Stones were already in the hands of the villagers when the man started shouting.
“I’m healed!” He burst from a low doorway and ran, arms high, with tears in his eyes. A stray stone thudded into the dirt. Then another, but it wasn’t the impending barrage from a moment ago. Men standing nearby glanced down at the rocks in their fists, no longer trusting what they were about to do.
Inside the man’s hut, the story of Jesus healing ten men with leprosy came to a close, the recording was playing from a small Audio Bible, made by Renew. For over ten years, this man had suffered with the same life-altering disease as the ten lepers. As he listened to the story in Luke, suddenly a shock ran through his own leprosy-stricken body. One moment, he had been a leper. The next moment, he was instantly and completely healed. As the man continued to weep and praise God, the ever-growing crowd of villagers were stunned to silence. Everything they believed about God had just been turned upside down.
***
Earlier that day, a few missionaries had arrived at this mountain village after hiking for hours through switchbacks. The village, consisting of about 77 homes, was nestled in the mountains of South Asia. A local pastor, Bishnu, led the small group of missionaries. Along with the food and water loaded into their backpacks, an assortment of devices were carefully tucked away. These solar-powered Audio Bible players and other digital Bible tools carried a message that had never before been heard in this remote mountain village.
The missionary team arrived with a plan. Splitting into pairs, they approached homes with a nod and soft greeting.
“We have come with a gift in your language. Does anyone here have a cell phone?”
Even in that mountain village, the locals owned cell phones and proudly presented them to their new guests. Phones chimed awake. A small tablet sprang to life. Pulling out Renew’s Audio Bible devices, the teams began sharing Bible and JESUS film files to the villagers’ cell phones. Households that didn’t own a cell phone were given solar-powered Audio Bible players loaded with the Bible in their native language.
Visitors to the village were uncommon, and the news about these foreign guests bearing unusual gifts spread like wildfire. Most households received the visitors warmly, but several men caught wind of the meaning behind the message these outsiders carried. This God they spoke about wasn’t the god their community had worshiped for generations. They quickly determined these outsiders and their message of another God were a threat and poison to the village. It had to be stopped, by whatever means they felt necessary.
By midafternoon, the men had quietly organized themselves outside a house where they heard the visitors were talking with a family. But the ambush brewing outside was a stark contrast to the inside of the house. One of the teams sat with a leper and his family. The family’s new gift, a solar Audio Bible, was perched in front of the group, playing the Words of Life. When the small player paused, the team was ready to move to the next house. But a family member spoke up.
“Play it again!”
The team sat back down, unaware of the turmoil waiting for them outside the front door. Someone turned on the book of Luke and soon Jesus’ words to the lepers in chapter seventeen filled the room: “Go, show yourselves…”
With those words came power.
And the man who was once a leper, found himself completely well.
“I’m healed!” He shouted as he ran through his house and then burst out the front door, stumbling, and laughing. From the doorway the shocked missionaries and family peered out to the equally dumbfounded mob. Men who held stones slowly lowered their arms. Inside the house, the device continued to whisper the Good News. Rocks fell to the dirt, forgotten, as the men slowly stepped towards the doorway. What was this message that came with power?
“Play it again.” Now the request came from a man outside the house. “I want to hear.”
For hours, the missionary teams lingered in the village, explaining the story of Jesus to families hearing it for the very first time. Pastor Bishnu and the team were trained on how to set up Audio Bible listening groups: small groups who weekly listened to and discussed Scripture, a simple discipleship strategy. This way, even after the team left, new Jesus followers could continue to grow.
Eventually, the sun set and the team remembered the long night of hiking ahead of them. Regrouping at the village entrance, they were preparing for their descent when an elderly man stepped across the path. They tried to remember him from earlier. Was this the leader of the village?
One hand was lifted, and his voice matter-of-fact. He addressed Pastor Bishnu.
“Please come back. We have seventy-seven houses here. Everyone wants to know more about Jesus.”
A few weeks later, pastor Bishnu accepted the invitation and made the trek back to the village. To his delight, twelve Bible listening groups had formed around the new Audio Bible players. Then just a few weeks after his visit, one of the villagers found a cell signal and sent pastor Bishnu and the team a video. The visuals were shaky, and the audio was wind-cracked, but the message was powerful. A 103-year-old man was sitting on a mat. He spoke slowly, a thick accent bending the edges of his words. He said he was grateful to have lived long enough to hear, at last, about the God who sent his Son. He wanted to be a disciple of Jesus.
Within months, sixty people stepped into water and rose baptized. The village built a meeting place, and the Bible listening groups multiplied. At last count, seventy-eight groups meet consistently across the region as a result of Bishnu and his team.
Today, if you stand in that village at dusk, you can still smell pine and smoke and the sweetness of tea. You can hear the clang of a kettle lid, a goat’s discontent, a child’s laugh. But now, you might hear Scripture in the native tongue and see people leaning against the door frame to listen, the way someone does when the Bible finally speaks in a way they can understand.
Want to be a part of a story like this? Give Audio Bibles to missionaries and indigenous leaders around the world.
