Brigada Today
19 of Dec., 1997

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Now with 6561 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
[Pass this issue to a friend! To subscribe, see instructions at end.]

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In this issue....

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THE BEST INTERNATIONAL NEWS . . . FOR FREE!!!

We continue to be very impressed by INFOBEAT (formerly San Jose Mercury News) and its free feed to email inboxes! For more information, visit http://www.infobeat.com. The summaries can be selected by region... so you get only the focus you want, and each little "Brigada-like" summary paragraph has a URL to click on to get the entire new story. All for free! Incredible bargain. If you're taking cable just to watch CNN, I bet you'll unsubscribe after you start reading this! And now, they even ship out a special version suitable for "Outlook Express" and other MIME/HTML-compatible email clients. Terrific-looking stuff!

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GET CONNECTED TO KEY SOURCES FOR PEOPLE GROUP INFO.

Been looking for great input on your people group of choice??? Maybe there's a Brigada-Connections conference for the group for which you're praying! To find out, just send a message to hub@xc.org with this simple text on the first line (not the subject):
conferences brigada

With any luck, you'll receive an auto-mailed message in your inbox in a jiffy! It'll list the entire family of Brigada conferences. Once you find one you want to join, just send a message back to that reads, "subscribe brigada-peoples-sasak" (replace sasak with the people group of your choice -- but make sure there's a conference by that name before trying!). Or, if there's a brigada-connections conference, just email your questions to brigada-connections-acehnese (replace Acehnese with the people group you're researching, but make sure there's a "brigada-connections" conference for that group first!). One of the real live humans monitoring the connections conference will try to answer your query.

And guess what -- it's all free!!!! :-)

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THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD IS NOT SO FAR AWAY AS IT ONCE WAS

... at least now you can pray informedly!!! The 1998 "Intercessors for China" Prayer Calendar is being made available to Brigada readers at a special reduced rate. This full-color calendar was developed by Silk Road Ministry Staff. It is designed to help you focus on the people in 40 Gateway Cities in north China. This calendar is intended to help Christians outside China pray strategically, comprehensively and specifically for the people and country of China. The price is $4 per individual calendar or $10 per bundle of 5! To order, Call Integrated Resources at 1-800-729-4351 and ask for item 7707e.

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CATCH ADDITIONAL PERSPECTIVES!

clarification In last week's item, "PERSPECTIVES LOUISVILLE STYLE," we announced a January 20th date when, we're told, it should have been January 22nd. Either way, if you're interested in Perspectives in the Louisville area, contact 75451.1611@compuserve.com for more information. 'Course, if you're from N. Indiana, in the city of Chesterton, you'll start Monday, January 12th. For audit or credit, (college or graduate), contact gregc@lbchurch.org. And... if you're in Eugene, OR, and Indy or Louisville is too far to commute, your sessions run on Sundays, 5-8pm, Jan 11-Apr 26, for credit or enrichment. Contact Tim Watson 102124.1064@compuserve.com or (541-345-0341) or lknapp@efn.org.

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WHEN DOES MIME GIVE YOU THE SILENT TREATMENT???

When your email reader can only handle ASCII text, that's when. In those cases, you'll see dreaded "equals3D" characters when MIME email clients have sent you special characters. As a result, Jonathan Marsden (our "tech-on-call") wrote this past week to recommend that we use *asterisks* for emphasis instead of =equal= signs. Unfortunately, I've been building the habit of =equal= signs for nearly 3 years!!! So... I'd like to ask you for =patience* while I learn! :-) Jonathan also suggested
a) not using MIME at all on mailings like Brigada Today since there are many ASCII only clients still in use, and
b) avoiding non-ASCII characters (such as special foreign language symbols not included in the standard ASCII set -- "inyeah," tildes, and the like). We'll try to comply.

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A DEGREE OF DIFFERENCE... IN ARABIC

SisterMarie@juno.com needs someone with a degree in Standard (classical) Arabic to proof-read some Arabic books she's written. Got any friends who read from right to left? If so, give SisterMarie@juno.com a jingle if you can help.

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LEADERSHIP MAKES THE DIFFERENCE

As this issue of Brigada Today hits the wires, our mission organization has just sponsored a training weekend in Miami for our team leaders from throughout the globe. Projects in some 30 cities or people groups in 22 countries were represented. We document the basic outline here in the hopes that it will spawn creative thinking in your head for the mission or church within which you work. Maybe you could pull your leadership together and improve on the model below. Either way, throughout the weekend there was a particular kind of magic that permeated the event.

M - "meetings." Our team leaders were able to meet their peers from throughout the globe, as well as new mission leadership and board members. The camaraderie that developed was perhaps the most important outcome of the meeting. One team leader reported, "It's been great to meet others with more experience so I can try to learn from their example." In fact, a buddy added up the years of on-field experience and the cumulative total summed up to 188 years!

A - "art of leadership." All day long on Friday, the emphasis was on creating all the more effective leadership at the team level.

G - "gaining resources and skills" and the particular skill we featured on Saturday was conflict management. Throughout the day, the sessions focused on how to help team members resolve the sticky issues they face on mission teams.

I - "integrity." The emphasis on day 3 was proper relationships with family, friends, team-mates, and singles. In each relationship, delegates learned how to communicate and empathize with integrity as Jesus would.

C - "checkpoint" -- thus the "c." For our teams, our mission as a whole, and for ourselves in particular, the weekend gave us a chance to step back and look at our world through new eyes.

Without exception, delegates asked for similar gatherings in the future. So we're already at work planning the next team leaders' summit sometime in mid-1999. At the next meeting we hope to include spouses as well.

Without a doubt, it was a landmark event. As we head into 1998, we're hoping each and every team will experience the difference of all the more effective leadership no matter where they serve with Team Expansion.

So how 'bout you and your agency/church? Could you benefit from a bit of "magic?"

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NOW MAY THE LORD BLESS YOUR CHRISTMAS!

As you celebrate the birth of the Savior, wherever you are on the globe this week, we wish you the very best Christmas ever. And we dream of the day that His promise can be fulfilled, that truly representatives of all peoples everywhere will stand before Him at Christmastime and praise Him for the light that enlivens the world! (make sure you're viewing the following "graphic" in Courier New font): 

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[Note: Original ASCII art by Monique; thanks!]

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(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.)

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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!

19 of Dec., 1997

"If you've been asked to lead, you've been asked to serve."
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Doug Lucas DLucas@TeamExpansion.org Phone: (502) 297-0006
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3700 Hopewell Rd.FAX: (502) 297-9823
Louisville, KY 40299-5002Organization: Team Expansion
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