In this issue…

  1. MINISTER TO THE POOR WITHOUT CREATING DEPENDENCY
  2. UNDERSTAND THE WORLD OF ISLAM
  3. WATERS OF MERCY
  4. KONA, HAWAII CROSSROADS DTS
  5. BRIGADA READERS SLAM “CONNECTED” SITE, FORCE DISCONNECT
  6. GOOD RESPONSE ON SHIPPERS
  7. UK RADIO MISSION OFFERS UNIQUE TRAINING
  8. HOPE FOR AFRICA’S CHILDREN CONFERENCE
  9. WHAT DONOR MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE DO YOU USE?
  10. WHAT NON-ENGLISH CHURCH MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE DO YOU USE?
  11. OMF BAY AREA MISSION CONFERENCE
  12. LOOKING FOR THE LINK IN LAST WEEK’S “CORRECTION”?
  13. THANK THE LORD FOR PARTNERS
  14. THE BACK PAGE: KEEP THINGS FROM GETTING UGLY
  15. CLOSING STUFF
  1. MINISTER TO THE POOR WITHOUT CREATING DEPENDENCY — Learn how through the “Foundations and Principles of Holistic Ministry” course from the Chalmers Center for Economic Development (Covenant College) offered in distance format on August 28 – September 22, 2006. The “Foundations” course is designed for anyone doing ministry and community outreach among the poor – pastors, church planters, ministry leaders and lay staff, and missionaries. It is appropriate for an individual as well as for a team who ministers together. The course lays the foundation for understanding appropriate goals and strategies for Christian economic development in low-income communities. Topics covered are: Understanding poverty, when to do relief and when to do development, harm that can come from inappropriately doing relief or development, the response of the local church to poverty, and how to integrate Biblical principles into development programs. This course is a guided-reading program with weekly written assignments and peer- to-peer interaction with the other course participants. Because it is e-mail based, slow dial-up speed from a remote location will not limit participation. Prior financial or economic experience is not required to participate. Group discounts and Two-Thirds World discounts are available.

    The Chalmers Center also offers a second distance course and a self- study course on microfinance and microenterprise development services and interventions and a third distance course on basic principles of Savings and Credit Associations (SCAs) and how SCAs can be used as a ministry tool.

    To learn more or to register, visit

    http://www.chalmers.org

    or call 706-419-1805 (U.S.), or email chalmers(at)covenant(dot)edu [As a means of preventing spam for our contributors, in the preceding email address, please replace (at) with @ and (dot) with .] When registering, use Reference Identifier EN-BRN-04/06.

  2. UNDERSTAND THE WORLD OF ISLAM — Global Mapping International has announced the release of Version 2.0 of its popular World of Islam CD- ROM. Updated for 2006, the CD now contains 39 complete books by respected scholars and practitioners, ten newly-updated maps, an extensive new course on Current Issues in Islam, Hughes classic 750- page Dictionary of Islam, new country profiles, and fourteen new articles on current issues like contextualization and the roots of fundamentalism and militancy in Islam and much more… Over 12,000 pages of fully-searchable content! It’s a tremendous resource for any Christian seriously interested in understanding Islam or ministering to Muslims. To learn more, visit

    http://www.gmi.org/islamcd.htm on the web, or email info(at)gmi(dot)org or call 719-531-3599 in the USA.

  3. WATERS OF MERCY — Catch their workshop, “WATER 101”, in Lewisville, TX (north of Dallas) Friday, March 31 – 6 pm to 10 pm and Saturday, April 1 – 9 am to 5 pm. The course concentrates on practical knowledge and application for those interested in water related issues worldwide, with a particular focus on developing countries. You will learn about the water crisis, the water cycle, overview of waterborne illnesses, how disease is transmitted and how to prevent transmission, water assessment, water purification, water tools that are available (hardware), water purification, both as ministry and as a business in support of ministry. For more information, click to:

    http://www.watersofmercy.org

    or contact Waters of Mercy at 972.829.8139 or 888-243-3605 toll free in the USA or email deborah.davis(at)watersofmercy(dot)org [As a means of preventing spam for our contributors, in the preceding email address(es), please replace (at) with @ and (dot) with .]

  4. KONA, HAWAII CROSSROADS DTS — The Crossroads Discipleship Training School will again be offered in Kona from June 29 thru November 24, 2006. The school consists of a 12-week lecture phase immediately followed by an 8-week outreach and is open to persons age 25 and older. Applications for the CDTS can be completed on-line and/or are available to download at:

    http://www.uofnkona.edu

    Additional information and application forms are also available from the University of the Nations, Admission Office, 75-5851 Kuakini Highway, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii 96740 (808-326-4433). E-Mail: admissions(at)uofnkona(dot)edu [As a means of preventing spam for our contributors, in the preceding email address(es), please replace (at) with @ and (dot) with .]

  5. BRIGADA READERS SLAM “CONNECTED” SITE, FORCE DISCONNECT — Life can be so ironic sometimes. Like… did you hear the one about the website on connectivity? They published a book and offered it to our Brigada audience at a good price. Well shortly after Brigada came out that night around midnight, there were so many Brigada readers responding that they overloaded the site, we’re told, forcing I.T. specialists to reset the server the following morning. When organizers of the site emailed this past week to share the testimony, the conversation went, “Brigada readers are responsive…. Doug will find this interesting.” Indeed. So, maybe somebody out there *is* reading this stuff that we compile in the still of the night. :-) Yay. :-) (By the way, if you’d like to try the site again, just click on over to…

    http://www.connectedbook.net/

    but please.. not everybody at once. :-)

  6. GOOD RESPONSE ON SHIPPERS — Remember our March 10th item, “10) WHAT SHIPPER DO YOU USE THESE DAYS?” We’ve had a good response to the inquiry. Find the response on the web by clicking *here*.
  7. UK RADIO MISSION OFFERS UNIQUE TRAINING — Radio Worldwide is the radio ministry of WEC International. This summer, from the 3-14 July, they are running another radio training course at their centre in Leeds, (200 miles north of London). Students are first given a week’s crash course in basic radio production. They then gain some practical hands-on experience by broadcasting on Rothwell Carnival Radio for the second week of the course. For more than 10 years Radio Worldwide has been running this special event station in conjunction with the local carnival. The station broadcasts 24 hours a day for a whole week and also streams to the internet during that time. No other Christian organization in the whole of the UK offers this kind of hands-on experience. This full-time residential course normally costs £440. The first ten Brigada Readers are offered a £40 discount; you might even qualify for a bursary if you are full-time Christian worker or a student. For more information on how to reserve your place this year, log on at

    http://radioworldwide.gospelcom.net/org/onairtraining.php or write to training(at)radioworldwide(dot)org or visit [As a means of preventing spam for our contributors, in the preceding email address(es), please replace (at) with @ and (dot) with .]

  8. HOPE FOR AFRICA’S CHILDREN CONFERENCE — Hosted by Watoto Child Care Ministries, this conference will feature a focus on HIV/AIDS, the world’s greatest social, medical and personal crisis. It will feature evening rallies, dynamic worship, and practical workshops. Speakers include Brian and Bobbie Houston from Hillsong Church, Australia; Dr. Charles Price, The Peoples Church, Toronto, Canada and Pastors Gary and Marilyn Skinner, Founders of Watoto Child Care Ministries. The conference will be held in Kampala Uganda, October 18 – 22, 2006. Visit

    http://www.watoto.com/conference.html for further details or email hopeforafrica(at)kpc(dot)co(dot)ug [As a means of preventing spam for our contributors, in the preceding email address(es), please replace (at) with @ and (dot) with .]

  9. WHAT DONOR MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE DO YOU USE? — The folks at The Mission Station are interested in compiling a list of good/bad/indifferent Donor Management software used by various missions groups to handle the accounting and receipting of funds for missions endeavors. It will be good to find out both Pro and Con for the software, and we will include this information in a summary for all to benefit from. Whether you use a home-grown system, or big commercial product, there are many that can benefit by your experience. You can send a note to JohnCLewis(at)missionaries(dot)org (John, please let us know what you find out in your study.)
  10. WHAT NON-ENGLISH CHURCH MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE DO YOU USE? — The same folks are also compiling a list of Church Management packages that have non-English capability (both in entered data, and program/menu language). There is a wide variety of Free to very expensive software available for the English Speaking world, but there are a lot of churches around the world that don’t speak English, yet still need the CMS capabilities. Just send your best ideas to JohnCLewis(at)missionaries(dot)org and they’ll fill us in later on what they find. (Thanks John!)
  11. OMF BAY AREA MISSION CONFERENCE — It’s happening April 28-29, 2006 in Redwood City, CA. The theme is “Planting “Christ’s Church in Asia!”, and it’s taking place at Peninsula Covenant Church. The plenary speaker is Dr. Patrick Fung, OMF’s new General Director. Attend 10 church planting workshops, children’s Win Our World program and fellowship with visiting missionaries. There are group and individual registration rates, with discounts for students and seniors. Learn more at

    http://www.us.omf.org/northwest

    or email omfconference(at)yahoo(dot)com [As a means of preventing spam for our contributors, in the preceding email address(es), please replace (at) with @ and (dot) with .] or call 925-459-0734 in the USA. You can also subscribe to their quarterly email newsletter by sending an email to: omf_bayarea-subscribe(at)yahoogroups(dot)com

  12. LOOKING FOR THE LINK IN LAST WEEK’S “CORRECTION”? — If you’re looking for the link in last week’s item “5) CORRECTION ON PASTORS RETREAT NETWORK”, just click here.
  13. THANK THE LORD FOR PARTNERS — This week we’re thankful for an anonymous worker from WEC Int’l who gave $150 to undergird the work of Brigada Today. Thanks, too, to New Dimensions Int’l for the very helpful gift of $25. NDI is a small organization that trains, equips and resources church planters among unreached people groups. Want to join them in becoming and amazing partner? Just click *here* (to use PayPal or a credit card), or if you prefer, 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. In any case, thanks for considering Brigada in your estate giving, your monthly church missions fund, and/or your own personal giving for this calendar year.
  14. THE BACK PAGE: KEEP THINGS FROM GETTING UGLY — In this last entry in our series on “Speaking into someone’s life”, we’re focusing on what to do to reduce the stress involved in giving correction. How do you keep your friend from merely thinking you’re being overly critical. He or she might think it’s none of your business . . . or your motives might be misjudged. In these and other cases, here are some key principles to keep in mind:
    *** Wrong time? — Consider waiting until your friend is in a better state of readiness to hear what you have to say. Maybe he or she is under a lot of stress or just having a difficult day. Waiting 24 hours, or even a week, might make all the difference in the world.
    *** Wrong motive? — *Are* they wrong? Try to be objective with yourself. Are you jealous, hurt, tired, etc? Could there be any other agenda affecting you? If you’re 100% convinced that you only have the person’s best at heart, tell them so genuinely. They’ll hopefully see your transparent care and concern, but if they don’t, you’ve at least tried.
    *** Wrong setting? — Did you forget the part about speaking into someone’s life “one-on-one”? If you tried to speak into his/her life in a group, sometimes the group setting alone is enough to cause roadblocks. Closely related: did you speak to others first, before sharing directly with your friend? This can cause *deadly* confusion. Your friend will perhaps feel you’ve got some other agenda besides being helpful. Or — suppose you wait ’til after the assignment is over. Now your friend has no way of changing the behavior or activity that you’re describing. Example: Suppose you’re an elder or pastor in a local church and you’re given the task of leading a short-term mission team to the field of a missionary your church supports. During the visit, you notice the way your missionary treats someone in the group. Every day it pains you, yet you say nothing. Following the two-week experience, you travel home. Only then do you get up the nerve to say something. The trouble with this scenario is that your missionary friend will now feel a bit left behind. Furthermore, even if you’re right, he or she won’t have a chance to correct the error “in flight”. So, whenever possible, we ought to try to offer feedback as close as possible to the actual occurrence, and, whenever possible, at a time when our friend can still effect change, in an effort to set things right. Nothing’s more frustrating than learning about a mistake we made, but not being able to correct it because now it’s too late.

    In summary, try to build trust with everyone, including those who are making mistakes. As we correct, let’s try to make it as easy as possible for our friends to straighten things out. The measure of success, as we try to speak the truth in love, isn’t based on whether or not we were able to speak our mind. The measure of success is — did we help the person improve while maintaining the relationship so we can be there to help again, when and if we’re needed. *That* is how to be an authentic and genuine friend.

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