Signing God's Message of Love

Aimee Herd : Oct 10, 2012
Kelsey Deans - World On Campus

"He wants to show God and love to everyone. It doesn't matter if they're Deaf; it doesn't matter if they're hearing . . . Even if it means signing, teaching ASL or blinking, Kevin wants to communicate and show the Gospel."

(Georgia, USA)—The Bible says that "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God," but what about those who cannot hear at all?

That's the mission field of Kevin Rance, a 5th-year mathematics student at the University of Georgia. Kevin—who is Deaf himself—went on a short-term outreach trip to Honduras during spring break a year ago. This year, he returned for another week-long trip, hoping to meet up with the same little girl he had met and tried to communicate with on his first trip.

Of his first missionary experience, Kevin said that "his [time] in Honduras gave him an even greater desire to share the Gospel with the Deaf, because he knows from his own experience that all they really need is to have a relationship with God." (Nicole, Kevin and Tatianna in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Courtesy photo)

The girl he hoped to find again—Tatianna—was also Deaf, and not knowing sign language or lip-reading, her main form of communicating was grunting.

Kevin wanted to share the Gospel with her, along with the others he would meet on his trip. After tracking down Tatianna's sister, he finally found her.

"She didn't know how to speak or sign, and that broke my heart," Kevin told his interpreter, Alyssa Johns.

The International Mission Board notes that less than 2 percent of the 33.5 million Deaf people in the world are Christians.

According to the World On Campus report, Kevin says his experience in Honduras "gave him a greater awareness for how many deaf people in other countries are not as fortunate as those who live in America, where they have access to translators and know ASL. In other countries, the race for equality in education and the workforce is almost non-existent, he said: 'It's impossible for them to fit in or get a good education.'"

Find out more about Kevin's desire to Sign the Gospel and watch a youtube video about him at the link provided.