Brigada – 2024-04-14

Now you can. Take a look at…

https://www.zoho.com/creator/features.html

We registered (for free), did a little background reading (5 minutes), then opened it up and picked out a foundational app to use as our framework. 5 minutes later, we were inputting data! It’s that simple — *if* they have an app that does what you need. If they don’t, it gets more complicated really quickly. But at least it’s worth checking, in case someone has already written what you’re looking to do online!

Can you believe it? At last, Logos has released a version of their famous Logos Bible software completely for *free*! Now granted… they’re giving “access” only (rather than ownership) so it’s kind of like you have a *lease* on life, but the great thing is, at least you have a free *lease*! I’m sure the angle is — they get you started, allowing you to try it out for free. You get in there, probably like it (most people say it is indeed the Cadillac), and then you want to upgrade. But — hey — for now you get free! Thanks to Phil (of Logos, of course!) for making sure we knew about this great deal. To see what’s included — King James, the Faithlife Study Bible, a free Bible dictionary, a free commentary, and a complete copy of the Faithlife Study Bible notes, along with several other books — all for free!… just navigate to…

https://www.logos.com/basic

Thanks Logos!

…A tremendous anonymous donor from California who sent $600 this past week, out of the blue, to help speed along Brigada to thousands of Great Commission implementers worldwide. Wow. Totally blown away by this kind of sacrificial giving. Thank you!!!!!!!
…Another Brigada partner who gave $50 this past week. Whoa. Again, we’re so grateful. This interest spurs us on to complete even this edition!!!!

Would you consider joining with them in empowering Brigada to the nations? It’s easy to give. Just click “Donate” at www.brigada.org, or mail a check payable to Team Expansion (Brigada), 13711 Willow Reed Drive, Louisville, KY 40299. Team Expansion is a 501(c)3 incorporation so, for USA citizens, your gift to Christ through Team Expansion is tax-deductible. Thank you, in advance, for your partnership!

I (Doug) started out kind of opposed to this idea. I’ll have to admit, in some ways, it’s growing on me a bit. I want to like it. But I’m still having reservations about a new way to see the world. Check it out at…

http://4kworldmap.com/

Then please give us your take on the project. As for me, I want to love this approach. It would be totally fun to see the world geographically again (like we used to back in the 70’s). It would be *much* easier to organize our outreaches. We could have regional people who actually had *regions* again! But, alas, I’m having trouble. Here are some of my concerns (below). Can you please help me out?

*** “missing people” — With the 24:14 Initiative, if I understand it correctly, sometimes they just focus on, say, the 3 largest people groups in a particular Omega Zone. Just can’t help but feel like this bypasses the “lost sheep” theology of Jesus. It seems to *invite* the fact that people groups will be ignored or ‘missed.’ So each Omega Zone coordinator would have to be ultra-concerned about that.
*** ‘too complicated’ — Determining Omega Zones just seems unfairly biased or complicated to me. With “people group thinking,” we just let the people group determine the polygon where they live. Plain and simple. If they’re scattered across a wide area, we try to cover the entire wide area. Omega Zones, however, set the area (sometimes rather arbitrarily).
*** “mixed data sets” — I’m no expert, but it seems that the 24:14 model has mixed IMB and JP people group data to the point that — it’s impossible to tell where they got what. It would be less confusing to me just to stick to one standard. That would also make it easier to refresh.
*** “spreadsheet weakness” — There’s no way to represent the complexity of an Omega Zone with a spreadsheet. To me, it just plain … falls short.
*** “Western” — The whole thing reminds me of the failed “MPTA’s” that Campus Crusade tried to use around 1989. The fad lasted around 3 years because — it wasn’t based on the *data*. It was based on outside, imposed boundaries. Anything like that is, in my opinion, destined to be short-lived. I’m picturing Global South workers trying to understand why this boundary, why that boundary.
*** “Country-level data” — But the worst curse of the entire data set is that the researchers are using country level data to classify the Omega Zone as “World A, B, or C.” As a result, it’s pretty obvious that there are huge conflicts in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and maybe even Nepal and Burma/Myanmar.
*** “Population limitation skews boundaries” — Because the originators were trying to create Zones with a certain population, they were inconsistent in how existing geo-political boundaries were utilized. You’re aware we have work in Arunachal Pradesh, I believe. Just look at that Zone, for example. And check Balochistan (Pakistan). Sometimes it uses district boundaries. Sometimes it doesn’t. Because it was an artificial restriction. And because these zones don’t exist outside this research, we can’t verify or draw comparisons — even with, say, U.N. data or Wycliffe stuff. Only the people who charter this approach will be able to tabulate results. To me, the entire world of researchers have basically said, “How many people live in this people group or city?” and then they’ve let the answer be the answer. What in the world are they thinking by trying to split up reality — and why? It doesn’t make it easier for Zume to work in a certain area. Because once a particular group of implementers get going in a certain ethnic group, the Zume strategy can proceed without change throughout the rest of that *language* or *ethnic* group (as opposed to just …. within an artificial zone).
*** “Limited use” — This model just isn’t being used anywhere else to speak of, in my opinion. It isn’t even used as a standard within YWAM itself! I just spent time with a bunch of YWAM workers and they aren’t at *all* focused on this data set.
*** “Ignores Science” — Even the idea of using census tracts ignores the reality of what’s on the ground. Last weekend, I watched a prayer focus try to use census tracts as a basis for sending out prayer teams. It was insanity. It created divisions that don’t exist on the ground and imposed unnecessary limits on real neighborhoods. Someone in some office in Washington, DC, might have thought those made sense for a particular purpose — and maybe for that purpose they did — but these pray-ers were unnecessarily hampered by thinking they had to pray “the Zume way.” It was a crazy restriction that resulted in people not seeing the reality of who *lives* in that census tract. Omega Zones are even *more* insane around the world because they aren’t even as established nor as consistent as census tracts are.

As a result of these issues and more, I just can’t get excited about these yet. So please … help me work through this. When I asked one educator/trainer, whom I really really trust, he responded, like this:

“The current state of missions has led to rapid progress in terms of engagement of people groups, but very little in terms of making any kind of serious dent among unreached peoples. Many agencies and organizations have deployed people among unreached peoples somewhere but most have not really been using approaches that would multiply disciples and churches. It seems as if in many cases, presence is the goal, and that includes presence somewhere rather than everywhere. For example, in some people groups, there are a few people serving in the major cities, yet the vast majority of towns and rural areas in the country have no work at all.”

“Using the 4K system as a base does not preclude approaching things from a people group perspective within a geographic area. It does ensure that people everywhere have access to the gospel. The 4K research breaks down the major people groups represented in each of the 4,000 zones. It has about 65,000 entries so that is more than 16 people groups per zone. They divide up each zone into smaller districts when needed. Geography and ethnolinguistics need not be an either/or proposition. For us to really do what needs to be done, we need to address both. Note that “every creature” in Mark and the “Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and ends of the earth” in Acts both have a primarily geographic view to balance the “every people, tribe, tongue and nation” view in Matthew. If we have people in every place that are taking an ethnolinguistic approach in that place, we will be getting somewhere.”

What do you think? Does that sway your thinking? We’d love to hear back. Just click “Comment” following the web version of this item and help me learn to love this new paradigm. Thanks, in advance, for any help you can give.

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Copyright — This issue of _Brigada Today_ is Copyrighted 2016. However, permission is granted to freely redistribute these materials, including those available on the Brigada website, provided that such redistribution is to those who will help the Good News of Jesus Christ to reach the unreached. To copy or reproduce Brigada Today for any other reason is illegal and is not permitted.

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2017/05/14 — Brigada Today
Compiled/Edited by Doug Lucas and Tina McCormick, Team Expansion
Brigada online has more graphics and links at https://brigada.org

In this issue…
1) It’s Not Too Late to Order Your 30 Days of Prayer booklets
2) Lausanne Global Analysis for May is All About Reaching Muslims
3) Get “Church for the Rest of Us” for free!
4) New Guide on Traveling with a Disability
5) Help for Reentry from TRAIN International
6) Practical Resources To Share The Gospel With Southeast Asians
7) Would You be Willing to Evaluate this Language Learning site?
8) Did you Survive WannaCry?
9) Have you Watched “Silence” (The Movie)? Beware. It’s Troubling
10) Download the Story of Jesus in the Language You Love (5fish)
11) Looking for some Solid Reasons to Believe?
12) Need Help Processing Global Mapping’s Closure? Here’s a Webinar
13) We’re Grateful for…
14) The Last Bit: Learning more from the Moravians (the Conference)
15) Closing Stuff

Since 1993, WorldChristian.com has coordinated the “30 Days of Prayer for the Muslim World.” You still have time to order your booklets. To learn more, just go directly to…

http://www.30daysprayer.com/booklets.php

There are booklets available for adults and kids both. Organized to coincide with Ramadan, one of the high points of the Muslim calendar during which adherents fast as a mark of their devotion, the event aims to raise awareness of and encourage new efforts to reach out to Muslims “around the world and across the street.”

Check out Sam George’s article, “Is God Reviving Europe through Refugees,” and Kent Parks’ “Finishing the Remaining 29% of World Evangelization.” Ida Glaser writes about “How Should Christians Relate to Muslims,” and an anonymous author writes on “What Is the Islamic Caliphate and Why Should Christians Care?” All that and more at…

https://www.lausanne.org/category/content/lga/2017-05

Now you can navigate to…

http://churchfuel.com/church-for-the-rest-of-us/

and get Church for the rest of us for free! Learn about 5 things we must do in our preaching, five mistakes church planters make, “thinking like a missionary,” and much more. There are 12 lessons — and it’s completely free.

Good Neighbor Insurance has a new series on Traveling With A Disability. They have been publishing helpful links, tips and guidance, so far covering travel with a disability, mobility and physical disabilities, deaf and hearing impairment, and plan to publish articles on blindness, cognitive disabilities, and much more.
They’d love feedback as well to make the guide better, esp. by experienced travelers.

https://www.gninsurance.com/blog/news-and-helpful-links/traveling-with-a-disability-pt-1/