1WINTER 2025 SPECIAL EDITIONI WANT TO KNOWTHE GREAT COMMISSION IN MOTION THROUGH DEAF-LED CHURCH PLANTING AND TRANSLATION
2Friends,In this season of thanks, celebrating, and expectation, we praise God for your faithful partnership in this work, and look forward to all God will do in the coming year through His Spirit in the hearts and lives of Deaf leaders.I’m so excited to announce the launch of a new campaign to raise awareness and partnership in this unique and critical work to which God has called us together. For millennia, Deaf people have faced barriers that have prevented them from having direct access to the gospel, from knowing Jesus in the same way that you and I can. We are seeing that change, and we can’t wait for the global Church to know and be a part of this Deaf movement of God.Today, around 45% of Deaf people have at least one verse of Scripture in their heart sign language, and around 40% have at least one Deaf-led, multiplying church in their people group (though they may not yet have one near them). This represents tremendous work over the last 40 years, but you can also see that a majority of Deaf people still don’t yet have the opportunity to know Jesus. Let’s change that together.How has knowing Jesus impacted Deaf people? And how can we help more Deaf people know? Read further about DOOR’s “I Want to Know” campaign, and share it with someone else who doesn’t yet know.Until All Deaf People Know,Rob MyersPresident/CEOBoard of DirectorsAllison Buus Chris EvansSid Jansma IIISandy JohnsonConnie LuebkeRon Vander GriendSungjin YooLETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT1142 44th St SEGrand Rapids, MI 49508P: 616.741.7200E: [email protected]: doorinternational.orgInside DOOR on the web: doorinternational.org/news-updatesRather, as it is written: “Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand.”Romans 15:21 NIV2Watch DOOR’s “I Want to Know” VideoI WANT TO KNOW WHY I EXIST
HOW DEAF-LED MOVEMENTS ARE TAKING THE GREAT COMMISSION FARTHER2-by-2 teams enter new regions, sharing Chronological Bible Stories in sign language. In Loshad*, Deaf leaders began hosting small Bible studies that drew curious seekers.Deaf people meet Jesus for the first time and form believers’ fellowships for prayer and learning. In Eurasia, a young man chose to follow Christ even when his mother destroyed his Bible.As faith communities grow, Deaf translators selected from those communities begin producing Scripture in local sign languages. Emil’s* Kha* Sign Language team now provides Bible access for 15 nations across Eurasia, including Loshad.Those fellowships mature into Deaf-led churches where believers are discipled and leaders are trained. David’s* 2-by-2 teams are mentoring new Deaf leaders and teachers across Eurasia.New evangelists and missionaries are sent out to the next Deaf community. From Eurasia to Southeast Asia to West Asia, the gospel is on the move in sign language.EVANGELISM:NEW BELIEVERS: TRANSLATION:CHURCH PLANTING:MULTIPLICATION: * All names changed for security reasons. 3
I WANT TO KNOW WHO SEES MEJared’s StoryGrowing up in Nairobi, Kenya, Jared Omondi often felt invisible. Born into a loving but hearing family, he was the only Deaf child in a world filled with sound. His parents did their best to include him by taking him to church each Sunday, but while others sang, prayed, and laughed, Jared could only watch. The lips of the pastor formed words he couldn’t comprehend. The songs echoed in a language he couldn’t understand.“I wondered,” he remembers, “does God understand me? Does He see me?”4Watch Jared’s Story
5 5Everything changed when two missionaries invited him to a Deaf youth camp. There, for the first time, Jared saw the stories of Scripture signed in his own language: the creation of the world, the fall of man, the cross, and the Resurrection. For the first time, the gospel made sense, not as an idea, but as a message for him. “That was the day I accepted Jesus,” he says. “For the first time, I knew God saw me.”“When I saw the Bible in sign language, I knew God understood me. God sees me.”From that moment, Jared’s life took a new direction. At church, he grew as a leader, teaching, coordinating programs, and helping others encounter the God who had met him. Years later, Jared joined DOOR International as a signer on the Kenyan Sign Language translation team. Over time, he became a translation facilitator, a certified sign language consultant, and then the Africa Translation Coordinator, guiding Deaf Bible translation across the continent. Recently, he has stepped into a new role: DOOR Africa campus director.Jared’s leadership has taken him far from that first camp in Kenya. He has trained teams in countries from Ghana to Mozambique and has stood in Jerusalem itself, walking the roads where Jesus once walked. “It felt like meeting God face-to-face,” he says. “I finally understood how the Bible’s stories happened in real places.” That experience, he adds, deepened both his faith and his ability to help others see God’s Word clearly.Yet what drives Jared most isn’t titles or travel. It’s seeing the transformation of Deaf people encountering God in their language for the first time, just like he did.“When I see a Deaf person begin to understand God’s Word, and their eyes light up. It excites me,” he says. “I know that joy.”Today, Jared also serves on DOOR International’s global leadership team. He’s part of a movement proving that Deaf people are not limited by what they cannot hear, but that they are empowered by what they can see. Under his guidance, Deaf translators and evangelists are taking the gospel farther than ever before, planting Deaf-led churches and mentoring new believers across Africa.“Hearing people sometimes say Deaf can’t do this or that,” Jared says, smiling. “That’s not true. Deaf people can do anything! The only thing we can’t do is hear. We can lead, we can translate, and we can share God’s Word.”For Jared, the question that once haunted him—Does God see me?—has been answered again and again. Now, through his work, others are finding that same answer for themselves.Transformation in ActionAt a Deaf school in Kenya, Jared watched a young boy stand before hundreds of classmates and confidently sign the story of creation. Every detail, from the first day to the seventh, was precisely recited as the child told God’s story from memory, using the same signs shown in DOOR’s Chronological Bible Translation.“I stood in awe,” Jared recalls. “This child wasn’t repeating things he didn’t understand. He was sharing truth in his own language.”Moments like that remind Jared why he serves. Across Kenya and neighboring nations, Deaf believers are gathering to study Scripture, lead worship, and start churches where the next generation learns about God in sign language. “On that day, it was evident that we do not labor in vain,” Jared says. “I thank God for the work He is doing through us. The [work] we are producing will go a long way in touching many hearts, both young and old. We will live our dream of Deaf reaching Deaf for the glory of Jesus Christ.“5Jared signing “work” in Kenyan Sign Language
6I WANT TO KNOW MY WORK MATTERSAshish’s* StoryYears ago in southern Marcam*, every morning before sunrise, a young man named Ashish boarded a crowded bus bound for the translation office. For three hours, he traveled toward the place where a small team of Deaf translators was bringing God’s Word to life in Cocos* Sign Language.When Ashish arrived, he would take his seat, review the day’s story, and begin signing Scripture. Those long days and longer commutes became the training ground for a calling that would eventually touch Deaf communities across all of Asia.Ashish grew up in a Christian family, but the faith he observed was mostly a set of rules he couldn’t fully understand. His parents didn’t know sign language, and church was a place where he watched others from the sidelines. “I saw pictures of Jesus on the cross,” he recalls, “but I didn’t understand why He died.”* All names changed for security reasons.
7That changed when Ashish met two Deaf leaders from DOOR Marcam. They began sharing Bible stories in sign language, and for the first time, Ashish could truly see the story of salvation unfold. He now understood creation, sin, and the cross. He now understood Jesus. “I had a clear picture in my mind of what it meant to follow Him,” he says. “That was the first time I really believed.”Not long after meeting those two men, Ashish joined the Cocos Sign Language translation team. Each day, he traveled six hours round-trip to the office, worked late into the evening, and studied Scripture again when he returned home. The work was hard and the pay small, but the purpose was great. “I wanted to see God’s Word accurately given to Deaf people in Marcam,” he says. “It was worth every mile.”Over the years, Ashish’s role grew. He became a facilitator, then a translation advisor, and eventually a consultant. Through DOOR’s mentoring and training, he learned to check Scripture for clarity, accuracy, and naturalness in sign language. “When I began, I thought only about the hand signs,” he explains. “But I learned that facial expressions, body movements, and eye gaze are also part of how God’s truth is communicated.”Today, Ashish serves as Asia Translation Coordinator for DOOR International, overseeing Deaf translation projects across South and East Asia. His passion is to equip Deaf translators to handle God’s Word with excellence and confidence. “My internship taught me that planning, time management, and continuous learning matter,” he says.“When you grow in knowledge, you gain confidence, and that helps you help others.”Ashish often visits Deaf churches and training camps, where he sees the impact of this work firsthand. “When Deaf people finally understand a Bible story in their own language, their faces light up,” he says. “That’s when I know my work matters.”His wife, Tanya*, also Deaf and part of the translation movement, shares the same commitment. Together, they’ve faced hardship and sacrifice, but they’ve also seen miracles of understanding and faith blossom in Deaf communities that once lived without access to Scripture.What began as one man’s discovery has grown into a movement: Deaf people reaching Deaf people across Marcam and beyond, empowered by the Word in their language.Ashish in the studio signing Scripture in Cocos Sign Language7
8I WANT TO KNOW WE CAN GOAcross Eurasia, Deaf leaders like Emil* and David* are proving the Great Commission has no barriers. When the gospel is seen, Deaf believers go.In a small Deaf fellowship in northern Loshad*, two friends sit side by side before Bible study begins. Kellie* had been attending for months, learning from Deaf leaders who taught Scripture through sign language. Her friend Leann* was new, a church attender frustrated after years in a hearing church where she could never ask questions or fully understand the message.When Leann joined the Bible study and saw Scripture taught clearly in her own language, she lit up with questions about Jesus and salvation. Her curiosity sparked something in Kellie’s heart, and both women began to grow in faith together. Within weeks, Kellie accepted Christ and started arriving early just to learn more. A month later, Leann gave her life to Jesus, too.These women’s lives changed because God’s Word reached them in a language they could understand: Kha* Sign Language. The translation work that makes this possible began hundreds of miles away in Kha, where Emil and his team have spent years bringing Scripture to life in sign language. Their work now reaches far beyond Kha’s borders, serving Deaf communities across Eurasia.“When Deaf people see the Bible in their own language, something happens,” Emil explained. “They don’t just understand it. They remember it. It stays in their heart.”The stories produced by Emil’s team have helped Deaf pastors, church leaders, and seekers alike grasp the meaning of Scripture for the first time. One Deaf pastor was stunned to learn that Jesus was laid in a manger, not a bed. Others have discovered the reality of sin and grace through stories like Cain and Abel. Even the translators themselves are changed in the process. “While working on the book of Joshua,” Emil said, “I realized that one man’s sin affected a whole nation. It made me want to obey God more carefully, even in my own work.”Across the same region, David is building on that foundation. As DOOR International’s Eurasia Church Planting Coordinator, David leads teams of Deaf evangelists and 2-by-2 missionaries who use the Kha Sign Language translation to teach, disciple, and plant new Deafled churches. His teams operate in difficult contexts, where proselytizing is restricted and open evangelism can lead to persecution, but they continue to grow through prayer and perseverance.In one city, David’s team was praying for opportunities to share the gospel at a Deafowned mechanic shop. Weeks later, the owner himself asked them to start teaching the Bible stories at the shop. In another region, Deaf youth from Muslim backgrounds are gathering for Bible studies and finding joy in a God who knows them by name.David sees each of these moments as proof that Deaf leaders don’t just receive the gospel. They carry it forward. “When Deaf people see Scripture in their own language,” he says, “they don’t wait for others to come. They go themselves.”Now David oversees teams not only in Kha, but also in Loshad, where 2-by-2 missionaries are discipling new believers like Kellie and Leann. He’s mentoring Deaf leaders in Ankora* and praying for expansion into Asharun*, where millions of Deaf people still wait for Scripture in their sign language.Together, David and Emil embody DOOR’s vision: church planting and translation working hand in hand. Translation makes the Word visible. Church planting makes it grow. Across Eurasia, Deaf believers are proving that the Great Commission transcends barriers of language, distance, and fear.From translation studios in Kha to house fellowships in Loshad, the gospel is traveling in the hands of Deaf believers who have discovered that God’s call is for them too. They can go.Emil introducing the Bible in Kha Sign Language to a Deaf churchDavid teaching at a believers’ fellowship* All names changed for security reasons.
9If you trace the journeys of Jared in Africa, Ashish in Asia, and David and Emil in Eurasia, you’ll see the blueprint for DOOR’s next three years. The stories in this issue all provide glimpses of a movement already in motion.As DOOR International launches its 2025–2027 Strategic Plan, the focus is clear: build on that momentum by strengthening what matters most: the people. Every goal, metric, and initiative flows from one conviction: when Deaf believers lead, entire communities change.Equipping More Deaf ExpertsAcross the world, Deaf leaders are rising—translators, consultants, evangelists, and church planters who are reaching their own people for Christ. Over the next three years, DOOR’s first goal is to triple the number of trained Deaf experts in translation, evangelism, and leadership development.In Africa, leaders like Jared are mentoring new translators and teaching Deaf believers to study and share God’s Word. In Asia, Ashish is part of a growing network of consultants guiding translation teams across the region. In Eurasia, David and Emil are proving how translation and church planting multiply together—one providing the Word, the other living it out.This investment in people will shorten training timelines, multiply consultant capacity, and ensure that the next generation of Deaf leaders is equipped to carry God’s Word farther than ever before.Accelerating Translation and Church GrowthThe second goal of the plan focuses on accelerating both Bible translation and church planting.Around the world, more than 68 million Deaf people have yet to see or understand the story of Jesus. Only a few dozen of the world’s 300+ known sign languages have any Scripture at all. DOOR is committed to changing that.By 2027, DOOR aims to have 12 active sign language Bible translation projects in progress and to plant or strengthen 25 new Deaf-led churches each year. The plan calls for new missionary teams, enhanced training tools, and closer integration between translation studios and 2-by-2 teams in the field.In places like Loshad, Deaf believers are already gathering to study Scripture in sign language, while in Africa, Deaf evangelists are launching new Bible study groups every month. Church planting and translation aren’t separate streams, but rather two halves of the same gospel movement.Building Long-Term SustainabilityTo carry this mission into the future, DOOR is also building a foundation for endurance. The third goal of the plan is sustainability, ensuring that Deaf-led ministry will continue and grow for generations.By 2027, DOOR plans to establish a sustainability fund to provide stability for staff and training programs worldwide. The plan also invests in digital infrastructure, ensuring that Scripture videos and training materials remain accessible and secure, even in countries where Christian ministry is restricted.This focus on stewardship allows DOOR to say “yes” more quickly when new Deaf communities ask for help starting translation or church planting work. It keeps the door open for the gospel to reach places still waiting to see it.Our WhyFor DOOR, strategy is never about numbers on a page. It’s about faces and names, about people who are hungry to know God. It’s the Deaf pastor in Kha who saw the Christmas story clearly for the first time. It’s the young woman in Marcam who found confidence in her calling. It’s the little boy in Africa who signed the story of creation before hundreds of classmates.Each of these stories begins with access. And access begins with people willing to go. That vision remains the heartbeat of this plan, because when Deaf believers lead, transformation follows.A Plan In MotionThe next three years will stretch DOOR’s reach, deepen its training, and multiply its impact. But even more, this time will demonstrate what happens when Deaf leaders are empowered to fulfill the Great Commission in their own languages.The plan is bold. The vision is clear. And the people who carry it are already on the move.Together, we’re ensuring that every Deaf person can one day say, “I want to know—and now I do.”FROM PLAN TO PEOPLEHow DOOR’s 2025–2027 Strategic Plan turns vision into Deaf-led transformation.“For millennia, Deaf people have faced barriers that have prevented them from having direct access to the gospel, from knowing Jesus in the same way that you and I can. We are seeing that change, and we can’t wait for the global Church to know and be a part of this Deaf movement of God.”By 2027, We Plan To Have:12active sign language Bible translations 25 new Deaf churches planted per year 6new Deaf missionary teams launched annually 3xgrowth in trained Deaf consultants and leaders
I WANT TO KNOW EVENTOn October 7, friends and supporters of DOOR International gathered for an unforgettable evening of worship, testimony, and vision at the I Want to Know event. Deaf and hearing guests from across the country joined together to celebrate what God is doing through Deaf leaders worldwide, and to get a glimpse of what’s next for DOOR.The night opened with powerful Deaf-led worship, filling the room with praise that reminded everyone that the gospel can be seen as clearly as it is heard. Guests watched testimonies from Africa and from Costa Rica that captured the heartbeat of the campaign and the longing of Deaf believers everywhere: “I want to know.”DOOR’s President and CEO Rob Myers shared how God is using Deaf believers around the world to lead translation, evangelism, and church planting efforts in their own sign languages. His message connected beautifully to DOOR’s new three-year strategic plan and its vision to multiply Deaf-led ministry across continents.The evening’s keynote speaker, Tim Tebow, inspired the audience with his passion for reaching the unreached and reminded everyone that God’s love is for all people, hearing and Deaf alike.DOOR extends heartfelt thanks to our title sponsors, Mart Green and Bill McKendry, and other partners for making this special night possible and for helping share the vision of a world where every Deaf person can know and follow Christ.Panel discussing the I Want to Know movement10
Challenge GrantA generous donor has presented DOOR with a $100,000 Challenge Grant to inspire others to give. This is your opportunity to help meet the challenge and expand access to God’s Word for Deaf communities worldwide. Every gift helps move us closer to our goal of seeing Deaf believers equipped and thriving in their faith. Join us in rising to the challenge by making a year end gift!Become a Prayer Partner!Commit to pray for DOOR by hosting a one time (or regular) prayer group.For more details visit:doorinternational.org/prayWith gratitude for the generous donors who have provided a lead gift, DOOR International announces the establishment of an endowment.This endowment provides a foundation for support that will secure Deaf-led evangelism, discipleship, and Bible translation into the future.By investing in the DOOR International Endowment, you are helping to ensure the long-term financial stability of our mission — ensuring that Deaf communities around the world have access to the gospel in their heart language — sign language.We invite you to partner with us in building this legacy. Together, we can sustain and strengthen the mission of DOOR International — not just for today, but for generations yet to come. doorinternational.org/legacyA New Chapter of Sustainability and ImpactIntroducing the DOOR International EndowmentDeaf and hearing attendees mingleDaphne signing the closing prayerTim Tebow receives a gift from the Orozco familyRiziki Signing Jesus, Hyatt Moore III, artistDeaf leaders kick off the program11
CURRENT WORK AND LOCATIONS1142 44th St SE • Grand Rapids, MI • 49508 DOOR is working around the world to reach Deaf communities with God’s Word and discipleship. Will you become a partner through prayer, giving, and raising awareness?MAIL YOUR GIFTDOOR InternationalDept. 9012 P.O. Box 30516 Lansing, MI 48909-8016VISITdoorinternational.org/donateJOIN US!18 Countries with Disciple-making (2-by-2) Teams8 Current Translation Projects+ Multiple Partner ProjectsDisciple-making (2-by-2) Teams and Bible TranslationDisciple-making (2-by-2) TeamsBible TranslationSCAN TO DONATESpecific countries removed for security