[Note: Are you a team member working full-time in a non-profit mission agency, church or humanitarian organization? Would you help us by taking a 5-minute survey about Followership? It’ll directly help Doug with his Ph.D. (on followership styles). Please Click here for more information and to pitch in. Thanks!]
In this issue…
1. BIBLE TRANSLATORS AND THE ADVENT OF THE TALKING BIBLE
2. CAN’T DECIDE WHICH ANTI-SPYWARE TOOL TO BUY?
3. NEED A SPOT TO STORE & SHARE YOUR PHOTOS?
4. “WOMEN OF THE HARVEST” MAGAZINE NOW FREE, ONLINE
5. PEOPLE RAISING 6-HOUR TRAINING NOW ON CD & MP3
6. TRANS SCAN: FIND OUT IF TRANSLATION IS FOR YOU
7. AMAZING BOOK OFFER
8. CHRISTIANS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING INT’L CONFERENCE
9. THANKS FOR THE HELP! WOULD YOU CHIP IN?
10. THE BACKPAGE: THE RESULTS ARE IN
11. CLOSING STUFF
1. BIBLE TRANSLATORS AND THE ADVENT OF THE TALKING BIBLE — The advent of the Talking Bible dramatically increases the value of the work done by the Bible translators. By spending just one percent more than what it cost to translate a New Testament in the first place, one can now make that dedicated, sacrificial, costly translation effort available in audio as a Talking Bible for the larger numbers of people who cannot read. It is a possibility we could not have dreamed of less than five years ago. For more information visit: http://www.talkingbibles.org or contact harvey(at)talkingbibles(dot)org
2. CAN’T DECIDE WHICH ANTI-SPYWARE TOOL TO BUY? — Take PC Magazine’s word for it. Their latest editor’s choice is Spyware Doctor 3.2, available for $29.95 at http://www.pctools.com In their benchmark “real-world” tests, Spyware Doctor outperformed other offerings from all the “big guns” like Symantec, Microsoft, Spy Sweeper, Lavasoft, and more. (And by the way, we get no sponsorship from PCTools.com. Just one beggar telling another where to buy bread. But if they ask where you heard about it, feel free to tell them Brigada.org. Maybe they’ll decide to pitch something in after 30 of us buy it! :-) )
3. NEED A SPOT TO STORE & SHARE YOUR PHOTOS? — Claudia recommends http://www.photobucket.com (Thanks Claudia!) The free version allows for 25 meg of disk space (about 12 or 13 photos at the 5 megapixel rate) and 1500 meg. of bandwidth, with a limitation of 250K as the maximum size for any image you post. But for just $25 per year, you’ll get 1 gig of photo display space, and unlimited throughput. On this latter plan, maximum image size is bumped up to 1 meg. — still about 1/2 the size of a 5 megapixel image. Check it out!
4. “WOMEN OF THE HARVEST” MAGAZINE NOW FREE, ONLINE — If price was a factor before, it’s not any more. Now you can get “Women of the Harvest” free, online, by clicking to: http://www.womenoftheharvest.com This classy new online magazine is designed to encourage you to persevere in cross-cultural service. You can attend “WOTH” retreats, get weekly bible studies, and pick up other helpful resources — all at the site. _NOW FREE, ONLINE — If price was a factor before, it’s not any more. Now you can get “Women of the Harvest” free, online, by clicking to: http://www.womenoftheharvest.com This classy new online magazine is designed to encourage you to persevere in cross-cultural service. You can attend “WOTH” retreats, get weekly bible studies, and pick up other helpful resources — all at the site.
5. PEOPLE RAISING 6-HOUR TRAINING NOW ON CD & MP3 — Need to raise personal support or funds for your organization? People Raising has just released the People Raising 6-hour award winning audio curriculum on CD and in downloadable MP3 formats. Discover firsthand how the People Raising system can help you raise the needed funds in record time while reducing the fears commonly associated with asking for support. The Audio kit includes: 5 CD’s by author and fundraising expert, Bill Dillon, 72 page Study Guide, The People Raising book and handy Presentation Reminder card. People Raising is providing a special introductory offer through 8/10/2005. To get more information and take advantage of this unique fund raising 6-hour training program go online http://www.peopleraising.com/purchase.cfm or contact Bill(at)PeopleRaising(dot)com [As a means of preventing spam for our contributors, in the preceding email address(es), please replace (at) with @ and (dot) with .]
6. TRANS SCAN: FIND OUT IF TRANSLATION IS FOR YOU — There are about 2600 people groups in the world today that don’t have God’s Word in their heart language. Could God be calling you to serve as part of a Bible translation team? “Trans Scan” has the answers! Check out…
http://www.wycliffe.org/events/home.htm
For more info, contact Wade Wade_Remer(at)wycliffe(dot)org about the August, 20 event at Wycliffe Center in Tucson AZ. [As a means of preventing spam for our contributors, in the preceding email address(es), please replace (at) with @ and (dot) with .]
7. AMAZING BOOK OFFER — “Godsize Stories from Around the World” will bless and inspire you. You can be reading it minutes from now. For less than the price of a lunch at McDonalds you’ll receive the e-book and *two bonuses*. You’ll also receive the complete audio-book, and The e- Book Librarian software to manage e-books on your computer. You can download them or order them on CDs. Listen to the foreword by Eddie Smith at http://tinyurl.com/aroeh Check out this offer at: http://www.godsize.com Or email: carl(at)godsize(dot)com [As a means of preventing spam for our contributors, in the preceding email address, please replace (at) with @ and (dot) with .]
8. CHRISTIANS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING INT’L CONFERENCE — From January 23-25, 2006, on the campus of Payap University in Chiangmai, Thailand, this interorganizational teachers’ conference will provide a faith-friendly venue for academic interaction and professional development, as well as for networking and fellowship. Proposals for presentations, workshops, resource room, and poster sessions are now being received. For more information on the conference see http://www.cetesol.org For inquiries, or to send a proposal, e-mail Brad bbaurain(at)elic(dot)org. [As a means of preventing spam for our contributors, in the preceding email address(es), please replace (at) with @ and (dot) with .]
9. THANKS FOR THE HELP! WOULD YOU CHIP IN? — Thanks to Harvey Hoekstra, of TalkingBibles.com, for the $25 gift to help Brigada step into the next week! We’re grateful for this help and encouragement. This brings to $6,810.36 our sponsorship total for 2005. You might recall that our goal for 2005 is $16,576, meaning we’re just over 4/10ths of the way to the total. Unfortunately, we’re just over halfway through 2005. To make our goal, someone will have to chip in a bit more over the coming weeks or months. Please pray that God will raise up partners to make this gift (these gifts) possible. Thanks! Would you consider helping with the costs of our webspace, some secretarial help, and a small amount of advertising? To chip in or make a substantial donation, 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. 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.
10. THE BACKPAGE: THE RESULTS ARE IN — I’ve enjoyed reading some reader feedback to the last couple of “BackPages”… addressing the issue of “What churches want” out of the church-missionary relationship and, on the other side of the coin, “What missionaries want”. You can read the feedback for yourself at: https://brigada.org/articles/what_they_want.html Over all, there seemed to be agreement, at least in principle, that times have changed (duh… :-) ) in the missions arena. Technology, travel, and cultural norms have all made an impact. You’ll have to be the one to decide if we’re better- or worse-off than we were before. Maybe our seemed to land more on the “better-off” side when it comes to gratitude for technology and the connectivity it brings. But if that’s the case, the majority seemed to land a bit on the downside regarding changes in the local church. That having been said, the responses were all over the spectrum.
So allow me to sum up, if I may — at least my own opinion: We live in a rapidly-changing world, where our motivations, our “church culture”, and the “tools of the missionary trade” are seemingly transforming right before our very eyes. As a result, churches, individuals and also agencies would be well-advised to look carefully at how these and other “change factors” are affecting their work now and how they might have a bearing in the future. Only then will we be adequately prepared to walk the jungle of missions in future generations.
Doug
Recent Comments