Online Tools

Learn to surf without the search and bypass those search engines that take forever to download and too often don't provide the right information anyway. Complete compendium, conveniently organized from A to Z. Softcover.
Published by Warner Books (October 1, 2001)
Buy at Amazon.com

"Some of the many helpful things you will learn include: (1) which search engines work best for which kinds of questions; (2) how to get the fewest possible sites from a search with the greatest likelihood that they will be helpful to you; (3) which sources of information to go to directly without a search first; (4) how to assess the credibility of a source; (5) how to get things for free that most people pay for; (6) when to spend money to save time; (7) how to manage your e-mail to spend less time on it." --Donald Mitchell
Published by Facts on Demand Press; 4th edition (August 25, 2004)
Buy at Amazon.com

Although this Dummies book is in the typically informal and irreverent beginner's style, even the most competent searcher will find it invaluable. Author Reva Basch has written the gold standard for books about online research. Wired magazine calls her "the ultimate intelligent agent" for a very good reason. Basch doesn't just give you information on search engines and how to use them. She takes you into the mindset of a professional Net cybrarian, sharing the essential truth about online research. (There is a huge difference between surfing and searching.) In chapters such as "Thinking and Working Like a Researcher," you learn what to do when presented with 42,178 hits--or worse, no hits at all--when using a search engine. Even when you hit pay dirt, Basch explains the importance of evaluating the information you find to make sure it's relevant and accurate.
Published by For Dummies; 2nd edition (February 15, 2000)
Buy at Amazon.com

Website: http://sharjeelsayed.blogspot.com/2006/03/beat-...
If you're working in a country that practices censorship or where security is a concern, check out this list of different sites which will allow you to browse anonymously.

Website: http://www.abcteach.com/
This site includes lesson plans, printables (including awards, assignment sheets, special paper, center signs, etc.) and more.

Website: http://esl.about.com/library/weekly/aa030800a.h...
This site provides helpful articles as well as printables such as recipes, coloring pages, crafts, lesson plans, and more. If you're looking for information about any topic, this is a good place to start.

Website: http://www.accuweather.com/
Check your local weather forecast in the United States or anywhere in the world.

Website: http://www.lavasoftusa.com/
Use Ad-Aware from Lavasoft to scan your computer for "spyware" -- hidden programs or files that send information about your computer to online advertisement companies.

Website: www.global12project.com/upg.htm
In 1995, Bethany World Prayer Center accepted the challenge of producing prayer profiles on the unreached. Each profile contains a photo, map, and information about the lifestyles, customs, and beliefs of the people. More importantly, it lists spiritual strongholds and addresses specific prayer needs. The Global 12 Project is the tool God has given us to reach the goal of planting a church among all of the unreached people groups of the world. Together with churches all over the United States and various nations of the world, we are sending leaders through the Global 12 Project to win souls and plant churches until every nation has heard the Gospel

Website: biblegateway.net/
An online Bible with multiple versions and a good keyword search.

Website: http://biblestudy.jordanpark.org/
A completely free online Bible Study, or, if you prefer, a mailed correspondence course may also be obtained.

Website: http://www.blueletterbible.org/
An on-line interactive reference library continuously updated from the teachings and commentaries of selected pastors and teachers.

Website: http://www.bogglesworldesl.com/
This is a great resource for free teaching aids such as worksheets, lesson plans, flash cards, songs, articles and job postings.

Website: http://www.brigada.org/
Brigada Today is an excellent resource for missions news, websites, conferences, and more missionary and evangelism resources. New issues are sent out via email each week and are completely free.

Website: http://chalkline.org
Chalk Line offers a complete prayer letter service for missionaries, churches or ministries that need to keep in touch with their ministry partners.
Telephone: 1-800-463-6382

Website: www.photomission.com
PhotoMission's photographers meet the imaging needs of mission organizations, churches and Christian businesses by providing high quality images to visually support the growth of the Gospel. We work with available budgets, and 90% of the payment is distributed to the photographer who took the image. To learn how God has been using the talents of Christian photographers from around the world, please visit the 'News and Media' web page found on the PhotoMission website. We look forward to serving you.
Telephone: 1-610-793-2389

Website: http://www.sla.purdue.edu/fll/JapanProj/FLClipa...
This somewhat limited website provides free clipart for lessons. The webpage is also viewable in Japanese.

Website: http://www.biblestudytools.net/
Provided by Crosswalk.com, this website contains an online study Bible, Bible reading programs, commentaries, concordances, sermon helps, and other resources.

Website: www.dpimagine.com
DPI offers professional quality prayer cards at ministry budget prices. They custom design Photo Cards, Magnetic Cards, Post Cards, Bookmarks, and Business Cards. Online designing and ordering is available, as well as samples, prices and contact information.
Telephone: 612-670-9714

Website: www.emercyweb.com
EmercyWeb is a partner organization of Emercy that offers web design and hosting. EmercyWeb offers over 50% off on design fees for missionaries. Also, most of their profits go to fund Emercy and this website.
Telephone: 877-875-4483

Website: www.freechristianleadertraining.org
As a member of this group you and any associates, staff, friends, and others are entitled to free translatable, online Christian Leadership Training. You may take some of the courses for a certificate and all of the courses for a portion of your continuing education program, or you may even take individual lessons for specific needs, such as sermon helps, leadership seminars, small group materials, etc. Includes such areas as the state of the art vocation "Christian Lifestyle Trainer," mentoring, employment listings, "Conversations with Jesus," etc.
Telephone: 847-546-0361

Website: www.gmi.org/research/websites.htm
Global Mapping International is a non-profit corporation dedicated to furthering the cause of world evangelization. Specifically, they seek to enable more appropriate and effective cross-cultural missions. The vision of GMI is to see information play its proper role in promoting missions and in getting missions planned and done. They believe that the right information in appropriate formats, readily available to the right people, makes all the difference in the world in carrying out God's mission in the world. The better the Church sees the world with fresh, godly insight, the better she will praise God for what he is doing, pray for the people of the world, understand and appreciate others, and join with God in serving appropriately and effectively in mission.

Website: http://www.infacta.com/
"Group Mail Free" from Infacta Group Messaging Solutions is a free program to help you manage email newsletters or organize mailing lists.

Website: http://www.helpingoverseasdirectory.org
A "toolbox" of resources to aid prospective missionaries with contacts and links to organizations that assist in missions logistics.

Website: http://housecall.trendmicro.com/
Get a free online virus scan from Trend Micro.

Website: www.infoplease.com/atlas/?link=tmpltop
Infoplease has a great online atlas tool with high quality maps of every country in the world.

Website: http://www.injesus.com/
A useful online Christian commmunity that also provides a web-based group email service for newsletters.

Website: http://www.interconnectednessunlimited.com
This charity-focused site offers links to click-to-donate sites of various charities such as the Hunger Site, allowing users to simply click on a link, see a sponsor's ad, and generate a donation for the charity or cause listed. Donations are paid for by each site's sponsors.

Website: www.iship.com/trackit
Tracks shipments of six major shipping companies

Website: www.joshuaproject.net
Information on virtually every unreached people group in the world. Downloadable databases and people profiles. An incredible resource for mission executives, unreached peoples researchers, missionary teams, church missions committees and intercessors.

Website: http://www.practicingspanish.com
This is a free tutorial website for medical Spanish, with audio. It has multiple categories, including basic pronunciation, geography, and cultural topics. The author has a feedback area in case anyone needs to request new phrases or categories.

Website: http://www.missionphone.com
This company offers a variety of services that will be of a great service to help a missionary stay in contact with family and supporters. Everything from Voip telephone, fax by email, webhosting, email services and many others.
Telephone: 770.456.5182

Website: http://www.missions-trip.com
Online missions database of short and long term missions opportunities and directory of missions agencies.

Website: http://www.mission2go.com
Christian travel information, gear, and advice. Their mission is help you prepare for international short term missions trips, vacations, tours, jobs and more great adventures.

Website: www.missionaryprayercard.com
This site is offering missionaries high quality prayer cards and bible markers. Use these cards to help raise financial support for your family.
Telephone: 727-448-0434

Website: www.missionary411.com
missionary411.com is a website that offers missionaries a free web-managed web site to keep their partners up to date on what they are doing as a missionary. Creating your own web site is free of charge, though donations to defray server and usage costs are welcomed.

Website: MissionaryTracker.com
MissionaryTracker.com is a Christian online missionary newsletter service. It provides an easy way to keep supporters abreast of ministry progress as well as introduce missionaries to website visitors. Photo tools include an editable image gallery and auto-cropping tool, and users can create personal headlines, subheads, and content. This can complement or replace newsletter mail-outs and save time and money.
Telephone: 337-654-4279

Website: www.missionslinked.com
Missions Linked is a service of Prodigy Pixel that began in 2004. Having a background in missions and ministry, we saw the need for providing a fresh approach to informing donors and raising support. Since then, we have been helping missionaries and ministries around the world reach out in a real, relevant and relational way to their supporters. From prayer cards, web sites, promotional videos and other promotional materials, we provide dynamic and effective tools for you and your ministry. We invite you to contact a Missions Linked representative today and find out more about how we can help you achieve your goals and needs.
Telephone: 417-873-3400q

Website: www.oanda.com/
This site has a wide variety of tools and articles on currency conversion. Find up-to-date currency conversions and tables.

Website: www.oscar.org.uk
OSCAR is a UK based mobilization website providing a variety of services and resources to the missions community.

Website: http://www.oscar.org.uk
OSCAR is a UK-based service that provides information, advice and resources for those interested or involved in Christian mission overseas.
Telephone: 0870 765 6722

Website: https://www.paypal.com/us/mrb/pal=9SKV3KTVVTR84
Paypal is an online service for sending and receiving money. An excellent tool to add to your website for receiving donations. They also offer a subscription feature for recurring payments.

Website: http://www.strotman.com/
Organizational software for audio and video albums, recipes, and addresses are available from this Christian software publisher.

Website: www.shutterfly.com
This company offers digital image printing. I can't say enough about how wonderful their service is. 4X6s are as low as 25 cents each, and they have timely shipping and excellent customer service. Check them out!

Website: http://spamcheck.sitesell.com/
Check your newsletter to see if it will be blocked as SPAM. Send them a copy of your e-mail newsletter or promotion and, in seconds, they'll return a "spam score" and recommendations on how to decrease the odds of your e-mail being filtered.

Website: http://www.teachers.net/
This is a limited resource for lesson plans and printables, but the chatroom might prove helpful for questions.

Website: http://a4esl.org/
This site is a great resource for ESL activities, quizzes, etc. and even provides a link to the TESL Journal.

Website: www.thenationsforchrist.com
The Nations For Christ provides online training, tools and resources for Christian workers. Created by missionaries, our goal is to bring glory to the Lord Jesus Christ through evangelism, training and teamwork.
Telephone: 706-659-4505

Website: www.twiceborn.biz
Urban-based tracts and resources designed to reach hip-hop culture.

Website: www.tt.dk
Thrane & Thrane is the world’s leading manufacturer of terminals and land earth stations for global mobile satellite and radio communication. They are based in Denmark and offer an array of satellite communications gear. These portable satellites will allow you to have internet connections, fax, phone, etc... in the most remote parts of the Earth.
Telephone: +45 39 55 88 00

Website: www.timeanddate.com/
This site offers an online world clock with features to customize which time zones you see. They also have online calendaring features.

Website: http://www.skype.com
Skype is a free service that allows its users to engage in voice communication over the internet. Once you download Skype to your computer, you can talk to other Skype users free over the internet. It gets better though. You can also sign up for a service called SkypeOut, which allows you to call a normal phone from your computer. I am currently in Costa Rica and am using Skype to call family and business contacts in the states. Price depends on who you are calling. To call from anywhere in the world to the U.S., for instance, is about 2 cents per minute. Skype also offers a service called SkypeIn. For about $10 for 3 months, you can get a Skype phone number that allows people from a normal phone anywhere in the world to call your SkypeIn phone number. When they call, your computer will "ring" and you can take the call over the internet.