- JOHN WILL TELL YOUR STORY
- HOW DO WE CAST A MISSIONS VISION TO KIDS?
- PARTICIPATE IN THIS SURVEY; HELP UNDERSTAND CRISIS IN MINISTRY
- DOWNLOAD BIBLE PORTIONS IN HARD-TO-FIND LANGUAGES
- GLORY STORY NOW OFFERING MULTI-SKIN-COLOR PHOTOS
- WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT CHRIST?
- LEGAL AND TAX UPDATES
- JOINT CHRISTIAN SERVICES MONGOLIA SEEKS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
- MISSION:EQUIP ANNOUNCES LAUNCH OF NEW ONLINE MISSIONS PORTAL
- BLUEWATER DTS READY TO SET SAIL
- THE BACKPAGE: “START TEN MISTAKES HIGH”
- CLOSING STUFF
- JOHN WILL TELL YOUR STORY — John Lindner sends out a weekly newsletter featuring some aspect of ministry by and among majority-world missions today. He especially is desirous of telling the struggle, victory, and passion of national men and women of God who have overcome difficulties to plant a church or do a work for God. If you know of a third-world missionary or leader who has such a story that you can vouch for, send it to him and he will consider publishing it in his newsletter. Submitting a story does not guarantee it will be published. He can be reached at John(at)WorldChristianMinistries(dot)org [As a means of preventing spam for our contributors, in the preceding email address(es), please replace (at) with @ and (dot) with .]
Glimpses of his previous newsletters can be found at
http://www.WorldChristianMinistries.org
Click on “Books by John Lindner” to get a sample of his biographical writing. Here is a chance to lift up a majority-world national partner. Please advise if names of persons or places need to remain confidential. (John and his ministry have also helped Brigada and its ministries, too. Thanks John!)
- HOW DO WE CAST A MISSIONS VISION TO KIDS? — Do you know of some resource, lesson materials, videos, or other curricula that might help spawn a missions understanding among children? If so, please drop by:
http://brigada.org/brigade/?p=22
Leave a comment about your favorite resource, making sure you provide contact information or a URL. This item originated directly as a result of a children’s minister in a local church, asking for help… so your resources will go to work immediately! Thanks for any referrals or resources you can provide.
- PARTICIPATE IN THIS SURVEY; HELP UNDERSTAND CRISIS IN MINISTRY — Andrew, from IL, is completing a doctoral research project in an area related to crisis in ministry. He and he colleague, Dr. Mills, are seeking to help organizations and churches better prepare their ministers. Here is the link to the survey:
http://www.eiu.edu/~cats/robinsonMillsSurvey/survey.php
Anyone who has served in any type of international or home missions work (fulltime or part-time) can take the survey, including one-time, part- time, or fulltime missionaries, pastors, evangelists, teachers, doctors, dentists, construction workers, etc. He’s wrapping up the survey in early November, so there’s time to jump in. Thanks.
- DOWNLOAD BIBLE PORTIONS IN HARD-TO-FIND LANGUAGES — You can do that and a whole lot more at the World Bible Translation Center’s homepage at
http://www.wbtc.com/site/PageServer?pagename=downloads_main
Chris wrote this past week to bring the site to our attention and, indeed, if you’d like to download the entire Ukrainian NT as a PDF, WBTC is the place to go. While you’re there, check out their work among 50 of the world’s most spoken languages. (Thanks Chris!)
- GLORY STORY NOW OFFERING MULTI-SKIN-COLOR PHOTOS — When Glory to God (International) launched their online gallery of pictures, they hoped to equip missionaries to tell the whole Bible story from Genesis to Revelation. They received an overwhelming response of mail, some of which called them “White supremacists” and “Nazi’s”. A spokesman for The Glory Story said, “Whilst these comments were unnecessary they were valid to a degree, due to the fair skin colour of a lot of the Bible characters.”
The artists at The Glory Story, have spent the last 8 weeks making the skin colour of the Bible characters more culturally relevant for missionaries. Check out the whole of the Bible in pictures on this link.
http://www.theglorystory.com/html/glory_picture_gallery.htm
For more information, write Aleshia(at)Mission316(dot)com [As a means of preventing spam for our contributors, in the preceding email address(es), please replace (at) with @ and (dot) with .]
- WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT CHRIST? — An embarrassing question, but so important. Our whole future depends on it. So why not find some help from a new item on the EasyEnglish website? Go to
Click on “What’s New?” then download “What do you think about Christ?” You will discover a series of questions (and answers) based on an EasyEnglish translation of Matthew’s gospel.
- LEGAL AND TAX UPDATES — This month’s Legal Trends Memo is online, with stories that include, “If you’re changing your bylaws, don’t forget to let the IRS and your state regulatory agency know; Age discrimination laws don’t apply to clergy; If you have donors making contributions by payroll deductions, there are special record-keeping and substantiation requirements; Tax Court issues a new ruling on how to account for your ministry-related cell phone expenses; Volunteer board members are immune from liability if acting within the scope of their duties; If your employment policies require mediation and arbitration first, then even lawsuits under the Americans with Disabilities Act can’t proceed until the arbitration is complete; Extensions to file for the foreign earned income exclusion can be granted under certain circumstances. Check out the Nonprofit and Church Legal Trends Memo at
http://www.nonprofitchurchlaw.org
A part of each paid subscription goes to Brigada. Make sure you type “Brigada” in the “How did you hear about us” field.
- JOINT CHRISTIAN SERVICES MONGOLIA SEEKS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR — Joint Christian Services International, Mongolia, is seeking an executive director. The executive director will provide strong spiritual and team- building leadership for employees and an administrative team that oversees ministries and projects performed with, through and alongside the Mongolian churches by 70 personnel from 14 member bodies and local staff. The position requires a mature Christian with cross-cultural mission and/or development experience, the ability to implement strategic vision, and good relational and administrative skills. Send inquiries, a letter of application and CV to Sheldon at sheldons(at)mennonitemission(dot)net [As a means of preventing spam for our contributors, in the preceding email address(es), please replace (at) with @ and (dot) with .] and visit the JCS web site at
- MISSION:EQUIP ANNOUNCES LAUNCH OF NEW ONLINE MISSIONS PORTAL — Mission:Equip, a new company specializing in online productivity tools and content sharing for the missions community, recently launched its new website. The new online missions portal, which offers a virtual toolkit of services to assist in preparation for missions trips (both short-term and long-term), is located at
There, you can find links to various resources which will be helpful to long-term missionaries and short-term mission team members as they prepare to travel overseas, a trip planning module, a helpful travel checklist, a printable emergency contact card, links to several communications resources (including 228 country-specific blogs and 228 country-specific wikis). For more information, contact info(at)missionequip(dot)com [As a means of preventing spam for our contributors, in the preceding email address(es), please replace (at) with @ and (dot) with .]
- BLUEWATER DTS READY TO SET SAIL — The Bluewater Discipleship Training School (DTS) is a 7-month programme designed for you to know God deeper and to learn how to live out His message of reconciliation and justice in the midst of a hurting world. Participants live aboard the “s/y Next Wave”, a 41-metre sailing vessel, for 4 months of discipleship training, followed by 3 months of outreach in the Middle East or Africa. The next school begins Sept. 8th, so better contact them today. Learn more at
September 8, 2007 – March15, 2008
- THE BACKPAGE: “START TEN MISTAKES HIGH” — This past Sunday, I was talking to a good friend who pilots his own biplane. We were talking about some recent tragedies at nearby air shows and I asked him if he was ever scared when flying “loop the loops” and other stunts. His answer? He quoted a highly-respected flying instructor who once told him to start every trick ’10 mistakes high.’ I’m sure I looked confused, because he went on to explain that if the trick required 100′ vertical feet, the instructor wanted him to start it at 1000′. I thought about that for a long time afterward. I’ve concluded that missionaries are more like stunt pilots than trapeze artists. We don’t really have the luxury of a safety net. But we *do* have a band of prayer warriors and supporters that can help us survive a long nose dive. For every difficult task we tackle, we need 10 supporters and prayer partners to make sure we can survive. It’s up to each worker, individually, to gather enough supporters and friends to thereby construct an adequate “safety net.” Only then can we be assured of surviving every mistake. So ‘start ten mistakes high’ and gather your prayer safety net today.
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