Brigada Today
21 of September, 1996

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Now with 3595 Participants!
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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HUBMARKS

As we round the corner and head toward the 3600 mark, it occurred to us that today, Sept. 21, the Brigada family of networks is officially 18 months old. All of a sudden we realized that this translates into an average growth (in sheer number of participants) of just over 200 new members per month since our beginnings on March 21, 1995. Basically all of this growth has occurred through word of mouth... or should we say, word of "keyboard", since Brigada itself is a free service with no marketing budget. 99% of the promotion has been done by friends and "believers in the cause" of least reached peoples. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to all those who have forwarded Brigada Today issues to friends, as well as to those who have published info. about Brigada in their periodicals (especially to Mission Frontiers of the US Center for World Mission). Finally, thanks to all the conference moderators in the Brigada system. Since new conference participants aren't automatically subscribed to this "top level", in the end, it's up to the moderator to encourage all the subscribers in that discussion to join Brigada -- and for these and many other helpers, we give thanks! As a result, from this day forward, anyone who refers a new subscriber to us will hereby receive a total rebate on the next year's subscription to Brigada Today -- which won't even buy you a cup of coffee in your local cafe! :-)

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FREE CHRISTIAN MUSIC FOR MISSIONARIES

Get this!!! Music for Missions (MfM) pgarratt@mfm.ccc.gen.nz seeks "to bless and encourage missionaries - especially those in isolated or hostile environments - to help better equip them in personal (and public) praise, worship and service. We seek to do this by sending, without cost to the recipient, encouraging and challenging praise and worship style music cassettes that are available to ANY missionary who asks to be included." Here's the scoop. Five or six tapes are sent each year including a children's tape for Christmas to those who request it. Paul wrote to Brigada Today, "Currently, we post to about 2,600 missionaries of about 195 denominations and organisations, working in about 150 different countries. So the music can be learned, played and taught to local Christians, we send the wordsheet, with the guitar cords, for all songs. The letter with the tape is another vehicle for encouragement, with brief thoughts from the Word of God and a pastoral message from a former missionary." How do they afford to do it? MfM is a sponsorship activity. Paul explained, "While God is our supply, we also seek interested Christians who will sponsor a missionary or missionary family for $3.00 per month to 1 August, then $36.00 per year." However, he insisted that "There is NOT an obligation for the missionary to find a sponsor!" So gang, here's your change! If you know of other missionaries who you think might like to be included, please tell them about MfM's offer, and/or send Paul their names and addresses. Paul also adds, "Obviously, if you or someone you know would also like to sponsor them, then that would be even better!" :-) Contact pgarratt@mfm.ccc.gen.nz directly for further information. And Paul -- thanks, brother!!! Great service! Now we know the true meaning of "Southern Hospitality"... New Zealand style!!! :-) Don't forget to tell Paul where you heard about it! Maybe he'll dedicate his next CD to least reached peoples! :-)

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GOT ACCESS TO THE WEB? WANT A TRAVELING EMAIL ADDRESS? TRY HoTMaiL

Here's a new alternative for those wanting an anonymous email address or those computing from more than one location. Collect all your mail in one common set of folders on HoTMaiL. Point your web browser to http://www.hotmail.com/ -- but you probably could have figured that out on your own, right? Once you fill out the form (that doesn't ask for your credit card or social security number, by the way), you get a registration number emailed back to you -- which you then feed back into yet another form and ... presto-change-o ... you have a new email address. Just for fun, I'm douglucas@hotmail.com -- but you can name yourself anything you like... even, I suppose, ... if you want to set up a greeting card business, that is. Anyway, it's great for those who have to do email from various locations and various computers. Only trick is... you need web access . .. and you probably want it fee-free, since you compose online instead of offline. (That's a bit of a problem for all those "under the clock".) We thought at first that this would be great for missionaries working in sensitive areas . . . yet with web access . . . but then we realized that, even though all mail is stored on the HoTMaiL server and not on your own hard drive (attractive at first, right?), the text still has to pass through your internet server and phone line without protection... so once again, if there's anyone wanting to learn about how many baptisms you've had, they'd conceivably be able to do it. Still, . . . it's probably a bit safer than to store everything locally, assuming you're concerned about your computer being examined someday. 'Course then there's always a chance that some Muslim extremist will someday by 100% stock in HoTMaiL! :-) Try it -- it's a fun idea... and it's really lightning fast (but not as fast as the email program on your desktop). Full set of folders and full set of reply options.

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OTHER OPTIONS FOR "TRAVELING ADDRESSES"

Send email to info@pobox.com (subject and text are ignored) for information on POBox.com, a $15/year service that gives you a forwarding mail internet connection. (Thanks to "JohnN" at JohnN@pobox.com for the tip!) MAFxc does the same thing (with an xc.org address) for around $15/year as well... if you only want the traveling address and not email conferencing (they sell both services for $52/year). To receive more info. re: MAFxc send email to helpdesk@xc.org.

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MORE FREE LITERATURE - BUT THIS TIME IN SPANISH

Tryna Bahl is willing to share free literature in Spanish. Contact her at USA Lydia Fellowship Coordinator, 2140 Garden Terrace, Mt. View, CA 94040 or email tryna@bahl.com, fax: 415-969-5636, tel.415-964-7771. She can give 500 each of 3 prayer cards and 4 pamphlets. Write her for titles. Thanks Tryna!

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COMBINING THE ARTS IN MINISTRY, MOBILIZING THOSE CALLED TO MISSIONS

Songwriter and performer RuthAnn has recorded her first CD and will be doing a concert tour on the US mainland, Oct. 2nd through Oct. 23rd. This all began when she offered to do a concert to help raise support for YWAM volunteer staff, Karen Goodell. So as God has put on Karen's heart His desire to minister through the arts combined, they put together a night of live music, mime, and slide presentation. It was well received, and now God is opening doors for more concerts. Joining together in a divine way, RuthAnn's ministry focus to the hurting, and Karen's desire to mobilize those whom God is calling to serve or support missions. They believe God is desiring to mobilize the youth especially during this tour, and that God is raising up a new wave of young people to YWAM base in Kona, Hawaii. But they are a hurting generation of people, that God desires to minister to through RuthAnn's music and testimony.

The tour begins in Oct 2nd -10th in Los Angelos, California area, Pepperdine University; then up the coast Oct. 10th - 16th to Washington, then over to Billings, Montana by the 19th for a Youth Rally. They still hope to fill in some dates if anyone would like to host them, or provide a place to stay along there travels. Contact Karen before Oct 2nd when she leaves Kona: kvakaren@aol.com or contact Artie after Oct. 2nd: aexum@pepperdine.edu.

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WEBWATCH

Check out http://www.messianic.com/ for a look at a "virtual synagogue." And add http://www.hotbot.com to your bookmarks for search mechanisms. I did a search for "Doug Lucas" and found over 300 matches... including a "Doug Chang" from "Lucas Films"! :-) Thanks to Chris Hart of Brazil, IN, for the tips!

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GLOBAL GLIMPSE TOWARD THE HEAVENS!

More than 1,000 people came to Christ and 21 new churches were started in Cambodia when a team of student missionaries joined Cambodian believers in an evangelism project in June. The team's first stop was at a temple in Phnom Penh, where they circled the Buddha idol and claimed the country for Christ.
Source: Advance newsletter, Mark Kelly at 70420.1057@compuserve.com, Copyright (c) 1996, Kainos Press. http://www.xc.org/brigada/advance/advindex.html.
Global Glimpse is compiled each week by John Hanna, Caleb Project, Littleton, CO.

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NEW WEEKLY COLUMN BY JUSTIN LONG - QUICKQUOTE

Justin Long writes, "Context is important to understanding a statistic. 159,000 martyrs per annum sounds terrible (and is): but it works out to just 83 per million Christians. North America's 72,000 missionaries sounds tremendous--but it's only 302 per million, or 0.03% of North America's total Christian population. The figures show we're sending large numbers, but the context shows we could do a lot better." (Starting today, Justin Long, of David Barrett's GEM Communications, will be writing QUICKNOTE for Brigada Today readers! Look for it each week!

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OPERATION WORLDSKI

At long last, Operation World in Russian will be printed this autumn in Russia. For orders, please contact Pasha Damyan at "Bibles for all", Shpalernaya 60, block 1, St. Petersburg, Russia, Tel: 812 271 9102, Fax: 812 127 8646, or email janeb@omge.om.org.
Thanks for the tip, Jane Barlow!!!

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URGENT PRAYER REQUEST FOR A YWAM TEAM IN INDIA

On September 1, 150 men armed with machettes surrounded the premises occupied by a YWAM team in India. The mob had been incited by another religious group in an effort to chase them off. As the mob pressed in, someone at a key moment spoke up on the team's behalf and they decided to give them 30 days to leave. The team feels they should not leave and that their ministry work in the city is at stake. Much fruit has been seen in a previously unreached region and there is great potential for more. In addition to future of the work, the situation is very dangerous. In the past when violence has broken out between rival religious groups, people have lost their lives. As we near the end of the deadline at the end of this month, would you join us in prayer for this team? Please pray for: (Thanks to Donovan R. Palmer, of YWAM, DPalmer@xc.org for the request.)

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OOPS!!! FROM THE "BERMUDA TRIANGLE MAIL DEPARTMENT"

Last month we ran an announcement from Kimberly Hurst for the National Short-Term Mission Conference in Los Angeles, Jan 17-19. This week Kimberly writes, "I got about 40 requests for brochures...As I was emailing them to the guy that's building the data base, about 20 of them got lost, and I don't seem to have a record of the lost files." She KINDLY asks that everyone who contacted her concerning this conference please CONTACT HER AGAIN if at all possible at KJHurst@aol.com -- and please keep an eye out for floating email! :-)

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TO SUBSCRIBE TO BRIGADA TODAY, send email to hub@xc.org with only the following message:
subscribe 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
*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
*Brigada Customer Service Manager: Revis Ann Massey, RevisAnnMassey@xc.org
*Brigada Coordinator: 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!

21 of September, 1996

"If you've been asked to lead, you've been asked to serve."
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