Brigada Today
04 Mar 2005

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In this issue...

  1. TIPS AND TOP TOOLS (FOR WORKERS EVERYWHERE)
  2. GLOBAL APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM REQUESTING RECRUITS
  3. OMF BAY AREA CONFERENCE
  4. CHRISTIAN MAGAZINE PUBLISHING COURSE IS 24-29 APRIL
  5. SHARE EXPAT EDUCATION SERVICES TO VISIT CENTRAL ASIA SOON
  6. CORRECTION TO INT'L STUDENT MINISTRY CONF(ACMI'05)
  7. TWO WORLD RELIGION COURSES
  8. FESTIVAL CASORIA
  9. INT'L CHILDREN'S MINISTRY TRAINERS' INSTITUTE
  10. REYAH BIBLE COLLEGE
  11. OAXACA 100
  12. THANKFUL FOR THOSE WHO MAKE THIS POSSIBLE
  13. CLOSING STUFF
  1. TIPS AND TOP TOOLS (FOR WORKERS EVERYWHERE) -- Occasionally I'll notice that one of our workers has splashed a 2 megabyte photo into a Word document (with a size something like 2" x 3"), or worse yet, onto a web page (with a size perhaps even smaller). Powerpoint now has a tool to compress these oversize mammoths (Word doesn't, and FrontPage's is awkward to use, at best). We need to invest more time training our workers to custom-tailor the resolution (dots per inch) to the job (screen or web page, printed page, or actual photo). My understanding is -- we basically need to teach 72 dpi for PowerPoint's or websites, 300 or 600 dpi for pages to be printed on lasers (600 dpi can grow big pretty fast), and the more dpi the better for a photo. (5 megapixel cameras produce about a 2 megabyte picture that doesn't look pixilated until you get up to 9x12" or bigger.)

    But how do we help our workers make these adaptations? My belief is -- teach them to *capture* the art at the highest resolution possible, all the time. It takes more hard drive space to store them, but always hang onto the high-res original. Then use some kind of photo-editing software to reduce the resolution and image size to the exact dimensions and desired application.

    One good option for our workers these days is Picasa. It's now owned by Google and, like most things Google-ized, it's getting better with age. With version 2.0, it became just as good as Photoshop Album and easier to use than ACD-see. Get it at http://www.picasa.com. With it, you can organize, edit, and even share all your digital photos. Save them to an external drive (you do back up your photos, right?), add captions, clean them up, and even play with lighting and color effects. Upload them to popular photo-sharing websites for others to see. (Obviously, be careful with pictures of sensitive situations, workers, and nationals.)

    Oh ... and tell 'em Brigada sent you. (I'm actually teasing about the "tell 'em Brigada sent you" part. Google could care less, because, again, like most things Google, Picasa is now absolutely free.)
  2. GLOBAL APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM REQUESTING RECRUITS -- Check out this new missions and church planting internship program http://www.thegap.com.br The GAP - Global Apprenticeship Program is an internship/apprenticeship program which focuses on all aspects of cross cultural missions and church planting. With a 20-week module students are exposed to morning classes and afternoon "The Apprentice" style discipleship projects. The whole program takes place completely on the mission field in beautiful Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with a faculty that has over 15 years experience in Brazil, Haiti, Russia, Argentina, Chile, Honduras, and Mexico. Up to 7 college credits may be awarded for study at Elim Bible Fellowship.
  3. OMF BAY AREA CONFERENCE -- The theme is "Serving Christ in the Chinese Century", April 29-30, 2005, offered Friday evening and all day Saturday at Peninsula Covenant Church Redwood City, CA. The Plenary Speakers are Jamie Taylor IV, OMF International and Dr. Matthew Koh, President, MSI. The program includes plenary sessions, workshops, Win Our World children's program, prayer and fellowship time with visiting missionaries. The web site: http://www.us.omf.org/northwest For Conference inquiries, write Julie  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 +1-925-459-0734
  4. CHRISTIAN MAGAZINE PUBLISHING COURSE IS 24-29 APRIL -- A five-and-a- half-day intensive course in Korea will cover topics such as strategic planning, building circulation, increasing advertising revenue, financial management, managing personnel, generating income, research, production, and developing a magazine business plan. The language will be English, with interpretation into Korean. Future conferences will follow in Croatia (October and November). For more information, log on: http://www.magazinetraining.com
  5. SHARE EXPAT EDUCATION SERVICES TO VISIT CENTRAL ASIA SOON -- Beginning in late March, SHARE Education Services will be visiting Bishkek, Tashkent and Almaty to provide educational and family support to expat workers. Children's educational issues continue to be a great concern to expat workers and a primary reason that they return to their passport countries. SHARE seeks to equip parents and give them counsel to work through the many questions and difficulties that arise on the field. They will provide academic norm-referenced testing, a day-long workshop on troubleshooting home schooling difficulties and curriculum selection, and a 2-day conference dealing with such issues as: boarding school pros and cons from an insiders perspective, how to handle multiple languages for you kids, getting a European perspective on home schooling and transition back into the passport country educational system, and a host of family relational, ministry stress issues to be lead a pair of veteran counselors of expats. They will be in Almaty March 25th and April6-11, Bishkek March 26-29 (no conference here), and in Tashkent March 30-April 5. Please contact Larry at
    lmilks(at)share-ed-services(dot)org for info on how to register. [As a means of preventing spam for our contributors, in the preceding email address(es), please replace (at) with @ and (dot) with .] This info should also be on their web site by March 28th: http:\\shareeducation.com
  6. CORRECTION TO INT'L STUDENT MINISTRY CONF(ACMI'05) -- It's happening June 3-5, at Pacific University, near Portland, OR. The early-bird rate postmarked by March 15th of $199 is for Members. The early-bird, non-member rate is $239. New membership in ACMI is only $10. For membership form and ACMI'05 brochure, please see http://www.acmi-network.org For questions about the ACMI'05 conference contact Carmen carmenhills(at)earthlink(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 about the Association of Christian Ministries to Internationals, Leiton lechinn(at)aol(dot)com ACMI'05, 24th annual, national conference of about 300 participants from the U.S. and Canada, has 50 workshops related to ministry among Int'l students.
  7. TWO WORLD RELIGION COURSES -- Taylor Seminary in Edmonton, Canada, will be offering intensive courses in Aboriginal Spirituality (May 2-6, 2005) and Islam (May 9-13, 2005). Limited on-campus accommodations are available. For information visit http://www.taylor-edu.ca or contact Renetta Renetta.geisler(at)taylor-edu(dot)ca [As a means of preventing spam for our contributors, in the preceding email address(es), please replace (at) with @ and (dot) with .]
  8. FESTIVAL CASORIA -- The Italians need you! The date is Aug. 31 to Sept. 12, 05 w/ add on dates, if desired. DELTA Ministries International, the churches of Italy and long-term missionaries want you to come and work with the Italians through festival style evangelism in one of the neediest areas of Southern Italy. You can be involved in various activities including music, medical, creative booths, interactive crowd games and various others that provide opportunities to connect relationally. Throughout the festival, team members will evangelize and invite Italians to an evangelistic presentation at the end of each evening. In years past, thousands have been in attendance and hundreds have come to know Christ. The registration deadline is April 15, 2005. For more information or to find out how you can be involved, please contact Asher at DELTA Ministries International, PO Box 30029, Portland, OR 97294 USA; U.S.A. callers can dial toll-free: 1-800-533-5822; Out of U.S.A. callers dial: +1-503-669-8048, or email ashers(at)deltaministries(dot)com [As a means of preventing spam for our contributors, in the preceding email address, please replace (at) with @ and (dot) with .] or log on at http://www.deltaministries.com
  9. INT'L CHILDREN'S MINISTRY TRAINERS' INSTITUTE -- KidZ At Heart International invites you to attend KidZtitute, April 5-8 or May 10-13, in Phoenix, Arizona. KidZtitute is designed to prepare North American children's ministry leaders to reach kids around the world for Christ. Successful graduates of KidZtitute are prepared to equip overseas ministry leaders to effectively evangelize and disciple the children of their own communities. Training includes culturally adaptable workshops on how children L.E.A.R.N. best, how to tell a great Bible story, leading a child to Christ, helping children worship and teaching kids to pray. Participants are also trained in workshop presentation techniques, gathering and leading short-term missions teams, being a good guest in another culture and raising funds for short-term projects. Participants may choose to join or lead KidZ At Heart teams ministering in 15 countries around the world. KidZtitute Cost is $395 ($50 discount if received by March 15, 2005). Contact sfletcher(at)kidzatheart(dot)org or visit http://www.kidzatheart.org for more information. [As a means of preventing spam for our contributors, in the preceding email address(es), please replace (at) with @ and (dot) with .]
  10. REYAH BIBLE COLLEGE -– Be discipled through Reyah Bible College. Learn how to reach the lost and disciple them also. Reyah is a nondenominational Christian Bible college with convenient, affordable, high-quality education for busy learners around the world. Courses are taken in English either through streaming audio on-line, audio CDs or tapes, and/or evening classes. Contact Reyah Bible College at: 4049 N. Freeway, Blvd., Sacramento, CA; USA callers can dial toll-free 1-866- 274-4826; others can call 1-916-924-1919. Also, you can e-mail the college at: contact(at)reyah(dot)org [As a means of preventing spam for our contributors, in the preceding email address(es), please replace (at) with @ and (dot) with .] For further information, please check out Reyah's web site at: http://www.reyah.org
  11. OAXACA 100 -- Do you want to be involved in an extreme makeover? Set aside the dates! From Sept. 24 to Oct. 1, 05 Delta Ministries International and Adventures in Life are looking for 100 men to minister to the Zapotecan people of Oaxaca, Mexico. The team will be involved in building a 1,500 sq. ft. ministry center extreme makeover style to serve as a training center for the Tlacolula Valley. Other areas of ministry will include: general maintenance for the church; medical teams to work alongside Mexican doctors; a worship team and a team for communications to do photography; video and writing stories to post daily on the web site along with recording the daily ministry activities. The registration deadline is April 1, 2005. For more information or to find out how you can be involved, contact Asher ashers(at)deltaministries(dot)com [As a means of preventing spam for our contributors, in the preceding email address, please replace (at) with @ and (dot) with .] or log on at: http://www.deltaministries.com
  12. THANKFUL FOR THOSE WHO MAKE THIS POSSIBLE -- Thanks to our friends at Nebraska Christian College, Norfolk, Nebraska, for a great $100 gift to underwrite our Brigada-sponsored secretary and help with common expenses for this newsletter. Adventures in Missions (specifically, author and leader Seth Barnes) added in $100 more, and our loyal subscriber in Europe rounded it out with $5 more this month, making it $205 so far this week! Thanks to one and all. Want to help make this work possible? If so, just log on at http://www.brigada.org then click "sponsor" in the top menu (to use PayPal or a credit card), or just send a check payable to Team Expansion to: Team Expansion (Brigada secretary), 11327 Jefferson Trace Blvd., Louisville, KY 40291. Thanks! 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.
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