KNOXVILLE, TN (July 20, 2006) – A number of online readers have noticed the proliferation of news stories in Spanish as part of our coverage of CHIC 2006 under way on the campus of the University of Tennessee.
The decision to publish Spanish language versions of the major stories reflects a sensitivity to the continued growth in the number of churches in the Evangelical Covenant Church where Spanish is the predominant language.
Although English may not be a challenge for Hispanic youth attending CHIC, it is not necessarily the most appropriate choice for individuals back in the home churches for whom English is not a comfortable second language.
We have been privileged to have the translation services of Andrew J. Mark, son of Covenant missionaries David and Wendy Mark, who is on site at CHIC. Andrew is fluent in Spanish and can quickly translate the news stories being developed throughout each of the days by staff from Covenant Communications, who also have been in Knoxville this week.
Andrew, currently a student at North Park University in Chicago, grew up in Mexico where his parents serve under Covenant World Mission. He moved to the United States about three years ago, working at Redwood Covenant Church in Santa Rosa, California, where his language skills were put to good use as part of Hispanic ministries there.
He has assisted the CHIC 2006 team in developing Spanish language materials used during the CHIC event, in addition to translating the daily news report. “Hopefully,” he says, “although it is still a working project, the gesture of making CHIC readily available to the Spanish-speaking community will emphasize God’s unfailing love for the diverse cultures, nations and races represented in the Covenant.”
The pattern used in the online news reporting is to first present a given story in English, with the Spanish version appearing immediately below the English version.
Our thanks not only to Andrew, but to all of the talented members of the CHIC “I-Team” who have supported the online news reporting with still and video photography and graphics.
Covenant Communications is providing daily coverage of CHIC 2006 from the University of Tennessee campus in Knoxville as part of this online Covenant news report. For additional articles, photo galleries, and daily blogs (with Spanish translations), please see CHIC 2006.
Copyright © 2011 The Evangelical Covenant Church.
