Brigada Today
2 of May, 1997
Now with 5476 participants!!!
News and Notes about Brigada, Your Gateway to Missions Networking!
On the WorldWide Web, browse http://www.brigada.org
Compiled by Doug Lucas, Cincinnati, Ohio
In this issue....
PIT-STOP DENVER SETS THE PACE FOR LOUISVILLE!
What a weekend! Folks
came from points in Canada, Florida, Texas, Kansas, Minnesota... seemingly
from all over! Many had heard about Pit-Stop Denver through Brigada, . . .
others through brochures, others by word of mouth. Each of the 10
congregations met in general sessions and in small groups to focus on
developing their own strategic plans to launch a love affair with an
unreached people. Greg Fritz (Caleb Project), Steve Moore (Kingdom
Building Ministries), Eric Derry and Doug Lucas (Team Expansion), and
others shared ideas, planning approaches, and case studies on reaching the
unreached with the PACE approach. Everyone present received a notebook
full of tools and a diskette stuffed with templates and info. If you
missed Pit-Stop Denver, never fear!!! PACE Pit-Stops are coming to
Louisville, May 30-31! For more information, write Bill Reynolds at:
76152.2375@compuserve.com or see
http://www.brigada.org/pace. Join
those who are making a difference. And . . . yes . . . the rumor is
true... one group (headed by Bill Lewis of "Into all the World" ministry,
Ontario) is even planning a "prayer safari" to the Afari!
NOW YOU CAN "INTERNET PHONE" A NON-INTERNET USER!
I remember when
Penny and I (have I told you about my beautiful wife Penny??? See her
picture by clicking at
http://www.teamexpansion.org/mhty.htm used to try
to call back to the USA via ham radio from Montevideo, Uruguay. (I'm KB9ZAW
now; at that time I was N4HHU in case any of my old 1982 buddies are
listening.) If you've used ham radio, you'll no doubt identify with the
fact that, though those phone patches sounded like "Donald Duck voices" at
times, they were very comforting and reassuring. I talked with my Dad in
the hospital in Indianapolis, IN nightly during his hospitalization with
a heart attack in 1983. When it came to personally touching base . . . or
hearing someone's voice. . . there was nothing like ham radios and phone
patches.... until now, that is.
Now - enter Net2Phone. Using Net2Phone, you initiate a phone call by
logging onto the Internet, then calling up the free Net2Phone application,
entering your phone number (as if dialing it from within the USA), then
hitting the "enter" key! It's easy! Through the magic of the Internet,
Net2Phone's connection with a long distance service (that they own) starts
automatically dialing and connecting to your desired number... anywhere in
the world! So the person on the other end of the line no longer needs a
computer to talk to you!!! Hello grandma!
It was Wayne Penner
wpenner@nutecnet.com.br writing from Cuiabá, Brazil,
who first brought it to our attention. Wayne stated up front, "The
connection is not 100%, but the price compensates the lack of quality for
overseas users." The price is unbelievable. 1am-7pm (EST) - .15, 7pm-1am
(EST) - .10, and 800 numbers - Free! (Do you realize that overseas users
would never again have to chide me for not giving an alternative to
toll-free numbers???
Because from now on, with Net2Phone, they could
call them direct for free from anywhere in the world????) Sound too good
to be true? It did to me too. So I decided to check it out. I went to
http://www.net2phone.com like Wayne suggested (he doesn't work for them
by the way!
) and downloaded the software. Actually it isn't a big
download by today's standards. Within a few minutes, it was installed and
with a few clicks on some help screens (provided) I pretty much figured it
out. A few clicks later, I had dialed the toll-free number of our mission
office and was talking through the laptop from the Internet to our
secretary's voice! (Actually, it was her recorded voice on voice mail; But
Susy still sounds happy with the love of the
Lord even on voice mail!!!
) Bottom line? If you're overseas and you'd like to make
free toll-free calls, give this software a try.
You can also use your credit card to pay $25 at a time to buy what
Net2Phone calls "Debit Cards" to call anywhere in the world. Naturally,
if you're calling from a foreign location to within the USA, it's much
cheaper -- probably 10 cents/min. or so normally. If you're calling from
Algeria to Afghanistan, it's still cheaper than trying to use normal long
distance... probably $1.20/min. or something like that.
The caveat: You must have a multi-media computer with a modem/mic set-up.
In other words, you must be able to speak to your laptop and hear through
the speakers. But just about anything you buy from the current market will
let you do that.
So... happy phone-patching. From Uruguay, Penny and I never had it so
good!
BRIGADA MISSIONARY FAMILY SAYS THANKS!
Remember the family that
wanted to hear back from us as to a location that they should target to
find the "least reached people on earth?" Their request spawned the "final
frontier" file that is now posted in the Brigada archive. The guy wrote
this past week, "Dear Doug and Brigada Family, I downloaded the Brigada
file "finalfrontier" like it was a Christmas gift and I was five years old.
Inside was info better than my favorite GI Joe. Thanks for doing this
labor of love and thanks to the 33 people who took the time to share their
wisdom. From your list my wife and I have narrowed it down to two peoples
you suggested. Now it will be somewhat up to the mission agency we will be
going with, but they have shown great interest in sending us to the "final
frontier." I was encouraged to read the passion with which the 33
respondents advocated their people groups. I will keep you posted on our
progress. We have to sell our house and stuff and hope to be on the field
by the end of the year. (Don't worry we have much experience moving and
have lived overseas on four occasions so we think we can meet that
deadline.) Our support is all in. Praise the Lord. Blessings, John
Missionary Doe" Wow.
Exciting. So ... your "finalfrontier" file is
making a difference at least in this one family's life. They read it, took
it to the bank, and are pursuing your recommendations. Thanks Brigada
family! And thanks John Missionary Doe! We'll count on hearing from you
again! You're like... our "living link missionaries!"
BIBLE DISTRIBUTION IN CHINA NOT KEEPING UP WITH CHURCH GROWTH
Thanks
to Justin Long for updating us on Bibles and church growth in China. This
past week, he wrote, "...Many evangelicals estimate the Christian
population to be 40 to 60 million; yet at a maximum only 20 million
Chinese believers presently own a Bible of their own. So despite the
successes, the reality is that more than 20 to 40 million Chinese
believers still do not own a Bible and have little access to one. Millions
more spiritually interested seekers who want Bibles have even less access.
Worse, current Bible distribution is not even keeping up with the growth
rate of the church: according to the World Christian Encyclopedia (David B.
Barrett, ed.), 2.5 million new adherents are being added to the Chinese
church yearly (over 1.8 million through conversion alone). At this rate,
Dr. Barrett estimates the Christian church in China will have more than 90
million members by the year 2000 (and perhaps sooner). Without a massive
increase in current distribution rates, only 33 million believers will have
access to a Bible: 57 million will go without. The largest house church
group in China is a case in point. With 5 million adherents, 8,000
itinerating evangelists, and 200 missionaries in training, this movement
adds more than 500,000 converts each year, and needs 630,000 Bibles
annually.... Without Bibles, cults and false teachings will continue to be
major problems. Many inquirers feel unable to make decisions for Christ.
This highlights the urgent need for continuing supplies of Bibles from all
sources....
(15 April 1997, Contact: Justin Long, Global Evangelization
Movement/World Christian Encyclopedia,
Phone: (804) 355-1646, Fax: (804) 355-2016, Email:
GEM@xc.org, Web:
http://www.gem-werc.org
COOL TOOLS
Ever heard of "For Missionaries Only?" They do tapes and
books for missionaries (and others concerned for world ministry). Call them
at 800-272-2442 or fax them at 509-548-6585. They seem to have it all!
Acappella, Maranatha, Hosana/Integrity, Steve Green, GT & the Halo
Express, Christmas music, . . . the works! Most CDs are $4.75, and
Cassettes are $2.75, videos $8 average. Great prices. Great titles.
Or... headed to the mission field and you'd like to take you entire library
in a CD-ROM pouch??? Contact Logos Software for a catalogue. Just write
newswire@logos.com or check out
http://www.logos.com. Or call them at
800-87-logos or fax 360-675-8169. They've got zillions of electronic
books, commentaries, etc., Bible handbooks... and on-line Bibles. Fast.
Handy. Small. Lose the 4-inch thick books and put dozens of them on one CD!
And Jerry
jerryk@bf.org has finished the
list of sources for ordering
Bibles! (Thanks for following through, Jerry!) Thanks to the whole
Brigada family for joining in on responses. To get Jerry's new list of
places you can order all kinds of Bibles, send email to
hub@xc.org 
with
only this line in the text of the message:
get brigada bible-sources
ADVANCE READY FOR RETRIEVAL
Get the
May Advance today by sending
email to
hub@xc.org with only this line in the text:
get brigada advance.9705
NEW CONFERENCES LAUNCH!
In a flurry, several new unreached peoples
conferences have launched in the wake of the People Cluster Conference in
Pasadena and the Brigada family here listening to appeals for help! For
example, brigada-peoples-punjabi just came on line for the Punjabis on the
Brigada network. The Joshua Project 2000 lists 15 unreached peoples under
the Punjabi Gateway Cluster. These total to more than a 108 million people
worldwide with most of them living in South Asia! The
brigada-peoples-punjabi conference will help interested individuals,
churches and agencies send out or receive reports, prayer requests and
learn of new ministry opportunities related to the Punjabi peoples and to
network with others engaged in ministries to the Punjabis. To join this
conference send an email message to
hub@xc.org with the following line in
the *body* of the message (subject ignored):
subscribe brigada-peoples-punjabi
Thanks to Joel and all other willing workers for helping with these
"billboards" for prayer and mobilization! Some secure conferences have
also been launched -- but are private, unadvertised and "by invitation only."
REMEMBER THE OVERSEAS READERS
This past week,
a Brigada Today
participant from the Philippines wrote to remind us to remember those who
are working/reading these updates overseas. When we describe conferences
(she referred to the "Mentors Conference for Church
Planters") or programs, we need to always try to factor in contingencies
for an international audience. It starts by providing more than just an
800 number... but it finishes by making sure that we think through the fact
that we're now a global community in this mission enterprise thing!
Thanks to all for your patience as we struggle to learn how to do that!
FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENED WHEN YOU "PRAYED THROUGH THE WINDOW"
CIN now
has available WindoWatchman II! This is the book with reports from
prayer journeyers who participated in the Praying Through the Window II
initiative in October of 1995. Get your copy of WindoWatchman II for $14.99
plus Shipping and Handling ($4.50 in U.S.). Just send a check to the
Christian Information Network
11025 State Hwy 83
Colorado Springs, CO 80921
All orders must be pre-paid by check or credit card. You can
telephone in your order on our toll free number 1-888-PRAY-104, place your
order on our fax machine (719)548-9000 or e-mail them at
73422.3471@compuserve.com. Remember not to ever send your credit card
number across unencrypted internet email. To learn more about encrypting
messages, see
http://www.pgp.com.
GLOBAL GLIMPSE
Mansour Hussein was killed by a shot in the head in a
Christian book shop in Arbil, Iraqi Kurdistan. He was discovered by a
co-worker on his arrival in the book shop. Mansour was an evangelical
believer, a Kurd from a Muslim background. He was bold and fearless in
the witness of his faith. Fellow Christians in Arbil say that there is
little doubt that he died as a martyr testifying to the truth that is in
Jesus. Mr. Hussein leaves a wife and an 18 month old son.
(Source: Elam Ministries, UK, April 22, 1997)
Global Glimpse is compiled each week by
wonderful and wild John Hanna, Advocacy Director, Caleb Project, 10 W Dry
Creek Circle, Littleton, CO 80120, USA; 303-730-4170, fax 303-730-4177,
http://www.goshen.net/calebproject ,
jhanna@xc.org.
DOES PGP REALLY RAISE YOUR PROFILE?
We're taking a survey. Are
there any
documented real specific cases
where we known that using
PGP raised someone's profile overseas? If so, send them to
jhanna@xc.org. Maybe
we just suspect that it would raise? He'll
report back to us. Confidential contributions accepted.
ON THE HUNT FOR LINDA O'FLYNN
Those still trying to find Linda
O'Flynn's Perfect Image PC Service
perfect-image@juno.com would do better
using,
http://www.inworks.net/comm/image/image.htm as the URL. Linda tells us
she inadvertently gave us the wrong URL the first time around.
WATCH THOSE ATTACHMENTS
By now you've received 69 warnings about
AOL4Free.com, so you don't need me to tell you about it again. Just
remember to 'watch those file attachments.' This executable gives you more
for your money... or should we say, less. Execute it and apparently it
starts its dirty work of erasing files (if it can find "deltree.exe").
Nasty little Trojan horse. For more info. see
http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/index.html. Thanks to John Rogers
BCCYanadi@xc.org and everyone else for forwarding the warnings...
Bottom line - don't ever click on any executables you didn't request
from a reliable source. Opening up text messages is still harmless .. and
if you have Office '97, you could also open up WinWord ".doc" files without
fear. Those still using previous versions of Word should beware that Word
macro viruses are blossoming this spring.
Take heed... or hide!
GOT ANY VIETNAMESE BOOKS?
Inquiring minds want to know. Or at least
Mike does. He's looking for commentaries and other theological books in
Vietnamese. If you know of any good sources please contact him at
vnbooks@fcmr.com.
... OR HOW 'BOUT AN INTEREST IN EVANGELISM THROUGH LITERACY/ELEM. ED?
In that case, David Curtis
DCurtis@mail.lewiston.k12.id.us would be
the next email address you'll need. He's got a passion for evangelism
through literacy and Christian education training to elementary-aged
children, beginning in Africa and beyond. Wants to facilitate the writing
and production of good books for that use... and sounds very passionate
about the whole thing.
BRIGADAFEST '98 - PRAY THAT LOCATION WILL BE APPROVED
Tomorrow the
dates/location go before a committee in Louisville, KY, for consideration
for BrigadaFest '98 (see last week's Brigada Today,
HOW 'BOUT A
BRIGADA FAMILY REUNION????). Pray that the local church there in
Louisville will approve the proposal so we can start making solid plans!
TO SUBSCRIBE TO BRIGADA TODAY, send email to
hub@xc.org
with only the following message:
subscribe brigada
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At http://www.brigada.org on the web, you can see tons more.
(This issue of Brigada Today is Copyrighted © 1997. However, permission is
granted to freely redistribute provided that such redistribution is to
those who will help the Good News of Christianity to reach the unreached.
But please tell your readers where you learned about the item, and if it's
not asking too much, include the 3 lines on how to subscribe -- see above.
IMPORTANT: To copy or reproduce Brigada Today for any other reason is
illegal and is not permitted.)
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!
2 of May, 1997
