The Work of His Hands
Submitted by jmanley on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 21:11
MAF-LT’s Orality ministry (in partnership with Simply The Story) attracted hi-calibre help to Thailand this month. A team of nine instructors from four continents converged in Chiang-Mai to prepare for two, story-telling workshops among the Karen refugees in northwest Thailand.
Two pastors and six missionaries gathered, representing Thailand, Australia, Hong Kong and North America. Led by MAF-LT Orality Specialist, Regina Manley, the team put hands to the initial task for four full days. No two workshops unfold exactly alike. So, despite conducting similar courses in many countries, they studied scripture, discussed culture, re-wrote lessons, and prayed.
Surprise Gift in a Strange Land
Submitted by jmanley on Sun, 11/01/2009 - 22:06Clearly, David knew his truck. The city traffic flowed well enough through Chiang Mai, Thailand’s narrow avenues, but I judged the slot he entered between buildings barely walkway width. Somehow, he navigated a right angle turn leaving fender and wall unscathed, then stopped in the small cement court at the end. This hidden guest house entrance offered intimate welcome with a dozen chairs and a small table gracing canopy shaded space.
We arrived with a quick task - check two team members out and move their luggage to a central gathering point. Ten or fifteen minutes tops should do it. We had a tight schedule to prepare for teaching Karen refugees how to share God’s Word through stories. I helped my wife, Regina, pack quickly. But Tony, recovering from a tropical bug, moved more slowly. So, David, Regina and I waited outside with other guests escaping afternoon heat. Then, we met Ana.
An attractive, dark complected lady in her late 20’s, Ana served as guest house director. As she spoke, something very out of place sounded very familiar. Besides looking the part, Ana’s alto voiced English flowed with latin flair rather than oriental staccato.
“Where are you from?” I asked.
“Nicaragua,” she answered.
“How did you come to be here?” I wondered aloud.
“Long story,” she smiled. “But, it’s all the Lord’s doing.”
David popped up, exclaiming, “Regina, tell her a story in Spanish!”
“In Spanish?” Ana’s eyes widened. “I haven’t heard my language for a very long time.”
Radio is still an excellent tool for disseminating educational information in the majority world.
Submitted by bward on Tue, 10/20/2009 - 21:28Radio Project Resources
Radio (HF, FM, Community) offers many opportunities to deliver programming of both a humanitarian and spiritual nature. This page is intended to gather together resources that provide an idea of the possibilities that radio can offer as well as list resources that describe how to do it.
Table of contents
| Radio Uses: local news and events • dramas • Bible storytelling • Internet research • public meetings • continuing education (health workers, teachers, etc.) • agricultural news and training • interactive radio instruction • local documentaries • youth programs • weather warnings |
Radio’s wide reach and low cost provide effective communication in rural and remote areas. Unlike newspapers and magazines, radio does not require literacy, and unlike television, radio receivers are affordable and accessible even without electricity or telephone connections. Even in very poor communities, radio penetration is vast - an average of one in five people in Africa has a radio [FAOSTAT 1998 – in 1995 the ratio of radios to people in Africa (not including South Africa) was 1:5]. Furthermore, production is cheap compared to other mass media.
Radio has many uses, from entertainment to education and broadcast of personal messages. In some cases, radio stations have linked people to the internet by searching for, translating and broadcasting requested information on air. In other cases, expert panels or local officials answer questions submitted by listeners by telephone or email, promoting accountability or extending relevant expert knowledge. Radio has also been used by minority language or cultural groups to assert their identity and provide a cultural reference point.
Do they remember your sermon on Monday? Tips for making sure they do.
Submitted by bward on Thu, 09/24/2009 - 13:50Many good sermons are delivered each Sunday but how many listeners can remember what was said on Monday? How many of those actually choose to do something different as a result of the sermon? I suspect that the number is fewer than the speaker would have hoped for. This short article presents some ideas for changing that.
Using Drupal as a Social Oriented Content Platform - Part 2
Submitted by thettinger on Thu, 09/24/2009 - 10:44
Learning Technologies is researching the web based content management system called Drupal. We are looking to use Drupal as a hub for a collaborative website featuring forums, wikis, static content and a library. This story is a continuation of a previous story.
One of the details we were going to research further into was the use of breadcrumbs in the wiki. Breadcrumbs would allow for navigation of Drupal wiki pages in an intuitive manner. After doing some research, I found that Drupal has this ability built into it in the form of the Book module.
