One of Jesus’s most beloved parables is the story of the wandering sheep. “What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off.” Matthew 18:12-13, NIV.

That story comes to life day after day, around the world, through Church-Centric Bible Translation (CCBT). One of those places is in Islands-Asia, where a tiny, seafaring nomadic people group–the Sea People*–is slowly drifting away. But one man wants to change that.

We’ll call him Nathaniel*, a pastor with family connections to the Sea People who longed for a way not only to preserve his language and culture but also to anchor them in the gospel of Christ. At first, he despaired. Like the one sheep in Jesus’s parable, the Sea People population is so small that no Western Bible translation agency can justify allocating resources to them. But the Good Shepherd was already searching. Dr. Fredy Simanjuntak, Dean of unfoldingWord’s seminary partner in Islands-Asia, introduced Nathaniel to Church-Centric Bible Translation, and together, they charted a course to the Sea People New Testament.

Recently, Nathaniel shared the impact of the Good Shepherd’s search for this tiny people group.

“This translation project carries profound meaning. For decades, the Sea People have been identified with, or absorbed into, the broader Muslim culture of our nation. Social pressures, poverty, and limited educational opportunities have often contributed to these shifts. The creation of a Bible in our own language, therefore, stands not only as a cultural milestone but also as a spiritual declaration. It affirms that the Sea People belong to Jesus and ensures that our language will not fade into silence. It safeguards the heritage of future generations, enabling them to know who they are and assuring them that they, too, are part of the “tribes and tongues” spoken of in the Book of Revelation.”

By God’s grace, the Sea People have completed Open Bible Stories and are working on the New Testament. A trial edition should be published this year.