At the end of this page is an experiment I hope you'll help me conduct. I'm leaving the original instructions intact so you can benefit as well. Curious? Scroll all the way to the end of this page but be sure to come back to pray <g>.

2 Timothy 2:3-4 gives an interesting account of soldiers, especially when compared to this story (and some of us have projects on what used to be called an unfunded needs list: http://imb.org/giving/ )

YAHOO IS TRACKING GROUP MEMBERS -- If you belong to ANY Yahoo Groups - be aware that Yahoo is now using "Web Beacons" to track every Yahoo Group user. It's similar to cookies, but allows Yahoo to record every website and every group you visit, even when you're not connected to Yahoo. Look at their updated privacy statement at http://privacy.yahoo.com/privacy about half-way down the page, in the section on cookies, you will see a link that says Web Beacons. Click on the phrase "Web Beacons." On the page that opens, find a paragraph entitled "Outside the Yahoo Network." In that section find a little "Click Here to Opt Out" link that will let you "opt-out" of their snooping. Be careful! NOT to click on the next button shown. It is an "Opt Back In" button that, if clicked, will UNDO the opt-out. Note that Yahoo's invasion of your privacy - and your ability to opt-out of it - is not user-specific.

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* 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."
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I also thought you'd appreciate knowing what our company is all about:

Our Mission: 
Making Jesus Christ known among all peoples

Our Vision: 
We will lead Southern Baptists to be on mission with God to bring all the peoples of the world to saving faith in Jesus Christ.

Basic Principles:

* Our basic commitment is obedience to the lordship of Jesus Christ and to God's infallible Word.

* Our basic belief is that Jesus Christ is God's only provision for salvation and that all people without personal faith in Him are lost and will spend eternity in hell.

* Our basic means of understanding and fulfilling God's mission is prayer.

* Our basic purpose is to provide all people an opportunity to hear, understand and respond to the gospel in their own cultural context.

* Our basic task is evangelism through proclamation, discipling, equipping and ministry that results in indigenous Baptist churches.

* Our basic strategy is to send and support gifted, God-called missionaries who, with mutual respect, accountability and cooperation, carry out the Great Commission in an incarnational witness.

* Our basic role is to lead and facilitate the international missionary involvement of Southern Baptists in partnership with overseas Baptists and other Christians who are fulfilling the Great Commission.

Finally, I thought you might find the following article useful as you continue your ministry this week: When marriage isn't God's will. 

+ Scott was asking for wisdom to handle each of last week's conversations, and he learned that he never regretted anything he didn't say. Your intercession was keenly felt each day!

+ You joined Shirin in praying for the ladies Bible study in the Old City that they would clearly understand what God has done for them... Shirin writes, "Your ongoing prayer is greatly appreciated. I was not able to attend the meeting due to car trouble, but I know God heard our requests for the ladies."

+ Jasmine wanted her friends to know more about God and she was ready to tell them. She asked that you pray for them to know Jesus... Jasmine says, "I'm doing it and it works well even though no one has accepted Christ yet. I want to see Nana be the first!"

<T H I S  W E E K><

<>< Pray that Scott would be used to see someone come to Jesus this week.

<>< Shirin has a visit tomorrow and asks that her friend hear the Gospel clearly and respond positively.

<>< Jasmine asks that you pray for her teachers to become followers of Jesus.

<* Pray for the Northeastern Thai of Thailand.><

CALENDAR UPDATES

<If you're not receiving our bimonthly snail-mail newsletter, let us know so we can send it to you!><

18, Pray for Jasmine to have good concentration at the local Schmidt School and in homeschool.

* Some days are better than others, so we'd appreciate your continued intercession.

19, Ask that our marriage grow sweeter!

* We're past 18.5 years and enjoying each day :-)

20, Pray for Hanni’s salvation.

* I hear his truck start early each morning and am reminded of your intercession for him.

21, Pray for Shirin as she contacts mothers at Jasmine's school.

* Shirin writes, "Thank you for praying. I have some contacts and am waiting for warmer weather to meet with the mothers since they don't like standing out in the cold to talk."

22, Pray for the girls and staff members at the Lazarus Home to know Jesus as Saviour. Only the Director has a Christian background.

* Shirin writes, "Your prayers are important in these girls lives. We continue to take small opportunities to share the good news."

23, Happy Birthday, Shirin!

* Shirin writes, "Thank you for praying. I had a great day with Scott and jasmine and then we continued the day with a co-worker at dinner."

24, Join us in asking God to bring volunteers to become part of the workings of the Prayer Center.

* I met with the architect again and, wow, what a phased out scheme he has made for us!

CHASING GOOGLE: TRY THIS EXPERIMENT -- Does anybody really understand Google? I don't. Try this experiment. (Please.)

Open your browser, go to Google.com and search for "Wednesday Weekly." When you see, among other things, tons of sites relating to Orange County and Texas A&M, :-) don't click to them. Instead, without logging off the web, immediately do a follow-up search like... "Wednesday Weekly acts82640" (which should bring the Wednesday Weekly to the top of the list: acts82640.tripod.com), click on the acts82640.tripod.com site so Google learns that people like to go there. [ Back to Top ]

CHASING GOOGLE: TRY THIS EXPERIMENT -- Does anybody really understand Google? I don't. Try this experiment. (Please.) Suppose Brigada were going to move to a new site called Emerald Hills. (We are, by the way.) Suppose you were kind enough to help us explore the question, how do we promote the future home of Brigada... just to kind of help out. Well here's that you could do:

Open your browser, go to Google.com and search for "Emerald Hills." When you see, among other things, tons of sites relating to the city in California (Emerald Hills, CA or even "Emerald Lake Hills") and the golf courses (Emerald Hills), :-) don't click to them. Instead, without logging off the web, immediately do a follow-up search like... "Emerald Hills pray retreat learn" (which should bring our new Emerald Hills campus to the top of the list: EmeraldHills.info), click on the EmeraldHills.info site so Google learns that people like to go there.

Now here's the weird thing: Google apparently *learns* that you thought Emerald Hills was . . . "more relevant" to your search. In other words, Google memorizes that you found what you were looking for (or at least you *thought* you would) at EmeraldHills.info.

Now -- first of all -- thank you for your help (if you chose to give it). But second of all, this has big-time ramifications for your ministry. If you happen to have an email update, you could ask your constituency to do, essentially, the same thing. Instead of always giving them the link in your email update, ask them -- just every once and awhile -- to go to *Google* and search for it. Help them out by giving them the two-step that I mentioned in the above paragraph: First search for your site by just typing in the name of your org.; but tell them not to click on other stuff. Then give them a more exact criterion that you know will lift your site higher in the rankings, and then ask them to click through to your site now. In this way -- apparently -- you'll climb up in the rankings. We did this with a dozen or so people in our home staff . . . and maybe 25 other volunteers... so 50 people in all and suddenly, Emerald Hills climbed from 93rd to 65th out of 2.8 million resulting pages. And that climb took place in just 48 hours.

So... don't just click to it -- *search* for it now and then. :-)

By the way, once you're there at the Emerald Hills site anyway, why not read one or two pages. Check out the "News" section, especially under "Dreams to Build". Click on that article, "World Harvest Center Plans Underway." Dream with us that one day Brigada will have an archive room in that building... one that you can visit if and when you ever pass through Louisville. Dream of prayer walking on those trails... miles of them. Imagine your missions team renting that facility to do a knock-down, drag-out, top-notch retreat focusing on prayer & missions. (OK... so I'm excited about Emerald Hills. But you get the idea. :-) )

(Oh... Once again, thanks for your help with the experiment. Now you go try it on your own organization or group.) [ Back to Top ]