Brigada Today
13 of December, 1996
Now with 4217 Participants!
News and Notes about Brigada, Your Gateway to Missions Networking!
[Pass this issue to a friend! To subscribe, see instructions at end.]
In this issue....
AD2000 CITIES DATABASE LIVE AND ONLINE
6500 CITIES AWAIT! -- Have you
ever wanted to know about a city in Chad? or find out if there are
Christians in Perm, a former penal city of the USSR? 5 years ago, no one
even had a list accessible to the missions community. But now you can,
thanks to the hard work of a dedicated group of volunteers in the Brigada
family! About a year ago, they were kind enough to bring me into their
development group so I could "copy the mail." What I've noticed over these
past months is tons of dedication and passion for bringing to the
missions community the very best information possible on urban centers --
so that God could be glorified and cities reached for him. So now, after
"copying the mail" for months, I can tell you they're finally ready to "go
public!"
Simply go to
http://www.xc.org/brigada/adcities and follow the
instructions. You'll find some simple statistics on the current status of
the church in that community, if it is known. And you'll also be shown
great pointers for additional information. I'm currently helping a local
church plan a pre-search trip into a Muslim nation - we leave on Jan. 4,
as a matter of fact - so I just started clicking and, before you know it,
I was sending very helpful URLs to the trip participants, thanks to the
hard work these guys have done connecting all this together.
The next step for the team is to enable people to attach additional URLs
right there on the web site - automatically. That'll be great, because
then the resources will grow exponentially as we all pitch in. Also,
they're very eager to know which people groups live in what cities. If
you're interested in helping them take the adcities engine to the next
level, discussions on the ongoing development will be linked through the
brigada-cities conference. To join, just send a note to
hub@xc.org 
with
the following line in the message text:
subscribe brigada-cities
There are also opportunities to volunteer to become part of the ongoing
development team or to do the basic database entry. The team desperately
needs two people who are database literate, can master ACCESS and give some
hours each week to entry of data. Also needed are "friendly face" folks
who are reasonably technically gifted but just good "people persons."
To volunteer, join the brigada-cities conference above and throw your name
into the hat by sending your message to
brigada-cities@xc.org. Among those
monitoring are Viv Grigg, Co-chairman, AD2000 Cities Network.
Now let's back away and look at this from a big higher altitude. What this
project proves is that motivated, highly passionate men and women can seize
the day and utilize technology to make practical, useful information
available to us all. We give praise to the Lord for their hours and
hours of time invested to make this dream a reality. Thanks to Viv,
Jonathan, John, Leland, Matthew, Aubrey, and others! (And thanks for
letting me read your mail through the months!
) We urge you to stop by
their habitat and set the web wheels in motion! You'll be glad you did!
Once again, to see their site, set your browser to:
http://www.xc.org/brigada/adcities
LEARNING TO PRAY WITH POWER FOR EXTRAORDINARY EXPLOITS!
Organizers of
the highly successful "Praying Through the Window" thrusts in 1993 and 1995
are now calling for prayer leaders everywhere to come together in Colorado
Springs for a special conference entitled, "Praying With Power: Empowering
Ordinary People for Extraordinary Exploits," February 12 - 15, 1997.
Beverly Pegues, Coordinator of the Christian Information Network, recently
wrote, "This practical training conference is designed to equip believers
to pray effectively and to empower teams to pray on the field." Convened
by C. Peter Wagner of the A.D. 2000 United Prayer Track, nearly 40 prayer
specialists from around the world will speak, among them Raju Abraham
(India), Dora Akuetteh (Ghana), Asuncion Arimany (Guatemala), and many,
many more. Other presenters include Luis Bush, Ted Haggard, Cindy Jacobs,
Jim Montgomery, John Robb and still others. In addition, Fred Markert of
YWAM is coordinating the training session for prayer journeyers and team
leaders. Ten other sessions feature such topics as "The Move of the Holy
Spirit in the 10/40 Window," "Church Planting Strategies," "Focus on
Prayer: Unreached Peoples in the 10/40 Window," "Home-Based Intercessory
Prayer Modeled," "How to Get Your Church Involved," and "Strategic-Level
Warfare Prayer." Audio and video tapes of each session will be available
after the conference. Registration for "Praying With Power" is $75. For a
brochure or more information or to register, contact the Christian
Information Network, To register, call (719) 522-1040, fax (719) 548-9000,
or E-mail
73422.3471@compuserve.com. And now you can check the www at
http://www.christian-info.com To retrieve a mailer with
complete details,
send email to
hub@xc.org with only the following line in the text of the
message:
get brigada extraordinary
DEVELOPING THE CHURCH AS A MISSIONS TRAINING LAB
I know that within
our PACE Projects (in conjunction with Envision '96), we're trying to
empower the church as a contributor in the training of missionaries. Well
now Bill Taylor, who heads up the World Evangelical Fellowship Missions
Commission, has volunteered to pull together a listing and analysis of
tools and resources to help local churches pull it off. If you are a local
church doing missionary training - or if you know one who is - please
contact Bill at
74742.133@Compuserve.com or better yet, send him a set of
any 'working models' or training materials at 4807 Palisade Drive
Austin, TX 78731
Bill, can we count on a summary here for Brigada??? Thanks! This is a
very critical area. For each of our new PACE Projects, we're suggesting
that the missionaries from the on-site team invest training time in the
"local church lab," the primary or lead "advocate church." So your question
is top strategic from our vantage point!
HOW'S YOUR GERMAN? ...AND YOUR TURKISH? ... AND THE TWO TOGETHER?
Here's a chance for a German teacher to earn $5/hour plus the highly
favored resident's permit in Elazig, Turkey. Interested? Write Dan at
100114.3457@CompuServe.COM.
GERMAN REACH OUT MISSION CONFERENCE 'COLORFUL, DIVERSE, EFFECTIVE'
Word on the autobahn is that the Reach Out '96 Mission Conference in Fürth
(Oct 2 - 5, 1996) was a big success. It featured George Otis, Douglas
Layton, John MacFarlane and Hartwig Henkel and was, according to German
sources, "Colorful, diverse and effective." Chris van den Assem wrote to
Brigada, "This conference was a real break-through! Our thanks first of
all goes to the Lord of the Harvest Himself who was present in power, to
the speakers and the worship team who poured themselves out AND to the
many who greatly sacrificed behind the scenes to make it all possible. It
was well worth the effort." This event sets the stage for "Reach Out `97
Missions Festival," May 16 - 19, 1997 in Wackersdorf, Bayern. The focus
there will be "Reaching the Unreached Target Group: The New Generation!"
Among others, the speakers will be Luis Bush of the AD 2000 Missions
Movement and John MacFarlane of Nehemiah, Nürnberg, Germany. For more
information, write Chris van den Assem, Arise and Build Ministries, at
abm.vfa@t-online.de.
ADOPT-A-PEOPLE CONFERENCE HEADS TOWARD GATEWAY PEOPLES CONSULTATION
Don't forget that we're "on the hunt" for contact people for the gateway
people cluster groups. This call for information givers stems from a
meeting held on October 24th, 1996, when representatives of sending
agencies, service agencies, and adopting churches, all involved in the
Adopt-A-People movement, met together in Colorado Springs for the purpose
of reconciliation, assessment of progress, and strategic planning for
revitalizing the Adopt-A-People mobilization effort.
Meeting in an atmosphere full of awe at God's power to accomplish beyond
human comprehension, the delegates shared both exciting and sobering
perspectives on the status and progress of the Adopt-A-People movement over
the past seven years, recognizing that in their small gathering only a
small portion of the agency community, and an even tinier fraction of
Christ's church, was represented. Interspersed with times of prayer and
repentance, the delegates heard and responded to reports on progress of the
Adopt-A-People Movement from denominational church leaders, independent
church leaders, mission agencies, and others.
In response to what was shared, several key decisions and forward-looking
commitments were made:
- It was recognized that the purpose of the Adopt-A-People Movement is to:
- motivate Christians' hearts, minds and actions toward the
least reached,
- find those who want to be involved,
- link those with a common love for a particular least reached
people group,
- serve those who become involved, as they pursue caring and
adventurous relationships for the glory and adoration of
Jesus Christ.
- They also agreed to form four initial task forces to continue their dialog
and accomplish their goals:
- Roles and Functions task force, completing an initial
assessment by November 30, 1996;
- Adoption Guidance Program Editing task force, with editing
complete by November 30, 1996;
- Gateway/Cluster Advocates Consultation Planning task force,
for consultation to be held before April 17, 1997;
- Information Sources & Sharing task force, with initial
recommendations and results by November 30, 1996.
- Finally, they agreed to meet again in February 1997, to evaluate the work
of these task forces and their overall progress toward effective cooperation.
If you'd like to suggest someone as a contact person for a particular
gateway people, send your ideas to
jhanna@cproject.com. Here are a list
of people groups still needing representatives at the consultation:
| Gateway People | Affinity Block |
| |
| Other | Arab World |
| Saharan Berber | Arab World |
| Shilha Berber | Arab World |
| Sudan Arab | Arab World |
| Dioula | Sub-Saharan African |
| Gur | Sub-Saharan African |
| Malinke | Sub-Saharan African |
| Pygmy | Sub-Saharan African |
| Sahel-Cha | Sub-Saharan African |
| Other | Turkic Peoples |
| Assamese | Indo-Iranians or Indo-Aryans of South Asia |
| Hindko | Indo-Iranians or Indo-Aryans of South Asia |
| Jat | Indo-Iranians or Indo-Aryans of South Asia |
| Kond | Indo-Iranians or Indo-Aryans of South Asia |
| Konkani | Indo-Iranians or Indo-Aryans of South Asia |
| Tamil Moor | Indo-Iranians or Indo-Aryans of South Asia |
| Tharu | Indo-Iranians or Indo-Aryans of South Asia |
| Tulu | Indo-Iranians or Indo-Aryans of South Asia |
| Lu | Thai/Dai Peoples |
| Shan | Thai/Dai Peoples |
| Chinese-Hui | Sino-Tibetan Peoples of E. Asia / Himalayas |
| Gurung | Sino-Tibetan Peoples of E. Asia / Himalayas |
| Hmong | Sino-Tibetan Peoples of E. Asia / Himalayas |
| Magar | Sino-Tibetan Peoples of E. Asia / Himalayas |
| Manipuri | Sino-Tibetan Peoples of E. Asia / Himalayas |
| Batak | Malay Peoples |
| Borneo-Kalimantan | Malay Peoples |
| Javanese | Malay Peoples |
| Malay-Sumatra | Malay Peoples |
| Other | Malay Peoples |
| Philippine Tribal | Malay Peoples |
| Sulawesi-C | Malay Peoples |
| Other | Eurasian Peoples |
| Siberian/Arctic | Eurasian Peoples |
| Jews | Jewish |
| New Guinea | Other |
| S. American Indigenous | Other |
IT'S NOT TO LATE TO TIE IN WITH TIE
(TENTMAKERS 2ND INT'L CONGRESS)
Catch four days of workshops covering Regional areas such as the Arab
World, the Asian World and the Ex-communist World. Follow up workshops
deal with the people and the opportunities in each of these regions. Other
workshops deal with the use of Technology in Tentmaking, Business, problems
and Answers; Entrepreneurship and the Tentmaker; Pastoral Care of
tentmakers: and the Biblical and Practical Competencies needed for
Tentmaking. Registration forms and further information can be obtained from
the TIE USA office at
tie@gati.wa.com or at the Australian address of
100244.2116@Compuserve.Com.
GLOBAL GLIMPSE GIVING GLOBAL HOPE
About 30 people made commitments to
Christ when a missions team visited an Akha village in Myanmar. The
village head man, however, threatened to kill team members if they ever
returned. The group prayed for him and returned a few days later to find
that the head man's own wife had become a believer. Now more than 100
people worship the One True God in that village. There are 365,000 Akha
spread across southern China, Burma and Laos.
(Source: December Advance Newsletter Copyright © 1996, Kainos Press,
70420.1057@compuserve.com or
http://www.xc.org/brigada/advance/advindex.html )
Global Glimpse is
assembled each week by John Hanna, Caleb Project, Littleton, CO.
UPDATE ON MRS. RALPH WINTER
Rick Wood writes that Mrs. Winter
continued to face additional challenges with "a fungal infection which they
have treated. Recently she developed pneumonia, but was strong enough to be
released from the convalescent center and has returned home. She will
continue to be treated for the pneumonia while at home." Rick and Dr.
Winter ask that we continue praying for her complete recovery.
WE GET MAIL
Thanks to one individual who wrote this past week to
admit his initial suspicions of Brigada. "I have a pessimistic view of
principally volunteer-type endeavors," wrote the Brigada participant, "...
but Brigada seems to be thriving." On behalf of the 4000+ volunteers who
are together making Brigada a success, we say a big 'Thanks!' There are
several who help Brigada Today keep happening - and they include:
- Global Glimpses: John Hanna, Caleb Project,
jhanna@cproject.com
- ADVANCE: Mark A. Kelly, Kainos Press,
70420.1057@compuserve.com
- Web Tech: 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
- ... as well as many regional contributors, such as Kerstin Hack
100711.2622@CompuServe.COM in Germany.
Many of these have been doing their jobs behind the scenes now for months
and in a couple of cases, we're coming up on years! We don't often blow
their horns - because that's not why they're working... but we are all
very thankful for the choice they've made to sacrifice time and energy
for the Brigada dream. We are all direct recipients of their labor - and
we hope and pray that unreached peoples everywhere will be indirect
recipients as time goes on! God bless you all!
TO SUBSCRIBE TO BRIGADA TODAY, send email to
hub@xc.org
with only the following message:
subscribe brigada
TO UNSUBSCRIBE, send email to
hub@xc.org with 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- Brigada Website: Bob Mayhew, Brigada Volunteer,
mayhew@xc.org
- 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!
13 of December, 1996
| "If you've been asked to lead, you've been asked to serve." |
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| Doug Lucas DLucas@TeamExpansion.org
| Phone: +1 (513) 244 8149
|
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| PO Box 4100
| FAX: +1 (513) 244 8430 |
| Cincinnati, OH 45204 USA
| Organization: Team Expansion |