Author: David M. Hare

I have been reading my Father’s Day gift recently, it is a book called Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy. It is a biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and with a title like that I could hardly resist! Bonhoeffer was a pastor and a leader in the German resistance to Hitler, earning him the title of ‘spy’. His life was ended by the Nazi’s in a concentration camp as a result of this resistance. I have been so inspired by Bonhoeffer’s example and even though I am only 40% through the book, I thought I would post something he said that has…

When discussing some of the difficulties of Bible translation with people, often I will hear them say, “I think you should just translate the Bible word-for-word.” Actually, I think I have said that before! However, as it turns out, it is not that easy.  As I have studied linguistics for the last 20 weeks a host of translation issues have come up. Consider this section of Zechariah’s Prophecy in Luke 1: 76And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, 77 to give knowledge of salvation to…

Whelp, today I finished all of the required classwork for the Certificate of Applied Linguistics at GIAL! This means I have all of the training I need for us to move to Cameroon! We have come so far! Thank you so much for praying for me as I went through the program. I was often studying into the early morning and waking up early for class. It was exhausting and exciting and I could not have done it without your prayers and God’s grace. But we are not done yet. We will have 5 weeks off and then Stacey will…

When people ask us how they can pray for us in our missions endeavors, our typical response is, “Pray that the Lord will raise up co-workers.”  Why is this so important to us?  The reason is because we are pioneering a new people group currently with just Dave and Stacey Hare and 4 young kiddos.  Not only do we want to live, home-school the kids, teach literacy, and translate the Bible, but we ALSO want to take the Bible to the streets and see it infiltrate the culture.  Put simply, this is way too much for just us to do! …

On more than one occasion an unbeliever has responded to our life story by saying: “So, you’ve adopted four kids and you’re moving to Africa…you’re definitely going to Heaven.”  Typically, people either love us or despise us for who we are and what we are pursuing.  We are not surprised when we are hated, but what turns our stomachs is when people mistakenly assume that we are good enough, on our own, to be approved by God.  The line of reasoning seems to be, “Well if you’re willing to sacrifice that much, God will have to let you into Heaven.” …

One of the most exciting aspects of being at GIAL has been the fact that I am (literally) surrounded by experienced missionaries. All of the professors, administrative assistants, grounds keepers, doctors, cooks, and IT guys have been on the field and they all come with some great stories. Not just great because they are exciting, but great because they encourage me to trust Christ and teach me what it really means to be a missionary. Because they have been so encouraging for me, I thought I would share a couple with you. What was happening at 3am? One of my…

Do you love tough theological issues? Do you have a desire pull your hair out at all hours of the night? Do you want to be in academics for the rest of your life? Would you like to give an entire people group the opportunity to worship Christ forever?… How about Bible Translation! When we were in seminary, the Greek and Hebrew classes seemed to be among the most popular (and the most feared!). Yet applying the languages to Bible translation seemed to be the least popular (yet still the most feared!). Why would this be? If you are among…