July 3, 2025
How do we bring to bear the full power of prayer to deal with the unseen forces of darkness on the mission field? Greg Pruett offers seven tools for spiritual warfare.
November 28, 2022
Dave Butts, 69, who started Harvest Prayer Ministries with his wife, Kim, in 1993, died Saturday morning, Nov. 26. He served in full-time prayer ministry for almost 30 years.
November 1, 2021
By Greg Pruett Consider the chaotic world around you. You might conclude we live in dark times. But in the less visible world of God’s kingdom, this could be God’s finest hour! We live in that historic moment when God’s Word will soon reach every language community on earth. In the 1940s, the visionary originators of the Bible-translation movement first started gaining traction with the idea that everyone should have Scripture in their own language. They had no idea the coming generations would document more than 7,300 languages in the world. Brave men and women gave their lives in rural
October 24, 2020
By David Empson The church in America could learn much from how foreign missionaries persevered during the coronavirus while continuing to advance the cause of Christ. In early April, I received an email update from sisters Megan and Michelle Moss, missionaries serving in Tanzania. At the time, most Americans were still homebound and wrestling with internet issues, virtual meetings, and restaurant withdrawal. Mostly, we were wondering how long this pandemic would last. The Mosses wrote: ________ Many times, as missionaries, we really need you to be there for us. But right now, we’re seeing how God has equipped us in
The Key Elements to Making Your Time Together More Effective By David Roadcup Effective elders’ meetings are an important part of a healthy leadership culture. Our meetings should be organized times of fellowship, powerful prayer, communication, and decision-making. The focus of elders’ meetings should be on the shepherding of staff and the business matters of the congregation. Elders’ meetings can be extremely fruitful and enjoyable, or they can be hours of torment and wandering in the wilderness. It all depends on planning and on the leader of the meeting (the elder chairman) and lead minister working together for the best
October 1, 2019
By Greg Pruett When Al Hamilton was founding Pioneer Bible Translators in the early 1970s, William and Robin Butler were among the first missionaries he recruited. Al had heard William explaining a Greek assignment to a friend in the campus bookstore and, on his way out the door, tapped William on the shoulder and whispered in his ear, “Sounds like you would make a good Bible translator.” That comment planted an enduring seed. In 1975, at a snowy National Missionary Convention in St. Louis, William and his fiancée, Robin True, went forward to give their lives to the work of
November 1, 2018
How to share Scripture with immigrants in their language By Greg Pruett Weary from a long trip, I was tempted to ignore the Uber driver on my way home from the airport, but then I remembered missionaries are supposed to share the gospel. (Actually, we’re all supposed to do that!) A little reluctantly, I asked the man, “Where are you from?” “I’m from Dallas,” he responded. I could tell the story was more nuanced than that, so I probed a bit more: “Where are your parents from?” His answer intrigued me: “Ethiopia.” “What languages do you speak?” “I speak
By David Roadcup An elder’s job description includes numerous responsibilities. Teaching, managing, leading a small group, attending meetings, listening, and making decisions fill an elder’s time. Two of the most important responsibilities an elder can fulfill are in modeling a life of prayer and leading his church in a powerful, impacting, and continuing prayer experience. Prayer is the greatest untapped source of power in the life of the church today. God calls his leaders to prayer. It is important that the church leadership team—paid staff and elders—be in constant contact with our Father. In warfare, every military battlefield commander knows
October 31, 2017
By Greg Pruett It was my first day on the job back in 1994, and I was eager to get started. I walked onto the West African scene fully trained to translate the Bible””tomes of knowledge about Greek, linguistics, and missiology crammed into my mind. But when the sun rose on my first workday at Pioneer Bible Translators, my mentor didn”t escort me to a desk to show me how to translate. Instead, he walked me over to a well he had hand-dug for the village to show these Muslim people the love of Christ, and we started troubleshooting a
November 12, 2015
By Mike Schrage Go and make disciples. This 2,000-year-old command from Jesus is just as compelling and encompassing as ever. It”s a command for obedience. It”s a command for commitment. What must we do today to obey the command? Robert Coleman said, “Evangelism is not an optional accessory to our life. It is the heartbeat of all that we were called to be and do.”1 How”s the American church doing with this command to go and make disciples? Let me share a heart that”s full of concern for the bride of Christ found within our nation”s borders. We”re living in
By Reggie Hundley The 2014 International Conference On Missions (ICOM) was an outstanding gathering. Dave Butts, president of Harvest Prayer Ministries and the 2014 ICOM, selected “Vertical” as the theme for the 2014 gathering, and it permeated every level of activity. Butts wrote, “So much of missions is horizontally focused and rightly so. But if we want maximum impact horizontally we need to start with a vertical focus. It”s all about Jesus.” Scripture repeatedly emphasizes the need for a vertical focus. For example, Hebrews 12:1, 2: “Let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do
November 15, 2014
We asked five missions leaders in the Christian churches to answer several key questions about missions progress, obstacles, and opportunities: Reggie Hundley is executive director of Missions Services Association, Knoxville, Tennessee. Doug Lucas is president of Team Expansion, Louisville, Kentucky. Doug Priest is executive director of Christian Missionary Fellowship, Indianapolis, Indiana. Greg Pruett is president of Pioneer Bible Translators, Dallas, Texas. Tony Twist is president of TCM International Institute, Indianapolis, Indiana. What are the most hopeful signs regarding international, cross-cultural evangelism you see in our movement today? Greg Pruett: Many are valuing working among the unreached peoples of the world,
February 21, 2012
By Jennifer Taylor Pioneer Bible Translators (Founded 1976) 7255 West Camp Wisdom Road, Dallas, TX 75236 www.pioneerbible.org Greg Pruett, President Pioneer Bible Translators does not exist just to translate the Bible. Instead, its mission is “discipling the Bible-less,” a holistic approach that includes working with native people groups, developing literacy, investing in the community, and planting churches. “The end goal is not just translated Scripture, but churches using Scripture,” says President Greg Pruett. “We consider a project completed only when we have helped to create networks of growing believers and multiplying churches.” The ministry began with a vision to combine the
November 27, 2010
By Greg Pruett For the great majority of the world, if we and our partners continue at the current rate, all the remaining Bible translation projects will begin during the next 20 years. The Land Cruiser was bouncing to a halt when the sound wave poured into the vehicle. We thought we had arrived unannounced to speak with one of the few churches among the Kono people of West Africa. But this struggling flock had already heard of Pioneer Bible Translators” interest in their language, and somehow they knew we were coming. They rolled out the red carpet for us. Generator-powered
November 29, 2009
by Russell Johnson More people are coming to Christ today than at any time since the resurrection. A sense of urgency has gripped the hearts of many leaders praying, “God give us your vision for this mission . . . “. Many astute observers of Christian history are convinced the Restoration Movement is on the threshold of a worldwide impact. National Missionary Convention Director Dave Empson and key leaders across America recently began a collaboration to share Jesus with all peoples. Beginning in 2010, “Restoration Revolution” is a 10-year kingdom venture that will focus on four arteries of mission
November 29, 2009
by Greg Pruett From my house I could see the column of flame and cinders rising like a superheated tornado threatening to devour the whole village of grass huts. Two homes already blazed white-hot””competing with the intensity of the West African sun as the whole community stood helplessly wailing in distress. Men desperately dismantled nearby structures to contain the inferno and keep the rest of the village from burning. I gaped at the sight of my terrified friends weeping, but my mind kept wandering over to the tanks of water I had been storing up at my house less
September 27, 2009
by Greg Pruett I could hear my neighbor wailing, I just didn”t know why. My wife and I had just started our missionary career in a West African village, moving into a dusty tin-roofed shack that could have doubled as a solar oven. We found someone who could explain to us in French that our neighbor”s son was dying. When we saw the child, he was lying on the beaten earth floor of a grass-roofed hut, his breathing labored, pupils fixed and dilated. Despair crept into us as we realized he might not live long. I remember standing over
June 14, 2009
By Greg Pruett I cocked my ear to one side, straining to understand the faint yelping I was hearing as I blinked a drop of West African dust and sweat out of my eye. I instinctively moved into the high grass to investigate and found a young boy with a long switch relentlessly whipping a starving puppy to near death. I tried to tell him not to do that, but my first week of language learning just wasn”t enough. The boy”s eyes betrayed no shame. Nobody had ever told him the simplest lesson of Genesis my Sunday school teacher
January 4, 2009
By Greg Pruett The room was a bit dark, and the West African sun had baked my sandaled feet to match the fine red dust clinging to my skin. I couldn”t help but appreciate my host as I enjoyed the hospitality of the couch in his small, tin-roofed home. Omar had a gentle spirit about him as he asked his earnest question: “How can I get the prophets of the Bible to be my intercessor on the Day of Judgment?” My reply was rehearsed, “The Bible says that only one man can be the intercessor: “˜For there is one God
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