5 Questions With: Bob Creson

Posted March 2, 2009, 10:50 am in Religion & Spirituality


One of the core concepts of Growing Bolder is that it's never too late – a broad idea that encompasses many examples. It's never too late to try a new sport, to pick up a new hobby, to change careers, and so on.

And it's certainly never too late to make a difference in someone else's life. Bob Creson holds that truth closely, and exemplifies the giving spirit every day through his work at Wycliffe USA.  As president and chief executive officer of the organization since 2003, it's Creson's mission to help people all around the world learn more about religion, and get access to the Bible, in addition to providing education, literacy and life-saving health information. He believes that translating the Bible into different languages not only helps people across the globe become better people, he tells Growing Bolder that it gives him and his family (wife and four adult children) a sense of purpose. The group seeks to reach 200 million people, representing several thousand languages. Learn more about Wycliffe USA here, follow Bob on Twitter here, and check out other articles in the 5QW library here.


What does Growing Bolder mean to you?
It was Saturday evening November 22nd, and we were nearly done with the last event marking the Public Launch of Wycliffe USA’s Last Languages Campaign – a final and bold push to generate resources to start the remaining Bible translation needs in 2,300 language communities around the world that still have no Bible. As I walked to the platform to speak, I passed Zachary Peterson.


Zachary is the eight-year old son of my friend, Todd Peterson, who finished his NFL career playing for the Atlanta Falcons.  Zachary was on his feet, reached out and gave me a big ‘high-five.’ I will treasure that image for a very long time. That small act of excitement, support and encouragement represented to me God’s goodness…his joy and pleasure… at what we are committing ourselves to in Wycliffe Bible Translators. It was a living, visible picture to me of God’s enthusiasm for reaching those who have never heard the Good News about Jesus Christ in a language and a form they relate to best.


Growing bolder, in my narrative or worldview, means taking risks to accomplish things that are beyond my ability to accomplish on my own…they are God-sized tasks that require focus and team work…looking beyond our own needs to the needs of others.


Bible translation does this. God has given Wycliffe Bible Translators two great privileges: creating access to the Bible and also access to information and education. The work not only is the basis for planting Christian Churches but also results in people learning to read and write. Did you know that it’s more effective to teach a mother to read and write and provide her with information on health than it is to place a doctor in a community? Women are the change agents in communities worldwide!

What events/challenges have you faced in your personal and professional life that made the going a little tougher than you had anticipated?
Along with our four children, my wife Dallas and I arrived in Cameroon, West Africa in January of 1987. We’d spent 16 months in France learning French, and we eagerly arrived ready to start contributing to the task of Bible translation in our new home of Yaoundé, the capitol of Cameroon. 


One of the best things about living in Cameroon was making new Cameroonian friends, but it was also a challenge. While Cameroon is incredibly rich in terms of resources (both natural and in the diversity of people and cultures―there are over 260 languages spoken there) it is also a challenging place to live (malaria, HIV/AIDS, poverty, lack of infrastructure, etc.). What we understood only intellectually before we arrived was soon confirmed in our hearts and minds: Socio-economic and political solutions to the challenges faced by Cameroonians had to be dealt with on multiple levels, including translation of the Scriptures. Over 80 years, the work of Wycliffe has had a huge impact on thousands of communities worldwide where lives are transformed because people gain access to the Bible, as well as to education and information through learning how to read and write.


One of the ethnic minority communities Dallas and I grew to love was the KOM community. A very close Cameroonian friend, a KOM man, Peter Yuh, helped translate the Scriptures.  

When I first met Peter in 1991, he was a school teacher in the Extreme North Province of Cameroon, and he had been asked to return to KOM (located in the North West Province) to head the Bible translation program as well as implement bilingual, mother-tongue-first education in the community. The latter goal is huge since it is a program that starts children in school learning to read and write the language spoken in the home, the ‘mother-tongue,’ and then transitions them to the language of wider communication, which in the KOM area was English. This was a pilot program at the time, but was later implemented throughout Cameroon because it was so highly successful. And, it is now being used worldwide in other countries like Viet Nam and China.


For Peter this request to return was a huge challenge. His family had sacrificed to send him to The University of Yaoundé for his education…he was the only member of his family to graduate from college. With his salary, Peter told me he was supporting over 30 family members. He was concerned that leaving his ‘guaranteed’ income and the prestige that went with it would have a harmful impact on his ability to pay his family back for what they’d invested in him.

But, Peter left his job and returned to the village of Bélo. By 2005 the New Testament had been completed along with the JESUS Film (a partnership between Wycliffe and Campus Crusade for Christ). And, bilingual education is a regular feature in the schools giving thousands of KOM wider access to education and information, and an opportunity for advanced education.


Events like this from KOM have challenged me and my worldview. What I’ve learned is that, over time, little things make a big difference, and persistence, commitment and focused effort working with people/communities gives them the opportunity to overcome some of the injustices they face (like lack of education and no access to the Bible).

What's your idea of a perfect world?
Dr. Barry Black is a friend and the Chaplain of the U.S. Senate. Dr. Black grew up in the less desirable areas of Baltimore but lived in a Christian home. According to his own story, his mother paid him to memorize verses from the Bible.


One day, friends approached him and wanted him to rob a convenience store with them. At that very moment, God brought one of the verses he’d memorized to mind and he didn’t go. The robbery didn’t go well, and the store clerk was killed. Dr. Black’s friends went to a Federal prison to serve life terms for murder, whereas Dr. Black went on to become a Chaplain in the Navy, eventfully attaining the rank of Admiral. If you’ve ever heard Dr. Black speak, you’ll never forget it.


He’s written a book titled, “From the Hood to the Hill” documenting what his testimony clearly states: “The Word of God saved my life.”

A perfect world for me is only possible when centered around God’s Word…it changes people, communities, and nations.

Do you have heroes? How have they shaped your life?
My friend, Marti Geiger, along with her colleague, Ruth Lienhard, worked in a very remote part of Cameroon, West Africa in a DABA village. When they first arrived, children would often pause at their house looking in the windows. Marti says she would sometimes feel like chasing them away. Kadri, a 9-year-old boy, was one of these children. He was always hanging around the house after school, and he and his friend often stayed on and on into the evening. Her colleague, Ruth, never felt the freedom to send them away. Sometimes they gave them toys to play with, or Marti told them a Bible story. This went on for a very long period of time and one day Kadri stopped coming around. Most likely his parents, who were of another predominant religion, told him not to visit.

Years passed, and Marti moved to the city of Maroua. Surprisingly one day she met Kadri in town. He was a taxi driver, and Marti was very pleased to see him. They renewed their friendship.  

News arrived that Kadri’s father had died, so Marti and Kardi made a trip to the village. Later, on the way back to Maroua, Marti said to him, "Kadri, now you are grown up, and your father has died. Don't you want to believe in Jesus now? You are free to do it."

Kadri said, "I will come back to this," and went home.

And eventually he did. As the DABA would say, he "put his head on Jesus." Marti started weekly Bible studies using the DABA New Testament that she and Ruth, along with a team of DABA translators, helped produce.  

In January 2006, Fadimatou, Kadri’s wife, also put her head on Jesus and she is completely transformed.  

Who are my heroes? They are the single women Bible translators who have given their lives so that communities worldwide have access to Scripture and education. Dedication, perseverance, and commitment.

What's your advice for someone reading this, wanting to make a difference -- how can he or she get started?
Jean Baptiste (not his real name) is a member of the TENNET people group who live in the southern part of Sudan. As a teenager he wanted an education but he couldn't get one because of the civil war. So he found his way to Khartoum -- about a thousand miles north of his home -- to seek an education. In Khartoum he barely scraped by in the small TENNET community and failed to get an education.

After several years of this, he heard that a translation program to translate the Scripture into TENNET was about to start. He also heard that they were convening people they thought might be qualified to work on this translation, and that they were offering an introductory course on translation principles in northwestern Uganda, in a place called Arua.


He and a friend of his, another TENNET man, decided they needed to attend this workshop.  Jean Baptiste especially felt this was what God had called him to do. The problem was, they had no money for plane tickets to get to Uganda. But they believed they needed to be there.  What to do?

So, they started walking.  They could not walk south through the war zone to Uganda, so they took a jog to the east to Ethiopia. They may have walked all the way, or they may have hopped a bus as far as the border -- the details are sketchy. But from that point on, they walked. They walked for nearly a thousand miles south through Ethiopia to Kenya. They had no SUV. No hiking boots. No camping gear. And no money. None. They walked by faith...and lived on hospitality they found along the way.

It took them eight months to reach Kenya. When they arrived at the meeting place, they asked if the translation principles course was still on. It was, and they were given bus fare to make the last leg of the journey west to Arua. In due time, they made it to Arua, full of stories of their adventures.  

It was an incredible journey for the mere opportunity to see if Jean Baptiste might be qualified to work on that translation project.


And here's the rest of the story. Jean Baptiste completed an Introductory Course in Translation Principles in 2002 and went on to become a member of the TENNET translation team. He's proved to be a natural and gifted translator, and for extra measure, he's an accomplished musician. He's translated the Gospel of John and is very committed to seeing the rest of the translation completed for his people. And his companion? He didn't join the translation team, but I have to admit I'm intrigued by the "support" role God gave him. He stuck with Jean Baptiste for a thousand miles. I wonder if Jean Baptiste would have made it without him?

What is my advice to those reading this? Look beyond yourself to the interest and needs of others. And, everyone can make a difference even if they are not ‘high profile’ people or leaders. Finally, little things over time, including hard work, focus and perseverance, make a big difference. Never give up, and never under-estimate the contribution you make.

What can you tell us about your background and your family?
After our time working in West Africa, we returned to the USA where I worked in roles related to Wycliffe’s worldwide work, including a time as our International Field Director.  I was appointed president of Wycliffe Bible Translators USA in May of 2003.  We have now completed 25 years with Wycliffe Bible Translators.


My high school sweetheart, Dallas, now my wife of 35 years, and I are graduates of Pepperdine University and we have pursued graduate studies in various fields. After graduating from Pepperdine, I ran a family business in Southern California where we started our family. We have four adult children including, now, two wonderful daughters-in-law, and one great son-in-law.

Facts About Bible Translation:

• There are 6,912 language groups in the world today.
• One-third of the world's language groups have no Bible translation program in place.
• One in five adults around the world is illiterate.

To learn more about Bob Creson and Wycliffe USA, click here. Want to read more articles in our 5 Questions With series? Click here!

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