| Matt and Judy Benjamin have devoted their lives to the fulfillment of the Great Commission. They believe that in order for the Great Commission to be fulfilled, God’s Word must be accessible to all people in a language that speaks to their heart.Now, that’s a big task! But the only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time. So they have adopted Wycliffe’s vision (called Vision 2025) to see a Bible translation program in progress in every language still needing one by 2025.
In order to keep this large project on task, everyone involved needs to know the status of the mission. Matt’s God-given talents have led him to focus on creating maps showing the languages spoken in different regions of the world. This information changes occasionally as language surveyors assess the languages of the world. Judy spends much of her time supporting the mission through publishing projects. It’s not always glamorous work, but it needs to be done. And Matt and Judy do it beautifully. Want more information? Contacts us today at Matt_Benjamin@sil.org. Here’s some more background about the Benjamins: |
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| February 2016: Publication of the 19th edition of the Ethnologue. Matt was responsible for maps of countries in the Americas and Asia and research in the Pacific. Judy continues to work on various academic publications and scripture typesetting. February 2015: Publication of the 18th edition of the Ethnologue. Matt was responsible for maps of countries in the Americas, Asia and Pacific, and several new maps have been added. Judy continues to work on various academic publications and scripture typesetting. Spring/summer 2012: Preparing for publication of the 17th edition of the Ethnologue. Matt was responsible for maps of countries in the Americas and Asia. Judy has been working on various academic publications, including dictionaries and Electronic Survey Reports. June, 2009: Publication of the 16th edition of the Ethnologue. Matt was responsible for maps of countries in the Americas and Pacific. New maps in this edition include Brunei, Malaysia, Pakistan and Afghanistan. March, 2005: Publication of the 15th edition of the Ethnologue. Matt was responsible for many of the maps, and these were printed in color for the first time. Judy was involved in preparing the layout of the book. May, 2003: The birth of their son, Jay. YEAH! 1998 “Since our time in Kenya …” Matt has continued to work on translation status maps for Africa as well as other continents. These are now being used by our field personnel to assess our current progress as well as future translation and literacy needs. Matt’s work also includes preparing maps for the Ethnologue, the publication which lists all the known languages in the world. There is only one other full-time cartographer (in the United Kingdom) working in SIL. Judy is now working as a compositor. This desktop publishing work includes doing layouts for various books and journals written by other Wycliffe missionaries. These materials help to tell about our field work, train the next generation of Bible translators and establish credibility for our personnel. A catalogue of various academic publications is available on the Ethnologue web site. February, 1997 — February, 1998: Responding to an invitation from our Africa Area office, they completed a one-year short-term assignment in Nairobi, Kenya. During that time Matt produced a series of maps which show the status of Bible translation for the languages of various countries of Africa. He also worked on special wall map projects for East Africa and for the countries of Chad and Mali. These maps help our translators and other field personnel to plan for future translation and literacy projects. He also helped to train personnel to use our computer mapping program more effectively. Judy had two assignments while in Nairobi. The first was to do the layout for People Profiles, which are summaries about the culture and language of people groups who have not yet been reached with the Scriptures. These Profiles are used for recruiting the personnel, prayer partners and finances that are needed to get God’s Word to these people groups. Judy’s second assignment was to do layouts for book templates (called shell books) which are used for literacy training and community development work. March, 1994 — February, 1997: During their first assignment in Dallas, they worked in the areas of language mapping, database development, and desktop publishing. March, 1994: This was the beginning of our their assignment with Wycliffe at the international headquarters in Dallas. July, 1991 — March, 1994: The Benjamin’s shared the vision for their future work with family, friends, churches, and Christian business people, and many of them joined together with them to form a team of prayer and financial partners. July, 1991: Completed the Quest orientation program and were accepted as members of Wycliffe Bible Translators. July, 1990: The time seemed right, and Matt and Judy began the application process with Wycliffe. During that time they helped with some local Wycliffe banquets and also attended Wycliffe’s orientation program. 1986 and 1987: Judy and Matt (respectively) graduated from Bible college. At that time, all they knew was the Lord was leading them through various circumstances toward some type of missions work. Their first step was to contact Intercristo (which has now merged with ChristianJobs.com) to see what places of ministry might be available in their areas of interest. There were several options that we considered, but God closed those doors through different events. Looking back, they now know that it was not yet the right time for them to go into full-time missions as a vocation. So they continued to gain experience and prepare through various ministries the local church.It’s not always glamorous work, but it needs to be done. And Matt and Judy do it beautifully! |
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Benjamins' Bits 