When I was 66 years old (that was 20 years ago!), I retired after pastoring the First Baptist Church for 35 years. Then, God laid on my heart to start First Bible International under the umbrella of Bearing Precious Seed. Our first translation project has been the complete Mongolian Bible. After 20 years, on March 9, 2025, Dr. Patterson, our head translator, presented me with the first draft of the Mongolian Bible. Editing work must still be done before production is ready, but the translation phase is completed. First Bible International was founded to get Bibleless people their first Bible. Like Paul recounting his three missionary journeys, I would like to celebrate this whole Bible translation with a review of the twenty-year journey. So many of you have traveled with me from the beginning, helping with prayer counsel and bearing the huge financial burden.

Paul recounted his missionary journeys, which included three voyages by ship visits to over 100 cities, 37 seaports, and three continents. He shared that he was beaten with rods three times, stoned once, and suffered a shipwreck three times. He faced dangers in water, from robbers, from his countrymen, from Gentiles, in cities, in the wilderness, at sea, and among false brethren. He experienced weariness and pain, sleepless nights, hunger and thirst, frequent fasting, cold, and exposure. And beyond all that, he carried the daily burden of care for the churches. Paul's summation of his life's work was, "I have fought a good fight, I have kept the faith, and there is now laid up for me a crown of righteousness… and not for me only, but for all them also that love His appearing."

In 1999, after learning that half the world was sitting in darkness without a church or a Bible, God laid on my heart to go to "the regions beyond," striving to preach the gospel where Christ was not named. At that time, our church committed to making the Great Commission our priority and solving any problem. The Great Commission became the hub around which all the spokes of our ministry would connect. It would not be our church's program but our church's priority. The first challenge we addressed was getting Bible publication back under the local church's authority. Historically, Bible publication was under the church until Gutenberg invented the printing press. We knew the upfront cost would be large, but with our equipment, we could eliminate the middleman and reduce the cost of a Bible by two-thirds or more.

The driving force wasn't just about cost but spiritual responsibility. We didn't believe it was biblical or reasonable for the world to control God's Word. We believed the church should be the steward. Like Moses receiving the law and entrusting it to faithful scribes, we believed in putting Scripture back in the hands of God's people. By God's grace and the generosity of His people, we built a large print shop and warehouse, installed two massive newspaper-sized roll-fed presses, built a bindery, and hired Christian staff to manage Scripture from translation to distribution. Inspired by my brother Randall's work with Royal Crown Cola, I saw the wisdom of centralized production with distributed assembly. So, we printed in-house and partnered with over 220 churches, our Seedline Churches, for assembly and distribution.

We believe the local church should be the world's largest producer and distributor of Bibles. With 20,000 fundamental churches in America, the opportunity is great. Our emphasis has always been world evangelism, specifically focusing on providing missionaries with Scriptures in native tongues—free of charge. Since starting Bearing Precious Seed in 1973, we've printed over a quarter billion portions of Scripture in 70 languages and 170 countries, thanks to your prayers and support.

The journey hasn't been without its challenges. We faced more difficulties than we anticipated and from unexpected places. But instead of dwelling on criticism, we pressed forward in faith, believing that time and truth would bring understanding. Our goal was to protect the inspiration of Scripture and its translation and publication. Eventually, some who initially opposed us became allies. Another problem was the lack of Bible translators. Christian colleges weren't training them because there was no demand, and translation wasn't a ministry priority. So, in 2020, we founded the First Bible School of Translation, a postgraduate school devoted solely to training Bible translators.

That brings us to today, our first completed effort by a local church to translate and publish the entire Mongolian Bible from the Masoretic Text and the Textus Receptus. Our mission remains church planting, which cannot happen without the Bible. Now, we need churches to raise men and women who will teach what the Bible is, what's in it, and what it's for. How else will they know? Like God sending prophets in the Old Testament to explain His Word, John to prepare the way for Christ or the apostles to testify of the New Testament, we also need men to guide others in understanding. As the Ethiopian eunuch said, "How can I, except some man, guide me?" Mongolia now has God's Word. What they need are men to explain it. We echo Isaiah's cry: "Whom shall we send, and who will go for us?"

We are looking for people with the Bible to teach those just receiving it. We're looking for pastors to challenge their congregations to consider Bible translation. My journey began in 1973 when I met Don Fraser, who convinced me to dedicate my life to bringing the Bible under the local church's authority and to the 7,000 unreached people groups. I did this alongside Carlos Demarest and Sam Caudill until 2002 when I realized that half the world didn't have a Bible, a church, or even the name of Jesus. The Holy Spirit made it clear that the rest of my life would be dedicated to getting Scripture to those people.

I stepped down from pastoring First Baptist Church of Milford and became what some call a "home missionary," working in the States but for international purposes. That's when I learned of Mongolia through the Cofers, missionaries in the region. Mongolia, the size of Rhode Island but with only three million people, captured my heart. While preaching for Dr. Johnny Pope in Houston, I met one of his deacons, lawyer Robert Painter. Robert and his wife Tonyua joined my journey and introduced me to the President of Mongolia. Over lunch, we discussed the importance of morality in democracy. Though a Buddhist, the President said he had read our New Testament at Harvard and saw no better moral foundation for his country. He agreed to help us, and he did.

Over the last 20 years, I've traveled across America, sharing the vision. Along the way, people from all walks of life joined in: a widow in a retirement home, a children's furniture factory owner, a scuba gear manufacturer, an auto wholesaler, a man from Alaskan Airlines, a father-and-son print shop duo who donated a press for Mongolia, and countless pastors. God also provided skilled shop workers, truck drivers, cargo shippers, and equipment specialists who bought machinery for pennies on the dollar. From the beginning, we committed to fulfilling the Great Commission and solving the problems that came with it. That included founding Seedline Churches to help with assembly, boxing, and shipping, just like car manufacturers who make parts in one place and assemble them in another. Last year alone, our Seedline Churches assembled over 11 million copies of John and Romans.

In conclusion, let me share our two-fold goal: first, to increase our production capabilities, and second, to encourage more churches to become printing churches or support those that are. The journey has been long, with many obstacles, but the fruit is eternal. And it's far from over.