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News and Notes about Brigada, Your Gateway to Missions Networking!
On the WorldWide Web, browse https://brigada.org or http://www.eGroups.com/list/brigada-today
Brigada Today is “the missionary helper newsletter!”
Compiled by Doug Lucas <dlucas@teamexpansion.org>, Louisville, KY
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In this issue….

* GET YOUR DEPUTATATION ORGANIZER SOFTWARE FOR $25!
* VIDEO FROM AD2000
* WOULD THE REAL “LARGEST LANGUAGES” PLEASE STAND UP?
* PRAYER FOR INDIA
* SPIRITUAL OUTREACH BY MEDICAL PRACTITIONERS
* HOW DO I GET THE CURRENT SCORE ON UNREACHED PEOPLES
* FROM THE “I SHOULD TELL YOU WHEN I’M JOKING” DEPT.
* DO NOT PASS GO, DO NOT COLLECT $1000
* REACH THE WORLD AT THE WORLD CUP
* IT’S TIME TO NETWORK THE NETWORKERS
* REGENT’S NEW GRAD PROGRAM – YOUR OPINION PLEASE?
* TO SUBSCRIBE TO BRIGADA TODAY

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GET YOUR DEPUTATATION ORGANIZER SOFTWARE FOR $25!
Got a furlough (or “home service”) coming up? Need to keep all the details straight? (Housing? Travel? Arrival? Letters? Database? Addresses? Telephone numbers?, etc, etc, etc???) Now you can! Download a trial copy of Bob Clonch’s “Deputation Organizer.” Normally it’s $30, but we wrote Bob personally and asked him if he’d consider $25 if the user mentioned he got the software from Brigada and Bob said no problem. So download it and try it out . . . and see what you think . . . and if you’re interested, the program contains information on getting in touch with Bob BKCLONCH@aol.com. Good luck! Get the software at http://www.teamexpansion.org/tools/depuzip.exe and check it out for free on a trial basis!

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VIDEO FROM AD2000
lighting the way Last week’s item, “AD2000 & BEYOND RELEASES NEW ADOPT-A-PEOPLE VIDEO” failed to mention that one can also order the new adopt-a-people video, Ordinary People, Extraordinary Love, is also available directly from AD200 & Beyond, fax (719-576-2685) or by email at info@ad2000.org. Also, if the item in some way indicated that Mary Ann Stone is no longer at the AD2000 Int’l Office, it shouldn’t have. Although she’s no longer the coordinator for JP2000, she’s full-time there as Director of Special Projects.

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WOULD THE REAL “LARGEST LANGUAGES” PLEASE STAND UP?
Justin wrote this past week that figures on ‘largest language groups’ recently published in Brigada Today weren’t accurate. He explained that AD 1980 figures (numbers will have changed, rankings will not have changed) for native speakers (with second language speakers many will be far higher)
Mandarin Chinese 551 million
English 265 million
Spanish 227 million
Hindi 168 million
Arabic 144 million
Russian 142 million
Bengali 138 million
Portuguese 135 million
Japanese 117 million
German 90 million
Punjabi 80 million
Wu Chinese 75 million
French 67 million
Javanese 65 million
Italian 63 million
Marathi 62 million
Cantonese 59 million
Tamil 58 million
Korean 58 million
Telugu 55 million
Ukrainian 44 million
Hsiang Chinese 44 million
Turkish 43 million
Source: World Christian Encyclopedia, 1st edition, Oxford University Press. He clarified, “Turkish is probably in the top 10 with second language speakers, but certainly not in the top 5.”

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PRAYER FOR INDIA
United prayer for On-coming elections in India: For such a time as this, we have power to vote in prayer for the Lord’s will to be done in the 12th Indian Parliamentary elections. Elections start in February 16th and finish on the 7th of March 98. Would you please join us in praying for great outpouring of His Spirit in India. During the 10th Parliamentary elections the Lord gave me burden to pray and mobilize prayer. So several churches in Delhi got together and done prayer walks around and inside the Parliament house. We did it again during 11th Parliamentary elections. Now could you please plan to pray wherever you are for some time during the above election dates. For prayer pointers please send your request to Pastor Prasad Rao tvchurch@poboxes.com – Thanks.

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SPIRITUAL OUTREACH BY MEDICAL PRACTITIONERS
Would you like to help your physician, dentist, or nurse reach their patients for Christ? In a recent national poll, 63% believe it’s good for a physician to talk with patients about spiritual faith. Yet a credible witness for Christ is often sadly missing. Campus Crusade’s affiliate ministry, The Medical Strategic Network, is working to change that. The Network hosts hands-on training conferences. Designed and taught by health professionals for health professionals, this training helps integrate faith and practice. Afterwards, trained, Spirit-filled attenders see up to 60% of non-Christian patients come to faith in Christ. CME/CEU (continuing education hours) are available. 1998 conference sites include: Southern California-February, Kansas City-September and others. Consider informing your health care associates about this opportunity. For a free brochure, call 909-792-2718 in the USA or e-mail 104722.305@compuserve.com. Maybe some of this info. could be applied to medical mission trips overseas???

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HOW DO I GET THE CURRENT SCORE ON UNREACHED PEOPLES
Peter’s right. You could download the file at ftp://ftp.ad2000.org/pub/ad2000/jpldbf.zip or check the index at http://www.ad2000.org/peoples/index.htm to find out which of the 1739 Joshua Project People groups were not “claimed” as of this past July. Peter also added (in his recent reply to a Brigada-peoples inquiry) that in the dbf file, the field, NOCOMT172, is the one which tells which people groups had no commitment as of July ’97.

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FROM THE “I SHOULD TELL YOU WHEN I’M JOKING” DEPT.
lighting the wayYou should have seen the flurry of email I have rec’d these last few days regarding my reference to “65 million languages” last week ( CAN YOU GET ALONG WITH A MOODY WEB PAGE?, which included the text, “Now here’s a site for sore eyes!!!” At http://www.moody.edu/sfs you can learn about “Sermons from Science,” Moody’s science films that are translated into 65 million languages…”) Okay… so my commitment to you is to tell you when I’m joking, just in case you think I’m crazier than you already suspect! :-) And just for clarification, no Virginia, there are not 65 million languages in the world. That exaggeration was . . . . simply for the effect of pointing out the incredible number of languages and places where those Moody films have been used. But did you know the Jesus Film has been translated into 75 million languages!!!??? :-) Wait… I’m joking!!!!!!!

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DO NOT PASS GO, DO NOT COLLECT $1000
You’re right, Joel. Sorry to say, Bill Gates doesn’t have time to invent software personally anymore, he doesn’t have a program that automatically tracks email, he isn’t about to send you $1000 (maybe he’ll send a billion bucks to the UN if they’re lucky, but not a thousand to you on your life!), and furthermore, even he would be tired of hearing about the idea if he were to have gotten the new flurry of “virus mail” chain letter that’s floating around the net about his “invention” (that will result in everyone getting $1000). The virus consists of using up valuable Internet bandwidth by multiplying the spread of these Internet chain letters. Best thing to do if you receive such a “virus mail” (where the virus consists of wasting Internet time) is just ignore it or suggest that the author consult a virus page like Rob Rosenberger’s Computer Virus Myths at http://www.kumite.com/myths/ or one of the antivirus software vendors’ pages. So . . . if you’ve been waiting for your check from Bill, might as well send out for more coffee. :-)

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REACH THE WORLD AT THE WORLD CUP
If you’ve got some kind of outreach scheduled for France ’98 at he world’s biggest sporting event of the year, check out the International Sports Coalition and Sports Outreach America web site http://www.sportsoutreach.org for more info. (Also see the info. on their new poster!) They’ve also got a great outreach booklet for ministry at the World Cup. If you’re in Europe contact Jorgen at katarina@ibseur.se, USA contact Davyd at davydh@ibs.org, UK and others not included in the two above groups contact cpo@pavilion.co.uk.

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IT’S TIME TO NETWORK THE NETWORKERS
Debbie Wood, at the AD2000 and Beyond Movement International Office wants to compile a list of groups or institutions which regularly hold conferences, seminars, or courses focused on specific unreached people groups or broader cultural groups (not general missions courses). For example, a college or institute which yearly holds a seminar on China, or on Islam, or on the Tatars. This will be included in a new manual for developing networks around particular peoples and in a new section of the Adoption Guidance Program. Look for a new CD Rom edition of the AGP sometime this spring. Please send information to Debbie@AD2000.org.

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REGENT’S NEW GRAD PROGRAM – YOUR OPINION PLEASE?
Regent University’s Center for Leadership Studies is currently studying the feasibility of offering a major in intercultural leadership within its master of arts in organizational leadership program, via the Internet. Students will take 15 hours of foundational leadership classes, 15 hours of intercultural leadership electives, and will produce a three-hour culminating project. This interdisciplinary degree can be completed in just 12 months. Conditional to board approval, Regent will launch this program in May. To register suggestions and comments, please respond to leadercenter@regent.edu. Please include something about your background and the nature of your interest in graduate studies.

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