14) The Last Bit: The Trellis And the Vine: Which Are You?
In the little book by Colin Marshall and Tony Payne entitled, “The Trellis and the Vine: The Ministry Mind-shift that Changes Everything,” the authors assert that all Christian ministry is a mixture of trellis and vine. There is vine work: the prayerful preaching and teaching of the word of God to see people converted and grow to maturity as disciples of Christ. Vine work is the Great Commission. And there is trellis work: creating and maintaining the physical and organizational structures and programs that support vine work and its growth. Trellis work would be programs, budget, staff, and buildings. Vine work would be sharing the Good News and starting new groups. So the question is — upon which are you majoring? And what’s the state of the trellis and the vine in your part of the world? Has trellis work taken over, as it has a habit of doing? Is the vine work being done by only a very few? And is the vine starting to wither as a result? In this book, the authors dig back into the Bible’s view of Christian ministry, and argue that a major mind-shift is required if we are to fulfill the Great Commission of Christ, and see the vine flourish again in our region or lifetimes. It’s a book worth reading. Find it at…
https://www.amazon.com/Trellis-Vine-Ministry-Mind-Shift-Everything/dp/1921441585
(Note: We received no payment or gift as a result of writing this review. In this case, we even had to buy our own book!)
2018/12/23 — Brigada Today
Compiled/Edited by Doug Lucas and Tina McCormick, Team Expansion
In this issue…
1) Your Giving is Amazing: Only $4706 Remaining to Make 2019 Budget
2) We Did the Momentum Course and It was Good
3) LightSys Rocks: See Their Makeover of the Former GMI Infobank
4) How Does YWAM Thailand Accomplish Everything that they Do???
5) The “Remember ACMC” Item Generated a TON of Interest
6) 10th Birthday for Ed Brown’s “Our Father’s World” (Creation Care’s)
7) Want an Entire Suite of Microsoft-Office(c)-like Tools for $5/month?
8) New dates for TESOL Training in Chiang Mai
9) NightEarth.com Reveals Huge Population Centers and More
10) Global Poverty Has Declined by 78% in just Four Decades!
11) How to Mentor Ladies in Your Part of the World
12) What is Missions Mobilization? A Definition
13) We’re Grateful for…
14) The Last Bit: Try Following Brigada and/or Doug on Twitter
15) Closing Stuff
1) Your Giving is Amazing: Only $4706 Remaining to Make 2019 Budget
We’ve always thought that your giving isn’t a bad barometer for your encouragement to keep on Brigada-ing. Gifts throughout the past week brought 2018 donations up to $11,438! That’s amazing. We look at that total and we think, “Whoa.” Thank you!!! Only a few days remain in 2018. Any gift given online or received by midnight, Monday, Dec. 31st, will be added to 2018 giving. If your church, group, or your family would like to add a voice to the encouragement to keep on keepin’ on, we’d be very grateful!
Want to join these great friends and fans of Brigada? Just click “Donate” at www.brigada.org, or mail a check payable to Team Expansion (Brigada), 13711 Willow Reed Drive, Louisville, KY 40299. Team Expansion is a 501(c)3 incorporation so, for USA citizens, your gift to Christ by writing a check to Team Expansion is tax-deductible. Thank you, in advance, for your partnership!
2) We Did the Momentum Course and It was Good
Yes, it might be ideal to do all 15 weeks of Perspectives for $240 — or $490. But you’ll have to read a mongo reader and show up for all of the two-and-a-half-hour classes at the time they specify. You don’t get to decide. Or maybe it would at least be cool to be inspired by the 40-hour Kairos course. The cost is much more affordable, but … it’s still 40 hours. But if you’re implementing something church-wide for lay people, it might be hard to get whole-church commitment for something as substantial as 40 hours. So now, there’s a really great “toe-in-the-water” alternative. It works great for starters AND, to be honest, it works great for all levels. We found that each session took approximately one hour (but it was all mission staff people). So the nine-hour course actually just took us six hours. It really picked up around session 3 and 4 – so, if you try it, we encourage you to FINISH it. We think it would be a SUPER tool for a “New Christians” class, especially when paired with www.ZumeProject.com . A one-two punch. Also, their missions timeline is incredibly cool. The timeline along is worth checking out the site.
https://www.momentumyes.com/timeline
The amazing thing is, like Zume, it’s all free!!!!
3) LightSys Rocks: See Their Makeover of the Former GMI Infobank
We love LightSys. They travel the world helping nonprofits and churches with I.T. needs… like angels doing good deeds in the name of Jesus! For example, see the makeover they just completed of Global Mapping’s former “Infobank” website.
http://www.missioninfobank.org/mib/
Just as an example, scroll down, click “browse resources by country,” then click on “China.” Outstanding stuff. Thank you LightSys!
4) How Does YWAM Thailand Accomplish Everything that they Do???
Have you ever visited their page? My goodness…
https://www.ywamthai.org/ministries
There are so many really cool ministries there. Just browsing will make one tired… but knowing that they make all this stuff happen for Jesus’ Name is amazing. God bless you all!!
5) The “Remember ACMC” Item Generated a TON of Interest
If you haven’t checked it out yet, see all the links and resources following the original posting of the question, “Whatever happened to ACMC?”
https://brigada.org/2018/12/16_25410
There are lots of options there.
6) 10th Birthday for Ed Brown’s “Our Father’s World” (Creation Care)
Ed Brown has updated his book on creation care and added a new foreword by Bishop Efraim Tendero of the World Evangelical Alliance. It is endorsed by Paul Borthwick, Scott Bessenecker and others. Ed tells us he’s offering a 40% discount ($12 instead of $18.99) and free shipping to US addresses until the middle of January. Find it at…
http://www.careofcreation.net/product/our-fathers-world-10th-anniversary-edition/
7) Want an Entire Suite of Microsoft-Office(c)-like Tools for $5/month?
Now you can. OnlyOffice has been opensource since October 2016. That means you know exactly what the code is AND that it can be hosted directly for you for just $5/month. Learn more at…
You get documents, mail, a CRM, projects, a calendar, and community tools too. See comparisons with other office suite products (hover over “Apps” in the top-line menu then choose “OnlyOffice Alternatives.” They now claim to be the world’s #1 suite! Plus, you can download the entire suite and host it on your own server for free! Why WOULDN’T you want to try it?
8) New dates for TESOL Training in Chiang Mai
Are you teaching English as a platform for ministry? Get some training and do and excellent job. Asean Center for TESOL offers an intensive, five-week certificate course in Chiang Mai, Thailand, including 10 hours practice teaching to non-native speakers! For application forms or more information, email
infothai@actesol.com or see
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