Now with 6108 participants
News and Notes about Brigada, Your Gateway to Missions Networking!
On the WorldWide Web, browse https://brigada.org
Compiled by Doug Lucas, Louisville, KY
[Pass this issue to a friend! To subscribe, see instructions at end.]

[Thanks to our faithful Customer Relations Manager, Revis Ann Massey, currently in Dallas for a visit with her home church, Highland Meadows, for tirelessly tooling away at trying times as moderator and administrator for this Brigada conference!!! How many of us could handle troubleshooting 6108 friends each week! :-) Thanks Rev’!]

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In this issue….

* GET TAPES FROM THE HOTTEST SPEAKER AT GCOWE97 (VERWER) FOR FREE!
* HOT-OFF-THE-PRESSES, “CHILDREN OF THE WINDOW”
* FROM THE GRAB-BAG: PAL VCRS FOR YOUR PALS IN THE FORMER SOVIET UNION
* CHILDREN’S MISSIONS RESOURCE FILE – A 7-VOLUME SET! FOR FREE!
* WHAT IF YOU COULD OWN A COPY OF EVERY NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC?
* GLOBAL GLIMPSE
* GET IS GET, AND PUT IS PUT, AND NEVER THE TWAIN SHALL MEET
* WEB-WATCH
* FILM-FIND
* NEW ROX35 COMIX TRAINING COURSES COMING UP SOON!
* STILL AMAZED AT “SOURCES-FOR-STUFF”
* MISSIONS FEST VANCOUVER EXPECTS TO DRAW 32,000
* PLACES TO GO, PEOPLE TO SEE, AND THINGS TO DO!
* TAKING HEAT FOR MOTHER TERESA
* PLANS FOR GLOBAL MARCH FOR JESUS 1998
* HOT LINKS – MORE THAN SAUSAGE, LESS THAN BRIGADA
* WHAT ARE YOUR PASSIONS?
* DON’T FORGET PTWIII!
* TO SUBSCRIBE TO BRIGADA TODAY

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GET TAPES FROM THE HOTTEST SPEAKER AT GCOWE97 (GEORGE VERWER) FOR FREE!
Yes, your eyes don’t deceive you. George Verwer (Int’l Director of OM) is giving away (or you can include a donation if you want) his tapes to potential Christian leaders around the world. (And thanks to John Hanna for making us aware!) This kind of ministry attitude is very rare today. Catch it in this quote from their heart… ” We are so excited about people making their own copies that we would be willing to send money for the blank cassettes.” Wow. Unheard of. They explained, “These tapes are all available free or on a donation basis. Don’t hesitate to order due to financial restraints. If there is a way you can visit us and pick up any especially large orders, that will save money as postage costs are one of our obstacles, especially outside Europe and North America. Please don’t order large amounts if there is a high chance that they will be stolen in the mail. Perhaps ordering a small number at a time would be best.” What’s available?

* “Why Become A Missionary / Why Come on Global Action” (brand new)
* “Does The Lack Of Funds Hinder God’s Work”?
* “Challenge Of Turkey”
* “Ship Ministry”
* “How To Be A Missions Mobiliser”
* “Acts 13 Breakthrough 2000”
* “Why 200,000 Missionaries”
* “Why I Joined AD 2000”
* “Building Loyalty”
* “The Labourer Is Worthy Of His Hire”
* “Why Go To Bible College”
* “The Middle Road … Is It Possible”
* “Why Give To Operation Mobilisation”
* “Tension Between Being and Doing”
* “Special Book Reviews”
* “Financial Crisis”
* “Minefields In Counseling”
* “Being Big Hearted”
* “Why People Get Away From Jesus”
* “Resourcing God’s Work”
* “Raising Support”
* “Further Thoughts on the 7 Major Emphases”
* “Testimony”

If you’d like some more detail on each of these tapes, send an email message to hub@xc.org with only these words in the text of the message:
get brigada verwer-tapes
download now

You’ll receive an expanded list, complete with annotation, and a letter from George Verwer.

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HOT-OFF-THE-PRESSES, “CHILDREN OF THE WINDOW”
I’ve only seen the color proofs, but wow did they look hot. Caleb Project has just released its new 8 1/2″ X 11″, 4 color, 1998 calendar featuring the phantastic photography of Mike Staub & Patty Fraats. Each month features a child from an unreached people group in the 10/40 Window with a scripture, info, & prayer points. There are also two tear-out pages of details on each of the 12 people groups represented and a page of resources at the back (along with an opportunity to order the 1999 “Women of the 10/40 Window”).

Calendars are $9.95 each, 6 (or more) for $7.50 each, 50 (or more) $6.00 each, plus shipping & handling. Prepayment by check, or credit card (VISA & Master Card only). E-mail orders go to orders@cproject.com, telephone orders go to 303-730-4170, xtn 343, and snail mail orders go to Caleb Project, #10 West Dry Creek Circle, Littleton, CO 80120. Can’t wait to get mine (already coming). I mean . . . these would look great on the wall in the kids’ bedroom, the kitchen, church office, the doctor’s office, the plumber’s office, etc. :-) Great gifts. I mean — which calendar would you rather have your teenager buy? This one, or that one from the sports magazine with all the bathing suits? :-)

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FROM THE GRAB-BAG: PAL VCRS FOR YOUR PALS IN THE FORMER SOVIET UNION
Here’s your chance. You probably won’t see PAL VCRs for less, nor will you see them any closer to your friends in the former Soviet Union. The CoMission just wrote Brigada Today this past week and they have 165 new (still in original cartons) Sharp video playback units warehoused in Germany. These are PAL/220v systems, left over from a stock purchased in 1993. They also have 55 custom-built carrying cases suitable for shipping these units with space available for peripheral items – extension cords, video cassettes, etc. Their Director of Arrangements wrote, “I would like to make these available to Brigada readers at a greatly reduced price, in lots of ten, either with or without the custom cases.” Rather nice of him, I thought. :-) Of course, all shipping and customs fees would naturally be the responsibility of the purchaser. CoMission has used this model all across the former Soviet Union for the past five years with great success. Interested? Contact Bob Ehle, CoMission Director of Arrangements, at rehle@cis.com. I wrote Bob back and asked him to give us some idea on the price. He responded, “The price is somewhat negotiable; the video playback units were $200 new; the base asking price in lots of ten is $125 each. The custom cases were $98 new; the base asking price in lots of ten is $55.” He also added, “Thanks, Doug. We not only want to stop paying warehouse fees; we’re anxious that the units be put to good use in the spread of the gospel!” Sounds fair enough to me!

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CHILDREN’S MISSIONS RESOURCE FILE – A 7-VOLUME SET! FOR FREE!
I still marvel at the awesome power of the sum total of all Brigada participants working together. I mean, think about it. Just in the last couple of weeks we’ve learned about great prices on VCRs for the former Soviet Union, free tapes for Christian leaders from George Verwer, 10/40 Window color calendars, National Geographic collections on CD, that great list of “sources-for-stuff” and now a tremendous collection of resources for kids and missions In this case, Gerry Dueck at the US Center in Pasadena is the one to thank. He has painstakingly assembled a jam-packed a whoppin’ 118 K file (probably 70 pages??!), split it into 7 volumes, and made it available to Brigada participants at no charge. Why? Because he loves kids and wants these resources to be used to share with them the world and its needs! So — grab the phone and call your nearest Christian Education director. He or she needs this bibliography. It’s very very detailed and complete with email addresses and toll-free numbers and fax numbers galore. To get it, copy these lines and paste them into an email message to hub@xc.org . The 118K of resources will be emailed to you in a 7-volume set that you can reassemble on your own computer. Thanks Gerry.

get brigada kids1
get brigada kids2
get brigada kids3
get brigada kids4
get brigada kids5
get brigada kids6
get brigada kids7
END

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WHAT IF YOU COULD OWN A COPY OF EVERY NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC?
When my wife and I were missionaries in Uruguay in the early 80s, I remember the family we stayed with in Montevideo had collected nearly every National Geographic magazine every produced. It was so cool to walk into their library and see that collection, and browse through people groups and faraway lands that NG had profiled. Well now, you can own that same collection and take it to the field with you on CD! All 108 years of National Geographic are available in a 30 CD-Rom set for the incredible price of $199.99!! Every page, every issue, every photo. What a tremendous resource for People Group research. You can check out the details at http://www.nationalgeographic.com/media/interactive/cdrom/108/. And thanks to Scott and others for putting us in touch with this great opportunity. What a tremendous Christmas gift that would be for someone special (ok — granted someone very special :-)) in your life. Or for the church or mission library! Check out the details at the NG web site. If you don’t have access to the web, ask a friend to check it out for you.

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GLOBAL GLIMPSE
Some time ago, Quamar mother’s near death triggered a spiritual search that changed his life forever. At a Bible teacher’s suggestion Quamar risked praying for her healing in the name of Jesus Christ. Visible changes immediately occurred in his mother and she recovered. As he began reading the Bible and Christian books, his family began to persecute him. After a time he left his home and village to seek Christian fellowship, but today he seeks more than ever to express the power of Jesus Christ to his family.
(Source: IMB: News Stories – 09/17/97, International Mission Board, SBC. To subscribe use the form at http://www.imb.org/maillist.htm or send an email message to: webservant@imb.org. Quamar’s name has been changed to protect his identity.)
Global Glimpse is compiled each week by John Hanna, Advocacy Director, Caleb Project, 10 West Dry Creek Circle, Littleton, CO 80120.

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GET IS GET, AND PUT IS PUT, AND NEVER THE TWAIN SHALL MEET
… at least not anymore, I hope. Last week’s item, ” PIT-STOP RALEIGH RALLIES… PIT-STOP TULSA TALLIES” featured a classic Brigada-type typo… where the word “put” was inadvertently put to get the word “get.” :-) Both are commands on the MAFxc hub, but typically only moderators fool with “put” and conference members can then “get” or retrieve whichever file was putted. :-) So — if you were looking for the file on Pit-Stop Tulsa and “put” wouldn’t “get,” please forgive me! “I was probably sleep-boarding again.” The proper syntax is:
get brigada pit-stop-tulsa
Send this line in the text of an email message to hub@xc.org and you’re in business! The hub will automatically email you back a reply filled with info on Pit-Stop Tulsa! No charge, no muss, no fuss. But — make sure you get instead of put! :-)

[Also, if you tried to get “english-help” (last week’s item, ” WANT TO FIND OUT THE EFFECT OF USING ENGLISH IN CHURCH PLANTING?”), try again; it’s there now.]

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WEB-WATCH
Have you checked out http://www.answering-islam.org/ ? Apparently it’s operated by a guy from India who has had tremendous success corresponding with Muslims from throughout the world. In the privacy of their own homes they can link up with Jesus via their computer! His website has apparently had an average of 10,000 hits per WEEK. (Thanks for the tip, Gene!)

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FILM-FIND
Swami is a great Hindi film, portraying the best of Hindusim, great for folks learning to contextualize among Hindus. You should be able to rent it from any local Indian video store — assuming you have one down the street :-) . Thanks Rod!

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NEW ROX35 COMIX TRAINING COURSES COMING UP SOON!
Rox35 Comix will be holding two Christian Comics Training Courses this December in Thailand and Myanmar. Both are 3 day events and will include sessions on Writing/Scripting, Cultural Considerations, Illustration, Visual Storytelling, Comics & Communication, Editing/Art Directing, and Comics as part of an Overall Evangelism Strategy. The Thailand course is being hosted by Thailand Bible Society, 319/52-55 Vibhawadi Rangsit Road, Bangkok 10400, Phone (66) – (0)2 279 8341-4; Fax (66) – (0)2 616 0517 and will be held in Bangkok the first week of December, 1997. The Myanmar (Burma) course is being hosted by the Bible Society of Myanmar, 262 Sule Pagoda Road, Yangon, and will be held in Yangon (Rangoon) the second week of December, 1997. Enrollment is limited. (An Australian course, co-hosted by Pilgrim International in Sydney and the Bible Society of Australia, which was originally scheduled for this September, has been postponed until the second week of September, 1998.) Contact Graham Wade grawade@ozemail.com.au for more information.). Plans for a 1998 training course in Japan are currently under discussion. For more on this ministry, visit the ROX35 Media, Inc. Web Site at http://members.aol.com/ROX35Media/

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STILL AMAZED AT “SOURCES-FOR-STUFF”
If you haven’t downloaded the file “sources-for-stuff” yet, you’re missing out. (Last week’s item, ” WHERE TO BUY ALMOST ANYTHING . . .”) If we charged $14.95 for this, you’d think you were getting a steal! But since it’s free, you’ll be tempted to think it’s not worth “getting.” Well — if you ever think you might want to purchase an international airline ticket again, or buy an international VCR or projector, it’s worth it! The file was assembled by Ken and it lists places to buy multisystem VCR’s and TV’s, video projectors, overhead projectors, 16 millimeter projectors, 220 volt 50 hertz equipment, and appliances for overseas. Also listed is some information on overseas shipping and a little information on airplane travel or travel agencies to call when traveling abroad. It must have taken me 45 minutes to copy and paste all this stuff into my Ecco Pro database so it would be available on my PalmPilot!!! (I finally gave up and lumped some of it together under the same item name.) But it’ll be well worth it. Get it by sending email to hub@xc.org with only this line in the text of the message:
get brigada sources-for-stuff

And the best part is . . . it’s absolutely free. Thanks Ken!

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MISSIONS FEST VANCOUVER EXPECTS TO DRAW 32,000
With 250 mission exhibits, major youth rallies, children’s programs, over 100 seminars and 6 plenary sessions, the Vancouver Trade & Convention Centre will be buzzing on January 30, 31 – February 1, 1998. The theme, “The Gospel In Culture: People Groups, Values & the Kingdom of God” will be addressed by speakers such as Don Richardson, Israel Brito (Caribbean), Claude Houde (Montreal), Vanlal Ngaka & Mizo Choir (Mizoram, India), and Lynda Prince (First Nations Canada). Randy Friesen will be featured in the Youth Rallies and Youth Leaders track. More information is available on http://www.ansa.com/~mfestvan/. Regardless of how many attend, it’s sure to be a bell-ringer for those sharp enough to take it in!

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PLACES TO GO, PEOPLE TO SEE, AND THINGS TO DO!
That’s what you’ll find in Kerstin Hack’s compilation of short-term opportunities galore! Get it today by sending email to hub@xc.org with only this line in the text of the message:
get brigada mission-ops
download now

Kerstin, let’s make this an annual edition, eh? We’ll count on it next September too, okay? Thanks!

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TAKING HEAT FOR MOTHER TERESA
Okay – so I’ll admit we took some heat for featuring the item honoring Mother Teresa (last week’s item ” GLOBAL GLIMPSE FROM CURRENT EVENTS”, which told of some of her amazing and humble accomplishments. But do try to keep in mind that we didn’t say we agreed with every piece of doctrine she held. At the same time, that doesn’t keep us from admiring the life she lived. Besides, out of over 6000 Brigada participants . . . . . . . . . only one person complained.

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PLANS FOR GLOBAL MARCH FOR JESUS 1998
Have you heard about the Global Mach for Jesus 1998? The prayer theme will center on the persecuted church, focusing on the part of the God’s family who cannot celebrate Jesus openly on the streets. “DEMONSTRATE THE PASSION” is the slogan. Saturday, 30 May 1998 is the date. For more info, write 100572.323@compuserve.com.

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HOT LINKS – MORE THAN SAUSAGE, LESS THAN BRIGADA
Just when you thought you might be able to start doing more “clicking” and less “page-downing,” I’m afraid we’re comin’ up dry. Our attempt to learn how to make the “executive summary titles” click-able (last week’s item, OKAY — YOU READ THIS FAR — NOW HELP US IMPROVE THESE TITLES) has turned up some very informative responses (thanks to one and all who replied). They ranged from the simple (“My advice: Don’t do it”) to the very complex (Send two versions of Brigada Today, one in some special form called MIME [Hey — I’m all for silent drama too, but in email??? :-) ] and the other in plain text, like it is now).

My take on all this is that it would be cool, . . . and it might even save readers some time. But from what I’ve learned from our kind-hearted tutors this past week, it’s probably something we need to revisit in a year or so, if and when email standards have risen. According to those among us who are “in the know,” there are too many folks still accessing email from DOS machines or from proprietary email clients. Bottom line: There’s no way we could make the titles “clickable” for one and all. And to include all the extra formatting commands (which would become garbage for those without the special capability) seems to be a waste of time for those in the DOS/proprietary category. So we end up shooting ourselves in the foot!

One reader suggested doing an “Edit-Find” (ctrl-F in some email readers) for the numbered item you’d like to see… like search for the text string “3)” or “20)” — and include the parenthesis to decrease the likelihood that you’ll find more than one occurrence. Another reader said that if we wanted to click on the title, just read the web version that Bob Mayhew prepares faithfully every week at https://brigada.org. The titles have been hot there since he began the web version, back in our first few months of 1995. He usually has it up and running on the web just shortly after it’s emailed. Either way, thanks for the lesson on links!

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WHAT ARE YOUR PASSIONS?
I have at least 3 great passions in life these days… a) Serving Christ (which includes all the prayer, worship and missions stuff), b) Building right relationships with my family and friends, and c) soccer. :-) For some reason, making good decisions about one or more of these passions is not all that easy at times. My buddy John (who is headed to Asia) just sent me a note from David Burns that included this story by Ken Canfield, in his book, 7 Secrets Of Effective Fathers. It’s a great story — and I hope it causes us to reexamine the priority that we’re all placing on that “right relationship” passion — especially as it relates to family. “It reminds me of a story from another Olympics held in France –the 1924 summer games in Paris. Bill Havens was selected to represent the United States that year in an event called Canadian singles. It was a canoeing event, a demonstration sport, in which the competitors sit in a high kneeling position and use a single paddle. Havens was good; in fact, everyone expected him to bring home the gold.

However, a few months before the Olympics, Havens learned that his wife was due to give birth sometime during the Games. He had a decision to make: the opportunity of a lifetime or . . .the opportunity of a lifetime. He made his decision. He stayed home. The team left for Paris without him. On August 1, 1924, his son Frank was born– four days after the Games.

Fast forward through all those summers when Bill Havens probably heard the results from every Olympic canoeing event and wondered if he’d made the right decision. But stop in 1952, the year the Summer Olympics were in Helsinki. Havens received a telegram from Helsinki that he surely wouldn’t have traded for any amount of gold. The telegram read: “Dear Dad. . .Thanks for waiting around for me to get born in 1924. I’m coming home with the gold medal you should have won.” It was signed, “Your loving son, Frank.” Frank Havens had just won the gold medal in the ten-thousand-meter Canadian singles canoeing event.”

Giving proper priority to our passion for right relationships (especially with family) will never be easy… but perhaps that means we ought to work all the harder to do just that! God bless your week!
(Thanks again to John and David for the great referral!)

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DON’T FORGET PTWIII!
We’re a small mission agency . . . with only 9 people in our International Office in Louisville, KY. So when one of our “mobilization types” (Carole Dunlap, God love her!) asked this past week, “So what are we going to do about ‘Praying Through the Window III’?”, I puzzled over the answer for a moment. We all looked at one another across the conference table. We had been showing the videos for months. We had faithfully distributed the calendars, dutifully answered questions about how to get in touch with CIN, and generally promoted the idea from one state to another. But — we had forgotten to put together a plan for ourselves! Yikes. Woe be unto us if we get so busy mobilizing others that we forget to mobilize us! :-) So — for our office, it’ll be a simple plan. We’re going to meet each day at 12:45pm for 15 minutes to pray for the people groups of the day, following the outline in the brochure. How ’bout your organization or church? If you haven’t put together a plan yet, better hurry — you’ve only got until Wednesday!!! For more information on Praying Through the Window III, AD2000 has put a little known file on their web site — a WinWord summary (digest version) of the Praying through the Windows III Unreached Peoples book. Find it at http://www.ad2000.org by clicking on PTWIII tools. Perfect if you failed to order the book!

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TO SUBSCRIBE TO BRIGADA TODAY, send email to hub@xc.org with only the following message:
subscribe brigada

TO UNSUBSCRIBE, send email to hub@xc.org with this line in the text:
unsubscribe brigada

At https://brigada.org on the web, you can see tons more.

(This issue of Brigada Today is Copyrighted © 1997. However, permission is granted to freely redistribute provided that such redistribution is to those who will help the Good News of Christianity to reach the unreached. But please tell your readers where you learned about the item, and if it’s not asking too much, include the 3 lines on how to subscribe — see above.
IMPORTANT: To copy or reproduce Brigada Today for any other reason is illegal and is not permitted.)

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BRIGADA TODAY IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE FOLLOWING TEAM OF REGULAR VOLUNTEERS:

*Global Glimpses: John Hanna, Caleb Project, jhanna@cproject.com
*ADVANCE: Mark A. Kelly, Kainos Press, MarkKelly@xc.org
*Brigada Website: Bob Mayhew, Brigada Volunteer, webservant@brigada.org
*Technical Development: Jonathan Marsden, MAFxc jonathan@xc.org
*Brigada Customer Service Manager: Revis Ann Massey, RevisAnnMassey@xc.org
*Brigada Coordinator: Doug Lucas, Team Expansion & Brigada, DLucas@TeamExpansion.org
*and many other occasional contributors too numerous to mention!
But thanks for working together! That’s the dream of Brigada!