Brigada Today
29 of December, 1995

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Now with over 1600 Participants
and we just turned 9 months old Dec. 21st!

News and Notes about Brigada, Your Gateway to Missions Networking!
[Pass this issue to a friend! To subscribe, see instructions at end.]

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In this issue....

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ASSIGNED TO TOKYO??? BETTER DOUBLE YOUR MONEY!

Literally! Did you see the Associated Press release on the world's most expensive cities? Tokyo tops the list at being just double of what it would cost to live in New York City. Osaka is right up there, just shy of its nearby leader... then the list drops down to cities like Beijing (at 130% of NYC), Shanghai (at 127%), and Taipei (118%). See the whole list on Associated Press Online, Dec. 20, 2pm press release, Compuserve, where it is copyrighted. :-) Thanks to Chris Bushnell ChrisBushnell@XC.Org for pointing it out!

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SO.... WILL WE "FINISH" THE TASK BY 2000?

Well, that's the hot debate. My take on the discussion (which, along with a month's wages for New York City, will get you through 2 weeks of life in Tokyo :-) ) is that we have several "reality check" types who are saying, "Based on past performance, there ain't no way!" They're afraid churches will get sold on the year 2000 as a benchmark and when it doesn't happen (either the missiological or the JP2000 measure of "reached"), those congregations will feel "burned", then withdraw support from a cause which "failed" to reach its starry-eyed goals. On the other side of the discussion are the "pie-in-the-sky visionaries" who are saying, "Well now wait a minute... Do we serve the God of Gideon or what???!!!" They're thinking that with all the prayer movements and networking and attention toward the least reached, maybe ... just maybe we could at least have a "seed" church planted in each remaining significantly large least evangelized people group. So where do you stand??? Somewhere in between? Probably. Odds are you'd like to see the JP2000 goal reached, but don't want churches to lose all hope if it's not, right? So what's the implication? We need to speak clearly about the fact that this goal is merely a peg to hang our hats on for the next five years... but if it's not completed by that time, (assuming the Lord tarries) that doesn't mean our time is up! If there are still, say, 843 groups without even a seed church of 100, we'll all snap our fingers and say, "Rats!" But we can't throw in the towel. On January 1, 2001, we'd better say, "Okay -- show me the list of 843 remaining groups and let's finish this for the Son of God!" And by the way, we're all hoping that someone will be helping those seed churches (the ones with 100 members each, remember?) to reach the rest of their group for Christ too! So ... maybe it'll take us until 2010... or 2020... or 2030... who knows. But God's not slow in returning just because he's piddling. He wants all men (and women!) everywhere to repent! Let's hope He tarries long enough for us to connect a few more lines on our graphs, gang!!! :-)

(And, . . . thanks to John N. and others for all the great mail on this issue, gang. Unfortunately, at this point, we'd better start saying that we might not be able to respond personally to all of it! :-) )

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HAVE YOU SENT YOUR "CONFERENCES" LATELY?

If not, it's time. Send email to hub@xc.org (not to brigada@brigada.org!!! :-) ) with only the word "conferences" in the text of the message and you'll get a list of all the Brigada conferences (and others) being served by the XC.org hub computer. Some boast memberships of 100+ (brigada-orgs-uscwm-robby, brigada-cities and brigada-prayer-mobilizers), 150+ (brigada-orgs-missionmobilizers, brigada-orgs-teamex, and brigada-peoples-kazakh), 200+ (brigada-peoples), 300+ (brigada-pubs-gcowenews, brigada-pubs-globalprayerdigest), 400+ (brigada-pubs-missionfrontiers), along with this conference of over 1600 participants. And there are dozens of others with smaller but no less significant memberships! Explore and stay in touch today! And... send this Brigada Today to a friend and pass around the networking message!

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IMAGINE A DAY WHEN YOU CAN GET THIS STUFF VIA A WORLDWIDE WEB INTERFACE!

Just think about it. Imagine you're a participant in Brigada-peoples and you know you remember a message about the Jumanji people of East Africa :-) , but you can't for the life of you remember who sent it in or when! You jump on the worldwide web interface to Brigada-peoples and use the "review posts" screen to look back over subjects and sources, just like you would on a usenet news group! And in minutes, boom! there it is! You've got your info. on Jumanji and you didn't have to construct a single "command" to hub@xc.org!!! What's more, the moderator of your conference loves it, since the www interface shielded the user from possible mistakes in the command structure (which bounce to the moderator!!! )! Well take heart, gang! Doug Lucas and Bob Mayhew received a Christmas present from Jonathan Marsden this past week and it consisted of none other than a beta test version for the above!!! Imagine being able to interactively see the file list and automate processes like "get"! It's pretty much done! Unfortunately, since Jonathan's a thorough computer programmer, he won't let us release the address yet, but hang on gang.... it won't be long!!! This has got to be one of the most requested features in Brigada! An automated "subscribe" command from the worldwide web, automated "unsubscribes", automated everything, including info, who, the works!!!! Thanks for the midnight candle-burning Jonathan!!! :-) Cool!!!

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FOLLOW-UP TO "PEOPLE GROUP CONSULTANT GETS NEW LIFE"

Last week we reminded Brigada participants that the People Group Consultant (PGC) stands ready to serve at http://www.xc.org/pgc.html on the worldwide web. But we failed to point out that those with non-graphical interfaces viewing the worldwide web can see "through the window" just fine too! The same address works for *non* graphical WWW browsers such as Lynx 2.3.7beta and 2.4.2. In addition, those without worldwide web access can use the "search" capability as well! Just send email to hub@xc.org with only the word, "search" followed by the people group you'd like to research. You can also send a more complex command like, "search Brazil sbcstatus=A", where "sbcstatus=A" will restrict your search to only those people groups thought to be among the "least evangelized" in the world. (By the way, "sbcstatus" is shorthand for Southern Baptist Conference Status, which relates to John Gilbert and his office and their original efforts to use this data primarily in conjunction with the Foreign Mission Board. Now that they've shared it, you could replace sbcstatus with simply, "status", and still be relevant!) By including the country after the word search, you further restrict your listing to people groups found in a particular political entity. Using these non-graphical approaches, just about anyone with email access or any INTERNET gateway should be able to hook up to the PGC. Keep in mind that the PGC will only be as good as the data we feed it! So if your church or group has "adopted" a people group, make sure you send word to Brigada-peoples@xc.org to "post" your intentions so others will either be able to network with you (if they're looking to partner) or choose another group (if they're searching for one which hasn't been targeted yet)! (Thanks, Jonathan, for the suggestion to confirm PGC availability to non-graphical interfaces!)

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FOLLOW-UP ON "RED OCTOBER" HUNT -AIMS LOCATED!

Thanks to those who participated in the AIMS www page scavenger hunt for October "Praying Through the Window" info!! "Thomas P. Deeke" 102333.2203@compuserve.com, Christopher Smith cksmith@infi.net, Ken Lane klane@netcom.com, and Bob Mayhew Mayhew@XC.Org found the new address at: http://www.aims.org/AIMS/The10-40WindowProject/SubMain.html or http://www.aims.org/AIMS/The10-40WindowProject/1040.html or simply... http://www.aims.org/ . Make sure you save a copy in your "bookmarks" or "hot list" or "favorite places."

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VOTE... "THE TOP 10 THINGS GOD WAS DOING IN 1995 AMONG THE UNREACHED?"

David Dougherty would like to know! He's the moderator of Brigada-Peoples and is conducting a kind of "straw poll" there, where some 200 people have gathered to listen! To send in your opinion, join the conference by sending email to hub@xc.org with
subscribe brigada-peoples

as the only two words in the message text, then email your opinion to brigada-peoples@xc.org in a normal email message. (Remember, please don't simply reply to this message. You'll need to join the Brigada-peoples conference to be heard!)

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FOLLOW-UP TO "HOW WILL WE KNOW WHEN WE'VE "REACHED" A PEOPLE GROUP"

Last week, we reported that according, to the AD2000 & Beyond International Office, for the purposes of the Joshua Project 2000 emphasis, AD2000 & Beyond will consider a particular people group as being reached "when a reproducing fellowship of 100 members is established." Remember that this "definition" isn't really a definition at all (and, by the way, it isn't a Brigada Today definition for sure!), but rather, a means of classifying people groups in the JP2000 thrust, which is only one prong of the AD2000 & Beyond emphasis during the coming five years. More specifically, this doesn't at all imply that the AD2000 & Beyond Int'l Office will then consider the group "reached" in the missiological sense. (We didn't ask for their opinion on that! :-) ) Naturally, if there are 4 million people making up a particular group, for instance, a congregation of merely 100 people will seem like a drop in the bucket when it comes to reaching the entire group for Christ. But at that point, the "National Initiatives" and other thrusts will kick in to help the new church of 100 individuals, as well as others, reach that group for Christ.

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30 DAYS!

Imagine a prayer meeting that started with around 25 people gathering together, and then growing so mightily that 4 years later it spread to include over 5 million people praying for the Muslim world. 30 Days Muslim Prayer Focus is this prayer meeting! Coinciding with the Islamic month of prayer and fasting, known as Ramadan or Ramazan, 30 Days Muslim Prayer Focus is a prayer event calling the Body of Christ to pray for the Muslim peoples of the world. The prayer event is organized to pray for greater breakthroughs for the Gospel among Muslims, an increased commitment to prayer by Christians, and for more missionaries to be released to work among Muslims. Using a daily prayer guide, which focuses on a different aspect of the Muslim world each day, Christians all around the world have a sense of being united together in their intercession. The prayer guide contains up to date information, statistics and testimonies from around the world. The guide includes prayer focuses on leaders, children, refugees, nations and peoples such as Algeria, Turkey, Indonesia, the Barusho of Pakistan, Muslims in America, and much more. ... The 1996 edition of the 30 Days prayer guide has been translated into 21 languages and distributed from 24 regional offices worldwide. It is estimated that over 5 million Christians will participate in the 1996 event. In addition to the adult edition, a special children's prayer guide is also available. For more information or to obtain a copy of the prayer guide, contact the source closest to you:


Paul Filidis
PO Box 26479
Colorado Springs CO 80936, USA
FAX: 1 (719) 380 0936

Karl Mueller
PO Box 30024
Westbank, BC V4T 2G7, Canada
FAX: 1 (604) 768 3707

Bob Hall
PO Box 31146
Ilam, Christchurch 8030, New Zealand
FAX: 64 (03) 342 8410

Keith Greig
PO Box 739
Buderim Qld 4556, Australia
FAX: 61 (074) 769621

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HERE BY POPULAR REQUEST, OUR BRIGADA "NEW YEAR'S EVE MESSAGE"

Yesterday, we placed a 5k message on the Brigada-orgs-teamex conference about New Years and the new start it can give. Included were comments on
  1. my sons' game of "Treking" [sic]
  2. your 1995 possibly being a trial by fire
  3. the new lease on life you can take out in 1996
If you haven't yet seen the note and would like to get it, just send email to hub@xc.org (NOTE: Please don't send to brigada@brigada.org and please don't just reply to this message; for the command to work, you need to write to hub@xc.org. Very important Ochen vazhna Muy importante Whatever language you speak... fill in the blank... Commands to hub, messages to the conference.), with only the words
get brigada newyears

in the body text of the message. Happy reading... and Happy New Year!!!

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

TO UNSUBSCRIBE (Argh!!! ), send email to hub@xc.orgwith this line in the text:
unsubscribe brigada

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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
People of the Week: Justin Long, GEM/Barrett Office, JDavidLong@aol.com
ADVANCE: Mark A. Kelley, Kainos Press, 70420.1057@compuserve.com
Web Wizard: Bob Mayhew, Brigada Volunteer, mayhew@xc.org
Web Art: Patti Mayhew, pmayhew@discover.net
Technical Development: Jonathan Marsden, MAFxc jonathan@xc.org
Communications: Revis Ann Massey, rmassey@post.cis.smu.edu
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!

29 of December, 1995

"He who seeks to lead must seek to serve"
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