20041031 Brigada Today

THANKS FOR THE HELP! — Thanks to the anonymous participant who gave $25 this past week! You can join in to help underwrite the cost of the Brigada secretary by logging on “sponsor” in the top menu (to use PayPal or a credit card), or just send a check payable to Team Expansion to: Team Expansion (Brigada secretary), 13711 Willow Reed Dr., Louisville, KY 40299. Thanks! 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.

GOOGLE DESKTOP SEARCH TOOL COULD BE USED AGAINST YOU — We’ve bragged here about the free Google desktop search tool… but remember it could also be used against you. You can uncheck “web history” (in preferences) from the searching process, and that should help a bit. Also, if you’re privacy-minded, you probably will *not* want to check the box that sends in reports to the Google programmers, regardless of *what* they promise now. :-) They could always sell the company later and change the privacy policy. :-) Finally, remember that if you keep a Word file filled with user names and passwords, use Word’s security feature to password protect *that* file too. (Go to “Tools|Options|Security” and assign a “Password to open” the file. Then open the Google desktop search tool and intentionally search for some of your known user names [but not passwords, since searches might be recalled in a drop-down box :-) ]. Protect them until they don’t show up any longer.) Bottom line: just be aware of its risks. (Thanks to those who wrote in to ask us to be cautious about this security risk.)

DESPERATELY SEEKING HELP SETTING UP AGENCIES — Does anyone know of a specific conference for newly formed/forming missions agencies? Dan in Spain would like to know. Topics of interest would be organizational structure and strategy, focus, nuts and bolts issues, etc. If something like this hasn’t been offered, Dan’s asking someone to tackle it and let him know. (Dan, if you hear of anything from this item, please send us a follow-up report.) Write Dan at danieljohnson(at)iibet(dot)org [As a means of preventing spam for our contributors, in the preceding email address(es), please replace (at) with @ and (dot) with .]

ANOTHER ANTI-VIRUS OPTION, BUT THIS ONE’S FREE — Here’s another anti-virus software program that, according to one Brigada participant, is worth it weight in gold. The product is AVG and it’s available from http://www.grisoft.com They have a free version as well as an advanced version. The free version can be downloaded from the above web site. Free updates are available regularly. (Thanks to the Brigada participant who sent in this tip, whose name is, by some strange and ironic twist in cosmic fate, Norton. :-) Sorry… just ironic.)

BALKANS CONSULTATION COMING UP — Catch a Balkans Consultation, hosted by Bethany Community Church in Tempe, Arizona on Friday, February 4 and Saturday, February 5, 2005. The keynote speaker will be Dr. Peter Kuzmic, Director of the Evangelical Theological Seminary of Osijek, Croatia. Through workshops and panel discussions, you’ll catch strategies and practices designed to lead you in establishing church planting movements throughout the Balkans. Questions? Write Bill wtoannon(at)bethanycc(dot)com (Thanks Tim!)

SKYPE IS GREAT — One thing we failed to mention in last week’s item on Skype is that its calls are encrypted end-to-end, which is superb for those who live in security-conscious areas. It essentially enables communication without worries about who might be listening in — better than the telephone! So far, we’re hearing 100% positive feedback, especially if you have broadband.
Another option is Secure Shuttle Encrypted Messenger, with a smaller installation file than Skype, but no possibility of connecting to ordinary phone networks. SST enables chat, voice chat, file sharing and e-mail, all encrypted, and all free. See: http://www.secureshuttle.com/ (Thanks Neil!)

FREE ESL EVANGELISM MANUAL FOR IMMIGRANTS – This ESL tool was developed by Boone, an Indonesian immigrant, and Roy, a retired missionary. With it, they train congregations to provide a needed service to immigrants, that wins some to faith. Visit their site at http://www.comtrain.org The manual can be downloaded free from http://tinyurl.com/46uc6 Or write to Boone at Rbsumantri@aol.com

SINGAPORE SCHOOL OF FRONTIER MISSION — YWAM’s SoFM starts 10 March 2005. Read more at http://www.ywam.org.sg/sofm.htm . It’s a three-month lecture phase plus nine-month field internship. The entire program helping you develop skills in 1) language acquisition, 2) cross-cultural, 3) frontier survive, 4) teamwork and also 5) find a place of long-term service. The Singapore SoFM offers its internship at 6 entry cities and among 5 unreached peoples. You can see cost information at http://www.ywam.org.sg/sofm_cost.htm This is a secondary school with YWAM. A Discipleship Training School (DTS) http://www.ywam.org.sg/dts.htm is required before taking this course. For more info, write sofm(at)ywam(dot)org(dot)sg

GREAT DEAL ON THE 3COM TRAVEL ROUTER — We failed to mention, last week, that the 3COM travel router is available at http://tinyurl.com/3uqfg (a Provantage site) for $67.92. Thanks for sharing this deal, Tony!

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