Brigada

Kelly and Michèle O’Donnell are just stellar people. They recently wrote to offer helps for those headed to Haiti or Chili to help with disaster relief. For example, for more on the handling the broad-scaled logistics in Haiti, they suggested we direct readers to…
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8466595.stm
They also suggested an even broader perspective from the U.N. Office for [...]

[Read more →]

We wrap up today our three-part series on Lausanne III in Cape town. Learn more about the upcoming Lausanne consultation in Cape Town at…
http://www.lausanne.org/cape-town-2010
(By the way, if you’re from the USA, the delegate list is already set. Didn’t make the cut? Never fear. You can still participate via a “Globalink Site.” Emerald Hills is serving [...]

[Read more →]

Last week, I took part in a pre-conference preview of Lausanne III, or should I say Capetown 2010. Here’s a random list of my impressions, in no particular order:
*** A flair for the “Egalitair” — It seemed the Lausanne leadership had somewhere picked up a strong bias against celebrity. We were organized by table groups. [...]

[Read more →]

Think about it: Did you ever think Microsoft would be behind in anything? But they are — and have been for some time — behind in the area of search engines. Could Bing be the bullet that zings Bill’s guys to the head of the search-engine pack? Before you answer, try it:
http://www.bing.com
It’s fast. It seems [...]

[Read more →]

Is it just my imagination, or are we seeing a bit more cooperation than ever before in the carrying out of humanitarian aid missions. Think about it… Hope For Haiti pulls together like 60 tv networks. Then there’s the new website,
http://www.haitihub.org/
You register if you have a humanitarian need for Haiti, … or if you have [...]

[Read more →]

As we begin 2010, what piece of advice would *you* say is most useful to missionaries, missionary recruits, agency staffers, and church missions committee participants? Just click on the comment box below. Here’s a list of sampler items that we might include:
*** Consider staging a Kairos encounter at your church or mission: Learn more at…
http://www.kairoscourse.org/
*** [...]

[Read more →]

This is the time of the year that everybody recounts the top events of the past year. If you ever doubted, just have a look at the Spokane Chess Club…
http://www.spokanechessclub.org/remembering_2009.htm
They saw a record snowfall (with apologies to Al Gore), a near-record number of players — 63 — participating in a weekend chess tournament, and the [...]

[Read more →]

Have you ever heard of that “12 Days of Christmas” song? [Note: This story has been edited from its original form to promote a more sensitive reader experience in certain contries.] According to some opinions, people often think of The Twelve Days of Christmas as the days preceding the festival.  Actually, Christmas is a season [...]

[Read more →]

That’s what happened to my laptop last week: The dreaded “Fan Error.” Just because of the apparent weariness of one $5 fan part, the entire Thinkpad grinds to a screeching halt. Fortunately, I had been using a simple tool, described earlier here in Brigada, entitled, Syncback. See the freeware version at…
http://www.2brightsparks.com/freeware/freeware-hub.html
Or compare features with the [...]

[Read more →]

Recently, we received a note from a long-time reader of Brigada, currently serving in India. His daughter, whose first name is Victoria (used by permission) was apparently sitting beside him (an image I like, by the way :-) ), and she was curious. “What’s Brigada mean?” Her father struggled for a moment, then told her [...]

[Read more →]

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about the planet. Don’t get me wrong; I don’t recall ever having voted for Al Gore. And no one in my family is a member of Greenpeace. But I believe there is a rising consciousness around the globe… a conscience-response related to the undeniable fact that, if we truly [...]

[Read more →]

Tonight, as I write this Brigada, Thanksgiving is just around the corner. I was pondering today… just how mighty and how broad is the power of a team. I happen to work with a fantastic group of characters. One amazing saint was serving with her husband in Mozambique when thugs murdered her lifelong mate. Instead [...]

[Read more →]

[ Here's an item that explains how to upgrade or replace an internal hard drive on a laptop, then draws a lesson & an observation about the determination that the process required.]
You know… I was thinking this past week… It really shouldn’t be this hard. I honestly think it’s easier to buy a *house* and [...]

[Read more →]

Lately, I’ve been thinking about how cool it is to give credit to others. First, it’s the ultimate chance to practice humility (which we all need to do, by the way). Second, it encourages the other guy. And third, it lets everybody else know the truth about where we acquired the cool resource or truth [...]

[Read more →]

This past Wednesday in our regular weekly Bible study at Team Expansion’s Int’l Services office, we tackled the challenge of trying to document some of the typical roots of team conflict. It was interesting enough to me that I thought we should expand on our discussion here in the “BackPage” of Brigada. As our springboard, [...]

[Read more →]

Is it true? The word on the street (or should I say, ‘on the trail?’) is that these 4-ton beasts run about 30-40 miles per hour… but they can’t see past 90 feet in front of them. Talk about overdriving one’s headlights. So basically, any time they smell or hear something new, they charge at [...]

[Read more →]

My wife and I have an informal tradition. We alternate “making the bed.” It’s not a closely-regulated thing, mind you. We don’t have a chart with checkmarks. But in general, sometimes after I’ve gotten ready, on my way out of the bedroom, I’ll be sure that I make up the bed. And I try to [...]

[Read more →]

A friend recently told me, “There are two kinds of computer users out there: Those who have already lost data, and those who *will*.” I believe him. Unfortunately, backing up has, I fear, once again become a daily routine we all-too-often forsake. It takes *daily* attention… and it might be *months* before you need it… [...]

[Read more →]

Many of us have probably participated in one or more webinars by now. Here at Team Expansion, we’ve been doing webinars now for a year or so… but I’ll be honest: sometimes our results are better than others. Some of our webinars have left participants longing for more audience interaction. We struggle, at times, with [...]

[Read more →]

Lately, I’ve become interested in learning more about the growth of Church Planting Movements (CPMs). For example, I wrote an acquaintance who does research for one of the largest mission organizations, asking him about the characteristics of one of the church-planting movements I was studying. He had firsthand knowledge. I won’t tell you the country [...]

[Read more →]

For some time now, I’ve been fascinated by the effect of prayer on the body of Christ. Not only is God at work, answering the prayers of saints to raise up new workers, heal the sick, and mend hearts of the broken, but in addition to all that, prayer changes the hearts of the goers [...]

[Read more →]

I’ve always been fascinated by studies on the concept of motivation Take “home field advantage” or “HFA” for instance. A 2006 study by The Times, a daily national newspaper in the UK,  found that in the highest league of soccer teams in England (the English Premier league), a home team can expect to score 37.29% [...]

[Read more →]