Biking for Bible Translation
Ed Speyers had a vision to take his love for cycling across the country for Vision 2025. About the same time, Doug Haag had been praying for a way to take his exercise regimen to a new level.
Imagine the response when Ed approached Doug at a Wycliffe event in early 2006 asking him if he would be interested in joining the cycling expedition.
“It was a crazy idea,” Doug said later, “but I knew deep down...I had to be a part of it.”
After some brainstorming and a few phone calls, Doug and Ed joined up with WHEEL POWER Christian Cyclists, a home missions organization based out of Lynchburg, Virginia. WHEEL POWER had been leading regional and cross-country bicycle trips for more than 15 years and was planning to make its next trip from Los Angeles, California, to Lynchburg, Virginia.
The biking organization invited Doug and Ed to join this September 2007 trip. With Wycliffe’s blessing (and with the blessing of their wives!) the men eagerly accepted.
THE DAY APPROACHES
In 2006 when Doug and Ed began planning their bike tour, it was simply a dream. Now that the fall of 2007 is here, the dream has become a reality. Not only were Doug and Ed invited to join the group, but they also have been encouraged to use the 3,000-mile, 40-day event as a promotional tool to raise awareness for Bible translation.
During their trip across the States, Doug and Ed will take every opportunity to speak to individuals, churches and other groups about the importance of Bible translation and about the opportunities that exist within Wycliffe.
Biking and raising awareness will be a very challenging part of the 40-day trek across the country. But it will not be the only part. The bikers are also praying that God will help them raise funds for a project that would make translated Scripture immediately accessible for two people groups in Guatemala. (Wycliffe is dedicated to not only seeing God’s Word accessible to all people in their heart language but also to seeing it accessible in a form that is culturally relevant. For more than half the world’s population c
onsidered to be non-literate, that form is audio.)
The partner organization Doug and Ed will raise funds for Faith Comes by Hearing (FCBH), an organization that is dedicated to dramatize, record and distribute every New Testament that Wycliffe completes. The professional-quality audio recordings FCBH produces break down the literacy barrier and allow the hearer immediate access to the life-changing power of God’s Word.
AN ANSWER TO PRAYER
Recently, God began answering part of the bikers’ prayers by creating a way for the audio-recording funds to be raised even more quickly. As preparations were being made for the 40-day trip, a friend of Wycliffe heard about Doug and Ed’s bike tour and came forward with a $25,000 matching grant. Because of this grant, each dollar an individual gives will be matched (up to $25,000), doubling the funds raised for producing translated Scripture recordings.
Crazy idea or not, Doug and Ed’s bike tour began on September 19. If you would like to have a part in this adventure, you can give to the Scripture recording project, visit the bike tour's online blog or pray for the people groups who will receive the audio recorded Scripture in their language. As Ed and Doug spread the word of Wycliffe across the country, God will mobilize his people to spread HIS Word around the world.
More:
Read updates from Doug as they cycle across the cross-country route. You can also track their progress as they bike across the country.
Ed Speyers along with his wife Linda and two sons, spent 20 years translating Scripture in the Suriname Javanese language. Their New Testament, dedicated in March 2000, was the 500th with Wycliffe involvement. Ed and Linda, now serve as Wycliffe recruiters in Michigan. Hear Ed Speyers talk about the impact of translation
Doug Haag gave up his dream to fly to answer God’s call to ministry. Six months later as a Bible school student, he learned about mission aviation for the first time. The dream was fulfilled in Papua New Guinea where he logged more than 1,300 hours of flight time serving Bible translation with his wife and two daughters. Doug and his wife, Jo, now serve with Wycliffe USA in Orlando, Florida.