It’s time for some spring cleaning! :-) Actually, it’s long over-due. With this issue of Brigada, we switch to more of a “Web 2.0” approach, inviting your input on each and every item. Now you can become a direct contributor to Brigada through your comments and clarifications to each and every item. Our Brigada “cloud” will be more powerful than anything previously imaginable!
As always, we’ll provide a “table of contents” to each issue. Here’s the T.O.C. for this one:
- Check your Network Speed — for Free!
- Take Note of Critical Incidents… Graphically
- Go To The Nations… As An English Teacher
- Learn Holistic Ministry at the Chalmers Center
- Learn English As A Second Language
- Central Asia English Language School Needs Teachers
- The Unengaged Peoples Of Namibia
- Take The First Step! (Join an OM ship crew)
- Guide Network To Mobilize Digital Evangelism Resources
- Get The Tools To Learn An Unwritten Language
- Primary Teacher Needed
- Thanks for Those Who Pay the Bills!
- The Backpage: How do we tap into grants?
We’ll continue to provide Brigada on a weekly basis (well — I did say we’ll try :-) ) and Brigada will continue to be free of charge for users all over the world. But you continue to have the opportunity to give to make it possible. (See “Thanks to Those who Pay the Bills!” below if you’d like to help sponsor an issue… or make a donation of $500 — or $50, the choice is yours.)
Thanks for being part of the Brigada family… now more colorful than ever!
Doug Lucas
Team Expansion
PS. Got feedback? We’d love to hear it. Just click “Comments” below and go to town!
I’m particularly interested in hearing from those who maybe still use dial-up. Will it be a hassle if we send only the Table of Contents via email, expecting everybody to view the pages “live”, online?
Doug
Dial-up isn’t an issue for me, but this does now mean that I’ll have to establish a VPN connection before reading each new issue, in order to do so securely. When the content was delivered in the email itself, our normal SSL connection to the mail server took care of any security concerns.
OK… Thanks for that comment Nelson. We can continue to put the contents in an email — and just archive it in this way on the Net. Would that be easier? Just not as “colorful”. :-)
One reader wrote from the 10/40 Window:
greetings doug,
thanks so much for your continued service.
not sure what to do now with your change in service. what are those of us in the 10/40 window supposed to do now? we have 2 problems.
the first is the slow internet speed that prevents some of us from much browsing.
the second, and more universal, is that we are advised gainst visiting websites that are as open about missions as your info normally is. have you changed the content so much that it will not be suspicious if we visit the website?
are you plannign a secure arrangement (https & password) for those of us in sensitive areas?
serving the King together with you,
Dennis
——-
We answered:
Nope, sounds like we need to keep up the old plan. No problem. We can do that.
Thanks for the feedback. That’s just what we needed to hear.
Doug
AWESOME new format!!!! You guys really inspire me (always have — now even more so). Thanks for always pressing forward … in so many ways … not just in pushing back the edge of the darkness, but pushing forward on the cutting edge of technology. You are such a gift to the Body of Christ!
PS We, too, are in the 10/40 but we can browse on DSL (albeit pretty slowly) and we use a VPN every time we’re on.
Another participant from the South Pacific wrote, “Any options for people who don’t have reliable internet access? Or reasonably priced downloads? The text only format was ideal for people like me, and SURELY Papua New Guinea isn’t the only place in the world that’s not yet well linked to the information superhighway.”
We anwered, “Without a doubt we’ll have to keep up the text-only version. Thanks for the response.
Doug”
Is it possible to provide a hyperlink from the table of contents to the article of interest?
Here’s another participant:
The new format is very nice.
Currently I am on HMA from ministry in the Arabian Peninsula. Once I am back in the AP it will be more difficult to regularly surf to an ‘insecure’ missions related site. My email is encrypted so I can receive missions related emails. Our organization has a secure way of viewing our own company member website… but Brigada is open and unencrypted and at this time I will not be able to surf to the open Brigada site.
If you get enough people with this same problem, would you consider sending out the Brigada by email (ie the whole body of information in the email) to those of us who will not surf to the site. I don’t need the extra flash or pictures, but I don’t mind receiving 2MB emails and can receive at least 5MB emails.
Blessings on the fun advancements with Brigada,
[end]
We answered, “Sure! Done!”