Monthly Archives: May 2008

May 25th, 2008 Brigada

Compiled by Doug Lucas, Team Expansion, Louisville, KY
(See your subscription information at the end under “Closing Stuff.”)
—
In this issue…
1) HOW TO CONVERT EMAIL ADDRESSES TO GRAPHICS
2) TRANSFORMING NATIONS/NEIGHBORHOODS COMMUNITY BY COMMUNITY
3) UPDATED MISSIONS WEBSITE
4) FREE RESOURCE FOR FULL TIME MISSIONARIES
5) JOIN THE NORTH AMERICAN MISSION LEADERS CONFERENCE
6) BETWEEN TWO RIVERS
7) FREE ONLINE TUTORING IN WRITING AND CONVERSATIONAL ENGLISH
8) A DEBT OF GRATITUDE!
9) YOUR GIFT MAKES A DIFFERENCE
10) THE BACKPAGE: WHAT WILL YOUR “2020 VISION” BE?
11) CLOSING STUFF

1) How To Convert Email Addresses To Graphics

Want to avoid spammers harvesting your email address on the web? Just feed your email address into the form at:
http://www.converttojpg.com/
(At present, you have to refresh the page sometimes to get the output to show up.) Once the chart produces the picture of your email address (which spam-harvesters would ignore, because it’s a graphic rather than text), just right-click, “Save picture as…” and save it as a graphic on your machine… Then when you publish the item on the web, insert the graphic into the location where you need to feature your email address. This is the new approach we’re taking with Brigada publishing on the web and initial reviews are very positive. Got a better online ‘machine’ to produce these pictures? Just click on “Comments” below this post, and share your treasure! Let everyone in on your favorite find.

2) Transforming Nations/Neighborhoods Community By Community

Are you interested in establishing a Community-Based Development Program integrating the physical and the spiritual? LifeWind International’s (formerly Medical Ambassadors International) Training of Trainers (TOT) introduces people to Community Health Evangelism (CHE). This strategy teaches concepts, gives vision and practical How Tos for implementing and managing CHE in your ministry. The next training date in the USA is slated for September 15-20, 2008. This training will be a dual training for International CHE and Neighborhood Transformation for Urban CHE. For more information on this specific training visit,
http://www.lifewind.org/village_training.php
or contact

3) Updated Missions Website

Missionary Journalist Ken has updated his extensive web site full of articles concerning what the Lord is doing around the world but primarily in Latin America. There are other articles, however, from Europe and Asia as well as pieces about children at risk, international English-speaking congregations, media and radio, missions, ministries, microenterprise ministries, multi-language churches, opinion articles and other topics. It’s a great resource for learning about Christian ministries. The new URL for this web site is:
http://www.missionaryjournalist.net/
For more information, write

4) Free Resource For Full Time Missionaries

Cross Way Publications has just launched a new resource for full time Christian missionaries. If you wish to have more information on this project please go to
http://www.christian-missionaries.org/
and click on the “Services” link at the top of the page or directly to
http://www.christianpoetry.org/missions/cross_way_mission.shtml
This link will show you a sample update page each missionary on the site will have:
http://www.christian-missionaries.org/update/test/updatepage.php
The organizers thank you in advance for your time and wish God’s blessing upon you as you Him serve in the harvest.

5) Join The North American Mission Leaders Conference

On September 24-27, 2008, in Denver, Colorado, USA, several groups will stage a leaders conference. It will be hosted by The Mission Exchange (formerly EFMA), CrossGlobal Link (formerly IFMA) and the Evangelical Missiological Society. The theme for this conference is Mission Next: Relating to the Majority World Harvest Force. This event will be driven by peer-to-peer dialogue and participant-to-presenter Q&A with significant representation from the majority world.
Additional information is available at
http://themissionexchange.org/missionnext/
Join other mission leaders in a critical, global conversation.

6) Between Two Rivers

Do you ever wonder what life is really like for Iraqis – and Westerners – living in Baghdad? Wonder no longer. “Between Two Rivers” released in May 2008 by Brandt Smith Publishing dispels the myths and brings readers face to face with the reality of life and death in this besieged city. The author, C. Brandt Smith, Jr., along with his wife and daughter, braved the danger and lived in the Red Zone of Baghdad for two of the bloodiest years on record. Their faith in Christ and commitment to serve the Iraqi people will encourage your walk with Jesus and challenge readers to say “yes” to a life of faith. “Between Two Rivers” is available for $11.95 plus shipping and handling by contacting the author

7) Free Online Tutoring In Writing And Conversational English

English for Asians and Africans
http://www.e4aa.org/
now provides free online tutoring in conversational English and in writing (essays, articles in journalism, letters and reports). It also provides hundreds of links to free interactive exercises and resources on the eight parts of speech, writing, spelling, listening, vocabulary, speaking, pronunciation, idioms, reading, dictionaries, encyclopedias, translators, diagnostic tests, online newspapers and Internet radio stations from around the world. It can be used by missionaries and others whose ministries include teaching English. There are hotspot links to Gospel websites in the title graphics of each page. As soon as there are volunteers, this website will also offer free online tutoring in various areas like mathematics, engineering, natural and physical sciences, accounting, computer programming, etc. For more information, contact

8) A Debt Of Gratitude!

Thanks to those who recharge our batteries by faithfully praying and/or giving to help us pump out additional Brigadas! Insurance Services of America gave 2 gifts this past week, one for $45.80 and another for $38.55. These come directly from travelers who decide to insure their trip via ISA’s “Day-tripper” trip cancellation insurance. Thank you! Learn more about ISA at:

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

9) Your Gift Makes A Difference

Give to a cause where $25 or $50 can make an immediate difference. See your gift have an instant impact. Just click on the “Sponsor/Donate” link at the top of the webpage. You can choose to use PayPal or any major credit card (to do the latter, when it asks for your PayPal account, just erase the user name and password, then, at the bottom of the page, where it says “Use any major credit card”, just click there and fill it out like a normal form at any other payment web form. On the other hand, if you want to use PayPal, just fill in the info for your account. Or if you prefer, just send an old-fashioned 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.

10) The Backpage: What Will Your "2020 Vision" Be?

This past week, a few of us began reflecting on the likelihood that many organizations, churches, and movements will set goals for “2020” (the year, not the eyesight). We recognized that with the chance of capturing an entirely new decade of special missions emphasis, it might be possible to cover a lot of new mobilization ground. But we also wondered about the advisability of relying on these kinds of mileposts. Some have said they felt the proverbial “air go out of the [mobilization] balloon” when Dec. 31, 2000, came and went. Some observed that we did *not* succeed in establishing “a church for every people and the gospel for every person by the year 2000.” Others concluded that we definitely covered more ground than we had ever covered in recent years. Shew! What’s a body to do?

What’s your opinion? Please speak out by clicking on “Comment” below. If your organization or church is planning such an emphasis, tell us about it and, if possible, provide a link so we can see your plan. If you have reservations about setting such mobilization goals, speak out. Thanks.

* Thanks to Cornerstone Adventist Church for the 2020 artwork.

11) Closing Stuff —

DISCLAIMER — We can’t screen ’em all. Please forgive us if a
particular site contains offensive information — or no information at
all! We *try* to visit them in advance, but often write “on the road”
so we simply *can’t* preview everything.

PLEASE DON’T SUBSCRIBE US TO YOUR LIST — Sorry — nothing personal —
but we’re already deluged. We’ll eventually teach our spam filter to just delete it anyway, but in the meantime, we’ll have a sad face because of the volume of mass mailings we receive. :-(

COPYRIGHT — This issue of _Brigada Today_ is Copyrighted 2008.
However, permission is granted to freely redistribute these materials,
including those available on the Brigada website, provided that
such redistribution is to those who will help the Good News of Jesus
Christ to reach the unreached.* To copy or reproduce _Brigada Today_
for any other reason is illegal and is not permitted.
* When you quote or paraphrase material from Brigada, please include
this phrase:
“For a free subscription to Brigada’s weekly missions
publication, write

and/or visit Brigada on the web at www.brigada.org.”

May 18, 2008 Brigada

In This Issue…
Back By Popular Demand, Good Ole’ Brigada
Use This Site To Set Up Your Next Group Trip
Looking For A Way To Tag Your Photos?
Multipoint Webconferencing With Low Bandwidth Demand
Arise Shine Morocco
Catch The Short-Term Missions Conference
Follow-Through Conference For Short-Term Ministry
Global Recordings: Just Keeps On Going And Going
Harvest Information System Adds Features Multiple Listings
Ywam To Offer School Of Frontier Missions
Home Assignment Residence Available In Alabama
We’re Forever Grateful…
Give So A 10/40 Window Reader Can Receive Brigada
The Backpage: Magical Missionary Reports

Back By Popular Demand, Good Ole’ Brigada — Shew!

We have heard a chorus of voices… and most were loud and clear: “Please give us back the ‘old’ Brigada!” :-) If you were enjoying our experiments at HTML- and graphics-encoding, you were apparently in the minority. :-) So we’re back this week with the same format that has characterized Brigada since it began Jan. 25th, 1995. But there’s just one difference: we’re working *soooooooooo* hard at sprucing up our website so it’ll be a worthwhile and fun place for you to visit. So if you *do* have access to the web, please stop by and visit:

https://brigada.org/

Check out that Tag Cloud (“Search by tag”), expand those years of archived issues (“Search by date”)[we have already transferred hundreds of previous editions from 2008-2001]. We’ll stay at it ’til we’re completely transitioned to the new “Web 2.0” format, allowing you to write helpful comments, reviews, disagreeing viewpoints, as well as additional resources and helpful links. What’s more, your feedback now shows up *instantly*. There’s no wait for a moderator to approve your comment. You’ll also be able to see the 5 most recent comments (so you’ll see where the discussions are happening), and you can also search with “needle-in-a-haystack precision” using the site-only full-text search service provided by Google. And when we produce these new Brigadas, we’re splashing in helpful illustrations, with the artwork keyed to the organization or theme. So please… stop by and check us out. We’ll hope you’ll find the answers for which you’re searching.

Use This Site To Set Up Your Next Group Trip

Try it. You might like it. Have the various members of your group log on to help plan the same trip. They’ll all pick up the itinerary a lot more effectively, which might help them hone in their expectations precisely for the trip you’re planning together. Log on at:

http://www.tripit.com/

There’s no charge… and you can even use the site to book hotels, rental cars, airfare, etc. (I’m sure that’s the hope of the site’s authors. :-) )

Got a favorite travel site to add to this mix? Click on “comments” under this item and add your resource. You can even do so totally anonymously.

Looking For A Way To Tag Your Photos?

This is an ongoing challenge… how to deal with all these digital media we make today. Working with pictures can be so time-consuming — tagging, captioning, cleaning up the image, posting on a website, sharing the site with others, Yikes…. What are we thinking? :-) Sounds like we need some really good tools. Try…

http://www.itagsoftware.com/

It just might be one of the best photo-tagging programs on the net, especially when we consider that it’s a) free, b) fast and easy, and c) totally compatible with other software (that costs hundreds of dollars more). Beyond that, it’s *effective*, too. (I’m still using Photo-Mechanic.. but it’s not free. Find it at…

http://www.camerabits.com/

It’s a bit faster, perhaps, especially once you get the work flow down pat. Perhaps you have another option? Just click on “Comments” below and add your suggestion.

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