In this issue…

  1. TRY THESE INDUSTRIAL-USE GOOGLE SEARCH TRICKS AND TIPS!
  2. NEED A VIRTUAL PRIVATE NETWORK AT YOUR MINISTRY? TRY THIS ONE
  3. ONE-DAY COURSE ON ISLAM
  4. GLOBAL (“GO”) OPPORTUNITIES FOR TENTMAKERS TURNS 20!
  5. INTERNET SERVICE WITH BUILT-IN VIRUS, SPAM, AND FILTERING
  6. SEPTEMBER IS “PRAY FOR THE PHILIPPINES” MONTH
  7. IF YOU HAD TROUBLE FINDING DEPT. OF STATE ENGLISH INFO
  8. GET YOUR US TOLL-FREE NUMBER FORWARDED TO ANY PHONE IN THE WORLD
  9. MAKE GREAT DIGITAL VIDEOS
  10. FOUR MONTHS TO GO, $12 THOUSAND TO RAISE
  11. CLOSING STUFF
  1. TRY THESE INDUSTRIAL-USE GOOGLE SEARCH TRICKS AND TIPS! — Are you a Google-search-maniac? Become all the more-so by trying these tips:
    *** Put your exact text in quotes and Google will only show you pages where that exact phrase appears
    *** To see a list of pages that link to the one you’re examining, type the word “link:” then your URL, like, “link:www.brigada.org”
    *** To convert one kind of measure to another, just type in the natural language, like this, “100 degrees F. in C.” or “5 gallons in liters”. Experiment.
    *** Watch the “Did you mean” phrase below your search title, in case you misspelled a word ( You type “Brigadaa” and Google returns, “Did you mean brigada?”, and you click on that phrase and Brigada.org is the first listing out of 382,000 pages where the word brigada occurs.)
    *** Looking for a phone number? Try typing in “rphonebook:” followed the name, city, and state abbreviation for a great phone listing. Then go throw away your white pages — or recycle them to be friendlier to the environment. :-) Try the same using “bphonebook:” for a business listing.
    *** Forget your calculator? Never fear. Just use Google. In the Google prompt, type in your functions like this, “16 + (25 * (15 / 3))” and you’ll see 141 as the Google-given result. So… how will Casio stay in business?? :-)
    *** Searching for a particular story for which you know the title? Use the “intitle:” tool. Type “intitle:” followed by the title in quotes. Try, intitle:”Make digital videos worth watching” to see copies of the article we mention in Item 9 below.
    *** Get a great listing of all the Google tools and services at: http://www.google.com/options/index.html which include indexed paper catalogs, product listings from online stores, shopping tools, and even indices of millions of messages on Usenet discussion groups.
  2. NEED A VIRTUAL PRIVATE NETWORK AT YOUR MINISTRY? TRY THIS ONE — Just click on over to http://www.findnot.com Yes, it’ll cost a little bit (less than your Internet Service Provider charges), but then the I.T. guy at your office won’t have to set up and maintain a flawless VPN for your ministry and you’ll enjoy completely anonymous messages and web-searching regardless of where you live on the planet. So… live in a land that suppresses information about Christianity, yet log onto “findnot” then use your newly-encrypted channel to order Bibles and have them shipped to a friend in the land next-door, then go pick them up the following week. Send and receive email without encryption and without worry that someone is “sniffing” your connection. (But, as always, remember to encrypt your local hard drive in case your laptop is seized. We highly recommended IBM Thinkpads because of built-in IBM Client Services encryption.) Check ’em out — and no, we don’t get any kind of “kickback”. Just one beggar telling another where to find bread. (Thanks to our friend in N. Africa for referring us to this service. Believe me, he’ll prefer we leave him unnamed, but he’ll read this via his “findnot” VPN connection :-) .)
  3. ONE-DAY COURSE ON ISLAM — Crescent Project’s Sharing the Hope seminars provide a one-day introduction to Islam, Muslim cultures, and ministry skills designed to provide accurate information about Muslims and equip Christians with biblical attitudes and methods for evangelism so they can confidently and sensitively share their faith with Muslim friends. Upcoming seminars include Owosso MI on Sept. 11, 2004, Muncie IN on Sept. 25, 2004, Portland OR on Oct. 9, 2004 and McAllen TX on Oct. 23, 2004. For more information go to http://www.crescentproject.org/sharingthehope.cfm
  4. GLOBAL (“GO”) OPPORTUNITIES FOR TENTMAKERS TURNS 20! — To celebrate their anniversary, they have lined up more training events this fall than ever before. Do you want to investigate tentmaking? Thinking of going as a tentmaker but need more training and encouragement? Let “GO” help you get equipped at their Light to the Nations tentmaker training course 13-17 October at the US Center for World Mission Pasadena CA, or at a half day seminar in Victoria BC, Toronto ON & Delta BC (close to the WA border). According to a recent survey, a large percentage of today’s tentmakers lack ministry skills. Don’t become a part of that statistic. For more info and to register for any of these events visit their website http://www.globalopps.org or email them at training(at)globalopps(dot)org [replace (at) with @ and (dot) with .]
  5. INTERNET SERVICE WITH BUILT-IN VIRUS, SPAM, AND FILTERING — Check out American Family Online, http://www.afo.net/ or call 888-817-9314 or 850-897-8200 if interested in getting an internet service which filters for viruses, spam, and indecency. The filtering is done *before* it gets to you so that you do not need spam and porno blockers on your computer (an antivirus system on your computer is still necessary). Finding a local call-up number should be no problem. The cost is around $20, slightly cheaper than AOL and other standard services. According to one Brigada participant, “David”, the service performs well and tech support is good.
  6. SEPTEMBER IS “PRAY FOR THE PHILIPPINES” MONTH -– Sponsored by the missionaries of the International Mission Board’s Pacific Rim Region, the goal is to facilitate fervent prayer from Christians around the world on behalf of Filipinos. The ardent desire is that these prayers will result in a massive outpouring of God’s Spirit upon these great people. Pray that many Filipinos will come to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, commit themselves to Bible study and discipleship and carry the Gospel message throughout the Philippines, Asia and around the world. Request more information by contacting Judy Harvey pray4philippines(at)imb(dot)org(dot)ph or Ann Lovell at annlovell1965(at)yahoo(dot)com (Ann can mail you materials for your church within the USA). Christian Light Foundation also has some specific prayer requests they would like to share with you: clfphils(at)pldtdsl(dot)net [replace (at) with @ and (dot) with .]
  7. IF YOU HAD TROUBLE FINDING DEPT. OF STATE ENGLISH INFO — In last week’s Brigada Today, if you had trouble finding information on the Dept. of State’s “English Language Officer” program, try: http://www.careers.state.gov/specialist/jobs/print/ad_elo.html (The extra “L” on the end of HTML makes a big difference. :-) Sorry for passing through that incorrect link without checking it first. We sometimes compose “on the road” and don’t always get to check links. Like today I’m composing in the back of a truck, out of touch with the Internet. :-( Fortunately, when we include an error, we hear plenty about it from dedicated readers! :-) So we’ll always pass along these corrections in the next issue.)
  8. GET YOUR US TOLL-FREE NUMBER FORWARDED TO ANY PHONE IN THE WORLD — Get a US toll free number forwarded to any phone in the world with no setup fee and low international rates. Go to https://brigada.org/phone.html (Disclaimer: This service then sponsors Brigada as a thank-you for being featured here — but they’re good enough to feature anyway. :-) )
  9. MAKE GREAT DIGITAL VIDEOS — This article on making great digital videos can help you take your movies to the next level: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1206386,00.asp (Copy the above URL to your browser’s “Address:” box.)
  10. FOUR MONTHS TO GO, $12 THOUSAND TO RAISE — As you know, Brigada is a free service. But last year, after running behind for months, we launched out in faith to hire a Brigada Secretary. Within *weeks* we were totally caught-up and have remained so ever since. Now, we have just four months remaining in 2004 to raise the balance of her salary for the year. Certainly it’s exciting that nearly $4000 has come in so far… but with only 4 months remaining, we’re wondering if there might possibly be 48 churches out there that could each manage a special one- time gift of $250 to help us over the hump? If so, we’ll be done and we won’t request a dime more throughout the remainder of the year. What do you think? Would your church consider? Would you be willing to ask them? If the Lord blesses you with a “yes” answer, just log on to: https://brigada.org then click “sponsor” in the top menu, or just send a check payable to Team Expansion to: Team Expansion (Brigada secretary), 13711 Willow Reed Dr., Louisville, KY 40299. Thanks! As always, be sure to let us know if you’d like us to promote any particular service or ministry, or if you’d prefer your gift by anonymous. And thank you for helping us get Brigada out the door and onto your screen each week!
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