Spreading the Word around the World

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The Royal Gazette Online
Bermuda's most trusted source for news and information
By Sara Westhead
Published March 19, 2011 at 6:00 am (Updated March 18, 2011)

Having been involved in the full-time Christian ministry for 40 years, Dr. David Crandall is no stranger to the challenges faced by the church in the west, however, what makes him more unique is his intimate understanding of the challenges faced by Christians around the globe in living and sharing their faith.

Director of Answers Worldwide, the missionary arm of the Christian creation-science education organization, Dr. Crandall is set to be the guest speaker at the 2011 annual missions conference at the Evangelical Church of Bermuda, which begins tomorrow.

Dr. Crandall has worked with Answers in Genesis for the last five years, working closely with the organizations founder, Ken Ham, to help bring the Christian literature to people around the world in their own language.

According to the Answers Worldwide website: “The purpose and goal of Answers Worldwide is to take the message of biblical authority and the trustworthiness of Bible history to the world. In doing so, we embolden the global Christian with “answers for his faith” (1 Peter 3:15) and challenge the six and a half billion people on this planet with the truths of the Bible.” (www.answersingenesis.org/worldwide)

A key part of that task is translating the books, DVDs and curriculum into other languages. The organization has identified the 12 largest language groups in the world Chinese, English, Spanish, Hindi (Telegu), Arabic, Bengali, Russian, Portuguese, Japanese, German, French and Punjabi and is making it their goal to translate Ken Ham’s creation mini-series, a six-DVD set, into a language each year. Thus far, they have completed half Japanese, Hindi, Chinese, English, Russian and Spanish.

In order to translate just one language, the organization must raise about $100,000. Then, Ken Ham will make a trip to the appropriate field to give the talks, which are translated and recorded, then made into DVDs. Master copies are then distributed free-of-charge to pastors in the region, so they, in turn, can provide free copies to people in their churches.

Other Answers in Genesis materials have been translated into 76 different languages.

During his time in Bermuda, Dr. Crandall hopes, “to expose people to the world and what God is doing”.

“God is not waiting around for us,” he explained.

Christianity is growing at an enormous rate around the world, particularly in the area known in Christian circles as the 10/40 window those countries sitting between 10-degrees and 40-degrees north of the equator in Africa and Asia.

In Thailand, he said, there has been a 20 percent increase in conversions to Christianity, and there are now 850 Baptist churches in Myanmar (Burma). The population of South Korea is now 30 percent Christian, and in China, it is believed that 1200 people are converted to Christianity every hour.

“In India, to see what God’s doing is absolutely astounding!” Dr Crandall exclaimed. In one Indian state, Nagaland, the population is now nearly 100 percent Christian, with more than 75 percent of the population adhering to the Baptist faith.

The nation with the fastest growing number of Christians, according to Dr. Crandall, is, Iraq.

“There is a 19 percent growth per year in Iraq. It just shows the sovereignty of God it’s not missionaries there, its Iraqis meeting Iraqis.”

In addition to his work with translation and preaching, Dr. Crandall has led groups on short-term missions trips, including the last several Olympic Games, and 17 tours to the Holy Land.

During the week at Evangelical, Dr. Crandall will be focusing on many of these new and exciting developments in Christian missions, many taken from his own experiences in his travels to more than 90 different countries. His first message, however, on Sunday morning, will be looking at “Global Gardening” and looking through the Bible for how gardening terms have been used to share the commandment to preach the gospel to the whole world.

The Evangelical Church of Bermuda Missions Conference begins tomorrow, Sunday, March 20, with a conference kick-off rally for teens and adults and a Sunday School for Missions program for children, all at 9.30am, followed by the worship service at 10.45am. Evening sessions will follow on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, beginning at 7pm. Guest musicians for the conference are Billy and Paula Speer.

In September, Dr. Crandall, along with Evangelical’s pastor, Dr. Richard Christen, will be hosting a Bermuda Israel tour. For more information, contact the church’s office at 236-2294 or office @ecb.bm.

http://www.royalgazette.com/article/20110319/ISLAND08/703199999/-1/island08

Dr. David Crandall outside the King's Palace in South Korea