Brigada Today - 15 Dec 2006

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Brigada Today
15 Dec 2006

In this issue...

PLEASE HELP ME THANK GOD FOR THESE PARTNERS
THE HOME STRETCH: CAN YOU HELP US BREAK EVEN? ($6600 TO GO)
PREDICT THE RISE AND FALL OF AIRFARES
WHAT MAKES JOHN'S GOSPEL SPECIAL?
LEGAL & TAX INFO FOR RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS
SKYPE USERS SOMEWHAT AT RISK
DO YOU OR SOME MISSIONARY YOU KNOW NEED HEALTH INSURANCE?
ANOTHER WAY TO SAY TESOL
BRING HOPE TO POST-TSUNAMI THAILAND BY TEACHING ENGLISH
THE COLOURED OF NAMIBIA
MERRY CHRISTMAS BRIGADA FAMILY!
THE BACKPAGE: IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE
CLOSING STUFF

PLEASE HELP ME THANK GOD FOR THESE PARTNERS -- Whoa! Several Brigada participants have stepped in to make a *huge* difference in the last week. We dared you to step up to the plate. Praise God for the Missions Prof at Johnson Bible College, Brent, who gave $40 of his own money. Learn more about them at:

http://www.jbc.edu

Join us in thanking Russian Language Ministries, now known as Institute of Strategic Languages and Cultures, who sent $100. See them at:

http://www.russianlanguage.org

One anonymous worker at StoryRunners gave $250!

http://www.storyrunners.com/

I wish so much you would visit their homepage and learn about this newest ministry of Campus Crusade to help reach Unreached People Groups of the world using oral strategies -- storying. Most of those unreached groups, we're told, are orally-based cultures.

One donor gave $50 in honor of his Missions Pastor, Mark Struck, from Autumn Ridge Church, Rochester, MN. Mark, sounds like you're loved! Another partner, an African Inland Missionary worker, gave $200! (Amazing) Other anonymous donors gave $20, $500, and $50. And the Central Wesleyan Church in Holland, MI, gave $500. (Makes we want to go visit there.) Another Michigan-ite gave $25 as a gift of love. Thank you all so very much.

THE HOME STRETCH: CAN YOU HELP US BREAK EVEN? ($6600 TO GO) -- We had $9244.74 last week. Today we have $11,054.74! Now here's the challenge. How many folks will step up to the plate in these final 6 days of 2006 to give even $25 in honor of their missions minister... or $50 in honor of a missions-minded senior minister that they love and appreciate. We still need $6600 - in just two weeks. :-( Here's the way our chart as of today, compared with what we were praying for:

1 to give 1000 --- (Nobody has taken this dare yet) 5 to give 500 --- 3 down, 2 to go 8 to give 250 --- 2 down, 6 to go 10 to give 100 --- 6 down, 4 to go 20 to give 50 --- 9 down, 11 to go 50 to give 25 --- 7 down, 42 to go

Remember, if you've no money to give, no worries. That's the beauty of Brigada. Whereas other services might grind to a halt if you stopped paying the bill, Brigada just keeps on going... because others step in to help. What you have to ask yourself is this: Through Brigada, have you ever gotten a lead or a resource or a product that you appreciated? If so, now's your chance to step up to the plate, say thanks to the Lord, and help somebody else who can't afford to give. There are several ways to give. You can just click on "sponsor" in the top menu (to use PayPal or a credit card), or if you prefer, send a check payable to Team Expansion to: Team Expansion (Brigada secretary), 11327 Jefferson Trace Blvd., Louisville, KY 40291. (Team Expansion is a 501(c)3 incorporation so for USA citizens, your checks made out to Team Expansion are tax- deductible.) 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. We only have 2 editions after this one left in 2006. Lord willing, both the 22nd and the 29th will come out this week. We'll have to average about $3300 per edition to reach our goal. Right now, that seems like the hardest thing in the world. If you could help, we'd so greatly appreciate it.

PREDICT THE RISE AND FALL OF AIRFARES -- That's what Nick says you can do at:

http://www.farecast.com

Check it out! (Thanks Nick!)

WHAT MAKES JOHN'S GOSPEL SPECIAL? -- John the Apostle was a man who was very close to Jesus. His understanding of our Lord's mission was deeper and more life-changing than that of the other apostles. In his account of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus he gives us unique details not found anywhere else. To find an excellent commentary on this book go to

http://www.easyenglish.info

Click on "What's New?" and at the top of the list then choose "John tells the Good News about Jesus." This is in EasyEnglish Level B, using a 2800 word vocabulary.

LEGAL & TAX INFO FOR RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS -- The latest issue of Nonprofit and Church Legal Trends Memo is online. The focus this time is new laws and regulations taking effect. Included are notes on tax- free contributions of IRA's to non-profits, increased penalties for excess compensation to insiders, recapture of tax on contributions of non-cash property, new limit on contributions of clothing and household items, new recordkeeping requirements for nonprofits, increased penalties on overstated appraisals, new filing requirement for small organizations, and new inflation adjusted items for 2007 (including the standard mileage rate). What's more, the author now informs us that a part of each paid subscription will go to Brigada. How 'bout that! :-) Check out more at

http://www.npchurchlaw.com or email info@npchurchlaw.com

The author asked that we make sure we type "Brigada" in the "How did you hear about us?" field.

SKYPE USERS SOMEWHAT AT RISK -- Apparently the news about a worm being circulated via Skype was a bit overblown. Turns out it was only a *trojan*, meaning that Skype users do receive notice that someone is trying to upload a file (presumably an unsolicited file). Only users of Microsoft Windows XP are at risk. Read more at news.com by searching for the terms, "Skype worm".

DO YOU OR SOME MISSIONARY YOU KNOW NEED HEALTH INSURANCE? -- Jeff suggests we check out

http://www.talent-trust.com [edited]

It is, according to Jeff, a Christian health-insurance organization with a lot on the ball.

ANOTHER WAY TO SAY TESOL -- Thanks to those who responded regarding our item about ESL, TESOL, etc. (Item #5, "YOU SAY "TOMAHTOE", I SAY "TOMAYTOH" (DO YOU SAY TESOL OR ESL?)," from Nov. 17th edition of Brigada Today). I was particularly interested in Lydia's response. She suggested dodging both -- and using "EFL" (English as Foreign Language) instead. "The confusion when TESOL is used," Lydia explained, "is if the teacher is TEACHING English to speakers of other languages or teaching HOW TO TEACH English to speakers of other languages. In my experience, TESOL is usually used for the second, as is shown when we offer TESOL seminars, where people learn how to teach English. And then ESL or EFL is used when they are then doing teaching. There is a lot of confusion though, and in my research I have seen that often they are used interchangeably, which tends to spread the confusion." I propose that we try to adopt Lydia's approach. To me it makes the most sense. TESOL, to me, should apply when we're describing someone presenting a course on how to teach English, and "EFL" should apply to the practice of actually teaching the English. For what it's worth... :-)

BRING HOPE TO POST-TSUNAMI THAILAND BY TEACHING ENGLISH -- Big doors are open now at Step Ahead Training Center (YWAM Relief & Development)in beautiful Phang Nga, Southern Thailand. The horrible waves of Tsunami were followed by waves of God's love that poured into this very unreached region. Yes, much has now improved, but many Tsunami survivors still want to improve their employment opportunities in the recovering hospitality market of Khao Lak, by building up their English skills. That desire opens the door of relationship and your chance to show God's amazing love. Learn more at

http://www.stepaheadmed.org

THE COLOURED OF NAMIBIA -- "Three Years and Counting!" -- God has been calling people all over the world to pray for the unengaged peoples of Namibia for more than 3 years now! Is God working among the Herero, Mbalantu, Nama/Damara and the Namibian Coloured peoples? Organizers of this prayer movement have responded with a resounding, "Yes!" However, there is still only a limited on-going evangelical presence among these four groups. So keep praying for God to give Christians in South Africa and Namibia a burden to take the Gospel message to those who haven't heard. Pray for Godly wisdom for everyone involved in the effort. Adopt them for prayer yourself by visiting

http://www.forgottenpeoples.info or

write forgottenpeoples(at)telkomsa(dot)net 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 .]

MERRY CHRISTMAS BRIGADA FAMILY! -- Thanks to Brigada participant, Ron Berrus, the Member Care guy at ABWE

http://www.abwe.org/

for writing this meditation -- just this past week -- and for sending it to us for use with the Brigada family:

The Wonder of Christmas
rsb

The Almighty became an infant
    The Shepherd became a lamb
        The Judge took our sentence
            The Lord became a man
                The Invisible became visible
                    The Eternal stepped into history
                        To make us His own again
Amazing beyond explanation
    Too marvelous for words
        That God could become man
            That God would become man
                That God did become man
                    That God became man forever
                        To make us His own again
We owed a debt we could not pay
    He paid a debt He did not owe
        We spurned His word, His law, His love
            In spite of all He came to save
                Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us
                    Taking our form, our sin, our cross
                        To make us His own again
We ran... He reached
    We sinned... He died
        We left... He came
            We fell... He lifted
                We rejected... He accepted
                    We condemned... He forgave
                        To make us His own again
A window of time
    A door of hope 
        An offer of opportunity
            To believe the promise
                To receive the Savior
                    To bow the knee
                        To be made His own again

THE BACKPAGE: IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE -- During the wrap-up of our recent planning conference at the mission I serve, I showed clips from "It's a Wonderful Life," starring Jimmy Stewart. Remember the scene where Jimmy Stewart's character is about to leave to go travel the world, but elects to stay because he feels a debt to all the customers at the "Savings & Loan"? As I showed the clip, I challenged our staff to ask themselves how we could build all the more trust with our missionary family, with the donors that made the work possible, and with one another. I asked the group how we might increase others' trust in us during 2007.

What about your own organization or church? How 'bout putting on your thinking caps and asking some of those tough questions too. What principles... what foundational pieces do you feel your staff might be able to address during the coming year? What are the missing pieces that might help your constituency trust you more? Those fundamental truths might be more important than any task or to do item, yet we all seem to be so easily distracted by the tangible. The *intangible* stuff is so hard to embrace. In 2007, let's do some embracing. :-) Merry Christmas 2006 - from all your Brigada family!

CLOSING STUFF -- SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION -- Important! Please don't just hit "reply". Subscriptions are automated. First, you need to determine the mailing source of your individual copy of Brigada Today. We're now sending them from 2 sources. To find out, just look at the "From:" address of your last edition. The domain will tell the tale. Here's how to do it:

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NEED SUBSCRIPTION HELP? -- If you're a sponsor, you can now write to help(at)brigada(dot)org [replace (at) with @ and (dot) with .] and get a real human response. For information about becoming a sponsor, log on at: http://www.brigada.org and click on "Sponsor" in the top line menu. Note that due to the large number of subscribers (literally thousands) only sponsors get human help.

DISCLAIMER -- We can't screen 'em all. Please forgive us if a particular site contains offensive information -- or no information at all! We *try* to visit them in advance, but often write "on the road" so we simply *can't* preview everything.

PLEASE DON'T SUBSCRIBE US TO YOUR LIST -- Sorry -- nothing personal -- but we're already deluged. We'll eventually teach our spam filter to just delete it anyway, but in the meantime, we'll have a sad face because of the volume of mass mailings we receive. :-(

WARNING ABOUT FORWARDING EMAILS -- Just say no! :-) Read our thoughts about forwarding emails at http://www.brigada.org/articles/opc.html

WHY DO WE SAY, "[replace (at) with @ and (dot) with .]"? -- More and more shady marketing types ("spammers" and "scammers") are using computerized searches to harvest email addresses from off the web without asking permission of the owner. We use this "plain English" addressing syntax to avert automated harvesting for our contributors.

PRIVACY INFORMATION -- We will never give your information to anybody. We won't market you, won't hassle you, and won't ever bother you. You won't be signed up for mailings you didn't request. Your address is safe and your future is secure. Life is good. :-)

COPYRIGHT -- This issue of _Brigada Today_ is Copyrighted 2006. However, permission is granted to freely redistribute these materials, including those available on the Brigada website, provided that such redistribution is to those who will help the Good News of Jesus Christ to reach the unreached.* To copy or reproduce _Brigada Today_ for any other reason is illegal and is not permitted. * When you quote or paraphrase material from Brigada, please include this phrase: "For a free subscription to Brigada's weekly missions publication, write brigada-today-subscribe@googlegroups.com and/or visit Brigada on the web at www.brigada.org."

Brigada Website: WebServant@brigada.org
For sponsors only: Brigada Customer Service Manager: Penny Lucas, help@brigada.org
Brigada Coordinator: Doug Lucas, Team Expansion & Brigada, editor@brigada.org

"If you've been asked to lead, you've been asked to serve."
Brigada Home Page	Doug Lucas editor@brigada.org	Phone: 502-719-0007	Brigada Today Index
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Home -- Back Issues -- Sponsor/Donate -- Submit an item -- Search -- Subscribe -- Site Map -- Promote Brigada -- Evangelism -- About Us

Brigada Today15 Dec 2006

Brigada Today
15 Dec 2006