director as soon as there is a new Director to phase in. We pray that can happen on or before the February annual meeting. I encourage the board to accelerate measures to directly search for our next director by reaching out to staff and beyond to locate the person God has prepared for this job.
I am praying that this will happen in a timely fashion that will allow me to continue managing recording projects focusing on the world’s heaviest concentrations of unrecorded languages. Indonesia is the immediate focus but Mexico and Nigeria are already performing with promising new recordists and recording outreaches. I am returning next week to Indonesia to move forward with the partnerships that may give us a number of new young people to focus on recording at least 1000 unrecorded dialects in that country.
Despite budget limitations, the board has graciously put up matching money for next year’s budget toward the recording projects and we will prayerfully be seeking donors whose gifts will be matched and so supplement and, by God’s grace, exceed the seed money carved out of our own assets.
God Bless,
Larry DeVilbiss | Executive Director
Global Recordings Network USA
If you are interested in learning how to share links on social media that will promote use of our recordings and the Gospel in general, please contact RolandHeck@GlobalRecordings.Net