The William Haas Lifetime Service Award

Wednesday evening's session at the annual meeting was a terrific blessing to me. Dr. Henry Osborn, Bibles International's esteemed translation consultant, was awarded the William Haas Lifetime Service Award. What a thrill for this man to be honored in such a way!

Since I had done a tremendous amount of research on Dr. Osborn for the Bibles International history project on which I'm working, I was asked to write the script for the DVD tribute that was used that evening. That was a wonderful privilege for me, one which I'm so thankful to have been allowed to do.

Dr. Osborn and his wife, Anne, who is now with the Lord, played significant roles in the early history of Bibles International. They joined BMM in 1952 and went as missionaries to the Orinoco River delta area in Venezuela, where they served until they needed to return to the US because of health concerns for their family. But even though they returned, they never stopped serving with Baptist Mid-Missions. Every summer but one, from the time they returned in 1969, until they became a part of Bibles International he traveled overseas to consult on Scripture translation projects for Baptist Mid-Missions. He literally served with BMM from 1952 until now, when he is still working on translation projects. He has worked on more than 50 languages around the world. What a ministry!

In the pictures, Dr. Osborn is being awarded first a plaque, and then a piece of crystal for his service to the mission. Joining him in the picture is his youngest daughter, Elizabeth. Dr. Anderson, president of the mission, is doing the presentation.