19981227 Brigada Today

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News and Notes about Brigada, Your Gateway to Missions Networking!
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Brigada Today is “the missionary helper newsletter!”
Compiled by Doug Lucas <DLucas@teamexpansion.org>, Louisville, KY
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In this issue….

GREETING CARDS WITH A MISSION MESSAGE

Looking for just the right card to send to your missionary or supporter? Check out http://www.ywam.org/mary/illustrt.html for a sample of Mary’s work. Chase the links on the page for more samples. These cards come in boxes of 10 each for $8 (less per box if you order more boxes). For more information, contact Paul wcn@xc.org, who can also give you info on shipping and payment options.

NEW MISSIONS TEXT ON REACHING RESISTANT PEOPLES

Gailyn Van Rheenen, Vice President of Publications for the Evangelical Missiological Society wishes to announce the new EMS text Reaching the Resistant: Barriers and Bridges for Mission is now off the press and available through William Carey Library. This book, edited by J. Dudley Woodberry, is the 6th in the EMS series. Those in the USA can order it through William Carey Library by calling 1-800-Mission (647-7466) and everybody can order by emailing orders@wclbooks.com.

AT THE RISK OF STARTING A LONG DISTANCE WAR…

I continually get appeals to list various long distance carriers and usually say no, partly because we’re such an international audience and most of these long distance deals are for a USA-only market. However, here’s a site that might list some options for those calling from outside the USA too. http://ld.net/?pacifics. (According to “Don”, the author, “all proceeds go towards supporting missions work in Asia.” Now I’m pretty sure I’ll heard from 20 more long distance dealers… So my basic response will be usually to “Just say no.”

But if I hear about something that beats the options on Don’s pages, I’ll speak up. (So long distance sales people, check out Don’s pages first, before emailing, and if you decide to email anyway, tell us why your service is cheaper or any better.

BOB ADDS TO “HOW TO KEEP YOUR EMAIL FRIENDS”

Bob read the “TEN KEYS TO KEEP YOUR EMAIL FRIENDS” from last week’s Brigada Today and immediately suggested we add another item… ”

Break the text into brief paragraphs, adding a blank line between each paragraph and indenting the first line of each.

For many people, reading text onscreen is daunting enough as it is. Long, unbroken text is visually intimidating and likely to go unread.” Then he referred to my long paragraph before the “top ten list.” Ouch. I guess if the shoe fits!

INTENT’S ANNUAL GATHERING FOR TENTMAKERS

INTENT ’99 will be held in Wheaton, Illinois on May 21-23, 1999, beginning on Friday evening and concluding at noon on Sunday. The conference theme is, Kingdom Professionals: FutureEdge of Missions. Landa Cope, Dean of the College of Communications at the University of Nations in Hawaii, will be the keynote speaker. The workshops on Saturday morning will focus on opportunities in the four tracks:

entrepreneurial business
the marketplace job takers
education and TESOL
relief and development/with micro-enterprise development

The special feature of this conference is to be able to network with practitioners, to consult with mentors, to brainstorm with facilitators, and to participate in what God is doing through Kingdom Professionals. A Practitioner’s Forum is scheduled on Thursday evening, May 20, and during the day on Friday, May 21, in open networking roundtable discussions for those who are already involved in tentmaking in order to give these action-oriented professionals the opportunity to build relationships with others of equal stature in the industry and the opportunity to discuss issues and to share perspectives. For more information, contact info@intent.org or call Dorothy Blaha at 1-800-478-2598.
(Note that Intent isn’t a function of Weaton College.)

FROM SENDEE TO SENDER: HELLO LATIN AMERICA!

Latin America is changing from being a mission field to being a missions force. To help with this transition a Missions Retreat will take place at the ALMA (America Latina Misiones Al-mundo) missionary training center in Paraguay, February 24-26, 1999. The retreat will focus on mobilizing and educating pastors and church leaders about missions and the unique challenges and opportunities for Latin Americans while featuring sessions on the fundamentals of missions as well as workshops on Muslim ministry. Outside authorities as well as Latin American missionaries will be directing the various sessions. For more information contact Dan danielcool@iname.com.

UNLOCKING AN UNREACHED GROUP

Looking for the Cultural Keys to unlock an unreached group? They’re present in each culture’s common sayings and Proverbs. If you’d like training and practice in gathering, assessing and utilizing these Proverbs and sayings for reaching your special group, join Stan Nussbaum of Global Mapping International and Ray Howard of Mission Training International for a research seminar seminar titled “Listen First, Speak Later” in Colorado Springs, Feb. 11-13, ’99. For further info contact Stan listen@gmi.org or 800 569-6312 or 719 531 3586 or Ray Mintern@aol.com or 800 896-3710 or 719 594-0687 (fax 719 594-4682).

SEEKING EDITORS

http://www.ncubator.com is looking for capable individuals to serve as managing editors for some of their category pages (especially Evangelism/Missions). A managing editor would literally “own the page”. This person would be responsible to

write feature articles on a bi-weekly basis in keeping with the topic of the cube
approve and edit articles submitted by contributing editors
chose and manage a select list of links pursuant to the category
write reviews of Christian resources available on the net on a once a month basis

You can browse the additional info, including qualifications, at http://www.ncubator.com/editor.htm or email pchaney@ncubator.com.

INSTITUTE OF ISLAMIC STUDIES, 1999

The 1999 Institute of Islamic Studies [IIS 99] will be held April 12th through June 4th in Baguio City, Philippines. The 8-week intensive institute features international missionary scholars and a distinctive emphasis on spiritual preparation for ministry within and to the Muslim World. Instructors for IIS 99 [except for one name, which is excluded due to sensitivity] are: Dr. Don McCurry, Dr. Greg Livingstone, John Gilchrist, Dr. Sobhi Malek, Faouzi Arzouni [Ph.D.Cand.] and Dale Fagerland. IIS leadership is committed to maintaining a broad mix of instructors from several Evangelical organizations. IIS participants may earn up to 9 graduate credits toward a masters level program. Class size and number of scholarships is limited. Registration deadline: March 01, 1999. Brochures are available upon request. For immediate information apts@xc.org or Langford@xc.org, or call 63-74-442-7068 or 6977 or 2226, or fax: 63-74-442-6378.

WEB-WATCH

YWAM Elm Springs has a new base at http://www.ywam.net. Also, Team Expansion has been at work on its site at http://www.teamexpansion.org. Having noticed that static web pages become stagnant web pages, Team Expansion is now introducing a new feature article each and every Monday.

WHERE’S THE HOOPLA ABOUT FINISHING THE TASK?

Is it just my imagination or are we hearing less and less about finishing the task by the year 2000. Now maybe that’s because the hard workers are out there doing it rather than talking about it. Or maybe somebody woke up and smelled the coffee and realized we’re in the “home stretch.” I remember looking to my left at a luncheon in Seoul (during GCOWE ’95) and seeing, of all people, Tom Houston, a big-time leader in the Lausanne Movement. When I asked him what he thought of the AD2000 & Beyond Movement, he was largely supportive and positive. But then he added that, come 2001, the Lausanne Movement would still be out there patiently picking up the pieces to move world missions momentum forward to the next phase.

As for me, I’m looking forward to the Heartland MissionFest in Tulsa this coming February. I really didn’t have time to go (I will have gotten home from a two-week trip to North Africa and Bosnia just 48 hours before having to open the first of 8 or so workshops I have to present in Tulsa). But I also hated to miss it. Luis Bush will be there, along with an update on the progress of the Joshua Project 2000 and the “next steps.” If memory serves, this will be the first update from AD2000 in about a year. So… I’m looking forward to hearing it “straight from the horse’s mouth,” so to speak. If you’d like to catch Luis, Law, (and maybe even Lucas?) in Tulsa, browse http://www.allpeoples.org/hmf or write hmfinfo@usa.net. And while you’re there, look for the Brigada exhibit. It’ll be the first one ever in history – and I have no clue what it’ll look like!

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