20001126 Brigada Today

In this issue….

LEARN TO MULTIPLY CHURCHES VIA A CD-ROM???!

Believe it or not, it appears that this CD really can help! Remember the CD-ROM we mentioned a while back (Sept. 29th edition, item 2), featuring Church multiplication specialist, George Patterson? You’ll recall that we said he’s managed to put a life-time of experiences into this new form of training, an interactive e-textbook, with graphics, sounds, pop-ups, skill learning scores and more. We said it would be suitable for training courses and near or distance mentoring. Well guess what – – it is!!! I just got my first look at a copy . . . and I can tell you… I wish our team could have had access to all this information when we first left for South America in 1982. All of us were new at missions and this programmed self-paced instruction would have really “scratched an itch!” Bible colleges could take this CD and build an entire class around it. Mission orgs. could make it required reading for church planting training. Can’t beat the price, either. Many would have been willing to pay $90 or more just to attend a 5- hour workshop with George Patterson, plus the costs of traveling to it! This is so much better (nothing personal, George

), because we can take the training with us! Well get this — they’re charging just $29 plus shipping! To order, send an email to DiscipleNations@Servants-Inc.org. Because the sales folks don’t apparently have a PayPal account

, you’ll have to use some kind of encryption to seal up your email… like going to http://www.hypersend.com to open an account, then send it via hypersend on the web. It’ll work… (just not as conveniently as PayPal

PEOPLETEAMS HAS A NEW LOOK!

Have you visited peopleteams.org lately? (peopleteams.com and peoplteams.net take you there too.) More than 300 different peopleteam networks are now connected and the site continues to enjoy more than 100,000 hits each month from thousands of unique users. Take a look! http://www.peopleteams.org

DON’T FORGET TO CHECK OUT THE RAMADAN INFO

Time’s a wastin’ for you to check out the info. on Ramadan, the period of Muslim fasting, at: http://www.hfe.org/prayer/ramadan/30days.htm

DO YOUR RELIGIOUS ADHERENTS RESEARCH AT ADHERENTS.COM

“Adherents.com” is a growing collection of over 50,000 adherent statistics and religious geography citations – references to published membership/adherent statistics and congregation statistics for over 4,200 religions, churches, denominations, religious bodies, faith groups, tribes, cultures, movements, ultimate concerns, etc. Basically, researchers can use this site to answer such questions as “How many Presbyterians live in California?”, “What are the major religions of Yemen?”, or “What percentage of the world is Jewish?” Adherents.com presents data from both primary research sources such as government census reports, statistical sampling surveys and organizational reporting, as well as citations from secondary literature which mention adherent statistics. http://www.adherents.com/
(Thanks to Tony for passing on this item and the one below from webgrammar.com!)

LEARN A LOT ABOUT LANGUAGES

You can learn a lot about languages from The Human Languages Page, an astounding work site offers an index of resources, organized by type and by language. Its database currently contains over 1800 resources covering more than 100 different languages. http://www.june29.com/HLP/

WANTED: FEEDBACK ON “BUILDING ON FIRM FOUNDATIONS”

A pastor in Austria is interested in running this chronological course by NTM on the OT and the Gospels. He is looking for feedback from church leaders in first and second world countries who have used this course. “What were your experiences using this approach? How well did you reach non-Christians with it? What did the course do to those who were already disciples? What was the time frame for your study and its setting? Can the study be incorporated into a discipling process?” Franz will share the results of this query with Brigada participants. send your feedback to Rathmair@gmx.net. Thanks!

FREE TENTMAKING PERIODICAL VIA EMAIL

GO World is the only periodical that focuses on tentmaking – it’s power, challenges, successes, impact and questions. Each quarterly issue contains tentmaker stories, articles on tentmaking and missions, a country profile, and highlights of God’s work in the world. Now you can subscribe to the email text only version for free. http://www.egroups.com/subscribe/GOWorld Of course you can also go to the Global Opportunities website and subscribe to the hardcopy version, but note that it is free to US residents only. For more info contact info@globalopps.org or visit http://www.globalopps.org

LOCAL CHURCH MISSION ENTHUSIASTS

The School of Cross Cultural Mission at Sydney Missionary and Bible College in Australia has a monthly e-zine for mission secretaries and mission enthusiasts in local churches. Known as NAME (Network of Australian Mission Enthusiasts) the email publication contains biblical reflections on the role of the local church in world mission, practical ideas on how to raise mission awareness in a local church, and news on appropriate resources. While the latter section is particularly focused on Australia, the rest would be of interest to anyone seeking to build mission awareness in his or her local church. To become a recipient, send an email to Bruce at smbc@ozemail.com.au with the message
subscribe-NAME

MISSIONARY TRAINING SET OFFER

Now all nine booklets in the current Missionary Training Service series are available for US$45 (normal price US$58). Jim Yost in Indonesia says, “well refined, concise, practical and easily applicable anywhere.” Included:

The Missionary Training Guide
Unreached Peoples of the World
The Missionary Team
How to make Disciples in Other Cultures
How to Learn Another Language
The Effective Sending Church
Tentmaking Missionaries
Evangelizing Muslims
Evangelizing Hindus and Buddhists

To order or for more info, contact Ian Benson coord@missionarytraining.org.

WYCLIFFE CORRECTION

Those looking for the info. from Wycliffe will have an easier time by clicking to: http://www.wycliffeassociates.org.uk/ee Apologies come from Martin, the Wycliffe Associates contact.

LEARN TO TEACH ENGLISH IN CHINA!

A six-week TESOL course will be held June 1-July 14, 2001 in Henan Province at an American owned university. Teaching opportunities will be available upon successful completion of the school. The course will utilize proven American instructors and curriculum. Please be language sensitive. (It’s an unsecured Internet site in China.) For more information, write tesol2001@hotmail.com

LOOKING FOR MICROENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT TRAINING?

Look no further. A web-based Christian Microenterprise Development (CMED) course begins in January 2001. Dr. Russell Mask, International Microenterprise Development Coordinator, at the Chalmers Center for Economic Development at Covenant College, will teach this 16-week, three-credit course designed to help you learn the right way to approach CMED (The course may also be taken as non-credit). Dr. Mask is an experienced CMED practitioner and co-author of the new book “The Christian Microenterprise Development Handbook.” Learn how to reach the poorest of the poor spiritually and economically. Properly done, CMED can give churches a visible tool for holistic outreach, help in evangelism and discipleship and help form community groups while improving the lives of the poor. For more information, contact the Chalmers Center at chalmers@covenant.edu, or by phone: 706-419-1805.

TAGALOG BIBLE AT BIBLE GATEWAY NOT COMPLETE. SAYANG!

I guess “sayang” means “too bad!”

According to Mike, a missionary studying Tagalog in the Philippines, the Tagalog Bible at Bible Gateway is only the 27 books of the New Testament. Also, according to a note on the site, the version of the Tagalog Bible on the Bible Gateway site is an outdated translation. A newer translation, provided by Bibles International, will be available soon. For more information check out: http://bible.gospelcom.net/bg/tagalog-copyright.html

STORY-BASED TRAINING MATERIALS NEEDED

Brad needs training materials that are based around stories or case studies. ideas for OT and NT surveys, doctrine, leadership, prayer, etc. Materials that are somewhat contextualized for Muslim-background believers and/or available in Russian would be especially helpful, but anything that is story-based would be of interest. If you know of training materials that meet fit these criteria, contact Brad at BStoops@pactec.net.

CROSS-CULTURAL TRAINING IN TORONTO

Take a two week course that integrates Cross-Cultural training and Language Acquisition skills using a unique combination of experiential and formal instruction, February 11-23. According to organizers, “You will be exposed to the language of your intended host culture as well as having a genuine intercultural experience in one of the city’s ethnic communities. This course is a great opportunity for those participants living within a one day commute from Toronto.” For more information contact Robert, tel. 416-284-5645, micanada@interlog.com or visit http://www.timcentre.com/missionPrep.

GET GRANTS FOR COMPUTER ED.

The Association of Christian Community Centers aims to encourage Christians to help the underprivileged (especially youth) gain empowering computer expertise. Their email list shares information on grants, computer donations and other information. They are also looking for similar ministries to be added to their website.
List: http://www.egroups.com/subscribe/acccc/
Site: http://www.acccc.org/
(Thanks Tony!)

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