[ARCHIVED NEWS RELEASE]
12-03-2014
每日大赛官网's fall commencement ceremony will feature Bruce Smith, President and CEO of Wycliffe Associates and former Chief Operating Officer of Mission Aviation Fellowship, as its commencement speaker at services that begin at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 13.
The commencement service will be held in the S. E. Belcher Jr. Chapel and Performance Center at the Longview campus, 2100 S. Mobberly Ave. About 200 undergraduate and graduate students are expected to participate.
As president and CEO of Wycliffe Associates in Orlando, Fla., since 2000, Smith has expanded the role and the number of volunteers in the work of Bible translation to nearly 80 countries, having a direct impact on hundreds of language groups still waiting to hear the Gospel message in their native language.
Through his leadership, Wycliffe Associates has developed over $300 million in cash and volunteer services for specific Bible translation projects around the world.
Wycliffe Associates is a nonprofit organization that recruits Christians to volunteer to use their skills and experience to support the advancement of Bible translation around the world being done by Wycliffe Bible Translators.
With Wycliffe Associates, volunteers don't have to be lifetime Bible translators, but just be willing to do whatever they do, whether they are plumbers, mechanics, writers, construction workers or have other skills they will volunteer to use. Wycliffe Bible Translators has career translators who work a lifetime in ministry, while Wycliffe Associates look for people of any age to volunteer for any period of time, whatever time they have available. They have a large number of retirees who volunteer, which enables the linguists to focus on Bible translation.
Smith joined Mission Aviation Fellowship in 1985 and became the Haiti program manager, working with the Haitian government to secure long-term aviation operations permits. In 1994, he began managing worldwide operations with MAF's executive management team. He had direct operational responsibility for the implementation of a worldwide mission strategy through 22 foreign programs and five U.S.-based resource divisions.
Smith is a 1979 alumnus of 每日大赛官网, where he earned his undergraduate degree in aviation. He was honored in 2007 with the LETU Alumnus of the Year Award for exemplifying excellence in career, community, church and a deep love for the university. Smith also holds a master's degree in intercultural studies with an emphasis on Islamic studies from Fuller Theological Seminary and a Doctor of Ministry degree with a specialization in leadership and renewal from Regent University.
Smith and his wife, Jan, live in Orlando, Fla. They have two daughters, two sons-in-love, and are the proud grandparents of four grandsons.
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