- THE LATEST ON CHURCH PLANTING MOVEMENTS BOOKLET
- WHY RAISE PERSONAL SUPPORT FOR MINISTRY?
- HOW DO WE SHARE CONFERENCE CALENDAR DATES?
- HOW TO GET PEOPLE TO PRAY FOR MISSIONS
- SEARCHABLE CD CHINESE BIBLE
- FREE MISSIONARY WEBSITES
- HAVE YOU SEEN MISSION MAKER MAGAZINE?
- GRAD STUDENT SEEKS ANSWERS TO 501(C)3 START-UPS
- A NEW CHRISTIAN ENGINEERING SCHOOL
- WE GET SO MUCH ENCOURAGEMENT FROM DONORS/SPONSORS
- THE BACKPAGE: TIME TO “GET TIRED”; AVOID WOTS
- CLOSING STUFF
- THE LATEST ON CHURCH PLANTING MOVEMENTS BOOKLET — Our Taiwan team recently gathered for a strategy summit in which they reviewed Garrison’s book on church planting movements. You can still get it at:
www.dawnministries.org/downloads/download_files/CPM%20Booklet.pdf
(I cut off the “http://” because this link was about to wrap and I didn’t want to go to tinyurl.)
You can also now find a book by Garrison on the same topic at:
http://www.churchplantingmovements.com/
(Thanks for reviewing these with me Scott!)
- WHY RAISE PERSONAL SUPPORT FOR MINISTRY? — According to Kingdom Come Training, “Raising support isn’t primarily about your need for monthly support. God has obligated himself to meet your need. It is primarily about the church’s need to connect with its primary purpose for existence: to be the expression of Christ to the nations. No one inspires mission vision better than the missionary raising support. Jerry, at Kingdom Come Training, can equip you with the attitudes, skills and confidence you need to raise your full support in eight to ten months.” He can come to your location, live and interactive, via video conferencing. KCT will send you the equipment and the software you need. Give Jerry a call at (503) 314-7211.
jerry(at)kingdomcometraining(dot)com [As a means of preventing spam for our contributors, in the preceding email address(es), please replace (at) with @ and (dot) with .]
- HOW DO WE SHARE CONFERENCE CALENDAR DATES? — Phill would like to poll Brigada participants to find out if there’s a good website or other resource that publicizes conference calendars and dates for other national and int’l events in the broader evangelical world. Seems like someone would have come up with an approach. If you have a suggestion, send it to: bsunderland(at)visionsynergy(dot)net [As a means of preventing spam for our contributors, in the preceding email address(es), please replace (at) with @ and (dot) with .]
Phill, please let us know your outcome so we can all jump on board. :-)
- HOW TO GET PEOPLE TO PRAY FOR MISSIONS — Here’s a tip to remember from Brigada participant, Mary: “One of the best ways to get people to pray is when they know the missionaries personally. My church has an annual missions conference week. Our missionaries come home and give reports, have small dinners in host homes and spend personal time with our church members. Each of the missionaries are part of our church and are considered our family. We keep in touch with them throughout the year and we support them both in prayer and finances.”
- SEARCHABLE CD CHINESE BIBLE — Check out the Digital Bible society
http://www.digitalbiblesociety.org/
They are a small ministry that has created a searchable CD Chinese Bible (reportedly easy to email) that they give away for free. The CD format allows it to be copied and hidden very easily. They are developing a new upgraded version 4 and it will be out soon. They are also looking for Arabic language help in doing the same project in Arabic. Their work is highly rated and very practical. (Thanks to the anonymous brother for sending this tip.)
- FREE MISSIONARY WEBSITES — Fast and easy, no HTML required. missionary411.com is a site designed to allow missionaries to create a free missionary website in just minutes. Users can upload pictures, updates, plans, location, prayer requests, financial needs and more. Once your free personal missionary website is set up, simply send sponsors your customized web address. This is a great way to communicate with your supporters, church, family and friends. The service is free and easy-to-use (no HTML required). For more information, go to:
or contact Noel at noel(at)411ministries(dot)com [As a means of preventing spam for our contributors, in the preceding email address(es), please replace (at) with @ and (dot) with .]
- HAVE YOU SEEN MISSION MAKER MAGAZINE? — I loved the article, “Two of my Kids I Like a Lot. One, Not so Much,” by Shane Bennett (of Caleb Project — which is now i360…. takeitglobal.org). It was funny, yet penetrating… and I wish it was available elsewhere on the web… but for now, I think you’ll just have to get a printed copy of the magazine, which you can request at:
- GRAD STUDENT SEEKS ANSWERS TO 501(C)3 START-UPS — As a grad student soon to complete his masters degree in ministry leadership, faithful Brigada reader Mike is required to submit a 75-page paper on the subject of how to start a fruitful and sustainable 501c3 missions ministry. He is seeking Christian leaders who have the aforementioned experience to respond to the questions below via email; the responses will serve as part of the qualitative research of the paper. So, how about it? Care to help out a colleague in missions ministry? Send responses asap to the following questions to: mike(at)internationalfaith(dot)org [As a means of preventing spam for our contributors, in the preceding email address(es), please replace (at) with @ and (dot) with .]
What are a couple of the most common mistakes made in starting new missions ministries? What can be done to help foster ministry sustainability over the long haul? Describe the most rewarding part of starting a ministry that you have experienced? Looking back, what would you do differently if you could start all over? How is your knowledge of and relationship with God different than before you started your first ministry? (Mike, if you get some feedback, please send us an executive summary of your outcomes.)
- A NEW CHRISTIAN ENGINEERING SCHOOL — Here’s a new school that’s already accepting applications for the inaugural class starting in the fall of 2007. Enrollment is limited. It’s part of California Baptist University (“A University committed to the great commission!”)
Check the site for details. Large academic scholarships are available. Home schoolers and missionary kids are most welcome. Foreign students are not required to have a minimum TOEFL score because ESL training is available. Send questions to:
engineering(at)calbaptist(dot)edu [As a means of preventing spam for our contributors, in the preceding email address(es), please replace (at) with @ and (dot) with .]
- WE GET SO MUCH ENCOURAGEMENT FROM DONORS/SPONSORS — Thanks to the anonymous givers who gave $20, $180, and $100 this past week. Here’s the truth: Many weekends, when it seems so hard to find time to keep Brigada going, these sponsors and donors make *soooo* much difference. Thank you! If you’d like to be a part of that encouragement, just click on “sponsor” in the top menu (to use PayPal or a credit card), or if you prefer, 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. In any case, thanks for considering Brigada in your estate giving, your monthly church missions fund, and/or your own personal giving for this calendar year.
- THE BACKPAGE: TIME TO “GET TIRED”; AVOID WOTS — Today I’m getting tired. Why? To avoid “WOTS.” Truth is, my previous Bridgestones managed about 70,000 miles before the slipping and sliding started becoming just a bit too noticeable.
The funny thing about tires… the wear kind of sneaks up on you, doesn’t it. There’s no warning light… no buzzer… and probably nobody in your house reminds you. *Maybe* the guy changing your oil says something… but that’s only if you happen to have someone who thinks outside his own box. So the truth is… you can actually let the situation become pretty dangerous without even knowing it.
The same thing happens in mission work. We grow lax about monitoring security and the next thing you know, we’re casual. We walk the same routine at the same time everyday, creating a very soft target for a hardened criminal. But beyond security concerns (which are many), maybe we lose our edge by not staying current on the best practices in church planting, discipleship, or even language learning & cross-cultural communications.
Who reminds us about tire wear? The same people who remind us about mission wear. In other words, unless a missions agency rep or a local church missions minister should happen to advise us, we pretty much have to kick our own tires. And if we wait ’til we start to slip, it just might be too late.
So what can you do to avoid worn-out-tire-syndrome (WOTS) :-) ? Here are some tips:
*** Find ways to stay current, regardless of where you live. Subscribe to some basic world news source, as well as a couple of info-sources related to your job. (Like Brigada! :-) ) Be sure to skim or read them regularly. It takes proactive and intentional *work* to do so.
*** Set a weekly checkpoint in your life where you take time to analyze your to do list and the upcoming week. Do some pondering. Be creative and introspective. Steven Covey helped raise a broader awareness on this, and Frankin-Covey has continued in his legacy. Some like Monday morning… others point to Sunday evening… you decide what works for you. With my truck, for instance, I try to check out the tires every time I buy gas. It’s just a practical stopping point along an otherwise very hectic roadway. Find a checkpoint in your life too.
*** Ask for coaching. Take advantage of visitors, phone calls, and communiqués of all kinds. Pick their brains. Express a posture of teachability. Check your theories by polling others, whenever you can.
*** Seek out teammates who believe and think differently. This is counter to our own ego. We normally try to hang with those who affirm us by believing and practicing the ideas we hold dear. It takes *work* to affirm others when they disagree and to let them know that you *value* their contrary theories and beliefs. But I’m convinced when you do so, you become a stronger human being.
*** Finally, ask God for wisdom. Maybe James 1:5 is talking mostly about wisdom in trials . . . but the principle can apply in other areas as well. Ask God to give you insight. Let’s shoot straight — God’s wisdom would obviously be the most valuable input of all.So… let’s walk around our vehicles and kick those tires. And let’s avoid WOTS. :-)
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