Brigada Today
5 of December 1997

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Now with 6491 participants!
News and Notes about Brigada, Your Gateway to Missions Networking!
On the WorldWide Web, browse http://www.brigada.org
Compiled by Doug Lucas <DLucas@TeamExpansion.org>, Louisville, KY
Welcome our new volunteer Customer Service Managers, Don & Judy! They're available at owner-brigada@brigada.org. Thanks for the help, Don & Judy!!!
[Pass this issue to a friend! To subscribe, see instructions at end.]

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In this issue....

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GOOD NEWS FROM THE OFFICE OF AD2000...

... came this note this past week: "The International Office of AD2000 and Beyond Movement is seeing a flurry of interest in networking. Churches and agencies are taking seriously the Movement's goals of cooperation and avoidance of duplication. AD2000 and Beyond tracks adoptions, evangelistic activity and church planting among peoples on the Joshua Project 2000 list. It is our experience that the vast majority of churches adopting peoples are actively seeking to connect with agencies that may already be involved. Some churches are partnering with an agency so that those raised as missionaries from their congregation, automatically are directed to the mission agency's application and training process. Others seek agency projects or missionaries to which they might give financial and prayer support. Some are developing plans for short-term trips or projects, while receiving counsel from agencies with experience and expertise. It is a tremendous encouragement to see this visible display of creativity and unity for the cause of Christ." I take that to be a very positive message! For more information on how you can network with other churches adopting unreached peoples via the AD2000 International Office, contact Barb Bills at barb@ad2000.org. She's now the Joshua Project 2000 Coordinator.

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COOL WEB RESOURCE ON PRAYING FOR UNREACHED PEOPLES

Looking for that perfect web resource for praying for the least reached? Don't pass over http://www.calebproject.org/ptw3/index.html. Originally written up for Praying Through the Window III this past October, this 31-day summary can now be applied anytime you please! It's got pictures, it's concise, it's well organized, and it's easy to apply on a daily basis throughout the year as a rotating prayer resource!!! Check it out -- it's great!

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FIRST IT WAS JUNO... NOW IT'S FREE FULL INTERNET

Pete Holzmann spent the past few days at Comdex and wrote us with this report: "Do you like having free email in the USA, using the Juno system? How about basically free Internet access? For a one-time $90 charge (30 day money-back guarantee) you can have up to 56kbps (US Robotics X2) access from over 1000 cities in the USA. Now you can, using Freeweb and their version of the Netscape browser, with a small advertisement built in, for free email, web access, etc. See http://www.freewwweb.com for more info, or call 203/790-4600." Pete added a warning: "The dial-in network is still being built, so many areas do not have access yet." Since this is a new resource, we'd love to hear back how it works for you.

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GLOSSARY OF SYMBOLS... FOR NEW BRIGADA USERS

This week I received a fairly pointed message criticizing all the cryptic symbols in Brigada Today. Gulp. The reader wrote, "I have included a sample of something that made no sense to me." In the sample were a bunch of email shorthand notes... :-) Sorry about that. So this week we're including a "key" to the confusion!!! Again, apologies to new users:

_Title_ -- These underscores indicate a title or a book, film, or boat. In "real" writing, the title would be underlined or italicized.

=emphasis= -- These equal signs indicate emphasis. In real writing, the word would be printed in bold.

:-) -- This symbol (an 'emoticon') represents a grin or a "chuckle." In real writing, . . . well . . . in real writing I guess the author wouldn't grin or chuckle. :-)

:-( -- You guessed it. An internet sad face. You kind of have to turn your head sideways to the left to see these. :-)

< > -- These pointed braces indicate the beginning and ending of internet email addresses or Worldwide Web URLs.

[sic] -- This word is placed after an item quoted when the author wants to indicate that there's a mistake in the quotation and the mistake is being retransmitted precisely as it occurred in the original citation.

!!! -- This symbol is often used in Brigada Today to indicate a really enthusiastic sentence. Email seems so bland, we figure you have to do something to spruce it up. :-)

Did we omit anything?

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LEARN TO WRITE LIKE A PRO!

... and catch winter in Florida while you're at it! :-) The Florida Christian Writers Conference is set for January 29 to February 2 1998. This carefully tailored conference offers instruction and marketing opportunities to writers at different levels-beginning, intermediate, advanced, and professional. Writers attend continuing classes and elective workshops, interact one-on-one with editors, and "talk shop" with fellow writers. The conference is designed to be inspirational, instructive, and provide marketing opportunities. The faculty is asked to review manuscripts, make suggestions regarding marketability, and give brief written critiques. The faculty and staff are available to registrants throughout the conference, including meals, to provide a warm non-threatening environment. Attendance is usually 175-200 with a faculty of 30-35 made up of freelance writers, editors and publishers, 40-48 workshops and 6 continuing classes. Browse http://www.kipertek.com/writer/ for more information, or email writer@digital.net. Phone: 407-269-6702, Fax: 407-383-1741, or write to: Billie Wilson, FCWC, 2600 Park Avenue, Titusville, FL 32780.

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MORE ON PHONE CARDS

Galen filled us in on the fact that Sprint's phone cards work both nationally and internationally. Call (800) 366-0707 or visit Sam's Club division of Walmart stores. No other contact numbers were given to date.

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WANTED: CONTEXTUALIZED NATIVE AMERICAN TOOLS

Here's a guy thirsting for a contextualized approach to reaching Native Americans. He writes, "As a point of reference, we've come up with 7 categories of connecting points between Native Indian history and culture and Bible history and culture. ... We have taught the first 20 lessons, promoting this with---'Now you can learn Native Indian identity and the Bible at the same time!' Our question is--- is there anyone out there who's aware of anything in print on this topic already? And does anyone have any wisdom you could pass along to this committee, on developing a contextualized theology for Native Indian peoples?" If you've got a strategy or you're working on it, write Dan Woodard at 103535.3026@compuserve.com in Canada and he'll send us a summary of your inputs in a couple of weeks. Thanks Dan!

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BRIGADA-PEOPLES MOVING!

I continue to be impressed by Dave Nesmith and the whole Brigada-peoples crew... currently a pack of some 300+ users committed to helping you find information about unreached peoples. (To subscribe, send email to hub@xc.org with only the words,
subscribe brigada-peoples

in the text.) And along the way, David continues to help everybody be all the more effective at his or her job. For example, this past week he asked subscribers to avoid subject lines like "Info request," "I have a question," "Information please," and "Help!" Now I had never thought about it before, but he's right!!! He wrote, "When users scan the mail folder listing they are looking for something that will identify the request. Avoid like the plague. Many users, up to here with email traffic, will simply delete a NO SUBJECT, thinking, perhaps, 'If the originator did not care enough to put in a subject line then it isn't worth my time to read it.' If your emailer has a problem with subject lines, then fix it or else get a new emailer." He added, "Please DO always provide a link between your response and the query to which you are responding. It is very frustrating to see a message begin with something like this: Hi there Joe, I think the answer to your problem is................... Who is Joe? What is the problem? If you do quote the inquiry message, DO NOT include the entire message, only enough of it to provide a link." Now there's a moderator who is not only in touch with his subject but also with how to approach it!!! Thanks for a great job, David!

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JOIN A WORLDWIDE PRAYER MOVEMENT DURING RAMADAN!

Arab World Ministries is planning to send out a daily e-mail prayer request during Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting (December 31-January 29). Would you like to receive these daily requests to help you pray for Muslim converts and followers of Islam during that time? Send an email to: majordomo@gospelcom.net. In the body of the message type this text only:
subscribe awm-ramadan

The subject of the message does not matter.

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YES VIRGINIA, THERE IS A 30-DAY MUSLIM PRAYER FOCUS IN RUSSIAN!

Thanks to Kim who wrote this past week to let us know that the 30-Day Muslim prayer focus is indeed available in Russian ( see Oct. 31st Brigada Today for the original request)! She added, "The 30 Days prayer guide is available in 30 languages!! English, Bengali, Chinese, Czech, Arabic, Finish, French, German, Hindi, Marathi, Telegu, Tamil, Indonesian, Italien, Japanese, Kazak, Swahili, Korean, Malay, Spanish, Dutch, Norwegian, Danish, Polish, Russian, Swedish, Turkish, Afrikaans, Portuguese, and Simple English. In addition, a Children's edition and an Internet edition is also available." For more information, write 71233.1475@compuserve.com. Great answer, Kim!!!

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MORE ON THE WORLD CHRISTIAN CONFERENCE

A "World Christian Conference" is scheduled for Feb. 13-16, 1998 at Santa Cruz, CA. The conference started back in 1985 as the World Christian Conference for the Chinese Graduates (WCCCG) when its founders saw the need to bring the Chinese churches together to challenge them to respond to the needs of the world. Since 1985, brother and sisters, primarily from Chinese churches on the West Coast, have come together in a forum where biblical teaching is given, models and examples are presented, and practical issues are discussed. By God's grace, many alumni of the World Christian Conference have moved into various ministries, locally and abroad. Others continue to live out their World Christian calling and spread the World Christian vision here in North America. To learn more, contact Derrick Tan CyTan@juno.com or browse http://www.octlab.com/wcc98 (currently under construction).

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ARE THERE REALLY CHURCHES OUT THERE GIVING 10% OR MORE TO MISSIONS?

If so, Grace would like to know!!! She asked this week if we could somehow locate any true stories of churches that are actually giving 10% or more of their finances to missions and, if so, she'd like to hear what happened as a result. "I've heard that some churches who were broke before, and then tried tithing as a church, suddenly began to have more than they needed, etc. I've heard numerous stories like this, but I don't have any specific facts... So, I would like to request that any churches or people who know of churches and have the facts, would send me their story and/or the name and address/contact info of the person I could contact about getting this kind of information. Grace Wiebe: gracew@idmail.com. We'll ask for a compilation or summary report, okay Grace? Thanks!

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PGP UPDATE

Rod, our PGP guy, wrote this past week, "Good news for folks outside of USA and Canada... finally! PGP 5.0i for Windows 95/NT has been released! http://www.pgpi.com/ is the place to go for more info. Note: This is the only legally exported international version of PGP 5.0, i.e. via scanned and OCRed source code." Thanks Rod!

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SING A SONG OF MISSIONS...

The AD2000 Worship & Arts Network is in the process of compiling a Missions/Worship Songbook (missions songs and worship songs with a missions emphasis) which will hopefully become a wonderful resource for missions-minded folks around the world (so far only in English-speaking countries). They're looking for your suggestions re: which songs to include. Just write Grace Wiebe at gracew@idmail.com or snail mail her at 6240 London Rd., Richmond, BC, V7E 3S4 Canada (or fax: 604-275-7785) by the end of December. (Materials arriving after Dec. 31 might be included in a future edition.) The information requested:
  1. the name of the song
  2. the name of the songwriter/s
  3. the title of the tape/CD, etc. it's on (if it is)
  4. a leadsheet which includes the words/chords, etc.
  5. whether it's copywritten or not
  6. if possible, contact info so that we can contact the songwriters, etc. for permission to use their song/s
  7. if possible, perhaps the song can be sent on an inexpensive cassette (if it's not copywritten)
The Network is also looking for shorter choruses that also have good translations in other languages, or non-English songs that have good English translations. They're hoping to put together 25-40 songs (or more, depending on the response) that will be useful to churches, missions organizations, university Christian fellowships, etc.

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HABLA ESPAÑOL?

If you don't know what that means, CIE (Centro de Idioma Español) offers you the solution. CIE's unique approach to Spanish language acquisition through cultural integration and ministry participation will equip you with the most important key to opening the hearts of the Spanish speaking, along with an understanding of mission work in Latin America. CIE offers programs at various levels from one month to one year. The center is located five minutes from the border of El Paso, Texas in Juarez, Mexico, where you will encounter the warmth of the Mexican people and their culture. Our native teaching staff brings more than 20 years of experience in training missionaries for Latin America. For more information, contact Ike at cmfmexico@compuserve.com or write to CIE, P.O. Box 26998, El Paso, TX 79926-6998; Tel/Fax (in Mexico) 52-16-11-36-20.

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WEB-WATCH

Want news for Christians? Check out http://www.christcom.net. Thanks for the tip, Jeff!

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ADVANCE IS READY FOR YOUR RETRIEVAL

To get the December Advance, just email hub@xc.org with a message that says,
get brigada advance.9712

Here's a summary:

THE GOSPEL FOR EVERY PEOPLE -- The Khmu of Laos; the Acehnese of Indonesia; the Pauri Bhuiya of India; open hearts among Fulanis in Nigeria; Buddhist monks invited the gospel into their temple; reading room ministry in Chad; hearts turning to Christ in Mali

THE PERSECUTED CHURCH -- Indian Catholic priest kidnapped and beheaded; two lay workers murdered in Mexico; evangelical leader beaten in Colombia; Christian protesters attacked in Vietnam; evangelical pastor persecuted in Mordovia

SPIRITUAL FORCES OF DARKNESS -- "Toy bomb" kills five children in Pakistan; 14-year-old girl murdered by teenage friends; British medical engineers develop use for fetal brain cells; Jack Kevorkian offers "patient" organs for transplant; 30 million people living with AIDS virus; Bill Clinton speaks at homosexual rights event

REJOICE! -- God rescues medical outreach to Muslim community; the church grows in Baghdad; number of Rajasthan believers doubles in less than one year; 2,665 adult decisions for Christ in Baranquilla; 70 new believers in Mali; God protects Peru missionaries from plane crash; 25 Islamic sheiks make decisions for Christ

NETWORKING -- Free information packs on ministry to people with HIV and AIDS; sixth annual 30 Days Muslim Prayer Focus begins Jan. 1; new workbook: "How to Get Your Congregation Involved in Missions"; "The 10/40 Window Reporter"; Open Doors website; how to stop junk e-mail; Christian news website; urgent missionary prayer concerns delivered by e-mail; prayer booklets on India; prayer mobilization videos; Kurds prayer calendar; reaching international students for Christ; missions-oriented e-mail list for children

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MORE INFO ON MORMON VIDEO

If you were trying to hunt down that video on Mormonism, we've heard some more information. Word on the street is that the title is "The Mormon Puzzle." It was produced by the Interfaith Witness Department of the North American Mission Board. Their address is 4200 North Point Parkway, Alpharetta, GA 30022-4176. The 800 number for orders is 800-634-2462. Apparently it's 56 minutes (not 40), and it features candid interviews with Mormon leaders. It has been very well received! Thanks for the tip, Mark!

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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. Kelly, Kainos Press, MarkKelly@xc.org
*Brigada Website: Bob Mayhew, Brigada Volunteer, WebServant@Brigada.org
*Technical Development: Jonathan Marsden, MAFxc jonathan@xc.org
*Brigada Customer Service Manager: brigadacoord@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!

5-Dec. 1997

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