In this issue…

  1. CUTTING HEALTH INSURANCE COSTS
  2. ATTEND REGIONAL MOBILIZATION MEETINGS (SAMPLE IN PITTSBURGH)
  3. FREE WEBSITE OFFERS HELPFUL RESOURCES
  4. PRE-FIELD TRAINING IN ASIA FOR ASIA MINISTRY
  5. THE ‘EASY’ TANZANIAN LANGUAGES TEAM NOW HAVE THEIR OWN WEBSITE
  6. OMF BC EVENTS IN OCTOBER
  7. GLOBAL MISSIOLOGY “ISLAM AND CHRISTIANITY” EDITION
  8. THE COMING REVOLUTION
  9. OMF REACHING CHINA
  10. WHAT’S THE RATIO OF YOUTH WORKERS TO YOUTH IN THE FIELD?
  11. HATS-OFF TO BRIGADA SPONSORS
  12. WOULD YOUR CHURCH CONSIDER A ONE-TIME GIFT TO SPUR ON BRIGADA?
  13. THE BACK PAGE: EXPLORE, DREAM, DISCOVER
  1. CUTTING HEALTH INSURANCE COSTS — Cutting health insurance costs for home base staff and overseas workers is always challenging. One solution might be to consider a Self-Funded plan. Now groups as small as 11 employees can get self-funded (StopLoss) quotes. One key advantage of a self-funded plan is that you keep more of your health insurance premium in your organization. For more information contact jeff(at)gninsurance(dot)com or call 480/813-9100. [As a means of preventing spam for our contributors, in the preceding email address(es), please replace (at) with @ and (dot) with .] Toll free in USA: 866/636-9100. Visit

    http://www.gninsurance.com

  2. ATTEND REGIONAL MOBILIZATION MEETINGS (SAMPLE IN PITTSBURGH) — Are you located in the Pittsburgh area? Here’s a sampling of a couple of major missionary mobilization meetings you can attend. Wouldn’t it be cool of there were more of these kinds of meetings all around the world? As for Pittsburgh, “The Pittsburgh Network for the Great Commission” Breakfast meeting is about to cover “Native American Awareness.” The’ll also interview a Cuban Pastor, all on Saturday, Oct.13,2007, 8:30- 10:30am at West Ridge Community Church.

    http://www.wrccc.org

    or call 724-695-7500 RSVP to slonchka(at)comcast(dot)net

    You can also catch “Praise & Prayer over Pittsburgh”, 7:00pm, Oct.13, 2007 at West End Overlook Park. Special Guests include Richard Twiss and Darrell Fields, & Michael Duncan Project, Prayer led by Pittsburgh area Pastors. A coordinated effort by the Pittsburgh Prayer Network

    http://www.prayforpittsburgh.org and the Pittsburgh Network for the Great Commission

    http://www.pngc.org (website under construction)

    (Truth in publicizing notice: Hats off to this network for sending in a check to support Brigada! That just makes me doubly want to ask that you’ll be there! :-) )

  3. FREE WEBSITE OFFERS HELPFUL RESOURCES — Looking for info on leadership and leadership training. Check out…

    http://www.teal.org.uk/index.htm

    The best part? It’s all free.

  4. PRE-FIELD TRAINING IN ASIA FOR ASIA MINISTRY — For anyone planning to minister in Asia, an excellent nine-week program is conducted once a year in Malaysia. The Malaysian Cross-Cultural Mission School (MCMS) will be conducted in Kuala Lumpur, beginning January 7 and continuing through March 16, 2008. It is an intensive program that covers the practical challenges of cross-cultural ministry. MCMS faculty includes missionaries and mission leaders from many parts of the world who are involved in the real life of a missionary. This is no “Ivory Tower” theoretical pastime; it’s the real thing! For more details, talk with Peter, the director. E-mail:

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

  5. THE ‘EASY’ TANZANIAN LANGUAGES TEAM NOW HAVE THEIR OWN WEBSITE — This site is

    http://easytanzanianbibles.googlepages.com/home

    and it is totally Tanzanian as regards authorship, checking, field- testing, copyright and ownership. The leader is Revd Samuel Mpanilehi at smpanilehi(at)gmail(dot)com , who works in close fellowship with

    http://www.easyBibles.com

    where over twenty such projects are developing.

  6. OMF BC EVENTS IN OCTOBER — OMF (Overseas Missionary Fellowship) in B.C. invites you to the following events: 1. Saturday, October 13 (1:30 – 6:00 pm ending with a Chinese supper), Heart for Asia Conference in Victoria, 2. Friday night, October 19, from 7:30 – 9:30 pm, OMF together with Fujian Evangelical Church (FEC) present Youth and Missions. 3. Saturday, October 20, from 9:00 am – 4:00 pm, Heart for Asia Conference to be held at Peace Mennonite Church (PMC). The theme for the events is: Passion for the Impossible – Reaching the Neglected Frontiers. For more info, including themes and speakers, email:

    pacificregion(at)shawlink(dot)ca or call 604.278.1208.

  7. GLOBAL MISSIOLOGY “ISLAM AND CHRISTIANITY” EDITION — Global Missiology is a free quarterly online publication with original research and contributions from practitioners and scholars of international representation with global perspectives. The third quarter English language issue is focused on the subject of “Islam and Christianity” and has just been made available. Chinese and French editions are also available with articles that are not translations of the English, but rather original contributions from specialists working in those language contexts. All versions can be found at

    http://www.globalmissiology.org

    as well as a complete searchable archive of more than 4 years worth of articles. email editor(at)globalmissiology(dot)org [As a means of preventing spam for our contributors, in the preceding email address(es), please replace (at) with @ and (dot) with .]

  8. THE COMING REVOLUTION — Because, according to at least one author, Status Quo Missions Won’t Finish The Job. Check out this new book just released by R. Mark Baxter. After some stories and shocking statistics, Mark shares reasons for the present state of missions, the potential that exists to see the Great Commission fulfilled, and ways to personally get involved. More information on The Coming Revolution is available at

    http://shop.blessthenations.com

    Also, you can email Mark at missionsconsultants(at)yahoo(dot)com

  9. OMF REACHING CHINA — International has been reaching East Asia with the gospel since Hudson Taylor founded the organization as China Inland Mission in 1865. If you would like to get involved in a work that includes more than 1,500 workers from 20 countries with a focus on more than 400 unreached people groups throughout East Asia, visit

    http://www.omf.org/us

  10. WHAT’S THE RATIO OF YOUTH WORKERS TO YOUTH IN THE FIELD? — Would anyone happen to know about how many young people there are in any cross-cultural settings? … and how many Christian workers are serving primarily for their benefit? In other words, what’s the ratio of youth workers per youth? Got an idea to post? Just navigate to:

    http://brigada.org/brigade/?p=37

    And click “Comment” below the item. Thanks!

  11. HATS-OFF TO BRIGADA SPONSORS — Thanks to the West Ridge Christian Church

    http://www.wrccc.org

    for their innovative and encouraging support of regional missions mobilization meetings. May God bless their $100 gift to Brigada. We appreciate you! Thanks, too, for the anonymous donors who gave $100 and $25 this past week, along with the prayer coordinator who gave $25. Thanks, too, to Blessed Hope who gave $15.47 in sponsorship gifts. Learn more about their great phone plans at

    http://www.lowermyphonebill.com/brigada

    Thanks to the Kingdom Come Training worker who gave $20. May God bless their training outreach for His glory.

    Finally, may God bless the radio ministry workers who just sent $100. We’re so thankful for their love for you, for your work around the world, and for getting the message out via radio.

  12. WOULD YOUR CHURCH CONSIDER A ONE-TIME GIFT TO SPUR ON BRIGADA? — Here’s how: Just click on the “Donate” page. You can pull the money from your PayPal account or from any major 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 BACK PAGE: EXPLORE, DREAM, DISCOVER — This past weekend, I was fortunate to have the privilege of leading a couple of sessions for some adult children of missionaries (MKs). One referred to a quote by Mark Twain about sails. I looked it up when I got home. Twain was reported to have said, “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” It’s important to note that no one can find the source of this quote, so it’s likely that Mark Twain never actually said it. Regardless of who said it, it got me thinking.

    And in the process of thinking about it, I came across something that Twain *did* actually say, in “Innocents Abroad”: “What is it that confers the noblest delight? What is that which swells a man’s breast with pride above that which any other experience can bring to him? Discovery! To know that you are walking where none others have walked; that you are beholding what human eye has not see before; that you are breathing a virgin atmosphere. To give birth to an idea-an intellectual nugget, right under the dust of a field that many a brain-plow had gone over before. To be the first–that is the idea. To do something, say something, see something, before anybody else–these are the things that confer a pleasure compared with other pleasures are tame and commonplace, other ecstasies cheap and trivial. Lifetimes of ecstasy crowded into a single moment.”

    When it comes to mobilizing missionaries, we haven’t talked much about discovery and adventure — even though much of evangelistic missionary work involves it. I think it’s because we’re afraid we’ll breed only missionary-tourists. But there is a sense in which the pioneer spirit is not only preferred, but actually *required* by some missionary opportunities. Some call it an “apostolic gift.” Call it what you want, but when Paul forged on through shipwrecks & stoning, the truth is, he was pioneering. When he believed so strongly in the Cause that he traveled on foot throughout the known world of his day, he was pioneering. Paul’s musing about going where no man has gone before (Romans 15:20) is enough to cause me to believe Twain was on the right track. We probably need to talk some about adventure, dreaming, thinking big. We need some big thinkers today. Thinkers that will dream, then *do*. After all, Twain also is reported to have said, “There are basically two types of people. People who accomplish things, and people who claim to have accomplished things. The first group is less crowded.” That’s all I’ve got to say about that.

    Doug

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