Steve Swartz: a life looking through the cracks

What is it like for a young man from small-town Ohio to answer the call of God? After decades working as a missionary in Australia, Fostoria-born Steve Swartz has written a memoir about his experiences across the world as a Bible translator. The memoir, titled "Broken Pot: The Making of the Warlpiri Bible," details Swartz's childhood in Fostoria, his education, his work in translation and his lifelong struggle with mental illness. It was published by Ark House Press. Swartz was born in Fostoria in 1951. He graduated from Fostoria High School in 1969, and proceeded to attend Huntington College until 1973. His wife, Bev, graduated two years later. After college, Swartz trained in linguistics at the International Linguists Centre in Duncanville, Texas, then spent two additional summers training at the University of Oklahoma. During his time at Huntington, a missionary from Wycliffe Bible Translators visited a chapel service that Swartz was attending. The missionary, Jim Wilson, was working in Brazil at the time. "That was the first I had ever heard about the thousands of minority languages of the world without writing systems, in which the Bible had not been translated," Swartz said. "I guess you could say that this was the moment when God hit me with the 'mission stick' and I felt called to go into this type of work." Even during his childhood in Fostoria, religion was always a key aspect of Swartz's life. His family attended church at the Bethel Evangelical United Brethren on the corner of Liberty and Union. They went twice a week: for regular service on Sunday mornings, and on Wednesday nights for prayer meetings. Swartz credits much of his "spiritual formation" to Reverend Russell Hawk. He and his wife moved to Australia to begin their mission with Wycliffe in 1977. They chose to go down under because English was the national language; a country with French or Spanish as the main form of communication would've required another two to three years of training. From 1978 to 1986, Swartz and his wife lived and worked among the Warlpiri Aboriginal people in Lajamanu, Northern Territory. Warlpiri is spoken by roughly 3,000 people in central Australia. After completing the project, the Swartzes moved to Alice Springs. In the middle of his time in Lajamanu, Swartz began experiencing symptoms of depression. He later learned that he had bipolar disorder, but he couldn't get a correct diagnosis for several years. The illness culminated in 1986 in Hastings, Michigan. He and his wife were visiting family on a missionary furlough. Swartz attempted suicide. "Treatment was sporadic from that stage onward," Swartz said. "I struggled with wildly up and down emotions." The correct bipolar diagnosis didn't come until 30 years later. Now, Swartz takes daily medication to level out his moods. The title of his book, "Broken Pot," is inspired by his personal battle with mental illness. The book's description on the Ark House Press website reads: "It is sincerely hoped that fellow sufferers of the Black Dog and other forms of mental illness will come to realize that God has not abandoned them; He can still use cracked pots to accomplish His purposes. There is help for them even in the darkness." "So, the imagery of a broken pot is symbolic of a broken person," Swartz said. "God can and still does use such people for His purposes and glory." Swartz reminisces on a song called Anthem by Leonard Cohen, his favorite singer, when describing his journey. "Ring the bells that still can ring / there is no perfect offering / there is a crack in everything / that's how the light gets in." He started writing the memoir almost 15 years ago after a manic episode in 2007. For 25 days, his excitement and rush to write resulted in 60,000 words. Then, the book sat dormant, collecting dust for more than a decade. However, another burst of energy occurred in 2019 — the word count doubled. After a year of polishing and editing, the memoir was finally complete. Swartz and his wife are both retired now; they left the mission in 2003. Since then, he's worked in education and interpretation at multiple jobs. They also have three children and ten grandchildren, most of which still live in Australia as well. One daughter and her three children are living in Hong Kong, China. Though he used to return to Fostoria for visits, he doesn't see himself coming back again permanently. At 70 years old, he has spent nearly three-quarters of his life in Australia — it's home now. "I look back at my nearly 20 years in Fostoria fondly," Swartz said. "Fostoria was a vibrant small town with a thriving downtown by the time I left for college." "Things are different now," he said. But the mid-century town of the 1960s and 1970s lives on forever in his memory. "Broken Pot: The making of the Warlpiri Bible" is available at arkhousepress.com, as well as in digital form on Amazon Kindle and Smashwords.