News

For a few years now, Clear and Simple Media (CSM) has been in partnership with the 6° Initiative. The 6° Initiative (6DI) is a ministry of Converge IM and is one of their major initiatives in Africa. 6DI is a church planting movement focusing on the unreached people groups just north of the equator in West Africa. This…

In 1978, I arrived in Tadoule Lake, Manitoba. My goal was to build a cabin where my wife, soon-to-be-born son, and I could live while beginning to share Jesus in this small northern community. What we experienced and learned over the next three years could fill a book. But one lesson that has stayed with…

Earlier this year, we announced the relaunch of our www.asimpleword.org website. This site is our primary delivery site, which houses all of our written and audio content. Since that relaunch, we have been working on two projects, translating that site into two languages. The French translation of the site (www.unsimplemot.org) will target Francophone West Africa….

Afghanistan has been in significant turmoil for several decades. With the withdrawal of the American forces in August of 2021, the struggles of the Afghani people have intensified.   In response, Shoaib Ebadi helped found Afghanistan Next Generation (ANG) to bring hope to the people of Afghanistan. Clear and Simple Media (CSM) has previously partnered with ANG’s Shoaib…

In September, we asked prayer for the French translation of our A Simple Word website. We have been talking about it for several years, but had not been able to assemble the team required to tackle the task. In October of 2022, after I travelled to Burkina Faso, God seemed to put all of the…

From time to time, we have been asked to write a small book that is specifically “gospel focussed.” While all of our books are gospel oriented, we wrote them as tools for discipling new believers. This request was to write a book for “not-yet-believers.” That sounds like a simple task. But, as it turns out….

At Clear and Simple Media, our goal has always been “to help people read the Bible and help them understand what they read.” We have done that primarily by “writing books and telling stories in Simple English.” Our objective has been to put material into the hands of grassroots church planters that are “linguistically simple,…

Just in case your Burmese is a bit rusty, the headline reads More News from Myanmar. As our readers know, we have been working on multiple projects in Yangon (the largest city) for some time. The latest was the translation of the Travel Guide to the Bible in Burmese and Mizo-Chin. We announced the publication of one…

A few weeks back, we posted news of the printing of 1,000 copies of the Travel Guide in the Mizo-Chin language. Mizo-Chin is spoken in Chin State and Sagaing Regions of Myanmar, with significant numbers of speakers in the Manipur, Tipura, and Maghalaya States as well. Mizo is also the official language of Mizoram in…

California Churches Use ASL Stories Simple Stories  is a collection of 32 stories from the Bible that cover the story “From the Beginning to the New Beginning.” We did an audio/American Sign Language version of the stories several years ago. We crafted this project for a specific ministry partner but allowed the translators to distribute the…

We reported in late June that the Mizo-Chin version of the Travel Guide to the Bible was ready to print. Because of the multiple struggles our friends in Myanmar are facing, we had high hopes for the outcome, but we were also realistic. The best intentions can get sidetracked in what is functionally a “war-torn”…

After I was introduced at a recent conference, I was asked the two questions that people ask most frequently when they first hear about what we are doing. Why Clear and Simple Media? Why English? The WHY for Clear and Simple Media grows out of a theological conviction – specifically our confidence in the Bible….

Sometimes, a translation project can take years. Sometimes, months. On the rarest occasions, only weeks. Since our earliest connections with Ahmad Zeividavi, we have been aware of the fact that we were involved in a “special” partnership. Ahmad is an Iranian. He immigrated to Canada and since his arrival, he has been involved in reaching…

For several months, we have been working to complete the translation for the Travel Guide to the Bible in Mizo-Chin. Mizo-Chin is one of the indigenous languages of Myanmar, with speakers in one of the provinces of India which borders the nation that was once called Burma. Our champion in Myanmar is a man named…

Several months ago, we were contacted by our Iranian friend Ahmad who serves with the House of Omeed. Ahmad founded this ministry that attends to the needs of immigrants and refugees who are settling in British Columbia, Canada. He had requested permission to translate the Travel Guide to the Bible into Farsi. Farsi is the…

Since we began more than a decade ago, we have used three phrases to “keep us on track.” Writing with simplicity can, if one is not careful, distort things. That is why all three of our guiding phrases are important. Linguistically Simple, Theologically Clear, and Biblically Faithful. What follows are the first few paragraphs of…

Publishing is only a small part of what we do at Clear and Simple Media. We would not consider ourselves industry experts, but we have published enough material (books, letters, study guides) that we have learned a few things along the way. That experience, and the knowledge we have gained through it, turn out to…

We were able to complete the edits and relaunch our primary delivery site (www.asimpleword.org) in January. The French translation of that site is nearing completion and should be ready for field testing by July of this year. Because we have been able to find “first response” teams in at least four Francophone West African countries, we anticipate…

We have been blessed from the very beginning of Clear and Simple Media to have had great partnerships. The first, and one of the most productive, was with Pastor Pham Linh in Vietnam. It was while teaching a group of “underground church” pastors near Ho Chi Minh City, that Linh’s encouragement led to the writing of “the little…

People give multiple names to the seasons in Senegal. The most common are “the dry season” and “the wet season.” The dry season begins in November, and, as the name implies, most parts of the country will see no rain during those months. The advantage of that season, especially the early portion, is that temperatures…

Africa.  While I have been there many times, Lee and I have never had the opportunity to go there together. The days of March 25 to April 4 were a wonderful exception. We traveled to Senegal to attend the Converge Africa Regional Conference during the first part of the week. We had been looking forward…

Anyone attending to the news in SE Asia knows the challenges the population of Myanmar is facing. Recent announcements of the extension of Marshal Law to more areas where opposition to the military government is on the rise have made an already difficult situation there, worse. To emphasize its control, the current government has been…

We have written of our friend Pastor Dieudonné Some of Banfora, Burkina Faso before. Dieudonne’ is not only a pastor and church planter, he is a passionate evangelist who is constantly traveling in West Africa to share Christ. Some of our recent conversations have centered around Ghana. Many mission strategists believe that reaching Ghana’s youth…

March 25 -30, Lee and I will have the privilege of being a part of the CONVERGE Africa Regional Gathering near Dakar, Senegal, West Africa. International workers from all over the African Continent will gather for five days of worship, instruction, strategy sessions, and fellowship. We will be attending as a part of the CONVERGE…

Two stories appeared on my world news apps this week. Both from Myanmar. The first spoke to the Rohingya crisis. This minority people group is being detained in an “open air prison” in Myanmar’s Rakhine State. A 37-page report by the Human Rights Watch details the abuses of the Burmese military, especially against the women…