Talking Bibles International

Our Mission

To serve the Lord Jesus Christ by producing and preserving single-voice audio recordings of translated Scriptures in hundreds of languages to make these recordings available in Talking Bibles for people around the world who cannot read.

History

The vision of producing single-voice recordings of the Bible was inspired by Dr. Harvey T. Hoekstra, missionary and Bible translator. When Dr. Hoekstra realized that most of the people he worked among could not read, he changed his focus to include them. In 1967, he began making audio recordings for nonreaders. As a result, many more people had access to God’s Word in their own language and came to faith in Christ.

The efforts grew to include recordings of many Bible translations, making them available in other parts of the world, too. In 1989 Dr. Hoekstra established Audio Scriptures International (ASI) in Escondido, California for the purpose of producing, distributing and preserving audio Scriptures in as many languages as possible. Before long ASI had produced or acquired more recorded translations of entire New Testaments than any other audio Scripture organization in the world.

Things changed when Mark Hoekstra, Harvey’s son, created the Talking Bible, a self-contained listening device created to look like a printed Bible . The Talking Bible contains an entire New Testament and has revolutionized the way illiterate people can be reached with the Word of God. To place this powerful evangelism tool in the hands of millions, Paul Hoekstra formed the Adopt-a-Village ministry in 1998. Within a few years this program resulted in the placement of Bible listening kits in nearly 20,000 villages in India alone.

Now, Adopt-a-Village and Audio Scriptures International have come together under the banner of Talking Bibles International. A move of wise stewardship, maximizing the impact of the Talking Bible in the heart languages of people around the world, because they need to hear.

Those We Serve

• The Christian community as well as the non-Christian world.
• Non-readers by providing individuals, churches and Christian organizations with Talking Bibles in many languages.
• The worldwide church by producing and archiving audio recordings of the New Testament and the entire Bible in hundreds of languages.
• Those who are blind through the provisions of the Talking Bible.
• The Internet community through our websites.
• The mission community through our recording studios, backpack studios, field expertise and experience in producing, archiving and distributing audio Scriptures.
• The non-Christian world through the provision of audio Scriptures via the Internet, a library of recordings and the production of special recordings of selected scriptures.