by Maxine Carlson, adapted from previously published sources

At the annual BI meeting in August, we began officially celebrating BI’s 25th year of ministry. During one session, Maxine Carlson, wife of former BI Director Fred Carlson, presented a comprehensive review of all that God has done for and through BI in these 25 years. We thought you would appreciate reading a condensed version of that review, so that you might rejoice with us in God’s provision.

The early Bible societies maintained a strong commitment to the inerrancy of the Scriptures, holding to a plenary, verbal view of inspiration. As time went on, some Bible societies began, however, to redefine their mission, change their view of the Scriptures, or work only for large language groups. Other groups, while holding to the historic, conservative belief about biblical inspiration and philosophy of translation, neglected the linguistics of the receptor languages.

In the early l980’s, God simultaneously burdened Baptist Mid-Missions (BMM) missionaries on three continents with the need for a conservative Bible translation ministry. The Field Council of the Central African Republic proposed a new Bible society. In India, Dr. James Garlow shared with Rev. Gobin Singh his burden for that nation of 1600 languages, many of which had no Scriptures in their tongues. (Rev. Singh later coined the name “Bibles International.”) And in the U.S., BMM President Dr. Allan Lewis asked Rev. Paul Versluis to explore with him the possibility of forming a new Bible society. Rev. Versluis’s prior work in India had prepared his heart for just such a ministry.

In July l98l, the BMM General Council officially formed Bibles International and appointed Rev. Versluis as its founding director. Rev. Versluis and his wife, Genella, began the BI ministry in the basement of their Grand Rapids home. The location soon shifted to a one-room office on Plainfield Avenue. The Versluises coordinated the work of
translators abroad, raised funds for printing Bibles and paying translators, distributed Bible-shape banks to U.S. churches, and contracted to have the prepared manuscripts typset, printed, and distributed to the waiting people.

The very first New Testament BI published in l98l was for the Makushi Indians in northern Brazil. It had been translated by Ross and Cathy Hodsdon and their Makushi helpers. The first computerized preparation of Bible text for printing was Ghana’s Waalii New Testament in l982. Rev. Versluis then recruited volunteers from area churches and students from Grand Rapids Baptist College to digitize text for India’s Paite New Testament.
For some years Fred and Maxine Carlson prayed for God’s direction into a literature ministry. They became aware of the Paite project, its connection with Bibles International, and of Rev. Versluis’s need for a manager. In l984, the Carlsons joined the fledgling ministry to assist in its management and development.

At the same time, Dr. Henry Osborn was teaching missions and serving as acting dean at Grand Rapids Baptist College, while his wife Anne taught reading in the Grand Rapids Public Schools. They had been church-planting linguists with BMM in Venezuela, translating the Warao NT. When they saw the possibilities with Bibles International, they felt led of God to return to their first love. In l984, they, too, were reappointed by the General Council to work with BI as language and literacy consultants.

To house his growing team, Rev. Versluis rented (for $l a year) a portable classroom to use for office space on the GRBBC campus. The old structure had neither restrooms nor running water (unless you counted the water that ran through leaks in the roof), but with plastic to cover the computers and with other campus locations providing restroom facilities and a place to make coffee, those problems were solved. A back room housed the new main computer “whose disk memory,” we boasted, “could hold an entire Bible text!” The little building, however, soon became inadequate for the growing ministry, and the college needed the ground under it for other purposes. God provided, and in August of l985 Bibles International moved to its own building at 3120 Leonard Street. This facility met the needs of the growing ministry for 13 years.

Forming a Bible society required more than occupying office space. Guiding principles and policies were thought through, approved, and published. A process to identify worthy potential projects was established. National translator training and oversight procedures were put in place. Programs, materials, publications, and visuals were developed to create a support constituency and gather funds. BI staff members visited churches to introduce BI and to recruit their support teams.

By 1997, the Leonard Street office had been overcrowded for a number of years, and God provided the current facility on 36th Street. Within two years of its purchase, the building was debt-free.

Director Fred Carlson retired in 1999, and Rev. Hantz Bernard was appointed his successor in 2000. Rev. Bernard was not new to BI. He began in 1990 as the national Haitian translator for the BI Creole New Testament. Upon completion of that task, he began serving as an adjunct translation consultant in 1996.

In these first 25 years, God has allowed BI to publish 18 New Testaments, 2 complete Bibles, and numerous Scripture portions and literacy materials. Our international staff has never and will never gather in one place at one time. But one day we will all gather around the throne of God, comprising those from every tribe and nation. Until then, we
look to God for His direction to do His work with His Word. May His glory be the result.