Having grown up in Brazil as the children of missionaries, Tim Bachmann and his siblings eventually decided to follow in their parents’ footsteps. Responding to God’s leading, Tim studied at Word of Life Seminary in Brazil.

After completing seminary and marrying Von, a Brazilian he met there, Tim worked with his family in northeastern Brazil for several years, helping lead their church into a passion for missions. Tim and Von also took the basic linguistics and Bible translation (BT) training at the Brazilian Wycliffe mission headquarters. Finally, through AMIDE, Tim and Von’s mission organization (which, when translated, means “Missional Cooperation for the Spreading of the Gospel”), their church sent them to Guinea Bissau, where they served the Jola-Felupe people for 12 years. They planted a church, discipled church leaders, and trained mother tongue translators (MTTs), who are now almost finished with the Jola-Felupe New Testament!

Some of Tim and Von’s friends recommended they obtain a scholarship with The Seed Company Organization (TSCO) to take the Master of Arts in Biblical Exegesis and Linguistics (MABEL) program at the Dallas Theological Seminary  and Dallas International. After many challenges along the way, God provided the scholarship and entrance into the program and he came to Dallas International in 2015.

Tim has spent the past year in Brazil serving as an intern with TSCO. He worked as the coordinator of three Brazilian gypsy teams. The teams are working on an oral translation of the book of Genesis using a new oral Bible translation (OBT) software called Render, developed by Faith Comes By Hearing. Tim has now returned to Dallas to resume his studies, planning to complete the MABEL program in 2019.

One of the Dallas International classes that Tim said helped prepare him for his current ministry is Oral Tradition and Literature, taught by Professor Pete Unseth: “I recommend [this class] to anyone who works in any area of BT, especially with OBT. It opened my eyes to the rich diversity of oral tradition in all cultures, helped me be able to identify the four main genres in a given culture, and how to apply them in ministry. And it’s all the better because Unseth is fun and creative!”

After finishing the MABEL program, Tim plans to return to Guinea Bissau and work as a BT consultant, assisting several MTT teams and training new MTTs in both traditional BT principles and OBT techniques and resources.

Pray for God’s wisdom for Tim as he tackles the difficult MABEL program and for discipline to fulfill his other responsibilities: BT consulting, reviewing the Portuguese translation of Translators’ Notes, and reviewing his father’s translation of his book into Portuguese (called “Married to Brazil”) regarding his parents’ life in missions. Also, please pray for God’s strength and courage for Tim and his family as they pursue God’s will for their lives: their two daughters are also walking the missions path, and their son plans to serve the Lord with his mechanical engineering skills, wherever He leads.