In this issue…

  1. WANT HELP DELIVERING TRAINING?
  2. CONFLICT IN ISLAM SHOW NOW HAS SOUND
  3. RESOURCE TO ENCOURAGE MISSIONARIES
  4. SIXTH WORLD CHRISTIAN GATHERING ON INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
  5. GMAIL NOT SO ENCRYPTED AFTER ALL?
  6. FEEDBACK ON GOOGLE EXPERIEMENT
  7. N. AM. INSTITUTE OF INDIGENOUS THEOLOGICAL STUDIES
  8. MARRIAGE & SINGLES RETREAT FOR MISSIONARIES IN AFR/MIDDLE EAST
  9. CHECK OUT YOUR ANTISPYWARE SOFTWARE BEFORE INSTALLING
  10. WOMEN OF THE HARVEST
  11. REENTRY SCHOCK
  12. BLOGGING FOR EVANGELISM
  13. COPE WITH IT
  14. HOW DO YOU LEND TO THE POOR?
  15. M.A. IN ORG. LEADERSHIP
  16. THANKS TO INSURANCE SERVICES OF AMERICA
  17. THE BACKPAGE: CAN THE INTERNET BE A LENSE TO THE SOUL?
  18. CLOSING STUFF
  1. WANT HELP DELIVERING TRAINING? — Ever had someone say, “You’re good at that, you should train”? More and more Christian workers find themselves called on to share their skills with others. The International Communication Training Institute has announced plans for two more of its Training of Trainers workshops. These courses have previously been held in Europe, Africa and Latin America and offer you the opportunity to improve your training and teaching skills so you can not only to train more effectively, but also assess and revise your own training methods. Bookings are being taken for a two week course in Accra, Ghana (20-31 March 2006) and a six day course in Leeds, UK (15- 20 May 2006). For full details including cost and online booking visit: http://www.icti.org.uk/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=41 or contact Andrew or Iris by Email at icti(at)icmc(dot)org [As a means of preventing spam for our contributors, in the preceding email address(es), please replace (at) with @ and (dot) with .]
  2. CONFLICT IN ISLAM SHOW NOW HAS SOUND — The revised 12:50 minute show includes narration and a music score. Here are the URLs for downloads with the respective file sizes. http://www.oprev.org/Intel/QuickTimeVersion.ZIP (10.9 meg) http://www.oprev.org/Intel/MPegVersion.ZIP (5.9 meg) http://www.oprev.org/3rdQtr05/ConflictInIslamWeb.mov (2.8 meg) The silent unrevised PowerPoint version is at http://www.oprev.org/Intel/PowerPointVersion.ZIP (3 meg) This show by Operation Reveille details the nature and implications of conflict between modernist and fundamentalist Muslims by comparing and contrasting the conflict with differences between liberal and evangelical Christians. You may request the presentation on DVD from bside(at)oprev(dot)org [As a means of preventing spam for our contributors, in the preceding email address(es), please replace (at) with @ and (dot) with .]
  3. RESOURCE TO ENCOURAGE MISSIONARIES — A Bible study guide called, “Finding Strength for the Journey,” provides a tool for member care or personal encouragement. Author Janice Lemke drew from experiences as a missionary when writing this series of thirty studies that explores topics such as perseverance in hardship, dealing with depression, handling conflict, and benefit from trials. For Brigada readers, they’ve discounted the price to $5.00, plus shipping. There’s a bigger discount ($4.00 each) for orders of 20 or more. For more information contact cjlemke(at)cs(dot)com [As a means of preventing spam for our contributors, in the preceding email address(es), please replace (at) with @ and (dot) with .]
  4. SIXTH WORLD CHRISTIAN GATHERING ON INDIGENOUS PEOPLE — This September 11-17, 2006 the sixth WCGIP will be hosted by the tribal people of the Philippines in Davao City on the Island of Mindanao. These are remarkable times of teaching, worship, fellowship and networking as Indigenous believers gather together from around the world. Since 1996 they have been hosted by the Maori in New Zealand, Aborigines in Australia, Hawaiians in Hawaii, First Nations in North America, and Saami in Sweden. Richard Twiss is one or the founding members from North American. He extends an invitation to any and all (not exclusive of non-Native-tribal people) to attend this great time of celebration as the cultural gifts of music, dance, ritual and protocol are shared with one another as well as networking to extend the work of “mission from the margins” back to the church in the West. For more information call Wiconi International in the U.S. at 360-546- 1867 or visit the website at http://www.wcgip.org
  5. GMAIL NOT SO ENCRYPTED AFTER ALL? — Thanks to David for discovering this past week (by analyzing port traffic on his computer) that *attachments* fly through Gmail unencrypted, regardless of how one logs on at the Google Mail website. Your best bet, perhaps: Lot on to it using POP3 access. Or, if you need real privacy in the country where you’re working, avoid the whole question by using a mail service like http://www.Hushmail.com. Remember to secure your local hard drive using something like PGP or equivalent — or buy one of the new laptops (like the Thinkpads) with built-in fingerprint sign-on and encryption-on-the-chip built in.
  6. FEEDBACK ON GOOGLE EXPERIEMENT — We received some good feedback on the Google experiment relating to the new website, http://www.emeraldhills.info (Jan 13th edition, “14) THE BACKPAGE — CHASING GOOGLE: TRY THIS EXPERIMENT”. You’ll recall that this site shares news and information about the new missions center where Brigada will be based, hopefully about a year from now.) One Brigada participant pointed out that Google uses very sophisticated routines that aren’t so quickly affected. Another reader referred us to an alternative search engine, http://www.dogpile.com (note that that’s “dogpile” and not “dougpile” :-) ) which, when we put in two simple words, “Emerald Hills” (without quotes) a ranking of 14 out of 88 top searches. Don’t ask me how the programmers at dogpile.com could read my mind and know that I wanted the retreat center and not the golf course or town in California. But bless their hearts for programming the search engine in this way.
  7. N. AM. INSTITUTE OF INDIGENOUS THEOLOGICAL STUDIES — This institute will convene its fourth, “First Nations Missiological Symposium,” June 22nd – 24th, 2006 at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky. Organizers have invited submissions of papers. Tite Ti-nou, Darrell Whiteman, Douglas Hayward, Miriam Adeney, as well as key North American Native men and women have been past presenters. This is a time to learn, rethink and dialogue with others about the changing focus of missions from a Western ecclesiological focus, to a broader global focus with its emerging reorientation of missions from south to north and east to west. Papers should focus around the theme “Historical Efforts to Contextualize the Gospel: Perspectives and Practices,” in particular, as it applies to the North American Native context. For more information contact Richard at Wiconi International at 360-546- 1867.
  8. MARRIAGE & SINGLES RETREAT FOR MISSIONARIES IN AFR/MIDDLE EAST — Tumaini Counseling Centre of Nairobi, Kenya announces their annual coast retreats for missionaries which will held at the Voyager Hotel just north of Mombasa, Kenya from April 9-13, 2006. The retreat is open to missionaries of all mission agencies. The marriage and singles retreats will share some of their sessions together. The morning sessions will include talks, small groups, private talk times for couples, and break out sessions and additional worship for singles. Afternoons and evenings are free for relaxation and vacation at the all inclusive coast hotel location. Organized childcare is provided during the morning sessions. Initial registration is due by February 10; 50% deposit is due by Feb 20; and balance due March 15. To receive an Email registration form and further information contact Tumaini Counseling Centre at tumaini.ac(at)aimint(dot)net [As a means of preventing spam for our contributors, in the preceding email address(es), please replace (at) with @ and (dot) with .]
  9. CHECK OUT YOUR ANTISPYWARE SOFTWARE BEFORE INSTALLING — How do you know that a particular antispyware software is legitimate? Nick wrote this past week to say, “Be on the lookout for another new supposed anti-spyware program. This one is called PestTrap and it’s a clone of SpySheriff. SpySheriff was one of the top 10 rogue anti-spyware apps of 2005, coming in at number 2. You can see a screenshot of the PestTrap website at SunbeltBLOG and a screenshot of the app itself, along with the false positives in the scan results here. You’ll see that SpySheriff, SpyTrooper, SpyDemolisher, SpywareNo! and Spyware-Stop are almost identical. Check out the full article with links to pictures here: http://blogs.zdnet.com/Spyware/ So… good idea number 349: By major name-brand antispyware applications like Norton/Symantec, PC Tools, etc. Your mom was right all along: “Don’t get in the car wit a stranger.” :-)
  10. WOMEN OF THE HARVEST — Women of the Harvest is a ministry of support and encouragement for women serving cross-culturally. Visit http://www.womenoftheharvest.com for current international retreat information and all their free online publications, including a bi- monthly electronic publication (an OnlineMagazine), a Bible study (The Weekly Word Study), and a quarterly e-newsletter that is distributed to parents of people who live overseas (Harvest Legacy).
  11. REENTRY SCHOCK — Study about “Re-Entry Transition and Life-long Care (Re-Entry)” from March 12-16, 2006 in Toronto. Missionaries returning from overseas often experience “Reverse Culture Shock” upon re-entry into their home culture. To assist missionaries in navigating the deep waters of re-entry transition in a healthy way, MissionPrep, in collaboration with other skilled facilitators, offers this four day re-entry workshop. Re-TLC seeks to provide support and encouragement to the entire family. A children’s program will provide age appropriate activities which will assist every member of the family to process and explore the sensitive issues of transitioning into you’re their new culture. Please contact info(at)missionprep(dot)ca for more information or visit http://www.missionprep.ca to register on-line.
  12. BLOGGING FOR EVANGELISM — Almost all Christian blogs are written for other Christians. But it is possible to reach non-Christians with blogs, if you use the right strategy. And anyone can do blogging – no technical knowledge is needed at all. http://ied.gospelcom.net/blogging.php
  13. COPE WITH IT — MissionPrep is planning a “Cultural Orientation for Personal Endurance & Enjoyment (COPE) seminar” in Toronto, Feb 12-24, 2006. It’s designed for Christian workers intending to serve for more than one year overseas. This intensive two-week program equips missionaries to live the paradox of the enjoyment/endurance challenge of the cross-cultural experience. Spiritual, personal, language, interpersonal and cultural aspects of the missionary experience are taught through a unique combination of experiential and formal instruction. To register on-line or more information go to: http://www.missionprep.ca
  14. HOW DO YOU LEND TO THE POOR? — Check out The TentMaker Project! The TentMaker Project is a model of micro-enterprise development in Africa which works through the local church. It provides an efficient way for Christians to help the poor without creating dependence, alleviates poverty to answer family needs, ministers mercy through the church, and equips impoverished Christians and churches for Gospel ministry. For more information about this project and to watch a video interview with a pastor in Uganda, go to http://www.TentMakerProject.org or email Nate at nathan.wilson(at)att(dot)net . [As a means of preventing spam for our contributors, in the preceding email address(es), please replace (at) with @ and (dot) with .]
  15. M.A. IN ORG. LEADERSHIP — Take your Master’s in Organizational Leadership from Azusa Pacific University, while living in the Philippines. Start with classes May 29-June 9 in Quezon City. Two courses are taught each week, for a total of 4 courses in one summer. You complete the reading and coursework during the year. One can also can take on-line courses, transfer in courses, and self-study courses if you want to accelerate your program. Check it out online at http://www.apu.edu Look for the Operation Impact Program. This summer’s courses are: 1. Servant Leadership 2. Mentoring and Developing Leaders for the Future 3. Understanding Vocation in a Changing World 4. Organizational Behavior and Development. Prices are 1/2 of on- campus prices for U.S. Citizens, and 1/4 U.S. prices for the rest of the world. Contact Melody Kuka at kzkuka(at)i-manila(dot)com.ph for more information, or email graduatecenter(at)apudot)edu
  16. THANKS TO INSURANCE SERVICES OF AMERICA — Thanks to Mark Sneed and the folks at Insurance Services of America, who have just reported they’ve already insured their first customer as a result of the item in last week’s item, “1) NEED INSURANCE? WANT TO HELP BRIGADA?” So Mark wrote yesterday, “Hi Doug, I just wanted to let you know that we got our first case through Brigada! The premium was $180, so that’s $18 to Brigada! Not a lot, but it’s a start! I look forward to many more!” (Whoa. Mentioning items in Brigada gets results!) So once again, if you’ve considered changing insurance or opening up a new life, health, or any other policy, check them out at: https://brigada.org/referrals/recommended_services.html Thanks for being concerned for your health costs and Brigada too! :-) Want to join ISA in helping underwrite the next issue of Brigada? Just go to https://brigada.org and click 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. 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.
  17. THE BACKPAGE: CAN THE INTERNET BE A LENSE TO THE SOUL? — It’s funny, isn’t it, that early software authors and personal computer manufacturers thought PCs (and MACs too) would be all about productivity and utility. And that’s the way it looked at first, too. Back in the early 80’s, I was an early user of those original spreadsheets, word processors, and database applications. They fueled the first wave of computers. But no one imagined what would fuel this next wave. Now it’s practically impossible to imagine that the PC revolution was fueled by a spreadsheet program called Visicalc. My 16- year-old has studied everything from falconry to the correct way to hold a pistol for target-shooting, all on the Internet. The truth is, the PC isn’t really so much of a “*personal* computer” any more, at least according to the early intent of the word “personal.” Instead, it’s a node to a great cloud of users that are all working (and playing) on line simultaneously — virtually.

    You see, any more, it doesn’t have to be all about spreadsheets, data, bits and bytes. Here’s an example. Just as he and his family were poised to leave for Southeast Asia as new missionary recruits with our mission org., Mark Trotter learned last Monday that he has malignant brain cancer. His family gave up a successful dental practice to prepare for the mission field. Now, with his departure imminent, he and his wife, Lyla, learned Monday that the fast-growing tumors in his head are inoperable, incurable, and, barring a miracle from God, will inevitably take his life. Within a few hours of hearing about this calamity, our mission created a page on our website where friends and family can “virtually pray” for him. (Please log on at: http://www.teamexpansion.org then click on “Caring for Mark” in the right-hand “main menu.” Check out the responses of others. Leave a short prayer yourself. You don’t have to register or sign in. But imagine how a word of encouragement from a dozen or two Brigada readers would help his wife and 10 children [yes, you read correctly; 10 children] make it through the surgery Tuesday (designed, we’re told, to aid his quality of life, but not save his life).]

    Now here’s my point: See how the “personal computer” begins to become *personal* in ways that original creators never imagined. One could say that the machine has become bigger than its creators, in fact. The truth is, the machine *enables* personal ministry to Lyla Trotter and her children… and to Mark as well. Previously, how would we have gotten this news out. There are 10,000 people who read Brigada every week. How could we have asked 10,000 people to pray for Mark Trotter on Tuesday. It would have been impossible. Maybe at times like these, the *personal* computer finally becomes … *really*… ***personal***.

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