In this issue…

  1. GOT PASSPORT?
  2. ‘EASY TO READ’ BIBLE PORTIONS IN MANY LANGUAGES
  3. INSTEAD OF GOOGLE, TRY GOODSEARCH FOR A DAY
  4. GET PAID FOR SEARCHING
  5. NOT-SO-GOOD SIDES OF GOODSEARCH
  6. ESL: LEARN ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE
  7. ENCOUNTERING THE WORLD OF ISLAM CLASS IS COMING TO L.A.
  8. GO TO THE NATIONS…AS AN ENGLISH TEACHER
  9. HIRE THE POST OFFICE TO DO YOUR MAILINGS
  10. NEW BOOK HELPING CHINESE RETURN TO THE “FAITH OF OUR FATHERS”
  11. PARTNERS MAKE THE DIFFERENCE
  12. WANT TO HELP BRIGADA FINISH ITS ’07 $ NEEDS EARLY?
  13. THE BACKPAGE: THE BIGGEST COMEBACK EVER…
  14. CLOSING STUFF
  1. GOT PASSPORT? –- Have you heard that the US passport laws are changing effective January 23rd? According to the Arizona Republic, travel agents are predicting that the new rules will have its greatest impact this spring and summer as travelers make plans for spring break and summer trips. Are you ready for your spring break and summer mission trips? Do all of your participants have passports? Do you know if you need a passport or visa? One of Brigada’s sponsors, Insurance Services of America, has information on their web site to help you navigate the new passport rules! Check it out at

    http://www.missionaryhealth.net/brigada.htm

    While you are on that page, take a few minutes to check out the insurance plans that ISA offers for short-term mission trips. Coverage is available for individuals and groups. Remember that Insurance Services of America has agreed to help support Brigada from sales that are made on this link, so when you purchase on this site you will be helping to support Brigada and you will be protecting yourself and your ministry from financial loss!

  2. ‘EASY TO READ’ BIBLE PORTIONS IN MANY LANGUAGES — Martin Lloyd, who for over 7 years co-ordinated the EasyEnglish project for Wycliffe Associates UK

    http://www.easyenglish.info

    is now thrilled to be able to encourage similar projects in major languages on all continents. Thirteen such ‘easy’ languages, namely Chinese, Amharic, Swahili, Lingala, Telugu, Juba Arabic, Bengali, Yoruba, Zulu, Spanish, Portuguese, Welsh and French are displayed on

    http://www.easyBibles.com

    and several more, including Nepali, Tagalog, Konkani, Indonesian, Shona, Tamil and Fulani will soon be added. More information may be obtained from mlloyd3000(at)gmail(dot)com . [As a means of preventing spam for our contributors, in the preceding email address(es), please replace (at) with @ and (dot) with .]

  3. INSTEAD OF GOOGLE, TRY GOODSEARCH FOR A DAY — Have you Goodsearched yet? If not, would you? … at least for a day. Just try it. Here’s the way it works. Browse to…

    http://www.goodsearch.com

    Type “Team Expansion” into the 2nd blank (“Who do you GoodSearch for?”), then click “Verify”. You’ll notice that it’ll fill in “Team Expansion, Louisville, KY” into the blank for you. (That’s the organization that tries to cover for Brigada’s costs if we don’t come up with the budget here.) Now click on “Amount raised.” It’ll probably be something like $20 or so. Write down that number. Now search for something (something you’d really like to find, that is). Want to learn about the best camcorder? Maybe find a good site on Bosnia? It really doesn’t matter. Whatever you would normally hunt for in Google, you can search for it using Goodsearch.

  4. GET PAID FOR SEARCHING — So how does Goodsearch work? It basically just relies on Yahoo’s search engine for it’s data-gathering ability, selling “hits” to advertisers then giving about 50% of their profits to the charities that recruit eyeballs for them. But there’s one critical difference (get this): Every single time you search for something, it’s just like you gave a penny to Team Expansion. Don’t believe it? Go look for 5 random things… (real things). Type in “Emerald Hills” or whatever *real* stuff for which you’re searching. Click through a few searches. Now go back and look at the “Amount raised”. It’ll probably be about 5 cents more than when you started. Pretty cool, eh? Whoever knew they could give an offering to a mission organization just by searching the Internet?
  5. NOT-SO-GOOD SIDES OF GOODSEARCH — Are there downsides? Well sure. For one thing, the amount that any organization receives will be limited by the number of searchers who make it a *regular* habit to hunt for things via Goodsearch. But there’s more. Once your church or mission finds out about Goodsearch, you’ll likely register your own group, right? So when that happens, you’ll stop helping Brigada. So truth is… we’ll really only have you for about 24 hours (the amount of time it takes Goodsearch to set up your new account).

    Finally, there’s another limiting factor: pennies. (Lest you get the idea of just rat-a-tat-tat machine-gun-searching, please don’t; Goodsearch “listens” to the ports that are searching. If anybody tries anything underhanded like that, they just shut off that charity. :-( So please, in spite of your most noble intentions, make these *real* searches… not just fake searches to up the pennies.) So it takes literally *thousands* of searches to add up to anything significant.

    On the other hand, $20 is $20. :-) So — while you’re all opening your accounts, please… search on! Big-time. :-) Get curious. :-) (Thanks.) And in the end, we hope this gives your organization some dimes and quarters for your annual Christmas party or whatever. :-)

    Is the searching capability as good as Google’s? Jury’s still out. If I don’t find it on Goodsearch on the first couple of tries, I go to Google and try there. But it’s good enough that I’ve made Goodsearch my default search engine now. Maybe you can too. (Instructions are at the bottom of the Goodsearch landing page.)

  6. ESL: LEARN ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE — Anyone who has a desire to learn English or to improve their English communication skills is encouraged to apply for this course sposored by Youth With A Mission, Lebanon, PA. USA. The date of the school is March 12, 2007 – June 1,2007. Details, and applicaton forms are listed on the website

    http://www.ywampa.org or

    email ywampa(at)comcast(dot)net [As a means of preventing spam for our contributors, in the preceding email address(es), please replace (at) with @ and (dot) with .]

  7. ENCOUNTERING THE WORLD OF ISLAM CLASS IS COMING TO L.A. — Encountering the World of Islam is being offered in the Greater Los Angeles area for the first time. This class from Initiative360 is a dynamic and effective 12-week experience that will have life-long impact. Choose from any of three locations. Get info or register at

    http://www.encounteringislam.org

    It’ll happen on Sundays beginning Jan. 28, Lake Avenue Church in Pasadena, 6:30 – 9:00 pm Contact Andy Pearce andy(dot)pearce(at)gmail(dot)com Mondays beginning Jan. 29, Rolling Hills Covenant Church, Rolling Hills Estates, 7:00 – 9:30 pm Contact: Jenny Kottke at southbayewi(at)gmail(dot)com Tuesdays beginning Jan. 30 at Cornerstone Church, Simi Valley, 7:00 – 9:30 pm Contact: Tim Hardy thardy(at)cornerstonesimi(dot)com [As a means of preventing spam for our contributors, in the preceding email address(es), please replace (at) with @ and (dot) with .]

  8. GO TO THE NATIONS…AS AN ENGLISH TEACHER — Here’s an exciting and intensive 4-week TESOL course equipping you with effective English teaching techniques, sponsored by Youth With A Mission, Lebanon, PA USA. School dates: March 5, 2007 – March 30, 2007 and May 7, 2007 – June 1, 2007. It’s a certificate program. Get details, application forms and alternate dates by browsing to…

    http://www.ywampa.org

    or email ywampa(at)comcast(dot)net [As a means of preventing spam for our contributors, in the preceding email address(es), please replace (at) with @ and (dot) with .]

  9. HIRE THE POST OFFICE TO DO YOUR MAILINGS — Need to send post cards to addresses in the USA? Turns out the USPS will become your mail room. Thanks to Susie for pointing us to…

    http://www.usps.com/netpost/sendpremiumpostcards_business.htm

  10. NEW BOOK HELPING CHINESE RETURN TO THE “FAITH OF OUR FATHERS” — The Chinese church worldwide is growing rapidly and yet Christianity is still seen as something ‘foreign’ to most Chinese. This book traces ancient Chinese language, culture, and events to show that many throughout Chinese history indeed worshipped the Creator God of the Bible and coming to Christ is a return to the faith of their ancestors. The book is available in Mandarin (paperback only) and English ($15- paperback, $20-hardback + SH) from Leadership Development International, 678/783-4900 or Leaders-Of-Hope(at)ldius(dot) org. [As a means of preventing spam for our contributors, in the preceding email address(es), please replace (at) with @ and (dot) with .]
  11. PARTNERS MAKE THE DIFFERENCE — Next edition, Brigada will celebrate a dozen years of weekly issues. Confession: we aren’t in it for the money. Having said that, it sure helps cover expenses, including secretarial help. And what a glorious encouragement it is to see a $200 gift from an anonymous donor from Las Cruces, NM. What’s more, here’s an anonymous donor that gave $10 in cash, and a fortune in words: “Thank you Doug for your consistent work for so many years! Not only have you kept our focus on unreached peoples, but you have shared invaluable internet and email security tips and software. Both of these features have been essential for effective international outreach. Thanks a million!” We give praise to God for these encouarging words.
  12. WANT TO HELP BRIGADA FINISH ITS ’07 $ NEEDS EARLY? — Just click on “Sponsor/Donate” 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. (Team Expansion is a 501(c)3 incorporation so for USA citizens, your checks made out to Team Expansion are tax- deductible.) 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. And thank you in advance for helping.
  13. THE BACKPAGE: THE BIGGEST COMEBACK EVER… — … in American football conference championship play, that is. And a great comeback it was. My son and I started watching the game tonight as father-and-son bonding time, but by halftime, he had pretty much given up. In fact, he left for Walmart. The New England Patriots were ahead of the Indianapolis Colts by a score of… what was it… 24-3? I was born & raised in Indiana though… and, somehow, I just couldn’t give up on Payton. So I came in to start working on this Brigada Today. Fortunately, my son came back from Walmart. And the Colts came back as well.

    What kind of tensile strength does it take be down by 18 points at halftime, then outscore the opponent 32-13 in the second half!? Payton led the charge; he threw for 349 yards and one touchdown, but he also led by believing. He was quick to point out after the game… “everybody did their job,” as the team piled on 455 yards of offense and six of their final eight drives. But regardless of the numbers on the jerseys, everyone knew what it had required: Mental toughness. It was a shining example.

    None of us knows when we’ll be placed in just such a position. Maybe our financial support will take a nose dive, or perhaps we’ll experience a huge hurt or emotional loss. Obviously, coming back in an athletic contest can’t hold a candle to life’s real hurdles… but the principles are the same.

    *** First, we have to believe that it’s possible.
    *** Second, we have to do the fundamentals – patiently & thoroughly.
    *** Third, we can rely on superhuman strength — the Lord’s strength.

    I was glad, in the case of both the owner/CEO of the Colts as well as the coach himself, to hear grown men giving total glory to God. They had found inner strength from above the flurry and the distractions of those who wanted to eat them for lunch.

    Someday, you might need that same inner strength. At that time, you won’t have the luxury to drill, practice or condition. We need to prepare *now* for the day that we’ll be called upon to come back. If you’ve been drifting away… if the job has become routine… if your relationship with God has taken a back seat and now… you’re just going through the motions — find someone to help you. Read a book. The Bible, a devotional guide, a challenging biography… or talk to a team member that can help you catch your breath.

    The game you might have to win someday might call from within you every ounce of mental toughness you can muster. Begin training today.

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