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) Jesus Film Dvd For a 25-Cent Suggested Offering
Jump to… 2) How Do You Communicate Vision to Your Team?
Jump to… 3) How Do You Dashboard? How Do You Metric?
Jump to… 4) Do You Know Someone Who Might Benefit from Re-entry Assistance?
Jump to… 5) Costa Rica Azmera Haven Retreat 2018 (For Women only)
Jump to… 6) Thank you, University of Kansas, for Your Community Toolbox
Jump to… 7) Free Shipping on a Sheep for Your Bathtub and other items
Jump to… 8) How To Find Great Translation Teams (Amharic, Somali, Serbian?)
Jump to… 9) It’s Official: Venezuela has the Worst-performing Economy – Pray.
Jump to… 10) Missio Nexus Opens Registration for Mission Leaders Event
Jump to… 11) Resources for MKs and Those Who Care For Them
Jump to… 12) Best Calendar Plug-in for WordPress
Jump to… 13) We’re Grateful for…
Jump to… 14) The Last Bit: When Developing Cross-Cultural Partnerships, …
Jump to… 15) Closing Stuff
 The Jesus Film DVD, The Story of Jesus Through the Eyes of Children DVD, and the Magdalena DVD are available at a discount. At present, you may send a suggested offering of 25 dollars for 100 dvds from Christ for All Peoples. At present, 160 languages are available.
http://jesusfilmspecialprice.org
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Kelly and Ben Decker have some great ideas at…
https://hbr.org/2015/07/communicating-a-corporate-vision-to-your-team
but we’d be interested in hearing your take as well. What methods have worked for you? How do you avoid the trap of creating a vision statement that stacks on the shelf and is never viewed again? We’ve recently become interested in metrics and dashboards as a component in helping our teams and our org stay on track (see below). But what has worked for you? Just click “Comment” please — and testify. (Thanks, Mindy.)
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 Are you hoping to keep the “numbers that matter” in front of your team or org this coming year? What approach do you use to create such a dashboard or metrics-minder? We’ve found great help at…
http://www.Klipfolio.com
Yes, there’s a cost involved, but, you know, honestly, for what they offer, it didn’t seem like a dealbreaker — and our dashboard was up and running in one DAY. We’ve also enjoyed the new charting functions at
http://www.smartsheets.com
But Klipfolio seemed to inspire us more. We used the slides at
https://www.slideshare.net/
to assemble our dashboard. It was quick and easy (and free, we think?). See our final outcome (for our org, Team Expansion) as a sampler at…
http://www.CatchAVision.com
We had everything going there within a week, thanks to the tools above. Can you share your journey in dashboarding by clicking “Comment” below the web or app version of this item? Thanks!
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April 8-13, TRAIN International is offering their next ABIDE re-entry debriefing for global workers. ABIDE provides 5 days for participants to process their cross-cultural experiences in both group and individual debriefing. Whole families are welcome as TRAIN offers both adult and TCK programs for all ages. Get equipped to navigate re-entry and to move forward with perspective and renewal toward the next season of ministry. You can visit their website to learn more or by watching a participant’s testimonial below.
http://traininternational.org/Abide.html
https://youtu.be/WXlxYbIVAxk
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Azmera’s mission is to impact women who are impacting the world. If you are an English speaking, Kingdom-minded women (worker or business expat) serving overseas, Azmera would like to invite you to an encouraging, restful, transformational haven retreat in Jaco Beach, Costa Rica April 12 – 15, 2018. The cool thing is that they help make it affordable for workers by raising Haven Scholarships. Check out Azmera and register at
http://www.azmera.net/attend-costarica-retreat
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I know. It’s NCAA Basketball tournament time here in the USA. “March Madness.” Everybody gets hoop happy. But the University of Kansas does more than produce basketball players. They also try to help those who are helping communities. Take, for example, their Community Toolbox.
https://ctb.ku.edu/en
It’s packed full of helpful resources for all of us who want to make a difference in our community and our world. Just the 46 chapters of “Learning a Skill [in Community Development]” alone are worth the price of admission (which, by the way, is FREE!):
https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents
We would do well to MEMORIZE the entire 46 chapters!!! (Thanks for the tip, Mindy!)
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Save on a best-selling missionary story about the launching of a disciple-making movement (DMM) in Mongolia. “There’s a Sheep in my Bathtub: Birth of a Mongolian Church Planting Movement” has just been re-released in a “Tenth Anniversary Edition” — updating the story and new photographs. The discount code below gives you free shipping and handling (USA only) on this title and all other items (Books/DVDs,etc) purchased. The Discount Code at Checkout is: BRIGADA . Order here…
http://store.asteroideabooks.com/item/a-sheep-in-my-bathtub-th-anniversary-edition
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Suppose someone has a great Christian resource that they want to have translated into languages like Amharic, Somali, and even Serbian… Where does one go to find great translaters or translation teams? Surely there’s a clearinghouse for people/resources like this? (Please click “Comment” following the web or ‘app’ version of this item.)
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 How do you pray for a country which has transformed from one of the leading economies in all of South America (in the mid-80’s) to dead last — the worst-performing economy in the world? One idea — use the Prayercast video as a backgrounder.
http://www.prayercast.com/venezuela.html
Play this 5-minute prayer request video in an upcoming worship service, then lead a special time of prayer for Venezuela — and let’s ask God to change the destiny of a nation in pain.
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For the last two years, we’ve attended Missio Nexus’ “Mission Leaders Conference” and we have not been disappointed. The 2018 theme is “Partnership” and we’re already looking forward to it. Learn more an register at…
https://missionexus.org/events/#!event/2018/9/20/mission-leaders-conference
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Many MKs and those who want to understand them have found Marilyn Gardner’s book Between Worlds helpful and inspiring. Now Gardner has a second book about the MK / TCK experience called Worlds Apart.
https://www.amazon.com/Worlds-Apart-Third-Culture-Journey/dp/0998223328
In Worlds Apart Gardner tells her own story and gives great suggestions to help other TCKs make sense of their own unique experience.
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We’ve been on the hunt for a great calendar plug-in for WordPress. The preconditions given us by our Training team were — it needed to be an easy-to-maintain calendar, with the ability to import from a CSV file onto the site, and export from the site back to a CSV file. Of course, it also needed to be attractive and affordable. It seems like, to us, those 4 factors nearly seem mutually exclusive. Now granted… there are like 2500 different calendar plug-ins for WordPress. But does anybody know of anything that fits those 4 criteria? The best we can find so far is called WP Easy Events…
https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-easy-events/
It’s not PERFECT — but so far, it seems to be CLOSE. Any better options that you have found? If so, please click “Comment” following the web or app version of this item. Thanks in advance for any help.
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…the gift from Insurance Services of America (ISA) for $138.08, in view of great friends who purchased trip insurance for trips to the D.R. (Thanks to those who trusted ISA with their trip insurance too!). Learn more about ISA at…
http://missionaryhealth.net/brigada
…for the gracious gift of a regular anonymous Brigada donor who loves the Jesus Film — for sending another $50. Thank you!!!
Want to partner with Brigada to speed the day of his reappearing? 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!
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 What are your best instructions? For example, over the past couple of weeks, we’ve been trying to develop cross-cultural working relationships with indigenous local ministries in East Africa. While doing so, we’ve been reminded of the international nature and beauty of God’s great global Kingdom. We’ve enjoyed the humble and hard-working nature of our Kingdom-minded friends. And we’ve seen example after example of selfless honesty. How do we insure that great communication and selfless service reign long-term? One item we could throw into the ring might be — check and double-check before jumping. For example, one of the East African leaders was already planning a trip to the USA. Before asking him to visit our office, we checked and double-checked with any and all USA counter-parts who might already have a stake in him coming, just to be sure it wouldn’t be perceived as “meddling” if we asked him to visit our office here in Louisville. It’s still early, but it really seems to have sent the right message. The response from his closest USA counterpart has come back, “What a joy it was to talk with you as well, Doug! I am thankful for your wisdom, experience, and willingness to pursue this kingdom partnership. Although there is much anticipation for the good things ahead, we also appreciate your grace and patience with the communication process so that, together, we can see the Lord make great impact through long-term success. I am thankful for your emphasis on prayer and clear communication, because this will go a long way in blessing the well-established relationships that are in place already.” But what gives me pause about these cross-cultural partnerships isn’t the part that I understand; it’s the part that I don’t. In other words, sometimes, “We don’t know what we don’t know.” One study which has left a lasting imprint on the way I think and act is “The Beauty of Partnership,” by Werner Mischke. Early on, we snagged a copy of one of these Leader Editions (while it was still in beta, in fact) and headed off to Northeast India. We spent 4 days going through this material with a beloved Lisu tribal leader. That was probably ten years ago and this guy is still one of my best friends in all the world. He’s been so faithful and so honest — and we’ve NEVER had a misunderstanding so far. Mischke’s study really helped us get off on the right footing. But … What other tips would YOU offer in times like these?
You know who has a great resource list on this topic?
http://www.danielrickett.com/resources-2/
We need basically to memorize everything that Rickett says — and then press harder to learn more.
Do you have favorite tips on developing these kinds of partnerships? Do you have a great resource we haven’t already listed? If so, please click “Comment” following the web or app version of this item. And thanks in advance for your help!
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2018/03/11 — Brigada Today
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