In this issue…

  1. THANKS TO OUR PARTNERS!
  2. A DRAMATIC INCREASE IN REQUESTS FOR TALKING BIBLES!
  3. MICROENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT AND MICROFINANCE TRAINING
  4. EPIC STORYING
  5. CRISIS CONSULTING INT’L ANNOUNCES NEW TRAINING DATES
  6. HOW TO COMMUNICATE?
  7. UPDATE ON LIFEWAY MUSIC
  8. MISSIONS MOBILIZATION TRAINING
  9. HYMNS IN SIMPLE ENGLISH
  10. MISSIONARY MENTORSHIP CONFERENCE CALL
  11. WYCLIFFE DINNER THEATRE: NEW WAY TO BLESS YOUR CHURCH
  12. THE BACKPAGE: MORE ON THE DISCIPLINE OF BACKING UP
  13. CLOSING STUFF
  1. THANKS TO OUR PARTNERS! — This past week, several friends took a stand to say they appreciate the ministry of Brigada! David in the UK gave $50, an anonymous couple from Mali gave $25 more, $16 from an anonymous couple in Florida, $10 from an anonymous friend in Colorado Springs, $16 from a retired Wycliffe worker, $20 from a new friend in Georgia, and $25 from the director of Audio Scriptures Int’l ( http://www.audioscriptures.org ). We also received $25 from “Tim”, an attorney headed to Guinea for a nine-month missions assignment. He requested prayer for him and his wife, Shirley, as they labor there with SIM to help the Maninka people. In particular, please take a moment now to ask God to watch over his law practice and his wife’s ministry, “Healing Nations”, while they’re gone. Thanks!!! Would you be willing to help underwrite the cost of the Brigada secretary? If so, click “sponsor“, or just send a check payable to Team Expansion to: Team Expansion (Brigada secretary), 13711 Willow Reed Dr., Louisville, KY 40299. Thanks!
  2. A DRAMATIC INCREASE IN REQUESTS FOR TALKING BIBLES! — Audio Scriptures International (ASI) in California in partnership with Adopt- A-Village (AAV) and World Mission is reporting a dramatic increase in requests for Talking Bibles in additional languages. ASI is urging that thousands of additional churches and scores of mission agencies mobilize to participate in this great unfinished task. ASI is challenging church and mission leaders to recognize that to make and to distribute Talking Bibles in every language should be among our highest priorities in world mission. ASI currently has Talking Bibles available in Albanian, Amuzgo, English KJV, English NIV, Haitian (Creole), Hindi, Kannada, Khmer, Lao, Malayalam, Mandarin, Nepali, Sourashtra, Spanish, Swahili, Tamil, Telegu, Tigrinya and Vietnamese. Each Talking Bible is $30.00 plus shipping in quantities of two or more. ASI is a valuable resource center with Scripture in audio in some 350 languages. For more information visit ASI’s web site: http://www.audioscriptures.org. (And thanks to for the $25 sponsorship this past week!!!)
  3. MICROENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT AND MICROFINANCE TRAINING — No experience necessary. Training is available through email and at live events! The Chalmers Center for Economic Development at Covenant College, in partnership with World Relief and Food for the Hungry International, offers training in innovative, best practice microenterprise development and microfinance strategies and methodologies that have been field tested with our partners in their own learning labs. Travel to Bangkok, Thailand on May 24 – June 2 or to Lookout Mountain, GA USA from August 2 – 11. Take the first course in their learning tracks by email starting in June! For more information visit http://www.chalmers.org or email CEDI at covenant.edu

    4. (replace the “at” with a “@” and remove the spaces)

  4. EPIC STORYING — Epic Partners is a global partnership involving Campus Crusade; International Mission Board, SBC; Wycliffe Bible Translators & The Seed Company; and Youth with a Mission (YWAM)–using chronological Bible storying among unreached people groups (UPGs). In recent years a growing number of individuals and agencies have periodically gathered for consultations on orality, and have begun working cooperatively on issues like chronological Bible storying and the beginnings of an “Oral Bible” among UPGs. Table 71, a regular gathering of msn-agency leaders arising out of the Amsterdam 2000 conference, has also adopted a cooperative strategy centered on orality and chronological Bible storying. The intersection of the Oral Bible Network and Table 71 has resulted in a partnership of the four largest organizations involved in both gatherings. These four agencies have common motivation, goals and focus in reaching UPG with the Word, yet each brings unique strengths particularly relevant to a Bible-storying partnership. The primary outcome of the partnership is a three-part, introductory set of 40 to 50 storying sessions aimed at supporting evangelism and initial church-planting. Stories are to be pulled from the Old Testament, New Testament, and Acts/Epistles. Read more at: http://www.epicpartners.org/ep/?page=Executive_Summary
  5. CRISIS CONSULTING INT’L ANNOUNCES NEW TRAINING DATES — To serve the international Christian community, CCI will be conducting the following training courses during the remainder of 2004: CCI’s core 4-Day Crisis Management Seminar (June 28-July 1, Colorado Springs, CO and Dec. 6-9, Orlando, FL) and the specialized 6-Day Hostage Event Management, Negotiation & Resolution Course (Aug. 1-6, 2004, in Oahu, Hawaii). For more information on these courses, go to: http://www.cricon.org/2004training_update.htm
  6. HOW TO COMMUNICATE? — Communication-Strategy.net is now online. Just when we announced it, the site went dark for two weeks. Talk about unfortunate timing! Feel free to sign up for the new newsletter when you visit, too.
  7. UPDATE ON LIFEWAY MUSIC — By the way, LifeWay’s Christian digital music downloading (mentioned last week) is only licensed to work through American-based Internet Service Providers. This is due to the copyright restrictions by the music holders. Also, Windows Media files apparently don’t play on an Apple Ipod. You’d have to export them, then re-import them. (Thanks Mark, Steve & Theresa!)
  8. MISSIONS MOBILIZATION TRAINING — Accelerating International Mission Strategies (AIMS) presents, “Multiplying Missions through the Local Church,” June 21-25 at Regent University in Virginia Beach. Join dozens of pastors, missionaries, church leaders and students to learn about AIMS training materials and how to network with believers from the United States and other countries to fulfill the Great Commission. All participants will have the opportunity to be certified as an associate and use AIMS materials to mobilize churches in the United States and on the mission field. Registration is $159 before June 1st and $199 after June 1st. Special pricing is available for returning associates and for groups over three. For more information, call the AIMS home office at (757) 226-5850 or email aims at aims-usa.org (replace the “at” with @ and remove the spaces) and or log on at http://www.aims.org
  9. HYMNS IN SIMPLE ENGLISH — Keith Simons has written a series of new hymns in simple English. They use traditional hymn tunes, so that they are easy to learn. Suggested applications include churches with lower literacy levels or where English is a second language. Permission is given to copy them free of charge, provided that they are not sold. Click on the “new bible songs and poems” link from: http://www.lawtutor.freeserve.co.uk
  10. MISSIONARY MENTORSHIP CONFERENCE CALL — Elijah Company’s next recruits’ conference call is slated for April 29, 8:30 PM est. This conference will discuss further how to prepare for and to survive as a missionary overseas. They will feature a guest who was instrumental to start 24 churches among an unreached people group in western Africa. To get the call number and access code write to mentorship at elijahcompany.org (replace the “at” with @ and remove the spaces) or log on at http://www.elijahcompany.org
  11. WYCLIFFE DINNER THEATRE: NEW WAY TO BLESS YOUR CHURCH — Wycliffe Bible translators sponsors a professional dinner theatre touring group to help inform and mobilize churches across the U.S. for outreach to Bibleless people groups. The talented team of 13 people brings it all: stage, lights, sound, ethnic décor, dishes, tables and kitchen trailer. They present a high-impact story of cross-cultural ministry along with a delicious cultural meal. A free-will offering covers the cost. Call (800)269-2007 or (503) 653-1662 for the touring schedule. E-mail: theatre_booking at wycliffe.org (replace the “at” with @ and remove the spaces). Log on at http://www.wycliffe.org/theatre/home.htm
  12. THE BACKPAGE: MORE ON THE DISCIPLINE OF BACKING UP — We received a number of empathetic replies regarding last week’s “BackPage” editorial about backing up. One Brigada participant, Dottie (who is involved in the adoption of a very strategic unreached people, by the way), drew a comparison between backing up our hard drives and daily devotions, Bible reading and prayer. Without that daily discipline, our data would become corrupt! :-) Several folks thanked us for the reminder to back up more regularly. Perhaps the easiest fix we found was to buy one of the portable hard drives.. like the Maxtor “OneTouch”… 160GB for $250 or so. Hooks up through FireWire or USB either one. Or do like Dan the IT guy in our own office here… who has fixed up “Personal Drive”

    13. space on our team’s workgroup server, which he then faithfully backs up every night. Then users with laptops can save those drives as “offline files” in Windows XP (or “briefcase” in earlier versions). Works pretty well… and his backup routine is faithful each evening, seven nights sequential, so as long as the problem becomes known within a week, the user has a clean trail of 7 earlier backups from which to choose. As for my own drive, I ended up sending it to a data retrieval service. Not fun — but I’ve lost about 30% of the work I’ve been doing on my Ph.D. dissertation. Again… lesson learned… hardware failure is inevitable. It’ll eventually catch up with us. It had been years since any of my hardware had failed. Bottom line: I was due. :-) Don’t wait. Spend the $250 on the front end so you don’t have to spend twice that — or more — on the back end! It’s too big of a hassle to put it off another day!

Tweet
Share
Share
Pin
0 Shares