The Vision: 100 Languages in One Year

No Greater Joy Ministries is Michael and Debi Pearl sharing our lives and doing the thing we love, telling one more person the good news of family joy. We Pearls are and were missionaries long before we were “child trainers.” Our vision has always been to tell the whole world about Jesus. We have continued to do that in ways you never hear about. Deb and I are thrilled to be engaged in the most colossal outreach of our lives. We are taking the gospel to the whole world. Let me tell you how it came about.

When our daughter, Rebekah, was a missionary in Papua New Guinea, she struggled to communicate the gospel to a tribal people whose language she was still in the process of learning. In time we printed Bibles in the trade language and distributed them, but a Bible is no good if there is no interest in its message. Just look at all the unread Bibles in America. Through other missionaries, we learned of the chronological approach, with the missionary using simple line drawn illustrations, something like what you see in a child’s coloring book. It works great, but it has to be accompanied by a missionary. God gave us a vision of producing the Bible story from Genesis to Revelation in a self-propagating format that has legs of its own.

Some people told us that we were reinventing the wheel. There are many illustrated Bible story books on the market, some in the major Asian languages. Yes, we contacted them. Their pricing was prohibitive, the number of languages limited. The contents were sometimes childish and the art just plain boring. We wanted to be able to give a missionary the rights to publish by the millions and to translate into any language. So, “If you want it done right…”

God led us to a world famous artist who had retired from Marvel Comics, and we hired him full time for three years. Then came the shading and bubbles and text entry and proofing. Now, after seven years and more than $200,000, the finished book is already being translated into over 25 languages, with a goal of 100 languages by 2008.

We have large team already placed in Asia. Rather than wait on overtaxed missionaries to do the translation, we are hiring professional translators to do the initial work, which will then be tweaked by missionaries and national Christians. In most Asian countries, we can have the initial translation done for as little as $150.00. Of course, that is only the first of several steps. We have purchased computers and programs, rented buildings, and placed both American and National computer operators behind desks to drop the translated text into the bubbles and work with the translators in proofing the finished product. We have already done research on printing in some of the countries, and it is much cheaper than here in the States. We can have this 312 page book printed overseas for less than one dollar per book. Think of it – a faithful missionary for less than one dollar!

Good and Evil is a bold missionary. It can squeeze its way into closed countries where missionaries are not allowed. Its fantastic art, done in the tradition of Marvel Comics by one of their best artists, will make it popular where other gospel literature would be rejected or destroyed. You can walk up to a Muslim or Buddhist street vendor and give him a box of these books and he will sell them, not caring that they advocate Christianity. After all, profit first.  These little missionary books will keep telling the message over and over again as they lie around waiting for someone else to pick them up. In many cases a single copy will be read by as many as 100 people. That would be just one cent per person to communicate the message of Christ. 

It is our mission to send these little paper missionaries forth into every little nook and cranny on the globe, that every man, woman, and child may hear the good news of Jesus Christ. To that end, it is our vision to translate Good & Evil into 100 languages in one year.  This is no easy task, but neither is it an unreachable goal.

Deb and I have never asked anyone to give us money. We do not request or expect an offering when we go to speak. God has supplied all our needs without us talking about “living by faith.” No Greater Joy Ministries is a non-profit ministry, a 501(c)(3) organization. With the sales of materials and the gifts we receive we are always in the black, having enough left over to be able to give free material to prisoners, military personnel and their families, and to support missionaries with literature. Again, the ministry does not solicit funds to operate.

But now I am going to ask you to give to this translation and printing project. The English publication supports itself and then some, but we are going to need millions of dollars to translate and publish this book in the languages of the earth. As things stand, we will continue to forge ahead with translation, but additional funds will enable us to move ahead much faster. Our books continue to be open to those who wish to examine how we spend our money. We are accountable to God, to our auditors, to the government, and to you. If you have the means to participate in this project, designate your gift to “Translation” and every cent will go into foreign translation, printing, and distribution.

Untold millions will soon be told.

Return to the Good & Evil Project Page