Brigada – 2024-03-17

4) Want to Sharpen Your Interpersonal Skills? Take the Class

Perhaps you were aware that there’s a course on that (Sharpening Your Interpersonal Skills). Trainers have found that this skill is best learned in the context of a group in this intensive format. Learn more about the course here…

 

itpartners.org/

 

See all the locations where this course is being offered by browsing to…

 

docs.google.com/document/d/1YXbAGXfjDXHFjWRskguQuRRIK9_2AJNZ5nzu6xlY28w/edit

 

Note especially the courses in Orlando (beginning March 31st) and Dallas (beginning Oct. 17), but there are courses happening throughout the year literally all over the world. (Thanks Carol!)

 

5) Free 30-Day Mini-Course: "Intro to Biological Agriculture"

5) Free 30-Day Mini-Course: "Intro to Biological Agriculture"

If you’re looking for a way to optimize your soil — or if you’d like to utilize this approach with the unreached people group you’re trying to reach — get started today with this 30-Day Mini-Course that is completely free of charge. You’ll follow a sequence of emails over the 30 days that will expand your mind and enlarge your soil possibilities! Give it a try. You can always unsubscribe at any time.

 

www.aglabs.com/introduction-to-biological-agriculture.html

 

If you find that you like the material, you might enjoy other offerings at…

 

www.aglabs.com/

 

which seeks to help you learn to make better soil, grow better crops, and, in general, steward the land more effectively on behalf of the creator.

 

6) Seek God for the City, March 6 – Apr. 14 via this App on Your Phone

Waymakers have developed a great campaign called, “Seek God for the City,” designed to mobilize many to pray with united, sustained vision for people of your community. You can invite your small group, your Sunday School class, your mission org, all the missionaries you support, and/or your entire church to take part. We mentioned the Spanish version above (Item 3), but in this item, we’re highlighting the app version in particular. It’s just 99 cents and you can download it to your phone or smart device wherever you normally get your apps. Just search “Seek God 2019” and you can find it for iOS, Android, and even the Kindle Fire. Learn more at…

 

waymakers.org/pray/seek-god/app/

 

(Thanks again, Betty!)

7) Have You Discovered a Rhythm That Keeps You Devoted to Prayer?

7) Have You Discovered a Rhythm That Keeps You Devoted to Prayer?

Does your organization/church/group have a rhythm that helps to keep you devoted to prayer? Betty wrote this past week, “While we all want to pray continually, there are rhythms that can keep us going. For example, the organization of which I am a member kicks off each year with 21 days of focused prayer and fasting. We begin each day as an international services staff praying in groups for designated areas of the world, leaders of those countries, organizational workers in those fields, and for the unreached. Once a week, we devote an afternoon prayer time to praying for all of the organization’s workers around the world in one fell swoop. Monthly, we devote half a day to prayer and fasting for a specific part of the world, leaders in that part of the world, the unreached and the persecuted in that part of the world, and the organization’s workers serving in that region.” We think Betty’s on to something. Would you please share the rhythms of prayer that keep you going? Just click “Comment” following the web version of this item. We’d love to hear YOUR group’s rhythm if it keeps you devoted to prayer!

(Thanks again, Betty!)

8) Where is the Church Headed in 2019? (Hint: It’s Not White.)

This opinion piece by Wesley Granberg-Michaelson will rattle and unsettle any traditional thinker. What’s YOUR take on his conclusion: “If there is a theme in what lies ahead for the church as we enter a new year, it is that the white Western Christian bubble that has powerfully shaped Christianity for the past four centuries is now beginning to burst. Future expressions of Christian faith will be shaped by its interactions with non-Western and nonwhite cultures. This will present challenges to the established church in the U.S. but may hold the keys to its revitalization.” Please click “Comment” following the web version of this item. Thanks in advance for your view. Whether you choose to share it with your name or anonymously, it’s still important. And it doesn’t matter where you’re from or what color your skin is, your opinion is valuable at Brigada. (Thanks, Justin, for pointing us to this article this past week.)

9) Can "Peace Psychology" Impact Government Leaders for Good & for God?

This 25-minute video features a presentation given for the United Nations by Dr. Kelly O’Donnell for Geneva Peace Week in November 2018. As you listen, what are your thoughts about a government’s responsibility for moral and peaceful behavior in relationship to citizens and to the world? The answer (your answer) might help us understand whether or not “Peace Psychology” has any chance of influencing political leaders for good and/or for God. Check it out at…

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7jMHkqvCxI

 

(Thanks for making this video available, Kelly!)

10) Could Teamwork Project Be the Perfect Task/Project Manager for You?

10) Could Teamwork Project Be the Perfect Task/Project Manager for You?

Teamwork Project Management Software owns a GREAT home URL. It is simply…

 

www.teamwork.com/

 

Over the past year, this Irish software development company has distinguished itself at finding what could be a great financial approach to helping organizations, churches, and companies afford software designed to help them keep track of projects, milestones, goals, and the people who make them happen. Their project management software includes a “free forever” trial (limited to two projects and 100 megs of stored files), and a decently-priced pro version (essentially $45/month for 50 users, 300 projects, and 100 gigs). What we miss when we evaluate Teamwork, however, is that both of these levels (the “free forever” AND the pro version) can accommodate an unlimited number of collaborators across an unlimited amount of time. The company offers its software on the web, as well as via apps that are available for virtually every type of device, including iOS, Android, Mac, and Windows PC. It’s definitely worth the look. What’s YOUR opinion on project managers like these? Click Comment following the web version of this item to share your voice about whether or not these project managers hold out any hope to track disciple-making and church multiplication.

11) Is the Tor Browser better than a VPN for Anonymizing You?

There was a time when we all thought we were supposed to use a VPN. Could the Tor Browser be the next generation of security? I have to admit, it’s a bit scary at first blush. The prospects of my communication bouncing around the computers of countless volunteers around the world doesn’t sound a bit secure to me. But after a grad student working on his doctorate in political science told me I should take a look, I did. See for yourself at…

 

www.torproject.org/projects/torbrowser.html.en

 

I had thought this “Tor” deal was mainly for the dark web. But as I checked into it more and more, I discovered that the very components attracting terrorists and drug dealers (the anonymous nature of Tor) were the same components attracting LOTS of people who just want general minimum web security. Think of Tor as a kind of “bit coin” view of the web. Tor prevents sites from discovering your physical location, your identity, and your web browsing habits. In 1 minute or so, you can learn how it works by watching this brief video:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6czcc1gZ7Ak

 

What’s YOUR opinion of Tor? Any I.T. professionals willing to weigh in with a comment? You can do so anonymously, whether you’re browsing via Tor or not. : ) Just click Comment following the web version of this item. Thanks in advance for sharing! (Thanks for suggesting that we look into this, Caleb! : ) )

 

12) How Would You Describe the Missionary Task?

The IMB described it this way:

a) Entry

b) Evangelism

c) Discipleship

d) Healthy Church Formation

e) Leadership Training

f) Partnership and exit

 

See the full out line in blog items like this one…

 

www.imb.org/topic-term/six-components-missionary-task/

 

and zero in on particular items in articles like this one, on the disciple-making task, for example:

 

www.imb.org/2018/10/29/missionary-task-disciple-making/

 

What’s YOUR take on this kind of component model of the missionary task? What do you feel the IMB has left out that should have been included? Please jot your answer in a Comment following the web version of this item. Thanks in advance for your opinion!

 

13) We Asked about CCBT Last Week. Jesse Answered.

13) We Asked about CCBT Last Week. Jesse Answered.

We’re grateful to Jesse for picking up on our inquiry about CCBT. (See last edition, 2) Can You Teach Us About Community-Based Bible Translation? (CCBT), at www.brigada.org/2019/01/13_25626 ). He wrote, “CCBT, as used on

 

www.ccbt.bible

 

refers to “Church-Centric Bible Translation” which is an approach that equips the church that speaks any given language for excellence in Bible translation, as an intrinsic part of their theological formation and leadership development. There are some similarities with other approaches, but in many ways, this Bible translation model is very different. At unfoldingWord, we’ve made an attempt to describe it in some detail in the paper “From Unreached to Established”

 

unfoldingword.org/established

 

Other papers that may be helpful include “Trustworthy and Trusted” (which considers how to equip the church to achieve excellence in Bible translation,

 

unfoldingword.org/trustworthy

 

and “The Gateway Languages Strategy” (which describes a global strategy for providing content, tools and training that equip the entire global church,

 

unfoldingword.org/gateway

 

Also there is a Getting Started guide that we put together at

 

unfoldingword.bible/ccbt-getting-started/

 

Hopefully that has some value for you too.” It does. Thanks for your help, Jesse!

 

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