Brigada Today
13 of October, 1995
Now with 1150 Participants!
News and Notes about Brigada, Your Gateway to Missions Networking!
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In this issue....
DOWN UNDER PRAYER FOR THE 100 GATEWAY CITIES
They're at work in New
Zealand, praying through the Window! Bob Hall wrote, "Thousands of the
prayer pamphlets have been distributed (adult as well as children's
version), about 160 Light The Window videos have been sold and another 120
or so given away and about six boxes of the Gateway Cities books have been
sold. ... We have a national Christian radio station here in New Zealand,
Radio Rhema. Each weekday morning I get to pray live for that day's Gateway
Cities... Later in the morning they also provide detailed information on
each city for that day. There are lots of prayer groups, churches and
Christian schools involved in this prayer programme here. ... In faxing in
for a copy of the CBN video one woman wrote: "Our church has really caught
the vision after showing the Light The Window video. People are
spontaneously praying and weeping for the cities after watching the video.
People who never normally pray aloud are interceding with tears and earnest
prayers. Praise the Lord!" Very encouraging. I shared that on air yesterday
morning and then this morning was able to follow it up with the Singapore
testimony from the most recent "Brigada Tonight" [
]. By the way, there
are also some eight prayer teams or so from New Zealand going into Gateway
Cities this month, including a team of 40 to Calcutta. Not bad for a nation
of only 3.4 million!" (Thanks to Bob Hall
b.hall@soci.canterbury.nz for
that update!)
AND THEY'RE PRAYING IN SCHOOLS!
"Great news regarding the response! I
have distributed the 10/40 calendar to my 7th grade homeroom and to all the
teachers in my school. We have 650+ students and 50 on our faculty. Our
church is also participating in the prayer calendar. Praise God for the
opportunity." Thanks to Martha DiPalma at the Out-of-Door Academy
Martha_DiPalma@ODA.edu.
EATING THROUGH THE 100 GATEWAY CITIES
Thanks to John Hanna for this
delicious idea: "Another possibility for your church to participate in the
Praying Through the Window project: Eating the Food of the 100 Gateway
Cities. (If you're already planning Prayer-And-Fasting for the 100 Gateway
Cities, I'm not sure you can use this strategy...)
Organize a small committee to divide up the restaurant listings in the
phone book and call each ethnic food restaurant to see if they serve food
like that of one of the 100 Gateway Cities. Many larger cities will have
food specialties from a number of Chinese, East Asian (Thai, Cambodian...),
Middle Eastern, and even African cities. (Believe it or not, Somali food
is quite good and available in most major US cities.)
Then schedule a time to go out to eat, (lunch or dinner) at each of these
restaurants, hopefully close to the day the city is scheduled in October.
Post the schedule and a sign-up sheet in your church, and have the
opportunity announced and listed in the church bulletin.
After eating, schedule a prayer time for the Gateway cities for that day.
Innovative restaurateurs will ask their host or waiter / waitress for
cultural clues from the Gateway city!"
Thanks John!
FROM THE "I WISH I COULD REMEMBER HOW TO SPELL PEOPLE'S NAMES" DEPT
Last
week, we inadvertently (what does that mean... inadvertently... the truth is
we blew it!
) misspelled Midge Crossan's name as Midge Crossman.
Sorry Midge!!! Please gorfive us... I mean forgive us!
WEB PAGES AND OTHER STUFF YA GOTTA' HAVE
Want news from Turkey? You can
get it in Turkish or English by emailing
trh@netcom.com and asking for it.
It's free.
Or for Asmara, send email to
listserver@relay.doit.wisc.edu
with only the line
subscribe eritrea-l your_name
in the body of your message (thanks to Greg Slade
camsoc@xc.org).
Maybe you've got a hankering for Azerbaijani info? Try
http://www.tcp.co.uk/~partners
"JUST HEARD ABOUT THIS COOL TAPE" DEPT.
Here's a tape that should be
available starting Monday, called, "Make a Difference: Mobilizing Your
Church to New Mission Vision." Sounds great and judging from the stuff
Proclamedia has put out before, it should be great. We've already ordered
ours by calling 719-380-0505. Also you can call 800-426-1342 to be put in
"The Loop" from Intercristo, Berry Publications, World Christian, and
others. Apparently this is some kind of communication loop for missions
mobilization announcements and resources, especially as they relate to
placement and vision. We saw it in a brochure from Bill and Amy Stearns
regarding their "What's After October?" Seminar mentioned below.
WANNA COME TO CINCINNATI?
Now's the time! Bill and Amy Stearns are doing
a "What's After October?" Seminar that they've been cooking up for quite
some time. It's finally here! ... in Cincinnati, Oct. 21. Save your
pennies because the cost is a whoppin' (are you ready for this?) $10! I
love it! These "wanna-get-rich" seminar leaders host these one-day deals
for $95 or more... and along come Bill and Amy and Faith Bible Church and
say, ... "Well...., is $10 too much?" I love it. Folks, this is a great
model for the rest of us. Let's keep our stuff affordable where possible.
For information, call the host: Faith Bible Church. 513-489-1114.
TAX TIPS FOR MISSIONARIES
This past week, we were referred to the "Weber
Case" from this past summer, still being ruled upon, but apparently already
affecting certain Christian missions. I called with fear and trembling to
the EFMA headquarters and asked for someone who might be able to help me
figure out its impact for our own mission, Team Expansion. They referred me
to Capin Crouse (Indianapolis, IN, Tel: 317-882-1514, email:
rebourne@aol.com) and sure enough, those guys were on the ball. They're
specialists in helping non-profits like mission organizations with tax and
accounting problems and opportunities. Bottom line? John Butler there
said, "Generally, it [(The Weber Case)] should not affect most mission
organizations, since in our experience most ordained missionaries are
reported on Form W-2. Their reporting obligation will not be affected.
Mission organizations which report compensation to ordained missionaries on
Form 1099, however, should be concerned. The reasoning in the court's
decision will make it harder to use Form 1099 for most missionaries, and
ministers of churches." So there you have it folks. If your mission agency
or organization is using 1099s at the end of the tax year, better run... not
walk... to Capin Crouse for advice. By the way, those guys feed their
families from the money they get from people in our situations who ask them
questions and depend on them for answers. Expect to pay just a tad for tax
help.
FUNNY STORIES YA GOTTA READ
(And I promise... no references to anyone of
color here!
) Thanks to David Nesmith
dmis@gmi.org for forwarding the
hilarious
story about the last person on earth without Windows 95.
You're
going to roll in the floor. I just read it this morning and I sat here in
my upstairs trying to keep from waking up the whole family with my belly
laughs! Send email to
hub@xc.org with only the following line:
get brigada last-without-windows95
THIS WEEK'S GLOBAL GLIMPSE
Algerian ethnic Berbers are coming to Christ
through dreams, visions, and God's Word. "One of my friends died in a
traffic accident. The next night, I dreamed that we drove to a bright
gleaming city. Later, on guard duty in the desert, a white bird flew by and
hovered over me, watching me. I had never seen anything like it. Later, in
Switzerland, I saw a picture of that bird in a Christian bookshop - it was
the Holy Spirit. Then when I saw a video about the heavenly Jerusalem, I was
amazed to recognize the city which I saw in my dream about my dead friend!"
Source: DAWN Europa FRIDAYFax, October 13th, 1995, quoting Ahmed Ait Ben
Youcef, in: Basileia Zeitung (Basileia Magazine), Oct. 1995.)
John Hanna,
Caleb Project, Littleton, CO
SIL CONFERENCE IN PUERTO RICO OPENS TODAY!
Thanks to representatives from
the Summer Institute of Linguistics, we'll see hispanics more involved in Bible
translation. They start a two-week conference today in Puerto Rico to
determine interest in missions and, more specifically, Bible translation.
In fact, they're hoping to establish "an actual organization and training
program for future Hispanic Bible translators/missionaries." Got a
Spanish-speaking person interested... or maybe you are one? Write Adelmo
Ruiz
adelmo.ruiz@sil.org or George Huttar
george.huttar@sil-org for more
info. Thanks guys.
WANT TO BUY A SMALL COUNTRY?
Apparently the Muslim world does. Read all
about it in the The Malawi Times, 6/9/93, p.1. Apparently, the Kuwaiti
government has pledged to grant $640 million to basically buy Malawi!
Christian Resource Ministries, headquartered in Malawi, is sending out
copies of the article, asking people to pray. There are reportedly two
conditions: A. The Malawi government should declare itself a Muslim state,
and B. Arabs should be allowed to open and run most businesses in the
country, and enable free (immigration). [Note from Doug: Hey, I don't make
this stuff up; I just report it!
And after all, ever hear the word,
"Crusades"? It was everything you're reading about here without the money,
except I guess we were the guys taking over.] According to the article,
apparently, "...the controversial point arises on how the government will be
Islamicized. Cabinet ministers and democratically-elected members of
Parliament are the ones shouldering the (burden) of how to convince the
entire nation, comprised of different denominations, to surrender the
country to Muslim domination." Would someone write these people and find
out if this is legit'? Where can we find this Malawi newspaper on the
INTERNET? First one there gets a share in a downtown restaurant, . . . as
long as you're Muslim. (Thanks to Chris Hart
102365.735@compuserve.com
for the forward.)
FROM "THE HONEYMOON'S OVER" DEPT., UZBEKISTAN
Open Doors reports that a
law has been passed to block the distribution of Christian literature.
Elements of the law:
- all literature must be checked by the KGB before it
can be imported;
- religious material printed in Uzbekistan must have the
permission of the Uzbek Muslim Council;
- foreigners carrying anti-Islamic
literature can be expelled.
Open Doors associates are advising them not to
import any more Christian literature, since all containers are being
thoroughly checked by customs. Evangelism is now forbidden; Christians may
not rent public buildings. Congregations may not register officially. The
church is free to hold services inside a church building, but all other
activities are forbidden. Local Christians believe all foreigners will be
gone within a few years; Open Doors work will have to go underground.
(Thanks to Justin Long at
JDavidLong@AOL.COM for this note in his
MissionWatch Report.)
"ADVANCE" RETREAT
If you downloaded and archived the
October "Advance",
you might want to get it one more time... since Mark has done a correction
in the blip about Mongolia. Once again, that's email to
hub@xc.org with
only this line:
get brigada advance.9510
Also, sorry that we
had added in an extra "e" in Mark Kelly's name!
KNOW ANY VENEZUELAN BELIEVERS?
If so, Rafael would like to meet them:
KRZI14@CPVOP3.pdv.com.
He's eager to start a Brigada conference among
Venezuelans.
ONE MORE FOLLOW-UP ON "SEEKING SIKHS"
Thanks to Michael Fast from the
great nation of Canada, who wrote, "Sorry about that but I think it is only
Americans who pronounce Sikh like "sick." The rest of the world, including
us up here in Vancouver, which is the second largest Sikh city in the World,
pronounce it as you first thought-"seek." Just to let you know your joke
did work out after all!!" Thanks Michael!
GOT AN OPPORTUNITY? WANT AN OPPORTUNITY?
Join Brigada-job-shop. And by
the way, they don't all have to be "salaried" jobs! The conference is
featuring volunteer and mission opportunities too.
Have a great week!
TO SUBSCRIBE TO BRIGADA TODAY, send email to
hub@xc.orgwith only the
following message:
subscribe brigada
TO UNSUBSCRIBE (Surely you jest!), send email to
hub@xc.orgwith this line
in the text:
unsubscribe brigada
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. Kelley, Kainos Press, 70420.1057@compuserve.com
- Web Wizard: Bob Mayhew, Brigada Volunteer, mayhew@xc.org
- Web Art: Patti Mayhew, c/o mayhew@xc.org
- Technical Development: Jonathan Marsden, CrossConnect jonathan@xc.org
- Compiler: 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!
13 of October, 1995
