News

Researchers estimate that, of the more than seven billion people in the world, 70% are oral learners. While one can argue with the numbers, even the most casual observer knows that people, regardless of language or culture, love a good story. Insights derived from oral culture studies have led multiple Christian mission agencies to have…

Sometimes we are asked how we decide on what projects we become involved in. The answer to that is not always straightforward. However, for the most part, the projects that we engage in are not things that we have sought out. Our projects have a way of coming to us. Since March of this year,…

One of the earliest goals we set was to build a growing catalog of materials that are linguistically simple, theologically clear, and biblically faithful. To this point in our history, we have written those materials ourselves. But we are increasingly seeing the potential to find resources that already meet the theological and biblical criteria but have a level…

It has been a long time since the world has seen a pandemic. And this one has seen an unprecedented response by people and nations around the globe. For us, it has meant following the “stay-at-home” protocols as recommended by governors and health professionals. While that has meant cancelling trips overseas and delaying conferences with…

It is not unusual, after a presentation, for us to get questions about what we do and why we do it? Why English? Why simple English? Here is part of the answer. In 2011, the U.S. Census Bureau released an interactive, online map pinpointing the vast array of languages spoken in homes across the nation….

Three weeks ago, we shared a report on a trip to Orlando, Florida. There, we met with Nebié Badiou, a church leader from Burkina Faso, who was in Florida doing an intensive English course. We also reported that, as a result of that trip, we began to discuss a new project. The project is not…

The Coronavirus has had many devastating effects on the world. Some of them have come directly from the sickness the virus causes. Other effects of the pandemic are not so straightforward. In many countries, the virus has had a domino effect. The poorer countries have once again seen how their capacity to provide adequate medical…

Clear and Simple Media has produced publications that are now in translation in 45 languages and are in use in at least 40 countries (that we know of). Since the beginning stages of the ministry, we have enjoyed watching how our books get to the places where they eventually end up. In early February, a…

Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success. Henry Ford In December, we sent our book, the Travel Guide to the Bible, to a translation team in Egypt. Their goal was to translate the book into Arabic by the end of April. Our most recent conversation with our contact for…

The last week in February saw the launch of our French website, A Simple Word (Vérité Simple), in Togo and Benin.  Our launch strategy involved investing in Facebook ads as a first contact. The ads offered a free book, “L’Historie de Dieu et Votre Historie” (God’s Story, Your Story), to all those who enter their…

Some weeks ago, we completed the Somali translation of our evangelical catechism. Soon after, we received the audio edition of both the more lengthy version of the book (Simple Truths for the New Believer) and the abbreviated version (God’s Story, Our Story) in Somali. We engaged in the work to assist a group of our…

Several months ago, Clear and Simple Media launched a test project with our friend and author, Dr. Larry Caldwell. Larry, for many years, was a missionary to the Philippines. Today, Larry is the Academic Dean of Sioux Falls Seminary in North Dakota. In 2016, Larry wrote a book titled Doing Bible Interpretation. We wanted to…

One of the surprises since launching Clear and Simple Media is seeing how our materials get to the places where they end up. We sometimes say that our first little book “escaped.” We began the ministry as a project for Vietnam and a few tribal languages. Soon, we started hearing from missionaries who asked if…

One of the first publications we produced through Clear and Simple Media was Simple Truths. We first developed this small evangelical catechism to assist church planters in Vietnam to train new believers. Since the book was first published, it has been translated into more than forty languages and is being used in multiple countries around…

Good news travels fast it seems. One week go, we shipped the first 100 copies of the Spanish translation of our book Travel Guide to the Bible (Guia del Viajero Biblico). Pastor Isaí Galdámez of California had worked diligently this past year to complete the translation, so we thought it fitting that he should receive…

Clear and Simple Media began with a simple goal. We wanted to put tools into the hands of grass-roots church planters to help them disciple their people – especially new believers. We focused our initial endeavors on house church pastors in Vietnam. Now, more than forty languages later, our work has expanded in ways we…

Our contact in Burkina Faso, Nebié Badiou, is currently in Orlando, Florida. While there, he is doing an intensive English course sponsored by CRU (Campus Crusade) for many of their International Leaders. Since Nebié was in the United States (much easier to get to than West Africa), we felt that it was essential to connect…

As more people and organizations find out about our material, they frequently ask if we would consider additional projects that would help them reach people in their part of the world. One of the things that we have been asked about repeatedly is a shorter version of our evangelical catechism, Simple Truths. This “short” version of…

Last fall, Clear and Simple Media received an invitation to participate in the EDMC meetings in Southeast Asia. The Eurasia Media & Distribution Consultation, scheduled for late March, is a multi-agency gathering. The conference was created to be secure venue “where minority language workers, translators, literacy workers, language development, trauma healing, and refugee workers in…

At the beginning of each year, we review where we have been and then set goals and develop strategies for the year ahead. In our review of 2019, we came to see in the data what we had already sensed intuitively. Last year had been a growth year. We have had years in which we…

With the translation of our website, A Simple Word, into French, we were able to launch the site in Burkina Faso in the fall of 2019. We are excited to announce our second launch in West Africa. Vérité Simple will be accessible in Togo and Benin within the next seven days. Our launch strategy to…

One of the reasons we write in simple English is that we want to create tools that are accessible to as many English readers as possible. Another reason is “translatability.” Because the source language is so simple, the material is easy to translate. Our book, Simple Truths is now in 45 languages. Field testing has…

We have been looking forward to the completion of the Spanish version of our Travel Guide to the Bible. This past month, we took the last step that will make that book a reality. Isai Galdamez, our translator, met us at a conference we were attending in Long Beach, California. He had first seen the…

Our work at Clear and Simple Media is a bit like that of the farmer in the Parable of the Sower. He sowed the seed broadly and indiscriminately. He trusted that the seed would find good soil and produce fruit. But he would not know the results until the harvest came. So far, we have…

Clear and Simple Media is pleased to announce that the Spanish translation of the Travel Guide to the Bible has entered the field-testing phase.  “Field-testing,” as the word implies, means to test something under the actual conditions in which it will be used. Although that does involve proof-reading and translation editing, it is a bit…