Matthew Yeater to Bar Ilan & Israel
Donation protected
Update: May 2017
Matt is about to end his second semester at Bar Ilan in Tel Aviv and a new set of challenges have been presented for him walk through.
In this time Matthew has maintained an A average in his studies and continues to grow. His first seminar paper brought with it an invitation by a professor to team with Matt in getting accepted to a future PHD program. (a humungous step)
Furthermore Matt has learned modern Hebrew and now moves freely around Israel independently and is reading Biblical Hebrew at a PHD level. He continues to lead the way in brail conversions now allowing Ancient Semitic Languages of Akkadian & Ugarigic to be read by the blind worldwide.
Perhaps the biggest news though is not happy. The challenge of finances continues to grow. Matt is now completely free of Social Security support and is 100% dependent on scholarships and support from friends that believe in Matthew's academic goals.
Would you prayerfully consider a onetime gift? Or join with me to commit to a monthly gift? As he strives forward and deeper into the world of scholar basic technology needs continue to mount along with all normal cost of living a daily life away from his children and friends.
For the past three years my good friend Matthew Yeater has been working to create access to original language Biblical studies. Collaboratively, an unprecedented level of braille access has allowed Matt to break through into a new level of Biblical scholarship that no other blind person has been able to fully participate in before. His love for the Bible has lead him through Indiana Bible College where he earned a bachelor of arts majoring in Biblical studies and minoring in theology.
In addition, he earned two merit scholarships from the National Federation of the Blind and earned two distinguished leadership awards while attending IBC. After being accepted to Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, he earned a masters of divinity also majoring in Biblical studies and minoring in theology. While a student there, he was given the Millard Lind award acknowledging his passion for the Old testament and excellence in academic study.
Acknowledging his work in making Biblical language, study resources, and access to the critical apparatus, Matt was awarded the Dr. Jacob Bolotin award by the National Federation of the Blind just this past July, 2016. Matt and his colleagues won the first place prize, placing them into the guild of others who have made major innovative contributions to access for blind people. These are people and companies such as Apple, Ray Kurzweil, and Black Board to name a few.
His next goal is to attend Bar Ilan University in Tel Aviv, Israel. Matt has applied to the Bible department and is expecting to earn a second masters of theology studying the Hebrew Bible before going on to earn a Ph.D.
In order to do all this Matthew needs to raise the funds for moving, travel and lodging for himself and potentially his children also. As you can imagine his limited funds while being a fulltime student without active employment and raising a family can be daunting.
For this reason I have begun this GoFundMe account to assist him in doing this. The goal I have set is high, but when talking about the possible cost that could be gathered it isn't out of line. When we take in the thought of plan tickets, moving all of a family’s belongings, acquiring a new residence, incidentals of starting a new education experience, updated software & hardware (new 80 cell brail display cost is nearly $8,000) needs along with the mire of incidentals such an adventure like this could incur the amount may actually be much smaller than the need.
So please, pray, seek and give liberally. This is an adventure that all can join in on as Matt has intentions of beginning a video blog for the world to watch as he moves forward in learning and blazing the path for other sight hindered people to follow.
For more information about Matthew you should read the following articles.
http://www.elkharttruth.com/hometown/elkhart/blind-from-meth-lab-explosion-elkhart-man-translates-ancient-bibles/article_9dad0a71-03d6-570e-bf04-25ef54d0049a.html
https://www.ambs.edu/news/Making-a-way-where-there-is-no-way.cfm?grp_id=10070
Matt is about to end his second semester at Bar Ilan in Tel Aviv and a new set of challenges have been presented for him walk through.
In this time Matthew has maintained an A average in his studies and continues to grow. His first seminar paper brought with it an invitation by a professor to team with Matt in getting accepted to a future PHD program. (a humungous step)
Furthermore Matt has learned modern Hebrew and now moves freely around Israel independently and is reading Biblical Hebrew at a PHD level. He continues to lead the way in brail conversions now allowing Ancient Semitic Languages of Akkadian & Ugarigic to be read by the blind worldwide.
Perhaps the biggest news though is not happy. The challenge of finances continues to grow. Matt is now completely free of Social Security support and is 100% dependent on scholarships and support from friends that believe in Matthew's academic goals.
Would you prayerfully consider a onetime gift? Or join with me to commit to a monthly gift? As he strives forward and deeper into the world of scholar basic technology needs continue to mount along with all normal cost of living a daily life away from his children and friends.
For the past three years my good friend Matthew Yeater has been working to create access to original language Biblical studies. Collaboratively, an unprecedented level of braille access has allowed Matt to break through into a new level of Biblical scholarship that no other blind person has been able to fully participate in before. His love for the Bible has lead him through Indiana Bible College where he earned a bachelor of arts majoring in Biblical studies and minoring in theology.
In addition, he earned two merit scholarships from the National Federation of the Blind and earned two distinguished leadership awards while attending IBC. After being accepted to Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, he earned a masters of divinity also majoring in Biblical studies and minoring in theology. While a student there, he was given the Millard Lind award acknowledging his passion for the Old testament and excellence in academic study.
Acknowledging his work in making Biblical language, study resources, and access to the critical apparatus, Matt was awarded the Dr. Jacob Bolotin award by the National Federation of the Blind just this past July, 2016. Matt and his colleagues won the first place prize, placing them into the guild of others who have made major innovative contributions to access for blind people. These are people and companies such as Apple, Ray Kurzweil, and Black Board to name a few.
His next goal is to attend Bar Ilan University in Tel Aviv, Israel. Matt has applied to the Bible department and is expecting to earn a second masters of theology studying the Hebrew Bible before going on to earn a Ph.D.
In order to do all this Matthew needs to raise the funds for moving, travel and lodging for himself and potentially his children also. As you can imagine his limited funds while being a fulltime student without active employment and raising a family can be daunting.
For this reason I have begun this GoFundMe account to assist him in doing this. The goal I have set is high, but when talking about the possible cost that could be gathered it isn't out of line. When we take in the thought of plan tickets, moving all of a family’s belongings, acquiring a new residence, incidentals of starting a new education experience, updated software & hardware (new 80 cell brail display cost is nearly $8,000) needs along with the mire of incidentals such an adventure like this could incur the amount may actually be much smaller than the need.
So please, pray, seek and give liberally. This is an adventure that all can join in on as Matt has intentions of beginning a video blog for the world to watch as he moves forward in learning and blazing the path for other sight hindered people to follow.
For more information about Matthew you should read the following articles.
http://www.elkharttruth.com/hometown/elkhart/blind-from-meth-lab-explosion-elkhart-man-translates-ancient-bibles/article_9dad0a71-03d6-570e-bf04-25ef54d0049a.html
https://www.ambs.edu/news/Making-a-way-where-there-is-no-way.cfm?grp_id=10070
Organizer and beneficiary
Evangelist Lee Fowler
Organizer
South Bend, IN
Matthew Yeater
Beneficiary