In this issue…
1. MISSION NANNYS IS OFFERING TO HELP YOU
2. NEW BOOK OFFERS WOMAN’S PERSPECTIVE ON MISSIONS
3. TEFL COURSE IN THE SOUTHEAST
4. MISSIONARY MENTORSHIP NETWORK
5. 2005 FULLER HEALTHCARE MISSIONS CONFERENCE
6. MUSLIM STUDIES
7. TEACH ENGLISH IN TSUNAMI IMPACTED THAILAND
8. DID YOU HEAR THE ONE ABOUT THE EMAIL EXTORTION RING?
9. SEND BRIGADA FORWARD
10. HELP FURTHER UNDERSTANDING OF FOLLOWERSHIP
11. THE BACK PAGE: HOW TO LEVEL A REALLY BIG CISTERN
12. CLOSING STUFF
1. MISSION NANNYS IS OFFERING TO HELP YOU — Mission Nannys, an organization created to glorify God by sending volunteer women overseas to help missionary families, is in need of Opportunities of Service from missionaries. They seek free room and board in the home and tender loving care for the volunteer. They love children, helping with homeschooling, cooking, cleaning or whatever is needed. If interested, just write bettysullins(at)juno(dot)com [As a means of preventing spam for our contributors, in the preceding email address(es), please replace (at) with @ and (dot) with .] or see their website at http://www.missionnannys.org (Thanks, Mission Nannys, for the $100 sponsorship for Brigada! We appreciate your help in getting Brigada out the door and onto the screens of the 10,000+ members across the globe.
2. NEW BOOK OFFERS WOMAN’S PERSPECTIVE ON MISSIONS — Here’s a new book by Caleb Project that provides an engaging inside look at the lives of women on the mission field. In an effort to support and encourage women entering or already in missions, Through Her Eyes, by Caleb Project author Marti Smith (published by Authentic Media) shares the personal experiences of women living and ministering in the Muslim world. After seven years as a mission mobilizer with Caleb Project, Marti Smith had the opportunity to get a closer look when she spent a year in a Muslim country with a church-planting team, shortly after the events of September 11, 2001. The result of this experience, the book Through Her Eyes, shares the stories of two dozen women – some single, some married – as they reveal the nuances of their everyday lives as missionaries overseas: dealing with loneliness, learning a new language, helping children adjust to the new culture, maintaining healthy marriages, and balancing ministry and family roles. Purchase this book at http://www.calebproject.org/store. (If you get a chance, let them know you heard about it here. No referral fees or sponsorships involved — just fun when they write and tell me they received 30 new orders during the 48 hours after Brigada released the information.)
3. TEFL COURSE IN THE SOUTHEAST — From July 18nd to 29th, Columbia International University will be offering an introductory course on the Techniques of Teaching English as a Foreign Language: Speaking, Listening, and Reading (LNG 6740). This three semester hour graduate level course introduces students to communicative language teaching, lesson planning, and practical techniques for the classroom. The course may be taken as part of Columbia’s MA in TEFL or as a stand-alone introduction to English language teaching. For more information, please see CIU’s Summer Studies website http://www.ciu.edu/summerstudies or contact Dr. Kay kherbert(at)ciu(dot)edu [As a means of preventing spam for our contributors, in the preceding email address(es), please replace (at) with @ and (dot) with .] You can also call: 1-803-754-4100, ext. 3316, or toll-free in the U.S. or via Net2Phone from elsewhere at 1-800-777-2227.
4. MISSIONARY MENTORSHIP NETWORK — This network is offered by the Elijah Company and designed to give practical instruction and encouragement. This bimonthly e-mail has been helpful to some already on the field and others planning to go. To subscribe send an empty e- mail addressed to elijahcompany-mentorshipnetwork-subscribe(at)strategicnetwork(dot)org [As a means of preventing spam for our contributors, in the preceding email address(es), please replace (at) with @ and (dot) with .] Go to http://www.elijahcompany.org for information on other Elijah Company services.
5. 2005 FULLER HEALTHCARE MISSIONS CONFERENCE — Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA will be hosting its second annual Healthcare Missions Conference on June 24th and 25th. It will be a wonderful time for those who serve the Lord in healthcare missions, both domestically and abroad. Continuing Education for physicians, nurses and other health-care professionals will be available. Visit the conference website http://fullerhealthcaremissions.info
6. MUSLIM STUDIES — The Zwemer Center for Muslim Studies at Columbia International University has a significant number of scholarships ($300 each) available. Four weekly subjects (July 4-29) include: Introduction to Islam; Folk Islam, Approaches to Islam; Revelation, Qur’an and Muslim Traditions. (They are also offering Arabic, June 13- July 8.) If interested, contact them ASAP muslimstudies(at)ciu(dot)edu [As a means of preventing spam for our contributors, in the preceding email address(es), please replace (at) with @ and (dot) with .] or by phone: 800-777-2227, ext. 3325. Register online: http://www.ciu.edu/summerstudies.
7. TEACH ENGLISH IN TSUNAMI IMPACTED THAILAND — You can be involved for two weeks up to a semester. The Khao Lak Community Computer Center offers English classes to those impacted directly and indirectly by the Tsunami. People are hungry to learn English and this is an avenue for them to learn about you. You would fly into Bangkok for a cultural and teaching orientation at one of the premier Christian English training schools in Thailand, the Baptist Student Centre. Then fly into Phuket and be taken by road to Khao Lak, the area most impacted by the Tsunami. You will stay in a local, clean hotel within walking distance of the center and would fit right into an existing program. Term example: Two weeks: $1990; One month: $2540; 15 week semester: $4550. For more information, visit http://thailandtsunamirelief.blogspot.com/ and Click on the Volunteer Coordinator on the right bottom. Opportunities start July 30th!
8. DID YOU HEAR THE ONE ABOUT THE EMAIL EXTORTION RING? — If so, it wasn’t a joke. One of the latest virus attacks, known as PGPcoder, literally encrypts your hard drive then demands “ransom” money to get the key to unlock it. Talk about dirty pool. It leaves a text file instructing users to send a payment for $200 in return for the decryption instructions. What are they thinking? In the first place, couldn’t someone just look up the address where they’re supposed to send the money? Duh. In the second place, wouldn’t one hope that Symantec and everybody else will write preventative measures for this kind of vandalism/extortion? Honestly… the imagination of the “dark side” sometimes astounds me. So… bottom line… keep those antivirus programs up to date and hope for the best. We can’t afford to be without them any more.
9. SEND BRIGADA FORWARD — If you’d like to help make Brigada a reality for next week and beyond, just click “sponsor” in the top menu (to use PayPal or a credit card), 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 be anonymous. These gifts help us cover costs like webspace, part-time secretarial help, and a small amount of advertising.
10. HELP FURTHER UNDERSTANDING OF FOLLOWERSHIP — Will you take 5′ to help further our understanding of followership style and how it impacts team performance and personal job satisfaction? (You’ll also be helping Doug finish his doctorate?) It’s free — and I give you my word you won’t be added to any marketing list! (You have 10+ years of being on Brigada today as evidence. We never sell your identity.) :-) Just click here to get started: http://brigada.org/followership/ We could really use your help on this. Please ask whomever you can. We need about 500 participants and so far we have just a couple of hundred.
11. THE BACK PAGE: HOW TO LEVEL A REALLY BIG CISTERN — Over the past week, some of our office staff have been participating in a kind of “job enrichment” program. :-) You see, the big-shot contractors wanted thousands of dollars in labor costs to tear down this mice-infested house on the new piece of property we’ve purchased. So a couple of us thought… Hey… if we chip away and even remove a *few* pieces, at least it’ll be farther along than we were before. (See the initial sequence at: http://www.teamexpansion.org by clicking on the link in the upper left entitled, “6/14 Mice-infested House Toppled”. By the way, that’s me in the driver’s seat in… http://www.teamexpansion.org/images/emerald_hills/DSC01376web-res.jpg and http://www.teamexpansion.org/images/emerald_hills/DSC01390web-res.jpg Well the next thing you know, I was sitting in the seat of a Cat 953C “High Lift” bulldozer. Well everything was going peachy until we encountered this old cistern at the back corner of the house. See it: http://www.teamexpansion.org/images/emerald_hills/DSC04913web-res.jpg Yikes that thing was tough. We tried everything imaginable, even digging it out. But not even this big 953C could penetrate the walls (which were 8″ of concrete with rebar reinforcement). As everybody else went home (around 5:30), I told them I might kind of hang around and putter at it. So I climbed on the D6. See it at: http://www.teamexpansion.org/images/emerald_hills/DSC01367web-res.jpg (That’s me brainstorming with my buddy, Bob, who serves as our Outreach Director at Team Expansion.) Well true – this D6 is a big dozer and it’s got a lot of power. But honest… it just couldn’t make a dent (literally) in this cistern. So I began to just try to chip away one corner. I would drive over it. Then I’d tap it, and pick at it, then drive over it some more. After more than an *hour* of patient picking, I experienced a breakthrough: One small 3″ chip of the concrete cap gave way. 30″ later, most of the top was peeled off like the lid of a sardine can. I called a friend with a water pump and, as darkness closed in, we pumped out all the water. The next day, our Ass’t Operations Director, Aaron, finished it off in an hour or so. See the “after” look at: http://www.teamexpansion.org/images/emerald_hills/DSC01487web-res.jpg So what did I learn from this whole experience? I learned that even with a big tool, sometimes it still takes a very long time to crack through a strong challenge. Sometimes, in fact, it’s more about the operator’s patience and determination than it is about even the size of the tool. And … ok… I admit it. I also learned that driving a D6 is a rush.
So either way, keep chipping away at that big problem. Maybe just take one single 2-hour class toward your Masters degree. Get started. Putter. Meander. Enjoy the journey. It’s ok if something takes a long time. What’s the hurry anyway. :-)
Doug
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