Oral Bible Translation Consultant/Trainer
Angie’s role as an OBT Consultant/Trainer with Spoken Worldwide takes her to oral preference cultures around the world, where she mentors indigenous translation teams in the production of oral Scripture. Before joining Spoken, Angie and her family served for five years as missionaries in Madagascar. There they lived among an oral preference culture with no access to the Gospel. This firsthand experience gave Angie a hunger to see these populations reached with God’s Word in effective ways. Angie holds a master’s degree in Intercultural Ministry Leadership from Bethany Global University. She lives in Summerville, SC, with her husband Shawn and their three children.
Oral Bible Translation Consultant/Trainer
As one of Spoken’s OBT Consultant/Trainers, Austin serves teams overseas, primarily in Southeast Asia, to translate Scripture into their heart language. He, like the rest of Spoken, is committed to meeting the Bible translation needs of oral-preference communities. Before partnering with Spoken, Austin worked in education for nine years and with children who experienced adverse childhood traumas. Austin holds a Master of Philosophy with a specialization in Theology and a bachelor’s in biblical studies. He serves his local church as a deacon of missions and teaches courses in their training tracks program. He lives outside New Orleans, LA with his wife Valerie and their daughter, Addison. Austin enjoys hiking, traveling to local places of interest, board games, and reading good books.
VP of
Operations
In his instrumental role with Spoken, Brian shepherds and interacts with program staff, who, in turn, partner with and train indigenous leaders around the world. His role includes developing and maintaining healthy ministry patterns that preserve Spoken’s unique Orality-based style of ministry so that it can be replicated consistently across each field of ministry. He holds a BS in Communications from Texas State University and an MA in Biblical Studies from Dallas Theological Seminary. Brian, and his wife, Janie, live in Melissa, Texas, and have two sons, Jacob and Hudson.
COO / EVP
Ministry
As COO and EVP of Ministry, Cole has the privilege of serving all three verticals of Spoken’s incredible global team: field ministry, operations, and development.
Cole’s background includes over 20 years’ experience in ministry strategy & partnerships, program design, outcomes evaluation, fund development, executive service, and Christian philanthropy. Throughout his career, Cole has held roles at the local, national, and international levels in the public, private, and non-profit sectors. Prior to entering the vocational ministry space in 2007, he served in international affairs with the U.S. government and NATO, as well as spending time with Coca-Cola in the South Pacific and attending graduate school in France.
In his personal time, Cole is the daddy to two amazing girls; they are his greatest earthly privilege and priority. He loves to be outdoors and is active – hiking, riding anything on two wheels, or splitting wood so he can sit by the fire with friends or roast marshmallows with his girls. He has a creative side and loves to build, restore, and fix things.
Oral Bible Translation Consultant/Trainer
Durk serves as an OBT and Ethno-Communications Consultant/Trainer with Spoken Worldwide. Durk has been serving in various ministry roles for 45 years. In 1989, he and his wife, Sandy, joined Wycliffe Bible Translators, where he soon became instrumental in starting Vernacular Media Services, SIL’s department to serve translation teams worldwide with their Scripture engagement needs. He also helped start the International Orality Network and later Kalaam Media. As a visionary, in 1999 he started exploring oral Bible translation (OBT), which became a reality when he moved to South Africa in 2011. He also has been serving through Spoken Worldwide since 2010 and was instrumental in seeing the OBT work become integrated in the DNA of Spoken. Additionally, as the primary author of Engagingwiththeeternal.org, he provides more than 60 thought provoking articles and resources to help people serve as wise stewards among the diverse peoples worldwide. Durk and Sandy live in Boone, North Carolina, where they enjoy hiking and hanging out with their five grown children.
Communications
Coordinator
In her role as Communication Coordinator for Spoken Worldwide, Edith manages social media platforms and email communication, as well as creating and designing all print and digital content. Edith has the key role of ensuring all visual marketing materials are on point with the Spoken brand. After graduating from the University of Texas at Dallas with a degree in Communications, Edith found her way to Spoken Worldwide. She lives in Dallas and has a love for traveling, spending time with family and friends, and learning about different cultures. One of her greatest joys is being able to be a part of Spoken Worldwide’s mission to help unreached oral communities encounter Jesus.
Oral Bible Translation Consultant/Trainer
As an OBT Consultant/Trainer, Eduardo oversees production of oral Scripture through mentoring indigenous translation teams oversees. Prior to joining Spoken, Eduardo served for five years at Training Leaders International as Director of Diaspora Training, where he taught diaspora pastors and leaders in Expository Preaching. Eduardo holds a Doctor of Ministry in Theological and Ministerial Studies, as well as an MBA in Business Leadership, a master’s in business management and strategic planning, and a bachelor’s in business administration. Eduardo lives in Colorado Springs, CO, with his wife Heloyse and their two sons.
Director of Scripture Engagement
Jodi’s leadership role on our Orality Coaching team is instrumental to managing and nurturing Spoken’s various partners in training/equipping people to reach oral learners with Orality. Through these partnerships, the Coaching team seeks to raise leaders who train leaders, who in turn train additional leaders. As a member of the Coaching team, she also works with various partners to help them convert their existing curriculum into an oral format. Prior to joining Spoken, Jodi served as a children’s pastor for six years and a teacher for nine years. She lives in Memphis, TN with her husband Mark and two children.
Director of
Oral Bible Translation
As an OBT Consultant/Trainer, John leads and mentors indigenous teams overseas in the production of oral Scripture into their native language. In this highly relational process, the translation principles are developed entirely through oral exegesis and experiential learning. Before joining Spoken Worldwide, John served for six years at Alaska Bible College, where he learned the importance of orality while training indigenous Alaskan ministry leaders in the formal academic context. John holds a Doctor of Intercultural Studies from Western Seminary, as well as M.Div. and BA degrees from Moody Bible Institute. He lives in St. Louis, MO with his wife Katie and their three children.
Oral Bible Translation Consultant/Trainer
As an OBT Consultant/Trainer, Laura has the privilege of coming alongside oral preference translators to discover the meaning of the Bible and translate it well into their everyday speech. Before joining Spoken, Laura was a missionary for ten years on Nosy Be, Madagascar where she came to love oral preference learners. Now she lives with her husband Jordan and their three children in Newton, KS.
Director of
Administration
Lisa is indispensable in her role as Director of Administration for Spoken Worldwide. She manages HR/Administration, IT, Payroll and Office Management / Operations, and is quick to assist in any way she can. “I am blessed to work alongside this amazing group of people working so diligently to share His Word with those who otherwise would not have such an opportunity. Lisa and her husband, Lee, have two adult sons and live in Seagoville, TX. She enjoys spending time with her family, crafts, reading (and audible) books and traveling.
Oral Bible Translation
Operations Coordinator
Lois is instrumental in ensuring the multitude of OBT administrative tasks behind the scenes are complete. Lois’ skillset is quite diverse – she has trained as an aircraft mechanic, and as a locksmith, and she holds a BS in Business Administration. She loves working with details! After 35 years with Wycliffe Bible Translators and SIL International, Since 2020, Lois has applied her experience and skills with the Spoken team, reaching oral preference communities with God’s Word in a form they can internalize and share with their friends and families. Lois, along with husband Tim, have four married children and ten grandchildren to enjoy. They currently live in Longview, TX.
Director of Marketing / Communications
Scripture Engagement
Specialist
As an Orality Coach in the coaching department, Meg partners with various ministries throughout Latin America and the Caribbean (and occasionally beyond) to equip local leaders in Orality. As these local leaders experience meaningful engagement with God’s Word, they, in turn, raise up other local leaders. Meg holds a BA in Spanish, and fluency in this language allows her to serve this region in Spanish, the heart language for a significant percentage of the population. Meg served as a full-time missionary in Honduras prior to joining Spoken. She continues to serve from Honduras where she lives with her husband Dave and their children.
Scripture Engagement
Specialist
Palm is one of Spoken’s Orality Coaches and she serves local leaders in SE Asia eager to learn Orality to bring God’s Word to their communities. Palm was born and raised in Thailand with the idea that religion (Bhuddism) was a cultural practice and a tradition to be followed. Now as a Christian, she feels blessed and honored to empower people through the Spoken Method. Palm is again living in her native Thailand with her husband and three children.
Director of
Field Innovation
As Director of Orality Coaching, Ray is responsible for initiating global partnerships, designing customized training programs, and developing culturally adapted Bible story curricula. Ray has served in ministry more than 40 years – from the urban jungle of Chicago to the dense tropical jungle of Belize. His moniker is ‘The Story Doctor’ because he believes that every question can be answered with a story! He and his wife Becki have led more than forty church-based mission trips, they love the beach and reading and are trying to be snowbirds…yet continue to mix up the seasons.
Director of
Development
Director of
Field Partnerships
Thomas is responsible for overseeing the OBT program through developing new partnerships and supporting the team as they serve OBT projects globally. Thomas’ career has spanned several countries, designing and implementing leadership development programs in Kenya and Ethiopia, teaching English in Uzbekistan and Mongolia, and teaching middle school history in the U.S. Born in Korea and growing up in New York, Thomas has a love for the Yankees, Knicks, Giants, and Asian food, but mostly lives to serve King Jesus.
Oral Bible Translation Consultant/Trainer
As part of the OBT team, Tim consults indigenous translation teams in oral Bible translation, while also mentoring Africans who wish to serve as consultants themselves in the OBT process. Tim has been serving in various ministry roles since 1986 when he and his wife, Lois, joined Wycliffe Bible Translators. While there, he helped pioneer the use of personal computers to produce printed scriptures and literacy materials in Cameroon and Chad, Africa. He also helped people connect computers to send email messages for Bible translators in West Africa, including sending messages over short-wave radio networks before the internet was available in those countries. By 2006, the Lord was leading him to be involved in the Oral Bible Story movement (OBS), facilitating Africans as they crafted Bible stories in their own languages. Eventually, OBS led to Oral Bible Translation (OBT) to enable the whole Bible to be available to oral-preference communities! In 2020, Tim and his wife Lois joined Spoken Worldwide.
Scripture Engagement
Specialist
Tom’s missionary experience is applied across many pastor development programs, where here oversees the launch and progress of these 3-year programs. Tom and his wife spent 25 years in Papua New Guinea doing Bible translation with the Namia people, then moved to Malaysia for two years to work with national organizations in Asian countries in strategy and planning. His passion is to train local leaders and Christians to use Bible stories to disciple believers and raise up leaders for the church, and to reach out to their communities. Tom and Becky have two sons and five grandchildren. They live in western Tennessee.
Scripture Engagement
Specialist
Since I have come to know and experience God’s love and forgiveness over 25 years ago, the Lord has made it my ambition to live for Him. In my case, this has meant among other things, serving Him as missionary since almost about that time. I consider it a great privilege to help fulfill His great commission in my world. As C.T. Studd put it, “If Jesus Christ is God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.” Except, I had none that I haven’t received from Him, that I may sacrifice for Him!
For security reasons, not all team members are listed.
Do you have your own Words of Encouragement for our team & missionaries?
