In this issue…

  1. WHAT DO YOUR MAGAZINE SUBSCRIPTIONS COST?
  2. DISTANCE LEARNING FOR CHRISTIAN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
  3. MASTERS DEGREE IN MANILA
  4. NO BIBLE SUNDAY
  5. DENTAL TRAINING FOR MISSIONS!
  6. DOWNLOAD CHRISTIAN MUSIC
  7. A GATHERING for KINGDOM PROFESSIONALS
  8. TECHNOLOGY GROUP TO DEVELOP BATTERY-OPERATED VIDEO PROJECTOR
  9. LEARN TO TEACH ENGLISH: TESOL TRAINING
  10. ZWEMER CENTER FOR MUSLIM STUDIES
  11. THE BACK PAGE: BACKUPS! WHEN WILL WE LEARN!?
  12. CLOSING STUFF
  1. WHAT DO YOUR MAGAZINE SUBSCRIPTIONS COST? — Do you or one of your family members subscribe to a magazine? Does it come monthly? Does your annual subscription cost average $15, even though the magazine is *packed* with full-page ads? As you know, Brigada comes to your screen *weekly*, free of charge. However, to help us get Brigada out the door and onto your screen, we now have a Brigada-sponsored secretary. We could *totally* cover the cost of her annual salary ($16,021) if just 1000 of our readers pitched in $16 each… or if 100 of them pitched in $160. So far, in 2004, these sponsorships have resulted in $2300. So only $13,678 to go! If you’re willing to do more than just “lurk”… If you’re willing to *partner* to help Brigada move forward, log on at https://brigada.org/donate.html and use PayPal, any major credit card, or postal mail to send a check. All donations are tax-deductible (please indicate you’d like a receipt). If nothing else, please consider donating the cost of an annual magazine subscription. It’ll make a difference! Thank you!!!!
  2. DISTANCE LEARNING FOR CHRISTIAN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT — If you’re interested in economic development, don’t forget about the “Foundations and Principles of Holistic Ministry” program, slated for June 7 – June 25, or the live training events in May in Bangkok, Thailand. For more information, log on at http://www.chalmers.org or email CEDI@covenant.edu. (And thanks again to the Chalmers Center for their part in underwriting the cost of our Brigada-sponsored secretary!)
  3. MASTERS DEGREE IN MANILA — Azusa Pacific University offers a master’s degree in Manila with courses held every summer. This year’s dates are May 31-June 11. This year’s courses are: Ethics in a Changing Organizational Environment, Current Issues in Leadership, Leader as an Agent of Change, Group Dynamics and Conflict Management. The cost is minimal compared to on-campus prices. Non-U.S. citizens benefit the most from the price deduction: For US citizens it will be 50% of the new tuition rate on campus so OI will be $212 a unit (or $636 per course) and for non-US it will be 25% of the on campus so OI will be $106 a unit (or $318/course). Non-credit will be half again of each of these so $106 a unit for US and $56 for non-US. For more information please contact Melody Kuka by calling 011-632-658-3807 or emailing kzkuka@jmf.org.ph
  4. NO BIBLE SUNDAY — Church leaders in three continents are thinking about whether they should take part in No Bible Sunday. This dramatic idea is sponsored by Wycliffe Bible Translators. Christians will be challenged to consider both how much they value the Bible themselves and what it is like for people from 2700 languages who do not have any of the Bible in their own language. Many participating churches are expected to rebel and start using their Bibles by the end of the Sunday service. But hundreds of millions of people don’t have a choice. For them every Sunday is a No Bible Sunday. All that you need to run the event either in full or as part of a church service can be found at http://www.nobiblesunday.org
  5. DENTAL TRAINING FOR MISSIONS! – Learn a practical skill in which you can demonstrate the love of Christ in an effective way. — In only 2 weeks you can learn to fill and clean teeth with hand instruments. The needs are great. No injections or expensive equipment involved. Monthly courses in Texas. http://www.dentaltrainingformissions.com or email dentaltrainingformissions@yahoo.com
  6. DOWNLOAD CHRISTIAN MUSIC — LifeWay Christian Resources (Nashville) just announced Christian music’s first digital music downloading service. Singles are 99 cents and entire albums for $10 to $12 each. The new service requires no monthly subscription fee and no special software. Songs are offered through Windows Media. Once purchased and downloaded, the file can be burned to a CD up to five times or exported five times for external players such as Apple iPod. More than 4,000 people have subscribed to the free Get Music News. Go to http://www.lifewaystores.com/getmusic for access.
  7. A GATHERING for KINGDOM PROFESSIONALS — You can still register online at http://www.globalspectrum.org/intersection or by mail for the Edge Conference 2004, on April 30 -May 1, themed “INTERSECTION: Where Profession, Passion & God’s Purpose Meet” at Houston First Baptist Church, Texas, sponsored by Global Spectrum (co-sponsors include Union Baptist Association, Faith Bridge, Mission Houston, Living Water Int’l, Houston Perspectives). Connect with accomplished professionals in career fields who see the world differently and link their lives intentionally to God’s purposes and create a new future for discipling neighborhoods and nations. Questions? 415.703.0700 ofc or email leafline@pacbell.net
  8. TECHNOLOGY GROUP TO DEVELOP BATTERY-OPERATED VIDEO PROJECTOR — Remember the inquiry here (Dec. 26, 2003) about the availability of a battery-operated video projector? Perhaps you’ll recall that the responses came back with zero products. Well having seen the interest, yet the lack of options, the Christian Technology Center (CTC) is going to *invent* one! Yahooo! They’re refining specs right now. Bob, at the CTC, wrote, “We think the need could be filled by the development of a consolidated projector, DVD player and PA system designed to function from battery power. We refer to this device as a Compact Video System or CVS. The CVS should be able to project a 50 inch image (from DVD) in a dark environment with good clarity and provide a PA system suitable for a group of 50 people.” If you’d like to give your input on what the machine should be like, just write Bob rhs@the-ctc.org for a copy of the specs. Better act fast though. They’re moving quickly on this!
  9. LEARN TO TEACH ENGLISH: TESOL TRAINING — Receive training and practice in effective techniques for teaching English to non-English speakers. Prepare for cross-cultural ministry opportunities by becoming an excellent teacher. Earn a TESOL certificate to open doors for ministry in many lands. The next four-week TESOL classes are scheduled to begin May 2 and again June 13, 2004, at Youth With A Mission in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, USA. See their website at http://www.ywampa.org for details and application forms, or direct questions to ywampa at comcast.net. (As a means of preventing spam for our contributors, in the preceding e-mail address, please replace the “at” with an @ and remove the spaces. Thanks.)
  10. ZWEMER CENTER FOR MUSLIM STUDIES — This Center at CIU offers courses in Islam (credit/audit) for field worker candidates, workers on home leave, professional tentmakers in a Muslim country, pastors in an area where there is a growing number of Muslims, and students sensing God’s call to work with Muslims. Scholarship help is available but apply now. Here are some upcoming courses: (SUMMER, 2004) Introduction to Islam (Johnson) July 5-9; Folk Islam (Cashin) July 12-16; Approaches to Islam (Parshall) July 19-23; Revelation, Qur’an and Muslim Traditions (Cate) July 26-30. EXTENSION: Introduction to Islam (Larson); Women in Islam (Stacey) For more information, Ph. 1-800-777- 2227 Ext. 3327 or email RBrasher@ciu.edu or register onlin http://www.ciu.edu/summerstudies
  11. THE BACK PAGE: BACKUPS! WHEN WILL WE LEARN!? — I’m convinced that the only people who do daily backups are those who are slightly paranoid. However, just because they’re paranoid doesn’t mean somebody’s not out to get them! :-) The truth is… those paranoid people are probably a lot happier when something fails. Occasionally, we’ve written here in Brigada about the importance of disciplined daily backups. However, when my backup solution broke down a few months back, life was rushing on at such a fast pace, I failed to make time to fix it. Months passed. And this past Friday night, on a plane headed home from North Africa, the 60 gig hard drive in my new IBM laptop failed. And it *totally* failed. Won’t even spin up. Unfortunately, my last *full* backup is October 2003. :-( I have *partial* backups from February. Yup. I’m a slackard. Months, even *years* go by without needing backups… then the inevitable happens. Sure.. IBM is providing a new *blank* drive for free. OnTrack Technology has said they’d attempt to provide a full restoration for the low, low price of $700 – $3000, depending on what they find when they open it up. I’ve lost 30% of my doctoral dissertation, all my Brigada notes since October (including any new items sent during the past week — sorry!!), and tons more… not to mention all my notes from the North Africa trip, including a completely-finished grant application to rebuild homes for an earthquake stricken village there. All gone. Yes, OnTrack says they can probably do it for $700, since we’re a nonprofit. But still — wouldn’t it have been so much easier to simply back up those 60 gigs on a daily basis? Even *weekly* backups would have helped. So… please let me go on record: I need to back up *regularly*… and you do too. My IBM laptop was brand new. Your PC could fail too. In my case, it was the logic board. Yours might fail because of a virus or a mechanical fault. Either way, the outcome is the same: Let’s back up!!! Lesson- learned? I hope so. Thanks for participating in Brigada. Doug
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