Global Recordings Network

I was searching for a particular item one day on the internet and stumbled across a very interesting website. It is called Global Recordings Network (GRN). Much like the Summer Institute of Linguist(SIL) their primary mission is to capture all the different language around the world in audio format for distribution in ones mother tongue or dialect. Accompanied with flip charts the audio gives a visual insight for clear understanding to those who are illiterate. Joy Ridderhof founded the work of Gospel Recordings in 1939. Joy was a single missionary in Honduras in the 1930's but was forced to return to the U.S. due to ill health. Her missionary heart was still with the mountain people she had left behind. Although poor and illiterate, these people had responded to the gospel and were delighted to hear God's Word.
As Joy prayed for them, an idea came to her. She remembered how phonograph records had played in the villages, blaring out songs in English and Spanish. If only she could make a record with a gospel message and Christian songs in Spanish, then it could stay with the people to repeat over and over the words she could no longer say to them in person.
In late 1938 the first record was produced and sent to missionaries who would take it into the mountain areas. The response was amazing and soon requests were coming from many Spanish-speaking areas for copies of that record. In 1941 Joy received a request for a Navajo recording from missionaries to the Navajo Indians. Joy's decision to record this second language was a major landmark in the history of Gospel Recordings, opening the way to a global outreach that would eventually touch the ends of the earth. Gospel Recordings today is committed to fulfill the vision that God gave to Joy Ridderhof.
GRN has been established in Papua New Guinea and works in close partnership with the SIL. There are currently over 30 establishments around the world. GRN is a Non Governmental Organization and depends heavily on donations and sale of its products to finance its activities. Visit their website to find out more.