- NEED HELP RAISING MISSION SUPPORT?
- PRAY FOR MONTENEGRO
- TRAIN IN ETHNOGRAPHY
- NEED 3 COPIES OF NORTON ANTIVIRUS FOR FREE? TRY GOOGLE CHECKOUT
- YOU SAY “TOMAHTOE”, I SAY “TOMAYTOH” (DO YOU SAY TESOL OR ESL?)
- WANT TO BETTER PROTECT YOUR ORGANIZATION’S MISSIONARY KIDS?
- BRING HOPE TO POST-TSUNAMI THAILAND: TEACH ENGLISH
- CHILDREN PRAYING FOR MISSIONS
- MISSIONAL INTERNATIONAL CHURCH CONFERENCE
- BOAT BASED CHRISTIAN TRAINING
- SO GRATEFUL FOR BRIGADA UNDERWRITERS
- THE BACK PAGE: HE KNOWS THE STARS BY NAME
- CLOSING STUFF
- NEED HELP RAISING MISSION SUPPORT? — Try calling Jerry. If you’re doubting your calling because support-raising is hard, he’s your man. 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 .] (Thanks to Jerry for his recent gift to help keep Brigada going!)
- PRAY FOR MONTENEGRO — Thanks to the anonymous brother who gave a gift to Brigada recently, asking that the gift be dedicated to raise up prayer for the three struggling churches in Montenegro, and the people who live there that haven’t yet joined one of those congregations. (Thanks for the gift to keep Brigada rolling!)
- TRAIN IN ETHNOGRAPHY — Pioneering a new ministry or seeking deeper insights into the culture where you live? The folks at Initiative360 know that cultural understanding is a valuable tool for ministry. Especially if church planting is in your future, they can help you gain the cultural-learning skills that will help you succeed. An Ethnography Training Workshop is planned for January 20-27, 2007 in Littleton, Colorado, USA. Experienced trainers will pass on practical tips you can use to find cultural helpers, build bridges of trust, ask engaging questions, analyze findings, work with a partner or team, and explore questions of significance in how churches grow in society. For more information write to research(at)takeitglobal.org or visit
- NEED 3 COPIES OF NORTON ANTIVIRUS FOR FREE? TRY GOOGLE CHECKOUT — My buddy, Tom, referred me this past week to Google Checkout. I’ll have to admit — this one caught me by surprise. He apparently came across it while searching for a way to upgrade his Norton Antivirus. (Interestingly enough — our Brigada secretary’s computer was ready for a Norton Antivirus subscription anyway.) Anyway, what Tom found is baffling. You see, by going to the link below, you’ll have to pay (up front) $52.84 for 3 registrations for Norton AV. Then you send away for $40 mail-in rebate leaving the final cost for 3 licenses at $12.84. But then you use Google’s new service to make the purchase and it gives you another $20 discount. So you actually end up making money. Now how can that be? :-) I’m going there right now to check it out.
It worked. First I went to buy.com:
www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=202988960&adid=17070&dcaid=17070
When I was ready to check out, I used the button for “Google checkout”. Paid $20 less. Then I’ll fill out the rebate after receiving the package. By the way, I had to use the drop-down box to change the shipping to “7-9 days”. It was about to charge me $6 for “3-5 days.”
So… instead of paying $40 for 1 copy for my secretary’s computer, I guess … if Tom’s right.. I’ll get 3 copies for zero! What could be cooler than that!? (Tom… thanks brother.)
- YOU SAY “TOMAHTOE”, I SAY “TOMAYTOH” (DO YOU SAY TESOL OR ESL?) — I enjoyed my visit this past week with one of our team leaders and his family in Joplin, MO. While there, my good friend Chris DeWelt asked me to speak in a couple of his missions classes at Ozark Christian College. Whenever I’m with Chris, I usually gain more than I give. This visit didn’t let me down. After I presented, he was teaching a grab bag of loose ends and he happened to mention that his preference was *not* “ESL” — “English as a Second Language.” Why? Because he said it implies that the student is monolingual. As you probably already know, most of the world speaks more than one language… so we could say, “ETL — English as a third language”, or EFL… you get the idea. Or just use the term, “TESOL”: “Teaching English to speakers of other languages.” Point made. TESOL seems like the better approach to me.
- WANT TO BETTER PROTECT YOUR ORGANIZATION’S MISSIONARY KIDS? — No one wants to even think of child abuse being present within the missions community, but unfortunately it does occur. In September 2006, 12 missions agencies gathered together to candidly examine this issue and as a result formed an intermission Child Safety Network. The goal of this network is to collaborate together to increase child abuse prevention and also implement better response and care if it is reported. The next Child Safety Meeting is scheduled for May 8-10th, and is open to new organizations. To learn more, copy and paste this link into your browser:
https://brigada.org/today/articles/child-safety.pdf
or write tck-mk-ministry(at)teamexpansion(dot)org and asked to be put on the list of interested participants. [As a means of preventing spam for our contributors, in the preceding email address(es), please replace (at) with @ and (dot) with .]
- BRING HOPE TO POST-TSUNAMI THAILAND: TEACH ENGLISH — Big doors are open now at Step Ahead Training Center(YWAM Relief & Development)in beautiful Phang Nga, Southern Thailand. The horrible waves of Tsunami were followed by waves of God’s love that poured into this very unreached region. Yes, much has now improved, but many Tsunami survivors still want to improve their employment opportunities in the recovering hospitality market of Khao Lak, by building up their English skills. That desire opens the door of relationship and your chance to show God’s amazing love. Go now for 3 to 6 months ready to Teach, Share, and Care. Check out:
- CHILDREN PRAYING FOR MISSIONS — Are children praying for you and/or your ministry? Have you seen specific answers to children’s prayers in your work? If the answer is “yes”, please share your stories with Leanna. She is preparing a seminar about how children’s prayers can impact the world. The seminar will inspire children’s workers to encourage children’s involvement in the Great Commission through prayer. Do you have exciting stories that you can share? If so, please send them to Leanna December 31, 2006. leanna_doran(at)wycliffe(dot)org [As a means of preventing spam for our contributors, in the preceding email address(es), please replace (at) with @ and (dot) with .]
- MISSIONAL INTERNATIONAL CHURCH CONFERENCE — Leading an International Church is like trying to stack marbles! Each member has a mind of his/her own. They are different sizes, shapes, weights and colors. They come from all around the world. Here’s a network that wants to help you get going and stay focused on the task. The Missional International Church Network (MICN) models and teaches how international churches can dynamically engage in God’s transformational work. The fourth MICN Conference will be 23-27 April 2007 in Bali, Indonesia. Speakers are all experienced international church leaders. For information browse http://www.micn.org or contact: conference(at)micn(dot)org [As a means of preventing spam for our contributors, in the preceding email address(es), please replace (at) with @ and (dot) with .]
- BOAT BASED CHRISTIAN TRAINING — Marine Reach, YWAM’s ship ministry, has announced its third Bluewater Discipleship Training School (DTS). This year’s DTS will be held aboard the 41m ketch, Next Wave. It begins March 20th in London, England and runs until Sept 22nd, 2007. The plan is to visit ports in England, Ireland, Wales, and Scotland. During this time, a variety of international speakers will cover topics ranging from the character and nature of God, to effective evangelism and more. The outreach phase of the DTS begins July 8th. Locations will be confirmed near the start of the school. If you are looking for God-filled adventure, interested in missions, ready to be challenged spiritually and physically, and want to be better equipped to make a difference in the world then this course is for you. You can get full details including the application form by visiting http://www.marinereach.com/bluewaterdts or by emailing bluewaterdts(at)marinereach(dot)com [As a means of preventing spam for our contributors, in the preceding email address(es), please replace (at) with @ and (dot) with .]
- SO GRATEFUL FOR BRIGADA UNDERWRITERS — We are so grateful for our underwriters anonymous… like this one from last week: “Met some of your … people at the IFMA/EFMA last week. If you want, just say this is an anonymous donor from Wycliffe who has appreciated the weekly bulletin for over 10 years.” Or take George, the Director of the Center for Intercultural Training: “It was good to visit with you and your staff a few weeks ago. … We really appreciate the service Brigada provides and for the opportunity to make quality training at CIT known to the mission community. Have a wonderful Christmas.” (He enclosed a check for $150.) We *heartily* encourage you to check out CIT’s training opportunities by browsing to…
And here’s our dare: In these last 2 weeks of 2006, would you pray that we could enlist a corps of Brigada underwriters to finish the course?
We currently have $ 8045.99 toward our 2006 budget of $16,650. For reference, we have just over 11,000 active subscribers these days. If every subscriber pitched in $1.60, we’d be set. But many of our subscribers are overseas, living in situations where money is short. Would you consider doing a scholarship for 10 of them? or maybe 100?
To make our goal, we really only need 94 people to give: 1 to give 1000 5 to give 500 8 to give 250 10 to give 100 20 to give 50 50 to give 25 So if 1 person gave $1000, 2 gave $500, 8 gave $250, 10 gave $100, 20 gave $50, and 50 gave $25, … we’d reach our goal and we’d end 2006 in the black. But for that to happen, these gifts would all have to be sent in the next 2 weeks… Sometime between now and Dec. 24th. Can we make it?
No money to give? Can’t afford it? No worries. That’s the beauty of Brigada. Whereas other services might grind to a halt if you stopped paying the bill, Brigada just keeps on going… because others step in. Now’s your chance to step up to the plate and help somebody else.
There are several ways to give. For example, 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 BACK PAGE: HE KNOWS THE STARS BY NAME — Can you believe how big God is? Psalm 147:1,4-5 reads, “Praise the LORD. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him! … He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name. Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit.” Think about that for a minute. At the NASA webpage, someone asked how many stars there are, named and un-named. (See the URL…
http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_astro/answers/970115.html
The answer came back from a NASA astrophysicist: 10 to the 21st power. That’s 1 with 21 zeroes after it: 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
And the really cool thing is… regardless of the exact number, God determined to have exactly that number in the universe… and he “calls them each by name.” Whoa. As a result, I’ve drawn 3 conclusions:
a) I’m going to start learning some of their names. Now I know I can’t cover all 70 sextillion (or however many there are), but I can at least start with a few dozen of the most well-known. Want to join me? Check out the list at:
http://www.obliquity.com/skyeye/misc/name.html
Just click on a star and you’ll find it identified in a star chart. I figure, if they’re important to God, then to be godly, I should make them important to me. :-)
b) He’s pretty powerful. I mean… who else has created so many furnaces that burn for a few billion years each.
c) My problems, though seemingly big to me, are such easy problems for God to solve. So bank on it… He’s powerful enough to help us through even the biggest storm.
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