AUDIO Scripture Ministries, based in Michigan, US, has partnered with World Cassette Outreach India to restore the Malayalam New Testament recording.
In an effort to preserve audio recordings of Scriptures for posterity, the ministry has taken steps to get the audio cassettes digitized into solar powered digital players.
The Malayalam language is spoken by the people of Kerala, a state of India in the south.
Audio recordings of the Bible are a great tool used in evangelization efforts of the illiterate people.
According to Mission Network News, there are still hundreds of languages waiting for their first written and audio Scriptures. Other people groups have access to audio recordings, but the recordings they have are slowly deteriorating. Malayalam is one such language where the recordings are in danger of being lost if they are not preserved at the earliest.
Cassette recordings were innovative 30 years ago as ministries brought the Word on tape, but now they are starting to fall apart. As a result, ministries who previously recorded on cassette now need to re-record.
In a release Audio Scripture Ministries said they were able to complete the New Testament in the Malayalam language after several months of work. They now hope to restore the full Bible as soon as possible and make it available on solar-powered digital players.
Although preparations for the re-recording have not been easy, the opportunity has allowed the ministries to make necessary updates to old translations.
Audio Scripture Ministries began in 1967 under the direction of Dr. Ronald Beery. Dr. Beery left a teaching position as Physics Professor at Hope College in Holland, Michigan to develop a new technology at that time – cassette players.
Then called Portable Recording Ministries International (PRM), the technical missionary service organization pursued development of players and associated equipment that could be used in remote locations. The players were hand powered, with solar panels and battery backups available. Cooperating with other mission organizations, PRM was able to see the fulfillment of a vision with the manufacturing run of several versions of players.
