Compiled/Edited by Doug Lucas and Tina McCormick, Team Expansion
Brigada online has more graphics and links at http://www.brigada.org
In this issue…
Jump to…1) Free Member Care Brochures for Missionaries
Jump to…2) Pick up a Professional TEFL Certificate Online!
Jump to…3) Ever hear the story of Richard Wurmbrand?
Jump to…4) Day-long Conference: How to Run an Internal Personnel Investigation
Jump to…5) Learn to Teach English as a Second Language in Chiang Mai
Jump to…6) Beyond Secure Check-in: Child and Youth Safety Best Practices
Jump to…7) Want a proven way to strengthen your teams?
Jump to…8) Want to get involved in Ship Equipped Ministries?
Jump to…9) Wow. So Maybe Christianity Isn’t Really Going to the Dogs?
Jump to…10) Free Bible Study Leadership Class Online
Jump to…11) Logos is STILL a Good Deal, but Here Are Other Options Too
Jump to…12) Just When You Thought You Had Every Book on Reentry…
Jump to…13) We’re Grateful for…
Jump to…14) The Last Bit: Prayers Answered for Bolivia: Law Revoked!
Jump to…15) Closing Stuff
This website has more than 100 brochures on a variety of topics helpful in missionary life and service. Topics available now are culture stress, pornography, depression, same-sex marriage, and more than 100 others. Missionaries may just read the brochures on-line, or they can download them as PDF documents. If they do this, they can print the PDFs as trifold brochures to hand out to other missionaries, or they can forward them as attachments to emails. For a list of links to all topics available go to…..
http://www.missionarycare.com/brochures.html
To see one example as a model, take a look at the brochure about missionary attrition, for instance:
http://www.missionarycare.com/brochures.html
 Now you can get a professional TEFL Certificate Online to get a job overseas in Teaching English As A Foreign Language. You can be ready to teach English to arriving refugees or obtain genuine work abroad. With this training, you can start anytime utilizing this online course. ConnecTEFL is an affordable 120 hr teaching English as a foreign language certification program. The course can be taken online anywhere in the world. The certificate meets the globally accepted TESOL International short-term certificate standards. Check it out at…
 He served 14 years in a Communist prison. Now, a new movie will help you re-live the story — AND those who attend the movie will receive a special copy of the book about Pastor Wurmbrand’s life. Learn more at…
https://www.torturedforchrist.com
The movie is showing for one night only in major cities around the USA (world?) You will have to reserve tickets in advance. See the site for more information about how to do that, along with instructions about how to help bring the movie to a city closer to you. If you’d like to hear more about Pastor Wurmbrand’s testimony but you can’t go on March 5th to one of these cities, you can watch a special 30-minute cartoon retelling of his life in a version that came out in 2009 here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYpIXkPr9mg
(with Sinhala subtitles). Richard Wurmbrand was subsequently the founder of Voice of the Martyrs. A portion of the price for every ticket will go to help them help those who are being persecuted.
 This day-long conference will begin with an in-depth legal overview on running an investigation. Participants will then engage in a full table-top investigation, with outcomes based on the choices made by the investigative teams. The conference will finish with a practical and legal debrief. It takes place April 27, 2018, 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM MDT at The Hideaway in Black Forest, 3805 Walker Road, Colorado Springs. Learn more at…
Asia’s Center for TESOL has set new dates for training — June 25-July 27, 2018, and January 7 – February 8, 2019. Get TESOL training designed for those in ministry set at a ministry budget. Asia’s Center for TESOL offers an intensive, five-week course leading to a TESOL certificate in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Get classes, community experience, and lots of guidance – and a certificate – all at the same time. And it’s cheaper to fly out and take this course than it is to take the same course in North America! For an application or more information, click to
 This upcoming seminar covers the biblical basis for child safety, background about child abuse, implementing good policies for screening, selection, and training; responding to child abuse allegations, both externally and internally, and ways to approach church discipline. Catch it on Feb 21, from 8:30-10:30 AM at the Telios Law Office, 19925 Monument Hill Road, Monument, CO. Learn more an register at…
Outside scrutiny validates the team assessment tool known as PATH. The Periodic Assessment of Team Health (PATH) assesses teams based on 7 domains: Team Commitment, Diversity, Communication, Conflict Resolution, Leadership, Decision Process, and Trust & Openness. PATH was analyzed using Crombach’s alpha, the preferred scale reliability test. (Internal reliability means internal scale consistency.) A reliability score of .70 or above is interpreted as a high internal scale consistency. PATH passed. See examples of PATH profile results here…
http://www.cultureconceptsconsulting.com/
by scrolling down and clicking on the sample tests.
How is it that, if we Google this (before today, anyway), there are literally only *3* results. (We used search terms, “PATH” then put in the quoted name of the test — “Periodic Assessment of Team Health”) Does this mean that, starting today, there will be *four* results (once Google picks up on Brigada’s entry?)??? How has this thing remained so silent? Seems like every agency and church in the *world* would want to use this profile. Sonny’s biggest challenge will be, “How do I have the time to keep teaching in the classroom when mission teams and churches all over the world are wanting me to come profile and help their teams?”
 The 2nd 12-week School of Navigation & Seamanship starts on 26th March 2018 mainly onboard YWAM’s Sail Training vessel s/y Next Wave in Greece. Following that a Bluewater Discipleship Training School on s/y Next Wave will start on 9th July 2018. This is a regular YWAM DTS, but living on a training vessel and sailing in the Aegean. It sounds reeeeeeeeeally cool. See…
http://www.ywamnextwave.org
for details of both schools. We want to go. : )
At least not in the USA. And not today anyway. See this cool article by Glenn Stanton…
It starts February 6 and goes through April 10, so you’d better act fast. This instructor-led course will prepare you to create and facilitate Inductive Bible studies in any language, for personal and ministry use. The class will meet twice a week for 9 weeks, with live video calls. To learn more, visit…
We received comments after featuring Logos that could be summed up this way: “You’ll have to pay to load in more resources.” But then, isn’t that always the case? (Many tools are free or near-free — but the add-on layers sometimes cost more.) Some participants also pointed to other Bible versions that are also free. But one Brigada participant (Dave) provided an extremely helpful page. Maybe it doesn’t list ALL the options, but it should at least get someone started.
http://www.crosswire.org/applications/
There, one can see a reeeeeeeeeally great review of LOTS of Bible software, thereby making an informed decision. Dave, we’re grateful! Crosswire people — thank you.
Last week, we highlighted a couple of books on reentry (coming home after serving cross-culturally). Both are great — and many Brigada participants commented on how glad they were to learn about both works. But we SHOULD have added one more book to that duo:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00N9Q9MS8
Neal Pirolo’s book, “The Reentry Team,” is a THIRD and IMPORTANT member of the TRIO of works that we should all have on our libraries. As Neal crisscrossed the United States and several other countries conducting the Serving As Senders Seminar, it became increasingly clear to him that of the six areas of care, reentry care is the least understood. Grieved by the lack of care when a missionary returns home, he was motivated to provide the Church and missions community with this resource.
Chapter 1 establishes the joint responsibility for missionary care between the Church and mission agency. Chapter 2 lays a clear five-point Scriptural pattern for a successful reentry. Later in the book, Neal provides 70-good and not-so-good-stories written by returning missionaries. Commentary follows each story to help the reader identify with the situation, provide solutions, and then translate those solutions into help for his own returning missionary friend. There are also several other general articles and a reference section.
Well done, Neal.
 …a gift from a long-time partner in Kentucky for $30 …a friend in Florida who sent $15. God bless you both!!! …a new monthly commitment from Equipping Servants International to send $25. God bless you! …a partner who sent $20. Thank you! …a long-time “true fan” of Brigada who sent $100. God bless you!
Want to partner with Brigada so that all may hear in order to hasten the coming of Jesus? 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!
 We’re just going to confess: We often wonder, “What can we do? What difference can we make in political arenas?” Honestly (we are ashamed to confess), this is the way we felt when we published the item about Bolivia. We said, “The entire world is praying for you. We just … don’t know how to help other than pray.” (See in last week’s Brigada, “7) How Shall we Pray About Bolivia?”) Well someone prayed — and maybe this prompted someone to act. Because… something changed. The DAY after we published the item, we received word from a longtime friend and Brigada participant (Thanks Ron!) that the earth had moved. Bolivia’s government (specifically, their president) had announced that the law was rescinded. See, for example, this article:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2018/january/bolivia-evo-morales-revokes-evangelism-ban-criminal-code.html
We looked back at the dates on these items and the truth was, the action had already been set into motion even before we asked for prayer about this item in Brigada. So, I guess, on the one hand, one could pose the question — why bother. What difference did our prayers make? On the other hand, someone else might counter, “Isn’t it amazing how God was already working through a world-full of people who were already praying?” And Brigada just joined the stream. Either way, it’s fun, just one week later, to announce (again) that the earth has shifted. Fathers and mothers will no longer have to fear for their lives for raising their children in faith. Pastors no longer have to fear (for now) being hauled off to jail. But now let’s bow in prayer today (with new resolve — and even greater belief that our prayers can intercede on global, political matters) that somehow, God will BLESS the president of Bolivia for making this decision and help him come to greater faith in the King of Kings. Pray that Bolivia will never return to this slippery slope of persecution. Learn more about changes in Bolivia here…
http://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2013/september/bolivia-animism-church-registration-aymara-evo-morales.html
“Lord most high, we are so grateful that you have heard our prayers and the prayers of many who have gone before us. Thank you that we have been renewed in our faith that, when we speak to you, we aren’t taking some ‘last resort,’ but actually, we’re following the FIRST RECOURSE for action. Thank you that we’ve been reminded that, though we might be a political NOBODY… though we aren’t strong and mighty in the world’s eyes, somehow, when we pray, something can happen. At the same time, something causes us (lack of faith?) to fear that somewhere in Bolivia, someone is still suffering for you. Something prompts us to fear that, somewhere in Bolivia, there is still a pastor or a family who are NOT enjoying the same freedoms they had before — to testify, to share, to act on their faith. Because maybe they’re wondering if the law will come BACK, next year. So please, please give them strength, courage, and resilience. And please provide the same for ALL lands, all peoples who are undergoing persecution for their faith (of any kind) tonight. Thank you for hearing our prayers. If we doubted before, we have now been reminded of that. We love you Lord Jesus. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Oh — and PS Lord. We really don’t know how to pray for Bolivia’s President, Mr. Evo Morales. We’re sure that somewhere, there is someone plotting to overthrow him or maybe run against him. But tonight, we lay all that aside. We thank you that he seems to have listened — to SOMETHING… maybe even YOU, Lord. Would you please bless him in a special way for that? Please allow SOMETHING to happen to him in his life so that even HE is shocked… surprised… by JOY in doing something that would (seemingly to us) please you. Allow him to experience that joy and, we pray, that he would completely turn his life around and believe and CHASE after you Lord. And if he can hear this prayer… if he sees this text, please help him to know how grateful we are that he responded. Please help him to hear us say, THANK YOU!!!! That’s our prayer, in Jesus’ name.”
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